The process

This is the process as described in more detail in Writing Freeform Larps. It’s not the only way of writing freeforms, but it reliably and consistently produces playable freeform larps.

I’ve used this process many times. Most of my freeforms have been co-written with other people and I find a structured process is extremely helpful when writing with others, as everyone needs to be pulling in the same direction.

Throughout this process, I use Railways and Respectability as an example. Railways and Respectability concerned building Victorian railways and was written in 2004 by Nickey Barnard, Jerry Eslmore, Steve Hatherley, Tony Mitton and Mike Snowden.

Freeform writing process

Here’s the raw process:

1. Concept and constraints
2. Themes
3. Character types
4. Outline characters
5. Character sheet layout
6. Structure
7. Plots
8. Rules and mechanics
9. Background
10. Finishing off

While I’ve shown this as a ten-step process, I often move backwards and forwards between the steps as new ideas occur to me. So I treat the process as a guide rather than a rule.

#1 Concept and constraints

This is in two steps – the overall concept of your game and its constraints.

First, I decide what sort of game I want to write and summarise it in a simple “elevator pitch”.

For example, the elevator pitch for Railways and Respectability is: A 16-player game set in England with railway building mixed with Jane Austen-style matchmaking.

I make sure the concept is something I am enthusiastic about writing. If I’m not interested in the concept, I’m unlikely to finish writing it.

Once I’ve decided on the freeform’s concept, I set some constraints.

• Duration: While freeform larps can come in any size, most are between two and four hours long. Some are weekend-long extravaganzas.
• Tone: What tone am I aiming for? Light-hearted or serious? Do I need trigger warnings?
• Characters: There is no right or wrong answer to the question of how many characters a freeform should have. However, 10 to 20 characters is a good number for a three-hour freeform, and freeforms with more characters generally take longer to play. 
• Gender: I try to be flexible with the gender of my characters. I don’t know where the game will be run, and I can’t guarantee who will turn up. As not everyone is comfortable playing a character of a different gender, I try to include ungendered characters that anyone can play.
• Location: Most freeforms can be run in a single room, which is ideal as it makes them easy to run.
• Interest: Why are the characters present? What stops them from leaving?
• Mechanics and rules: What rules does my freeform need? Combat? Romance? Pig breeding? Railway building?

I don’t need all the answers right now, but thinking about them early means I can build them into the game as I write.

#2 Themes

By “theme”, I mean what my game includes. That includes plots, mechanics, character types and the like. Some may be colour; some may involve convoluted plotting.

For example, when I co-wrote Railways and Respectability (a game mixing Jane Austen matchmaking with railway building), we brainstormed these themes:

• Railway companies
• Canals
• Army/Navy
• Politicians
• Royalty
• Secret societies
• Engineering
• Jane Austen-style social climbing
• Religion
• Highwaymen
• Duelling
• Masons
• Romance
• Poetry
• Temperance movement

Most ended up in the game; some were cut during development. 

#3 Character types

Now I decide what sort of characters I want in my freeform. At this point I don’t need names, just concepts.

For Railways and Respectability, we decided we needed:

• 3 railway company owners
• 3 politicians
• 1 Prince Regent
• 5 Route advocates – one for each route
• 1 Engineer
• 2 Landowners
• 1 Highwayman

We knew we would have 16 players when we wrote Railways and Respectability. We wanted rival railway company owners, politicians with conflicting goals, and landowners who might want the railway on their land. The engineer was needed for routes that needed tunnels or complex bridges, and the Prince Regent for granting royal assent.

Once I have the basic character types, I link themes (from stage 2) to them. In the list above, one politician might be a religious fanatic while another is a secret society member. The engineer might be a poet, and so on.

#4 Outline characters

I now define the characters in more detail.

• Public face: How the character presents themselves to others. I often write this as the paragraph that appears in the cast list.
• Private face: What the character is really like.
• Plots: Possible plots they might be involved in.
• Opening paragraph: The opening paragraph on the character sheet, establishing who the character is and why they are present at the freeform. This sets the scene for the rest of the character sheet.

For example

Fitzwilliam Darcy (from Pride and Prejudice)

• Public face: Wealthy but aloof gentleman with an income of £10,000 a year.
• Private face: In love with Elizabeth Bennett
• Plots: Marrying Mr Darcy, I don’t dance, Wickham and Georgiana
• Opening paragraph: You are Fitzwilliam Darcy, a proud young gentleman with an income of £10,000 a year. Your good friend Bingley is holding a ball at his house in Netherfield, and you are here to make sure he does not make a fool of himself.

If I am writing a freeform with someone else, fixing characters at this point ensures everyone is writing about the same things. 

#5 Character sheet layout

Once I’ve got the characters straight, I like to think about how I will lay out the character sheets. While character sheets can evolve as the writing progresses, I prefer to have a fixed idea of what will be on my character sheets at this point.

Character sheets vary, but generally include the following:

• Background: A background story section consisting of a few paragraphs explaining who that person is, why they are here, and what they are trying to achieve.
• Other People: A list of other people this character knows. These may or may not have been mentioned in the background. I like to include information here that this character knows to help the player strike up a conversation.
• Goals: Even though the character background provides a character’s goals, I like to see a list written out. This list acts as a memory jogger – as a player, I often haven’t got time to read my character sheet during the game to figure out my goals. For the same reason, I prefer goals with a few lines of explanation to simple bullet points.
• Other Information: These may be facts and rumours that the character needs to know. If I can’t work them into the background without it being too contrived, it might be better to put them into their own section.
• Other stuff: Any other sections that my freeform may require.

#6 Structure

Before I write plots, I consider the structure of my game, the timetable of events and things that may happen.

While short games rarely need much structure, I always consider the following:

• Preparation: How long a freeform larp takes to set up. 
• Start: How the game starts. Is there an event that starts everything off?
• The Middle: How much structure (timed events, and so on) I need depends on the plots. 
• End: How the game ends. Is there something that finishes the game, or does it just end the game when time is up?
• Game Wrap: What kind of wrap do I want?

#7 Plots

Writing plots is the most time-consuming section of the process. Here’s how I write plots.

First, choose a plot. By this point, I’ll have several plots from the themes and the characters. Then I write the basic plot details – the overall plot as I know it and the characters involved. (This overview helps if someone else runs the game and can go in the GM guide.)

Then I take each character and write what they know from their perspective. I write this so it can be cut and pasted directly onto the character sheet – including background, goals, other people and whatever else is on the character sheet. (This is why I decide the layout of my character sheets in advance.)

I then do the same for all the other characters in the plot. Other characters will have a different viewpoint and, ideally, conflicting goals.

Once the plot is written, I copy the relevant section to the character sheets. Often, characters will have similar perspectives on the plot, so I copy sections and change a few names and other details. However, I try to do this sparingly as I want everyone to have a unique view of events.

Some later editing is inevitable, so it all makes sense.

#8 Rules and mechanics

My guiding principle with rules and mechanics is to use as few as possible. Freeforms are primarily about roleplaying – and mechanics are rarely that. Having said that, freeforms sometimes benefit from a handful of mechanics.

The best rules are self-governing and require as little GM input as possible. As a GM, I am usually busy – and that’s without having to adjudicate rules.

#9 Background

Background is the setting for my game – it explains where the players are and what’s going on. While I create background information when I write my plots, I also need general background about the world in which my freeform is set.

There are broadly two types of information:

General background available to everyone. This can often be included in the pre-game information available when players sign up for the game.

Background specific to certain groups. For example, members of a secret society will need to know how the society functions and its goals in the game.

#10 finishing off

One of the arts of writing freeforms is knowing when to stop. How do I know that I’ve written enough? Should I write more – just in case?

Once I’ve assembled all the characters, I still have a few final checks:

• I read through each character and ask, “Is this character fun to play? Do they have enough to do?” If I’m not 100% sure that the answer is “Yes,” I need to make a few changes.
• I carry out the “I’m from abroad” test. This test involves reading through the game while pretending that I’m from abroad. This test checks to see that I’m not making assumptions about culture and history.
• I can’t proofread my own work, so I like to get someone to do that for me. I am always amazed at how many inconsistencies proofreading picks up. (If my proofreader is also from abroad and can carry out the second test, so much the better.)

(I don’t always get my game proofread before playtesting. There often isn’t time – so I’m always grateful when playtesters pick up errors and typos.)

Once I’ve done that, I’m ready to run my game!

Examples

Click on the "Using it" label for examples of how I have used Writing Freeform Larps.