How to be more welcoming

[Ted]

Okay! We've had some great advice about how to get involved in game more for new players.

Next question for you all! Any suggestions on how to make scenes more welcoming (without losing flavor or thematic appropriateness, of course).

Suggestions welcome!

[Melissa]

Good idea!

-Always be on the lookout for new people to give patronage to. Do they need help? A political appointment? Advice? Funding? A shoulder to cry on? Find out what they need, and find out how to give it to them, either for payment now or favors down the line.

-Introduce them to other people. If they aren't the sort of person your character would be interested in interacting with, maybe you know someone who would like them and want to interact? If you have to say "No" instead of "Yes, and", try for "No, but..." and add something else.

-Offer to be a mentor, in or out of character. Every LARP is different and even longtime LARPers can stutter in a new game or when returning to an old one. Many of the cultural cues are subtle and hard to ferret out quickly.

-Don't take advantage of new players and their lack of knowledge about the game, PARTICULARLY when it has to do with mistakes in BAM canon vs. different WoD editions and their canon. Our canon is documented piecemeal at best and even longtime players get blindsided by some of the changes. Be graceful.

-Offer lessons instead of punishments when possible. Etiquette classes are excellent RP opportunities and can be the beginning of a good relationship.

-Take chances on new players. A new player wants to be an officer? Awesome. Let's see if we can find you an opening so you can get involved on that level. Longtime players will have other chances of being officers and experiencing that aspect of the game, if we haven't already- if the two choices are equal, giving it to the new player shakes things up and gives them a new experience.

-Encourage character backstory tie-ins. I can be hard to do after their first night, but it can be made to work, and it's a great way for a new player to get a running start on RP. Your main has already met them their first night, so setting up a connection there would be awkward- but what about your alt?

-Never assume that they have noticed something about the game that seems obvious to you. We've been doing this for a long time, they haven't, and a lot can slip through the cracks.

[LaCroix]

Two thumbs up for the above. A lot of my stuff is about increasing opportunities for scenes to happen in the first place:

-Run or support events that are open to all. You may not have the time and energy to pour into your own events, but making stuff that everyone has access to inviting and interesting helps keep the social stratification from becoming too insurmountable. It's not that big a city, and most more powerful or established characters can usually find an excuse to be in the same room as less powerful or established ones, and just being in the same room is a pretty good place to start.

-Talk OOC. This one is super hard for me because SHY, but more OOC conversation--in person, on the boards, on chat, wherever it's most comfortable--can help to foster the kind of comfort that encourages inclusion, so it's usually worth the effort. We encourage new players to do this, but of course it only works if established players are likewise willing to engage.

-Watch for loners. If you see someone who spends a lot of time alone, or who is lurking at the edges of a conversation, invite them in. If that's not appropriate to your character (say you're the Lesser Regional Harpy and not inclined to stoop, or something), ask someone more junior and more flexible to investigate/invite/generally talk to them and see what's up.

-Try to run things like clan meetings in uptime where possible and not infrequently. Increasing clan solidarity is totally setting appropriate, and creating clan connections can help people at loose ends have someone to RP with and increase their involvement and opportunity, and if nothing else, it gives everyone involved something interesting to do for an hour or so. This is also true of other groups that might exist in game: coteries, faith groups, sects, clubs, whatever. Uptime involvement is a great integration tool, *especially* if it's happening on a couple of axes and thus exposing players to different groups and contexts.

-Delegate. Plot, errands, whatever you've got. It's totally appropriate to snag a bored-looking neonate to pitch in on something, or to ask a primogen for volunteers (of course, it's also nice to make sure people have an out, in case they're not interested). If you don't feel like you have enough going on to delegate, there might still be something you can share or seek advice on or trade favors for (hearty participation in the boon system in particular can, I think, really help every kind of player--owing people and being owed gives us something to work with, RP-wise, and it's a powerful IRL social tool).

[Ted]

-Delegate. Plot, errands, whatever you've got. It's totally appropriate to snag a bored-looking neonate to pitch in on something, or to ask a primogen for volunteers (of course, it's also nice to make sure people have an out, in case they're not interested). If you don't feel like you have enough going on to delegate, there might still be something you can share or seek advice on or trade favors for (hearty participation in the boon system in particular can, I think, really help every kind of player--owing people and being owed gives us something to work with, RP-wise, and it's a powerful IRL social tool).

This was the one I was going to recommend the most! The Vampire the Masquerade setting assumes this should be happening: that older and/or better-entrenched vampires use younger and less established vampires as their cat's-paws to keep out of risk themselves.

[Winifred]

While I really like Alison's suggestions, remember that this can apply to new characters as well as new players. It is often difficult to get a new character integrated, even if a past one had plenty to do.

[Ted]

Another one comes to mind for me, and I suspect many will disagree:

Host Events at the same time as other events!

In real-life society this can be problematic or rude or just kinda awkward, but in LARP, it can mean that people who don't want to attend an event for some reason won't feel forced to do so. It seems counter-intuitive, but having two events where everyone fits in actually ends up with more interaction than one event where everyone feels like they have to be there even if it makes no sense, because that's the only place the plot is.

[LaCroix]

I think multiple events are great, though it's important to go into such planning with some fortitude--one can wind up with few attendees, and while of course that isn't personal, it can feel bad if it's unexpected!

[Melissa]

Probably best to coordinate with the other person running an event- having a clear idea of who the events might appeal to, etc can help design events that might appeal to different subsets of game. Or running them at overlapping times but not entirely. Lots of options!

Becky, that's true! I feel like a thread for "how to integrate other people's new characters" and another thread or a subsection of that thread for "how to integrate your new character" could be cool, if you feel like starting one or both? Returning players have different tools in their toolbox than new players and the way other players handle them is different- the New Player merit affects this significantly, as does the assumption that longer-term players have everything handled. Seeing everyone's tips and tricks on both sides would be great.

[Leon]

Competing events are absolutely something I'd love to see more of. I know that I've been to several games where due to plot/character interaction/character not knowing, I've spent the entirety of game out of game due to not being present at the Event. Having a competing event at the very least allows for players to have options and give their own brand of politics on who goes.