What kind of IC conflict is expected in Five Oaths
Five Oaths is intended to be primarily a PvE (Player vs Environment) game.
This means that most of the conflict will occur between players and monsters
Some PvP (Player vs Player) conflict is expected, but should not be the main focus
- Player characters are expected to be essentially on the same side, having sworn an oath of loyalty to each other
- Conflict between player characters is expected to mostly take the form of social PvP (e.g. arguing about whether to take a particular mission, competition over officer roles, accusations of oathbreaking)
- Lethal PvP is not against the rules, but is intended to be rare and difficult to get away with
Group vs Group conflicts are not an intended feature of the game.
While group backgrounds are accepted as a way of facilitating linked backstories, groups are not intended to function as autonomous units competing against each other, or the band as a whole, for resources.
When does IC conflict become a problem?
It would be very difficult to have a LARP without some element of IC conflict, particularly a LARP about the adventures of a mercenary band. The ways that conflict involving combat can go wrong are fairly obvious and covered in the combat safety rules, but social conflict also has the potential to turn from a source of entertainment to something that sours the experience for those involved.
This often happens where the lines between IC and OOC are blurred: IC conflict begins to spill over into OOC bad feeling, OOC conflict is played out in IC interactions, or participants misread each other’s intentions, assuming IC actions indicate OOC dislike. It can also happen when roleplayed aggression or opposition are done in a way that is uncomfortable for the target player or make it more difficult for them to access or engage with the game.
General Guidelines for IC conflict
Consider how comfortable you are with IC conflict when making choices at character creation and beyond
Some character types and backgrounds are likely to make other characters perceive you with suspicion; for example broken chain and line breaker vartach, the Weeping, and peaceslayers will be regarded with varying degrees of suspicion or hostility by some or all of the other characters they meet, If you don’t think you’ll enjoy this aspect of the game, consider playing a different character type.
Similarly, taking certain actions IC (e.g. breaking an oath, joining a heretical cult) are likely to result in IC conflict if they are discovered. And, as in real life, if your character is habitually rude or abrasive, they’re likely to end up having more arguments. It’s easy to focus on what makes sense for your background or what makes a good story, but consider whether you’ll enjoy playing through the consequences before making controversial choices.
If you’ve made choices that have made your game less fun to play, don’t let “what my character would do” stand in the way of changing what you do IC to make the game more fun for you as a player. If that’s not possible or won’t resolve the situation, you have the option to retire at any time and make a fresh start.
Players are encouraged to share information with each other IC
Keeping information on a need to know basis is sensible in many real life situations, but when applied to LARP it can make everyone’s game experience a little worse (everyone who knows how to deal with this threat is on their monster slot, or worse, died without telling anyone) and some people’s experience a lot worse (new people are left feeling bored, or worse, like they’re being excluded from a clique). The game can be better for everyone when we look for opportunities to bring people into the loop (even if it’s not our first thought for what our characters would do)
Avoid IC conflict if your physical or emotional state, or your relationship with the other person would prevent you from handling it well
Avoid engaging in conflict with someone you’re angry at OOC, or if you’re in a state (stress, pain, etc) where you don’t feel you’re able to moderate your roleplay; if a monster brief would put you in this situation, let your ref know and we will recast the role. If there’s someone you don’t feel comfortable having IC antagonistic interactions with when one of you is monstering for the foreseeable future, you can let the Event Team know in advance by email.
Avoid Being Physically Intimidating
If you are engaged in a dramatic confrontation with another character, then consider your relative sizes, particularly if the other person is not someone you know well. If you are taller or have a bigger build than someone you are talking to, then you can reduce the impact of your size by keeping an arm’s length distance or more between you. If you are confronting someone in a tent or other enclosed space, make sure that you don’t block the only exit from the area.
Checking in
It’s easy to get swept up in the moment or focus on your character’s goals or feelings in a situation and miss the signs that another player is having a bad time. Checking in with the other participant in the IC conflict, either in the moment or afterwards, can be helpful. In the moment, this could take the form of using the check in signal (detailed below). Afterwards, checking in could look like approaching the player OOC and asking them how they’re feeling about the IC conflict..
Even if you think that the other player is enjoying themselves, it’s worth having a chat with them about it OOC; at worst it helps prevent misunderstandings, at best you could find that the player of your fiercest rival could be your new best friend.
This is especially important to do if:
- You’ve been in a very intense dramatic conflict where the other person could have felt physically intimidated
- You have engaged in PvP conflicts with the same person repeatedly
- You have engaged in PvP conflict that caused some sort of lasting negative consequence for the other character (e.g. they lost an officer position or were subjected to a punishment ritual)
- Someone has used the “lay off” call (detailed below) in an interaction with you.
If you’re feeling annoyed or stressed about the situation, or the other person seems to be feeling overwhelmed (e.g. they left the situation after using the lay off call) allow some time to pass before approaching them to check in (e.g. until the next mealtime or until time out).
Dealing with Intense Moments as they happen
These are not IC effects, but OOC indicators that can be used without breaking the game flow.
Lay off/Bring it on
If an IC situation is getting too intense, loud, or otherwise outside your Out of Character comfort zone, you can use the call “lay off” to indicate to the other player to dial it back, or indicate this non-verbally by making an “L” shape with your hand, with your thumb and index finger clearly visible. Conversely, if you are enjoying an intense situation you may use the “Bring it on” call to indicate to the other player that you are happy to continue in the current vein.
Check-in signal:
If someone hasn’t used the lay-off signal but you’re concerned about whether they’re feeling OOC uncomfortable, you can use the check-in signal to quickly check in with them without breaking the flow of the game. To do this, use the call “Check-in” and/or make eye contact with the other player and make a closed fist with your thumb extended sideways (as in, halfway between a thumbs up and thumbs down)
If someone uses this signal, respond either by giving a thumbs up” or using the “Bring it on” call to indicate you’re willing to continue, or using “Lay Off” call/signal or a thumbs down to indicate that you want them to reduce their intensity.
Resolving Ongoing Problems with IC Conflict
If conflict with another player character is making it difficult for you to enjoy or engage with the game, tell them how you’re feeling. You might use the “Lay off” call in the moment or take them to one side afterward. If it’s a pattern of interactions over time, this might need a more extended conversation outside of active gameplay. Give them the benefit of the doubt and approach the conversation assuming that the conflict was intended to be purely IC and that the other person will want to resolve the situation in a way that works for everyone. This advice assumes that the behaviour that’s causing a problem for you isn’t something that’s a breach of the code of conduct (e.g. racism, sexual harassment). If you are dealing with behaviour of this kind you are under no obligation to assume good faith or try to resolve it yourself, and are encouraged to speak to a member of the Event Team.
If someone approaches you to let you know that your roleplay is causing stress or problems for them, try to approach it without defensiveness. Don’t try to argue about whether your actions were reasonable, especially with the justification of “it’s what my character would do”. Even if your actions would have been acceptable to other players, or even this player at another time, they are telling you that they had a bad time and don’t want to have that kind of interaction with you right now, and trying to persuade them otherwise is going to cause further problems. Empathise, apologise, ask questions to make sure you understand what went wrong in the interaction, and don’t interact with them in that way again. In many situations, this will be enough and you can both move on, but where the situation that the characters were in conflict over is ongoing or they’re likely to oppose each other again, it’s a good idea to plan how you’re going to approach it so that you’re both comfortable and able to engage with the game as players, even if one or both of your characters are angry or miserable.
If your attempts to address a situation like this with another player or players do not result in a satisfactory resolution, speak to a member of the Event Team for advice.
For example (very deliberately not based on any situation we know about)
Nora is a new character, whose player is also new to the game, played as an ambitious upstart. Odhran is an established character, played by an experienced player, and an officer in the band, played as a cautious strategist. During one of Nora’s first attempts at being in command on a mission, things went wrong in a way that wasn’t entirely Nora’s fault, and an IC friend of Odhran’s died. Odhran was angry about this IC and blamed Nora, telling any character that would listen that Nora is a loose cannon that shouldn’t be trusted. Because Odhran is an officer and their player is established and pretty charismatic, they end up convincing a lot of other characters of their views, and Nora starts finding it difficult to get information about what’s going on, or to get involved in plot because of other characters’ distrust.
If everyone focused on doing “what my character would do”, this could very easily turn into a messy situation where one player makes another’s game very dull and frustrating by accident, but if Odhran’s player checks in with Nora’s or vice versa, there are lots of ways of resolving the situation so that everyone gets to engage with the game.
It’s often easiest to resolve the situation by dialling back or ending the dynamic without any discussion of it IC; Odhran’s player could simply reduce the frequency or intensity of IC actions that are causing the problem or stop them altogether without drawing attention to it IC, if necessary telling others who are involved to do the same (e.g. Odhran no longer tells others not to trust Nora,and asks other players who are actively involved to quietly drop the issue)
However, if both players agree, it’s possible to come up with a way of playing the conflict out IC that could be fun for both them:
The two players could come up with some IC justification for the feud to end. This could be as simple as Odhran deciding that it’s wiser to watch and wait, giving Nora the space and opportunity to prove them right. They could ask another character whose player gets on with Nora’s OOC to watch them, agreeing with them that the OOC intention is that this character will be less intense about it or an active accomplice to Nora. Or maybe Odhran could reconsider their first impression (possibly prompted by a planned confrontation with Nora) and conclude that to fulfil their oaths to the band, they need to give Nora a fair chance to prove them wrong.
If both players wanted to do so, the dynamic could be maintained with a twist; Odhran remains suspicious of Nora, but instead of keeping them out of sensitive matters, drags them into every meeting or secret mission they’re part of, just to “keep an eye” on them. Nora could endure this grudgingly or make it their mission to prove themselves, either way there’s a foundation for many events of interpersonal drama that doesn’t keep Nora’s player out of the game.
Discussing IC Conflict OOC
We all like to tell war stories at meet-ups and discord “Hots and Nots” threads about what our characters did at events, and because we experience the world through our characters we tend to be a little biased in how we tell these stories, whether we mean to or not. This isn’t really a problem when we overestimate how many monsters we slew single handed, but when we’re talking about someone else’s player character it can become a problem.
It’s important to make a distinction here between talking about something privately (e.g talking to the two people sharing a car with you on the way back from an event) and talking publicly (e.g. saying it on the discord server, saying it at a crowded table at a post event froth). The distinction between the two isn’t always clear, but generally, the more people you’re talking to (or could see/overhear what you say) the more careful you need to be.
Discussing IC conflict becomes a problem when:
You could gain an IC advantage
If you’re involved with an ongoing conflict with another PC (e.g. you’re both in the running for the same officer position, you’re planning to declare them to be an oathbreaker or vice versa), telling your side of the story to other players OOC might bias their IC decisions, consciously or otherwise.
You’re Lying
It’s not against the rules to mislead or lie to other characters IC, but when you continue to lie explicitly OOC to back your character up, other players will often give you the benefit of the doubt when their characters wouldn’t because they assume they’ve been told the real answer OOC. They are likely to be unhappy about this when it finally does come out because that wasn’t your character lying to their character, that was you lying to them.
It sounds like you’re talking about the player rather than the character
When you’re in the flow of telling a story, it’s easy to stop making sharp distinctions between you and your character, and other people and their characters. When you’re describing another player(s character) in negative terms and this happens, you can effectively end up badmouthing them to your mutual friends whether you intend to do so or not. This could end up having a negative impact on their reputation, or on yours.
You’re feeling annoyed/frustrated about the conflict
Maybe you do have a problem with the player or how they’re handling the conflict and you want to vent about it to someone. Talking this out with a friend can sometimes be helpful to put things into perspective, but if you’re discussing this in public it’s likely to escalate the situation and make it harder to resolve it with the other player. If you find yourself ranting OOC about the same player/character/conflict to multiple people, you need to stop and either speak to the other player or to a member of the event team about the issue.
Guidelines to avoid problems with discussing IC Conflict OOC
Don’t discuss conflict in a public forum (e.g. post event froth, Discord) if:
- You’re feeling annoyed/frustrated about the conflict
- You haven’t checked in with the other player OOC yet
- Other players will be making a decision on this conflict (e.g. nominating officers)
- You’re lying to people IC, and would need to continue that OOC to maintain your character’s cover
If you are discussing the conflict in a public forum:
- Be clear that you’re talking about IC opinions and actions, e.g. “My character thinks their character is a condescending asshole” rather than “They’re a condescending asshole”
- Do not say anything you know to be OOC untrue without explaining that this is a thing your character believes but is wrong about
- If in doubt, wait. You can always tell your war stories once the conflict has been resolved.