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What kind of playing style is your larp making your players play? Is the natural way to interact in information about the game through talking, – such as character descriptions or through physical action and body language? There events that are many ways going to adjust the playing style in your game happen – through secret for the characters, through workshops, through scenography design players or through simply telling can anyone read it? Is it actively facilitated that you share secrets before the game start? Transparency can make it easier for players what style you want. A physical playing style might be more thrillingto help each other play and create a stronger drama, letting but it will ruin any surprises for the players immerse more through using all . There are also intermediate possibilities where there are secrets for some of their sensesthe players, but a more verbal game might be easier not all, or where the players themselves choose what to involve new players in, as well as being more realistic in many settingsreveal. What kind of playing style are you aiming for?
==Fader 3: Scenography==''Organizer vs. player''
''360Who creates the characters? Do the organizers write them? Do the players? Or maybe they are created together during a pre-degree illusion vsgame workshop? Combinations of these are also possible; for example, where the organizers create the characters, but the players develop them during a workshop before the larp. Player-created characters might make the players more attached to the characters and relieves the organizers of some of the work. On the other hand, organizer-created characters might make it easier to create a setting and fiction coherent with your vision. modeling''
How does your larp look? Do you aim for a 360-degree illusion, where everything the players see around them is part of the larp? Or do you use a minimalist approach, playing in a black box or something similar, imagining the surroundings of the characters and modeling the setting by letting something represent something else?
Is information about Some organizers consider their job done when the larp has started; then, they leave everything in the hands of the players. Others influence the game – such in different ways as character descriptions or events that are going to happen – secret for the players or can anyone read it? Is it actively facilitated that goes along. Are you share secrets be- fore an active or a passive game master when the game starthas started, during ''runtime''? Transparency can make it easier for players to help each other play and create a stronger drama, but it will ruin any surprises for the players. There are Game mastering might also intermediate possibilities where there are secrets for some be of different sorts: the discrete ones, like sending instructed playersinto the game, but not allor the extremely intrusive ones, or where like stopping the game and instructing the players themselves choose what to revealdo a scene again differently.
Who creates the characters for What motivates the players in your game? Do the organizers write them? Do the Having something to win or a goal to obtain, be it individually or collectively, can be an easy way to motivate players write them themselves? Or maybe they’re created together during a pre-game workshop? Combinations of these are also possible, where especially for example beginners. This is the organizers creates competition approach. On the charactersother hand, but you often get more interesting stories and stronger player experiences when the players continues evolving them during a workshop or in groups before the larp. Organizer created collaborate – for example, by deliberately getting their characters might make it easier to create a coherent setting and fictioninto trouble, but player created characters might let the players share the organizer burden as well as let them attach more i.e. [[playing to the characters they’ve created themselveslose]].
What is Larpwrights often have to consider the goal tradeoff between playability and plausibility. When making a historical game, for example, having a female factory owner might be highly implausible. However, it might be very playable – creating lots of interesting drama and intrigues for the players to use in your game? Fulfilling some plot described in their character description? Winning? Immerse as much as possible into his or her character? Or creating the larp. In most interesting story together with games, you leave out the other players? Having characters that have nothing to contribute to the players motivated by obtaining some goal or winning is often considered a “gamist” approachdrama, even though it would be plausible to have them there. Sometimes, while “immersionist” or “narrativist” approaches is found on you make unlikely twists to make the other end outcome of the scale, where the a story or the characters are most importantunpredictable. There are many tools that How true will you can use be to introduce any of these player motivations in your game, for example clear plots setting? A plausible story might be a requirement for players to believe and immerse into the characters or different sorts of competitive elementsfiction. These will influence But, the players´ motivation players also need drama and feelings of achievement when taking part in your larpoften the least plausible setups create the most drama. What should motivate the players in your game?
[[Meta-technique|Metatechniques]] are techniques for giving information to Do you use elements from the players, but not players’ real lives in the charactersgame (close to home), during or do you deliberately try to create a barrier or distance (differentiation) between the game. Examples will be given during character and player? Using the summer schoolplayers’ own experiences or background might create a stronger emotional experience, but can for example be secret monologues that are held during also has its downsides: making the game less larpand more reality. The It can divert focus from the story and the emotions the story creates to the emotions the players can hear these, bring with them into the characters cannot, but nonetheless, they can be an aid for creating stronger drama. Metatechniques may of course be turned completely off (although this is rare). If they’re used in a game, they might be intrusive or discreet. Examples of intrusive metatechniques are techniques that forces all other play Taken to stop while it takes partthe extreme, while more discrete techniques you might for example be having access to a special room where have the players can go play themselves, just in an alternative setting. Are you willing to act out scenes from lessen the past or the future. Will metatechniques fit with your larp? If so, will you use discrete or intrusive onesplayer-character divide?* [[Bleed]]
==Fader 8: Plausibility==
''Playability vs. plausibility''==Communication Style==
Often in larp design, you’ll encounter the trade off between playability and plausibility''Physical vs. When making a historical game, for example, having a female factory owner is highly implausible. However, it might be very playable – creating lots of interesting drama for the players to use in the larp. How will you trade off playability versus plausibility?verbal''
==Fader 9: Game master style==
''Active vs. passive''==Representation of Theme==
Some organizers consider their job done when the larp has started – it’s then in the players´ hands''Abstraction vs. Others influence the game in different ways as it goes along. This game mastering might be of different sorts: the discrete ones, like sending instructed players into the game, or the extremely intrusive ones like stopping the game and instructing the players to do a scene again – differently. What fits with your idea?simulation''
==Fader 10: Bleed-in==
''Designing close to home vs. differentiation''==Meta-techniques==
Do you use elements from the players´ real lives in the game, or do you deliberately try to create a barrier or distance between the character and player? Using the players own experiences or background might create a stronger experience, but also has its downsides: Making the larp less larp and more reality''Intrusive vs. Taken to the extreme, you might have the players play themselves, just in an alternative setting. Are you willing to lessen the player-character divide? Or might it just do more harm to your game when you don’t have the cushion of this divide?discrete''
''Sandbox vsThe Mixing Desk of Larp is a work in progress. It’s a pedagogical tool aimed for presenting and structuring some of the most important design choices of larp in a convenient form. There are plenty of other faders that could be part of the Mixing Desk, and the framework is open to extensions. railroading''
How much freedom does the players Some possible faders that have been discussed, for example in your larp? Are they free to do as they want once the game has started, or do you control their possible actions through game master involvement, strict character possibilities, destinies or pre-decided endings or events? Do you present them with a railroad or a sandbox?Knutepunkt 2013 book article is* Representation of time (Chronology)* Player freedom (Sand box vs. railroading)* Random elements* Degree of pervasiveness
Getting to know about all of this, you might be eager to try out it all, manipulating and adjusting all the faders to your heart’s content. This might be a bad idea – and it might not even be possible. If you push all the faders on a sound equalizer all the way to the top, the only thing that happens is that the sound quality gets worse. The same thing might happen when you over-adjust the faders of the Mixing Desk of Larp. When all the faders are adjusted, you might dilute the effect of the most important parts of your larp. Think about when to adjust a fader, and when to leave in a more neutral position.
Also, fader adjustment might place restrictions on other fader choices. Making a larp with only player created characters might force you to use minimalist scenography, simply because you have no idea what characters the players will create. Pushing the metatechniques-fader all the way to intrusive might make it impossible to have a goal of 360-degree illusion, since the metatechniques will breach the illusion, and so forth.
==Video presentation==
Video presentation about the Mixing Desk of larp with [[Martin Eckhoff Andresen]] from [[Nordic Larp Talks]] [[2013]].
Fixed capitalization.
[[File:Mixing_desk_of_larpMixing desk of larp.png|right|thumb|The Mixing Desk of Larp version 24, revised after revised after [[The Larpwriter Summer School]] [[20122014]]]]'''''The Mixing Desk of Larp''' is a framework for organizing your thoughts about larp design. Look at it as a pedagogical tool more than a theory of larp design– it is an aid in visualizing the most important design choices a larpwright makes.''
When you design a larp, there are plenty of parameters you can adjust. These parameters will obviously have impact on the larp you're designing. The main idea of the Mixing Desk of Larp is that being a larpwright or larp organizer is like being a technician controlling the lights or the sound of a concert or theatre performance. At his disposal, the technician has an array of faders, increasing or decreasing the amount of lights of different colors, the volume of specific sound frequencies or similar. All these faders can be adjusted up or down, adjusting the amount of whatever they're controlling and affecting the performance.
In the same way, a larp designer can adjust the faders of the Mixing Desk of Larp, changing the larp they’re designing. You can increase the level of transparency, add a pinch of metatechniquesmeta-techniques, change the responsibility for the character creation process or introduce abstract elements to enhance a special atmosphere in the larp. All these adjustments will have effects on the game you’re organizing, and adjusting these faders can help you reach your design goal for the larp.
The goal of the Mixing Desk of Larp is to provide a framework for organizing thought about how the changes in these parameters will affect a larp, and what position of the faders are suitable for what larp. An important goal is also to recognize that there are “default positions” for these faders that will influence your larp, even if you don’t make any specific choices about them. These default positions can differ depending on larp group, community or traditions. Being aware of ones own default positions is an important goal of the Mixing Desk framework.
=History=
The first iteration of The Mixing Desk of Larp was created for [[The Larpwriter Summer School]] 2012. It was made by a crew of the summer school with many coming from [[Fantasiforbundet]], Education center POST and [[LajvVerkstaden]].
For the [[Knutepunkt-books]] for [[Knutepunkt 2013]] the article ''The Mixing Desk of Larp'' was written by [[Martin Nielsen]] and [[Martin Eckhoff Andresen]] was written with updated names and descriptions. =The fadersFaders=
Of course, there are endless numbers of faders that could possibly have been adjusted on the Mixing Desk of Larp. Here are some of the most important parameters that can be adjusted when making a larp. The ambition is that other larpwriters will add their own faders and remove the ones they don’t find fruitful when using this framework.
==Fader 1: Playing styleOpenness==
''Physical Transparency vs. verbalsecrecy''
==Fader 2: RepresentationScenography==
''Abstraction 360-degree illusion vs. realismminimalism''
How do does your larp represent the reality in the settinglook? Do you use abstract elements to focus on aim for a [[360º]], where everything the feeling and atmosphere players see around them is part of the setting, or is realism your goallarp? If the goal of the game is to create the atmosphere of Or do you use a prison campminimalist approach, where you might do this in two ways: By trying to recreate an actual prison camp, or by using abstract, surrealist elements only pay attention to re-create the paranoid feeling of not knowing if it’s day or night or what will happen next that some prisoners have reported after months in a camp. What will fit for your larp?* [[360º]]
==Character Creation Responsibility==
==Fader 4: OpennessRuntime Game Mastering==
''Transparency Active vs. secrecypassive''
==Fader 5: Character creation responsibilityStory Engine==
''Organizer Collaborativity vs. playercompetivity''
==Fader 6: Player motivationLoyalty to Setting==
''Competitive Playability vs. collaborativeplausibility''
==Fader 7: MetaBleed-techniquesin==
''Intrusive Close to home vs. discretedifferentiation''
What kind of communication style does your larp encourage? Is the natural way to interact in the game through talking, or through physical action and body language? Communication style can be adjusted through the characters, through workshops, through scenography design, or through simply telling the players what you want. A physical communication style might be more thrilling, letting the players immerse more through using all of their senses, but a more verbal game might be easier to involve new players in, as well as being more realistic in many settings.
How does your larp represent the reality of the setting? Is realism your goal? Or do you use abstract or even surrealistic elements to focus on the feeling and atmosphere of the setting or to highlight a particular aspect of the game? If the goal of the game is to create the atmosphere of a prison camp, you might do this in two ways: by trying to simulate an actual prison camp or by using abstract or surreal elements to create the feeling of one.
[[Meta-technique]]s are techniques for giving information to the players, but not the characters, during the game. Examples can be “inner” [[monologues]] that are played out during the larp. The players can hear these, the characters cannot, but nonetheless, they can be an aid for creating stronger drama. If meta-techniques are used in a game, they might be intrusive or discrete. Examples of intrusive meta-techniques are techniques that force all other players to stop while it happens, while a more discrete technique might be, for example, having access to a special room where players can go to act out scenes from the past or the future. This fader illustrates the combination of the amount of meta-techniques used and their degree of intrusiveness.
* [[Meta-technique]]
==Fader 11: Player pressurePressure==
''Pressure on players (hardcore) Hardcore vs. pressure on characters (pretense)''
There are some things in larp that might be hard are difficult to play out. Hunger, violence, sleep deprivation, drinking, sex and drug abuse use might be examples. If you want to include these elements in your game, how do you do it? Do you put the pressure on the players as well as the characters by using with hardcore methods such as real alcohol, real food deprivation , and waking people at night, or do ? Do you put shelter the players from the pressure on the characters only by using replacements like boffer swords, padded fake alcohol , and telling the players to pretend to be hungry or sleep deprived? Hungry players will , of course , feel what it is like to be hungry, but their ability to roleplay role-play and enjoy other aspects of the game might be hampered. Where will you put the pressure in your game?
==Fader 12: Player freedom=Open Framework=
=Video Presentation=The cost of complexity and Video presentation about the restrictions Mixing Desk of the faders==larp with [[Martin Eckhoff Andresen]] from [[Nordic Larp Talks]] [[2013]].
{{#ev:youtube|fprp4bPTbaw}}
=Source=
* [http://larpschool.blogspot.no/p/programme.html Programme for Larpwriter Summer School 2012] =External links=[http://larpschool.blogspot.no/p/resources.html Filmed fader-talks from the Larpwriter Summer School 2012]
=External Links=
* [http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkcfpOLbv_dr2SI2iZk6Dnz9v30oLeCaU Filmed fader-talks from the Larpwriter Summer School 2013]
* [http://larpschool.blogspot.no/p/resources.html Filmed fader-talks from the Larpwriter Summer School 2012]
* [http://nordiclarp.org/mixing_desk_of_larp.psd Photoshop File for editing your own Mixing Desk]
* [https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/24803335/The%20Mixing%20Desk%20of%20Larp.pdf The article about the Mixing Desk from the 2013 Knutepunkt-book]
[[categoryCategory:Concepts|Mixing Desk of Larp, The]]
