CHARIOT LARP: Player Communication, New Runs, Custom Runs

The CHARIOT LARP updates just keep on coming. I had a very emotional and insightful experience playing Captain Emily O’Sullivan in our first session. If you’re new to CHARIOT LARP, learn more about it right here.

This post is primarily an update for:

• Registered players eagerly awaiting communication
• Anyone wanting to know about this digital LARP format, which (as far as I know) has never been executed on a multi-game, universe-building scale as we are doing here.

Updates for those who have signed up – and those who are just curious – happen below the video.

You can learn more about our ALPHA run over on the Facebook page, and you can watch the whole thing here:

Contacting CHARIOT LARP

Once upon a time, I schedule a few runs of my new digital LARP. Next thing I knew, I had 100 Facebook messages about it! Then I wasn’t getting back to people quickly, and they really wanted to buy tickets.

Now I have administrative help to handle scheduling, communication, admin tasks, and Discord. You’ll get to meet Jen, Michele, and Nick along the way.

Together, Jen, Michele, and I monitor and respond to the TGI LARPs inbox. Nick is our friendly neighborhood Discord guru. He’ll make sure you have access to the right channels in Discord. (Not sure what that means? Read on!)

You can email us about CHARIOT or any other TGI LARP at tgilarps@gmail.com.

For the moment, Jen, Michele, and Nick are volunteering their time to help me out and I am very appreciative of their assistance. Please be especially respectful, courteous, and patient with them. It’s very kind of them to help me with this while I am still finalizing a business model that can sustain the LARP and compensate them for their work.

I Got a Ticket – Now What?

First of all, thank you for believing in me and my game! Right now, I’m finishing up the ALPHA run (our test) of the game – details on that below. This means I’m finalizing and rapidly changing game materials and thinking about what I can do to help other GMs and myself facilitate the most dynamic and collaborative story possible. In addition to the editing I’m still doing to keep the lights on, it’s quite a task.

You can expect increased email activity from us 1-2 weeks prior to the start of your run. I’m building that communication process out based on feedback from the ALPHA testers, but you’ll initially receive:

• An invitation from Jen to schedule a character creation time with your captain along with instructions on how to do that
• An introduction to our team and your captain / GM
• Our communication guide
• Links to safety videos, past runs, our social media, and more.

But I Wanna Prepare NOW!

Okay! We’ve ironed out some stumbling blocks in ALPHA run, and a big one is Discord.

Discord is the free app we use for a great deal of player communication, between session RP, planning, and updates. Each run gets its own voice and text channel. Once you get characters, these communication features are unlocked.

If you already use Discord and participate in multiple discord channels like me, you’ll want to click on the TGI icon on the left (it’s in the top of the list on my screenshot).

Discord has a bit of a learning curve, but once you learn it, it’s pretty easy. I prefer it because it’s very lightweight, meaning it’s easy to participate in the game and use the app during or between the game. It’s essential to handling emotional safety during the game due to the video conference nature of the game.

In other words, you need it, and it helps make the game accessible!

• Anyone is welcome to join The Geek Initiative’s Discord channel, especially our CHARIOT passengers who have signed up for the ride. It’s also a great place to interact with people from different runs. You’ll find that you have access to several channels, including a general one about LARP, and it’s heavily moderated…meaning we’ll boot anyone problematic. Also, only the people in your run will be able to see your CHARIOT run channel – it’s not public.
• Once you’ve signed up and paid, you can also join our private Facebook group just for CHARIOT LARP participants. Our players are a helpful bunch and we encourage an inclusive and safe roleplaying community.
• Follow the adventures of the previous / current crews and get cool updates about sci-fi and space stuff via the Facebook page.
• Watch the current game on Twitch.
• Send your questions to us at: tgilarps@gmail.com.
• Make sure you’ve blocked out time in your appropriate schedule.

Accessibility Tickets

If you’ve been offered an accessibility ticket for any run, please reach out to us at tgilarps@gmail.com. We need to collect your email address to make sure you’re included on the communications for your run (since you were not required to purchase a ticket through Eventbrite). We just need your name, email, and the run you were promised.

Sure, I’ll reach out to you if you don’t do this – I haven’t forgotten about you! – but it would be a huge help if you could reach out to help us organize.

Multiple Runs

Is it okay to sign up for multiple runs? YES. As the ALPHA run progresses, it’s very clear that each game of CHARIOT Is going to be dramatically different depending on the players and what they want to see, explore, or do! It’s working out better than I thought because it’s actually more freeform than I thought.

We already have a few players signed up for multiple runs. You won’t get the same experience twice. If you’re able, consider signing up for runs with different captains (GMs). Currently, we have new GMs for GAMMA and IOTA, and the rest are run by me.

Now Available: Private Runs

We’re working on our first private run – that is, we’ll run a customized CHARIOT adventure for a group of 6-8 individuals committed to playing this game. It’s a great team-building exercise for your own team, especially if you want to work on storytelling skills. We can direct the story to encourage team-building in a business or educational group, provide marketers with the tools they need to effectively tell a brand’s story, or allow writers to dive into character development and story progression.

Interested in scheduling a private run? Email us: tgilarps@gmail.com.

New Runs and Runs With Openings

As of the time I’m writing this (Saturday, 6:15 AM), the following runs have openings:

• GAMMA: POC-only run – 4 seats remaining
• DELTA: General Run – 1 seat remaining
• ZETA: Saturday General run – 5 seats remaining
• IOTA: Non-streamed run [created for people who cannot appear on public stream, but anyone may generally join] – 6 seats remaining
• EPSILON: Woman-only run — NEW! — 6 seats remaining

Sign up and learn more info here.

That Sci-Fi, Future Thing

CHARIOT LARP has received a lot of interest, and I’m SO grateful for that! Along with this whole business model / scaling thing in progress (seriously, you should see my calendar for Monday – it’s booked solid and I’m excited about it!), I’m also speaking with a web designer about an exchange of services to make the LARP section of this site more navigable. My mantra is “I’m working on it,” because as this grows, I’m learning a lot about prioritizing the scale of this game and the business at large.

How Can You Help CHARIOT LARP Succeed?

There a few quick and simple things you can do to help us grow (and manage our growth):

• Share the link to the game page
• Once you’ve played the game, leave a review on our Facebook page
• Purchase a ticket for a friend – or sponsor a second accessibility ticket in any given run (just purchase a ticket as normal, then email us to let us know it’s a gift or sponsorship)
• If you’ve played or are playing, help new attendees in the Facebook group.
• We’re doing something new! Blog about it! Post about it! Pitch it to a super fancy website! Then email the link to us! It’s shiny, digital, and accessible, and having limited startup resources and chronic illnesses were inspirations behind this format.

Thanks for sticking with me on this journey.