Crewing For Frail Realities

This is a rough introductory document regarding ‘crewing’ in Frail Realities. Depending on your LARP experience, much of this may be obvious to you, though some may well not be. It is not intended to explain everything, but to be a quick and dirty intro to the crewing process.

Crew need to book in advance. If you book to crew, we will be relying on you and may have tunred other crew away/not tried to find more crew because you are coming. Of course, things happne which mean you have to cancel  -but please, please let us know as soon as you can if you are not coming and keep us informed of when you are going to arrive. we can cope with anything -but coping is a lot easier when we know the score.

Crewing rquires a very minimal understanding of the rules, but it would be wise for you to subscribe to our mailing list and have a quick look through the rules before you play. If you have time to read through the rules more fully before crewing, then that would be helpful.

Crewing can be a very good way of coming along and seeing whether FR is something you would like to get more involved with without laying out any money, other than your travel costs.

In General:

 

  1. ‘Crew;’ is what we call people who play a variety of parts – from simple combat parts to complex role-play parts  -over the course of an FR event.
  2. We make crewing fun as a happy crew tends to result in a happy party.
  3. Crewing is free. Additionally, the party pay a small supplement which is put into a pool to buy basic food for crew. We don’t feed you luxuries, but we do feed you free. All crewing is liable to cost you is your travel expenses.
  4. Crew get ‘crew points’ for their efforts which can be added to any character at a later date and make a real difference.
  5. Crewing is hard work, though you will get breaks. There is a lot to do and a lot to learn. The refs will be pretty well organised, and it is important that you listen to them and do what they ask, or all with descend into chaos.

 

Things to Know

 

  1. You do not need to know the FR rules to crew, but the more of the rules and the background you have read, the better.
  2. Almost all of FR works on a ‘power point’ system which allows a person to do certain things, such as strike a more powerful blow, cast a spell or avoid taking damage.
  3. Most non-human ‘greeblies’ have one type of power ‘might’ which is used for everything. Some have separate might ‘pools’ used for different things(often soaking and using their powers as two pools) Humans may have more than one type, used for different things.
  4. Everything is pretty simple and should quickly become second nature. If in doubt, ask!

 

Role-Playing

 

  1. You will be called on to play a whole variety of parts. Some will be combat driven – but even those will be able to talk.
  2. Feel free to improvise. In fact, we encourage it, but make sure you stick within the written guidelines or improvise things that really do not matter to the setting as a whole  -make sure you are not saying things that make no sense.
  3. Crew bring life to the parts the refs have written. Think about what you are going to do before you play the part, if in doubt quickly run it by the ref. 
  4. Do not just trot out your story or whatever: play your part as if it were a real person, but within the function the part has in the event storyline.

 

Comedy

 

Things in the world can be funny, but things should not be played to be silly, ever.  Generally a party will make their own ‘funny-ness’ and unless you are a pro stand-up comedian it’s best not to try.  The refs will almost never want you to play things in a ‘silly’, that includes silly / squeaky voices!  That doesn’t mean we want everything to be bleak and dreary, we just want to avoid things being ‘roleplay light’

 

Fighting

 

FR requires really good fights and depending on your LP background this might require breaking some old habits. In most LARP, the trick is to hit the foe as often as possible as fast as possible. This is not true in FR. Some tricks to get you into the ‘FR way’ follow:

 

  1. Between attempts to hit your opponent, come back ‘en garde’. A break between each blow stops the LRP instinct of ‘painting’ an opponent.
  2. Stand up straight and look at the person you are fighting.
  3. Parry.
  4. Move around  -footwork can make the whole thing more interesting.
  5. Fights are there to be enjoyed, not rushed through: take the time to savour, don’t just try and kill as fast as possible.
  6. Remember, there is no need to yell damage on a blow unless you are doing something special.
  7. When you are struck always react to it!
  8. You have seen it in the movies: make it look like that.
  9. IMPORTANT: do not aim blows above the shoulder, the insurance requires us not to.

 

Combat Stats

 

  1. If you get hit in a location and you have no power that stops you taking damage, then that location breaks. If it is head or chest, this knocks you out. For most parts, a wound in the head or chest means you die soon afterwards.
  2. Many parts have ways to avoid taking a wound, often called ‘soaking’. You are still hurt, but it has no game effect. Many parts can only soak ‘normal’ wounds, which means they cannot soak most elemental wounds (magical spells, bolts of lighting) or damage of double or more. Some can, of course.
  3. ‘Flurries’ count as one blow. If there is not a break (though it could be a heartbeat or two) between blows, then it counts as one hit only.

 

Things to Bring

  1. Crew should brings some sort of basic ‘neutral’ costume. The best bet is simple black that then other costume can be worn over the top of. Please also make sure you are not wearing obviously modern footwear – boots or similar are best, no trainers please.
  2. If you wish to bring your own weapons then that would be great.
  3. Once you have seen the event brief, if you have any kit that you think may improve the event, then please let us know – that would be great too.

 

 

 

 

 

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