Dear Members,
In January 2018 I will be updating the management procedures, writing structure, and LARP rules of the Mystic Realms system. These changes are necessary to grow as a game, as a club, and as a community of friends.
For over twenty years Mystic Realms members have pushed the frontiers of what is possible in this hobby. The “one-step rule,” “aiming counts,” “tarps as terrain,” “clarify to avoid stopping action,” and so many other things were developed by our members and appeared first in our rulebooks.
In this update, we continue to break new boundaries as we seek to create for each other those magical memorable moments that define the finest examples of immersive, theatric, live-action roleplaying.
UPDATE OVERVIEW
Management restructuring seeks to make club leadership leaner, more effect, and more available to players. Managers will not be allowed to be cast members. Each manager (except producer) will use one of their player characters to portray the in-play position they supervise. The Concessionaire plays the cook who supervises the kitchen assistants, the Concierge plays the Innkeeper who supervises the Guildmasters, the Arbitrator plays the Magistrate who supervises the Sheriff. By having a more director control over the play area managers can help facilitate roleplaying, while ensuring luminary player characters are able to fulfill their functions. The duties of Luminary Characters will be clarified.
Writer restructuring seeks to create overarching long-term plots with monthly growth and change that weave together with short-term plots that last two or three months to create a seamless tapestry of story with strong continuity between event to event and even from year to year. To accomplish this Clubs will have a Plot Team of 3-4 Executive Directors and 1-2 Event Directors who are not permitted to portray player characters while serving on Plot Team. The Executive Directors serve 9-18 month terms and will work closely with each other to plan long-term stories for the club and to train the clubs writers. The Event Directors serve 2-3 month terms and create the short-term stories that drive the events from month to month. Writers will work toward becoming Event Directors and Event Directors who excel will be asked to become Executive Directors.
Rules restructuring is focused on getting the “roleplaying” back into skill use while streamlining, rebalancing, and removing non-needed complexity. For example, we will complete the move to a keyword system started in 2010 to make reactions to skills easier. Skill categories will be renamed to remove the alphabet soup that developed over the years (i.e. Spells, Prayers, and Powers (SP&Ps) is renamed to castings, but the concepts of each type preserved so Wizards still have spells and Clerics still have prayers.) The changes to surprise feats and the damage! casting will be officially adopted. The duration, mana costs, and effects of some castings have been adjusted to make use of non-damage castings more efficient (i.e. mana cost lowered by one balanced by shorter durations). A few new skills will be introduced a few old skills deleted have been re-worded and reintroduced.
RELEASE SCHEDULE
To avoid overwhelming you with information we will release books over a period of time. Please try and look over each book as it is released to get the feel for the updated system.
Jan 5. Members Manual Jan 9. Managers Manual (released to club administrators) Jan 12. Menagerie: A Book of Beasts Jan 16. Compendium: A Book of Beings, Entities, and Creations, Jan 19. Core Rule Book Jan 23. Glory of Guildhall Realm Book Jan 26. Item Guide Jan 30. Cast Members Handbook
Mar 15 "Ancients of Wyldar" dice-play adventure
The publications Writing Adventures, Writing Battles, and Writing Events will be released to those members wishing to write for Mystic Realms as part of our Writers Guild.
The following Realm Books will be released as events are scheduled: Galactic Mercenaries, Empire or Tyrs, Apocalypse Earth, A Guide to Being Super, Steampunk, Weird West, Aberrant Earth, Modern Earth, and Espionage Earth
CONCLUSION
We’ve been working on these changes for the past 5 years. They are intended to create and maintain cooperative, immersive, character-driven LARP events with intense emotional stories, exciting combat encounters, and insightful intellectual challenges.
I don’t expect that everyone will like every change, but overall I think this is an update that will make many people happy. There are a few changes that need play testing. If they work well they will be incorporated, if not we will try something new. That is the beauty of having a system that can grow, and change, and evolve over time with the input of players.
Thank You, Anton Kukal
I've closed this post as it has fallen out of date with the release of the current rules.