The Referee is the person in charge of running your adventure. His word is law and it is vitally important that when the referee speaks to you, you listen to what they say. He will conduct a safety check on all weapons and shields being used on your adventure, after which, they will give you a thorough briefing on such things as “The Country Code” and any local rules which must be complied with while you are on site.
The Referee is there to make sure your adventure runs smoothly and as such, they have a lot of things to do whilst they are with you. If you need to ask the Referee something, remember that they probably have several other people asking questions at the same time. Be patient, they will get round to your problem as quickly as they can.
During your adventure, you will encounter three different ADVENTURE STATUS MODES. The Referee will call out to inform you, the rest of the party and the monsters as to what Mode you are currently in. The three modes are TIME IN, TIME OUT and TIME FREEZE.
The adventure is running and everything you encounter (discounting members of the public) is actually part of the adventure. During Time In, the Referee will try to stay out of your way so that you can enjoy the adventure, but they will still be close at hand to keep an eye on you, inform you of spells and so on.
The adventure has been paused in order that you and your fellow adventurers can be checked for damage. This Mode is usually called after combat has occurred, but it can be called at any time. Under special circumstances a player may call Time Out. For instance, if you see someone having an accident, being really injured, or some other real crisis, don’t hesitate in calling Time Out and informing the Referee of the problem.
During Time Outs the Referee will ask you if and where you have been hit during combat, they will then give you a very rough idea of how your character is feeling. If there are any “dead” monsters about when Time Out is called, try not to watch them as they may well be getting up and moving on to their next positions and if you see where they are going it may spoil the element of surprise, both for you and the monsters. It is a good idea to mark your position when a Time Out is called, by putting your weapons, shield or some other item on the floor to remind yourself where you were before the Time Out was called as you may have moved since.
Any one may, and is encouraged to, make this call if they witness someone having an accident which may require a First Aider or medical attention. This call is a form of Time Out as far as the game is concerned, however the safety and well being of all involved is first and foremost and everyone is expected to act appropriately - as such it may last only a few moments to check those involved are okay, or longer for more serious incidents.
You must immediately stop whatever you are doing, remain motionless, close your eyes and ignore any sounds, hum to yourself. Try to look as it as if you’re on a video recording and someone has pressed the pause button. If you are a monster and Time Freeze is called, unless specifically told otherwise, this mode applies to you just as much as it does to members of a party of adventurers.
When Time In is called after a period of Time Freeze, try to carry on doing whatever you were doing before the Time Freeze. As far as your character is concerned, nothing has happened – the pause on the video has been switched off. This Mode is usually called to alloy things to happen instantaneously for example, when a Demon teleports into the middle of a group of adventurers.
When your adventure finishes, the Referee will call a final Time Out and conduct a debriefing session with all the party. If there is anything about the adventure you didn’t understand or wish to make a comment about, tell the Referee during this debriefing. Once it’s over the referee will go off for a while to consult his notes and to allocate Skill Points to all the survivors of the adventure. When they return they will talk to each member of the party individually. This is called the Individual De-briefing, during which the Referee will give feedback on the adventure. If you survived it, they will award you some Skill points to spend on your character. For each hour of advertised adventuring they will be given 4 skill points, with the players voting for an additional 2 points, one for Roleplay and a second for Skills, with the referees able to award an additional two points per player if warranted.
You can use your Individual De-Briefing to discuss the adventure with the Referee, who is ready to listen to anything you have to say. If you have a complaint or wish to express your enjoyment, tell it to the Referee during this session. Anything you have to say will be noted by them.
If you are not comfortable discussing the complaint with the Referee, you may speak to another Referee or the club Secretary. they can typically be reached via Messenger or by email - the official email addresses for the club positions are listed on the Committee pages.
For most (if not all) adventures, monsters will be required to be the antagonists of the adventure, tavern or event. Usually at least half of all attending an event will monster in the group, as most of the combat encounters we run in Guernsey work better and are more fun with the Players slightly outnumbered. It can be a little hard to suspend your disbelief and imagine the horror of the Horde of Zombies when you outnumber them!
When you monster an event you will be called upon to play a variety of monsters, villains and NPC's during the event. As no one outfit or character kit would be appropriate for every role, we ask that monsters dress in plain black clothing so that it won't detract from any masks or costume you will be given.
As an outdoor contact sport, you will want them to be relatively sturdy, army boots & leather gloves are ideal, and long sleeves and trousers are useful when you might be falling over in grass or mud. We usually allow people to wear leather armour or other period gear if they want extra protection, though medium or heavy armour tends to conflict with certain roles and may be inappropriate. Dressing appropriately for the weather is very important - dress warmly in winter so as to not freeze or catch a cold, and lightly with sunscreen and/or head ware in summer to avoid heatstroke and sunburn, if you have to choose between dressing for the weather or dressing to look in period then we advise choosing for the weather, as costume elements are usually easily added over the top if needed.
The club has it's own supply of LARP weapons and shields, costume and masks, treasure phys-reps and other assorted pieces which will be brought to the event as necessary. As such you are not expected to bring your own, though if you do you are welcome to use them in appropriate encounters with the Monster Ref's permission.
As a monster you will be expected to help carry some the Monster Kit between encounters if necessary and you are able, though the amount of kit will vary depending on the variety of the encounters in the adventure.
The monster crew is coordinated and directed by the Monster Referee, who will have a copy of the script and assign roles for the adventure as necessary. They are responsible for briefing the monster crew on the monster stats and ensuring they have appropriate costume & weapons. If you have any questions about the encounter or your monster role then you should ask your Monster Ref. Similarly if you have any issues with players (or other monsters) such as safety concerns or behaviour then please report it to the Monster Ref.
While they are often the scriptwriter of the event or a qualified referee this is not always true. They answer to the main Referee, so always defer to them when in doubt. The Main Ref will always be wearing a Yellow Jacket or other obvious visual distinction to clearly identify themselves.
Monstering is in many ways simpler than playing a character. Unlike players, monsters are expected to die each encounter, sometimes repeatedly if an encounter has "wave" attacks. As such the stats for monster are more streamlined and easier play than full Characters:
Creature:
What type of creature you will be for the encounter, such as Goblins or Orc Champion. You may also be told what creature level you are, if you have an alignment (Good, Neutral or Evil), whether you are Spirited creatures or Spiritless (Life Force Only - "LFO" for short) where relevant.
Hits:
How many hits you can take, unlike players all monster hits are "global" so you do not need to remember where you are struck, just how many times before you fall over or leave the encounter. Remember that a "Double" is two hits, "Triple" is three and so forth.
Some monsters are immune to certain types of damage, in this case you will be told which types hurt you. For example ghosts usually have Spirit Only Hits, therefore you can ignore any hits that are not Spiritual or caused by Inherent Spells.
While the actual location struck is irrelevant, good role play is encouraged so remember to react to the fight!
Attack & Damage:
What type of weapons you wield as your monster and what damage to call when you strike. For example Goblins usually wield small weapons like daggers or clubs and call "Half" for damage.
Some monsters may have other attacks, such as Claws or Bows, or even special damage calls such as Thru or Magic, which are important for the players to know when you strike them so they can react appropriately.
Special:
Some monsters will have special rules, such as spells or special attacks, defences or vulnerabilities, such as immunity to Fire, Regeneration or Fear Auras for example. These will be explained to you by the Monster Ref. For a list of example abilities, please see the Glossary page.
Treasure:
Some monsters carry treasure, items of value which are primarily there to be found by the party as part of their reward for the adventure. That said, some items may be useful to the monsters during the encounter, and intelligent foes such as Bandits may well utilize them against the party, though some common sense should be used. Bandits may be smart enough to use the healing potions during the fight, but if they use them all the boss might be angry at them for drinking all the potions!