Hello Wastelanders!

Today’s topic touches on a heavy subject. In our LARP, you may have heard the term “Bleed”. And not in a “my character is bleeding out and dying” form. But “my emotions from myself are bleeding into my character” and/or vice versa. For this topic, I want to help everyone understand what bleed is, utilizing the okay check-in system, and fostering a positive play environment for everyone. Now, I know you’re probably thinking/saying “I always do the check-in system!” And that’s awesome! We still want to give you a run down of how things can escalate, how you can handle them, and tips for keeping it smooth.

Sometimes, there will be weekends where we’re not playing at our 100% or when it’s incredibly difficult to remove yourself from your character. This is a common phenomenon known as “bleed”. “Bleed is when emotions bleeds over between player or character, in either direction.” (E.Boss, Ropecon 2007). It’s something that’s heard in the world but difficult to define. We are pulled into an immersive world; it only makes sense that our emotions and decisions are influenced by the world we just spend 3 days playing in. Or leading up to game, it’s been an absolute shit show and your character isn’t at 100%. Then, they make decisions that they typically wouldn’t make. That's completely okay! Bleed isn’t inherently evil but on the flip side, it isn’t always positive. If you don’t recognize when you’re experiencing bleed, it can not only impact yourself, but the players around you. And that’s when it becomes an issue. The important thing is being able to recognize bleed, knowing how to navigate it, and taking steps to ensure you and those around you are having the experience you want at LARP.

Now that we’re all on the same page as to what bleed is, let’s talk about management tools.

Check-In System

Dystopia Rising chapters have various check-in systems that are utilized at their games. The one we implement at Arkansas is simple. When you’re initiating a check-in with someone, look at the person you’re wanting to check-in with (try to make eye contact with them if you are able to do so) and throw a subtle thumbs up gesture. As a response, you should receive either a thumbs up, thumbs down, or a “so-so” hand wave. On the thumbs up, continue running the scene as is. For the thumbs down and “so-so” hand wave, back off and go out of character (placing a closed fist above or on top of your head). There, you and the person you are checking-in on can have a steering conversation.

Debriefing

You can do this in many forums, honestly. In our Discord server, we have a channel dedicated to debrief chat. There is also a channel called bleed discussion. You can utilize either of those spaces exactly for that! Or at Afters while eating delicious pizza offers a safe space to have those debrief conversations as well. There will have been some tense moments throughout the weekend and that’s a great time to check in with other players. “Hey, my character was an absolute ass to you. On an out of character level, I’m so sorry. Would you like to talk about what happened?” What I like to do is find my debriefing buddy. 90% of the time it’s Nikki (thank you for your services). If there was a scene that just didn’t sit right with me, I run my experience by her and we hash it out.

Writing

Also in our discord server, we have a channel dedicated to writing game hype or writing prompt responses/funsies. That is also 100% a way to decompress and navigate some of those intense emotions you may have experienced throughout the weekend. Writing about events that took place in your character’s point of view, reliving that moment can be a way to help understand why the bleed took place.

Boundary Setting

Setting boundaries is a great way to protect not only yourself, but others from bleed. If there’s particular scenes that are taking place that you KNOW you’re going to have an issue with on an out of character level, set a boundary that benefits all involved. It can be something as simple as “Hey, I’m not comfortable with your RP interrogation methods. If this is something that you’re set on doing, please let me know so I can step away from the scene for a moment.” Setting those proactive boundaries can make or break your entire experience for the weekend.

At the end of the day, we want everyone to engage in the experience they want from this game as long as they’re being safe about it. Knowing what bleed is and how to navigate it is an incredibly useful tool to have on hand at an event. To understand more about Bleed and its impacts in and out of game, please go check out this fantastic article that deeps dive further into it. https://nordiclarp.org/2015/03/02/bleed-the-spillover-between-player-and-character/

Thank you for tuning in this week and we’ll see you next time. Remember, stay safe in the Wastes!

Howdy Survivors!

And welcome to my first Pro-Tip Thursday. I hope you're all recovering well from trade and getting those muscles stretched out after an action-packed weekend. Speaking of which, I had a blast, and I hope you did too! Now, let's talk business. While this is my very first Pro-Tip, I was excited to collaborate with Josh Jaques (AKA Delpho) for today’s segment. Today's topic is something we noticed needed addressing at the last game: non-combat player engagement.

In Dystopia Rising, we use three primary colors of headbands throughout the weekend. While there may be exceptions on some weekends (which will be communicated in opening announcements), you'll typically see the following colors:

- Blue bandana: Indicates a brand new player or "Bluebird."

- Green bandana OR holding a closed fist to the top of the head: Designates a Guide, wind, or out-of-character interaction.

- Orange bandana: Signifies non-combat status.

There are numerous reasons why a player may choose to wear an orange bandana, and it's important for everyone to respect that decision. However, despite being labeled as "non-combat," these players are not exempt from taking damage. Damage is administered in a safer manner without physical contact from a boffer weapon. The initiator of combat must stand approximately 10ft away from their target, point their boffer at them, and call damage in a calm cadence. Environmental effects, areas of effect calls, and “by my voice” calls still impact those wearing an orange headband.

That being said, our local ruling is that orange bands cannot participate in ANY physical aspect of the combat system. They must attempt to avoid the physical aspect of the combat system. Skills can still be used to help out friends and assist in the fight but cannot directly contribute to the combat portion. The exception to this rule is if non-combat players get trapped in a situation where they have no choice but to participate. At that point, we players and NPC’s must engage in the non-com combat system as described above.

We’re making this call because combat is inherently physical in the game and if there are active participants in the combat, there is a high chance to be physically struck despite the orange headbands. In this case, safety will triumph over fun.

Now, what about non-combatants using aberrant abilities to defend themselves or cause damage to a threat? The answer is that non-combat players can use their aberrant/psionic skills using the same point and call system,but must do so to get out of the combat and we still ask them to leave combat as quickly as possible. When I say “leave combat”, run away from the danger. For example, if you’re a non-combat player in the bar when raiders hit it, you should duck and weave to escape. That can look like getting out a door and hiding in the woods and watching from a distance or taking shelter under a table in the bar. If you’re on a mod when combat happens, while you do not have to leave the mod, you should seek to get away from the combat as quickly as possible or to avoid hits. While staff always practice safety checks and monitor combat to ensure safety, accidents can still happen. But what if you're non-combat and want to support friends in combat? I’ve tapped on our veteran non-combat player Josh to help provide some insight!

To take a Universal approach there are 4 ways an Orange band player gets involved.

Gathering resources: This is our bread and butter, since we don’t really focus on combat skills as an Orange band we should be looking for ways to get resources the town needs. Our battle field is in the dirt, trees, water, and frankly anywhere else we can get our hands on those juicy nuggets of materials.
Refining resources: Well you just got all those rectangles, what do we do with them? We make shit! Yes, we make shit, and frankly we either give it away or sell it (do this *wink*). The world needs goods, and here is our arena, this is our war. We supply the town! An Army does not march unless their stomachs are full and their boots are well made.
Town recovery: This partially goes hand in hand with Refining, but this aspect is where an Orange band can get in the middle of things. Where we can sit at the edge of a fight and use our resources to heal, or after the fight is done triage the wounded, and help recover the mind, and repair those pesky fractures. Orange can really save the day when we come running back in and spend our resources to power back the fighters so they are ready for the next wave!
Research: With the new rules of 1 question per trade you can pick up where others have left off, and get more info to help the town out, or the person, or crew.

There’s a lot of elements that players can encounter in our game that are NOT just combat based encounters. Our Experience Design team has been working on finding ways to allow a safe combat experience in the future for our non-combats who wish to engage more. Much like on the walk-in mod, a majority of the players who were non-combat were able to ride in on some sexy DJ rides.

We’re excited to see you at the next game! Please always feel free to provide feedback on ways we can improve your experience.

Stay safe in the wastes!