City of Mist

What is all that?

You're currently browsing a forum where a City of Mist PBP LARP is/will be/has been run.

The next planned game (and first so far) will be Mirrors.

What is PBP LARP?

First, not an official term. More of something that I cooked up after a theoretical discussion on the subject.

But as for an actual definition...

Well, an example of a completed game will likely be more telling than anything I can say in a few words here.

But if I was to try, I would say it's a LARP-sized play-by-post, with only a few GMs for a lot of players (~1 for 12 ratio). A pecularity which relies on the following to work:

Most interactions are PC-PC.

Not unlike a Living World style TTRPG, PC spend most of their time hanging out with other PC, in free form threads.

These interactions are the meat of the game, occasions not only to develop the participating characters' past, present, relationship, but also to expand upon the universe, by sharing stories about not-actually-in-the-game characters, visiting ad-libbed locations, inventing new legends, etc.

Thus, the job of the GM is mostly to provide the best environment for all that creativity to flow freely. In general, this takes the form of game-spanning story arc, whose main goals are: to help set up the ambiance, to provide crumbs of stories to expand upon, and, most importantly, impulse the game's rhythm.

Because:

It runs on a strict schedule.

These games have a debut date. But also an end date. Starting from day 1, every three calendar days, the plot moves forward, ready or not, with new events becoming accessible, and some of the previous ones being closed off. After about two weeks (for short games) or one month (for long games), the game as a whole is archived.

This can sometimes be a frantic pace. But it's simply not possible for players (or GM) to remain active enough for the game to thrive for longer periods of time. Especially as we tend to be adults with a job, a family, various other responsibilities.

Hence non negotiable deadlines, and a careful management of the resource known as time in general.

What is City of Mist?

In three words: Queer. Supernatural. Batman.

As for the long version:

First, I'll advise looking at the Quick Start PDF, freely available on the official City of Mist website. I just won't be doing a better job at explaining the setting, system, philosophy of CoM than that one introductory document.

At most can I try to rephrase some of it with my own words:

It's a game about normal humans living in a modern city in this day and age. Normal humans that also happen to be vessels for powers far greater than themselves, modern avatars of concepts, stories, ideals that have existed since the dawn of humankind.

The emphasis however is not so much on the powers themselves than on how they define, shape, change their owner, with a simple yet very relevant system that encourages using them alongside more mundane qualities in original ways.

For example, while it glosses over questions like how many fireballs a journalist channeling primordial fire can throw per minute, it provides a built-in framework for them to use their pyrokinesis to set up the perfect lighting for that one picture they need for their next article.

Also, there's a more specific question I can actually answer: Why I think CoM is a good fit for the PBP LARP format.

It's character driven first and foremost.

A character sheet is made of sixteen story hooks and not a single figure. You don't actually have to worry about power level, party roles (like healer, tank, DPS...), combat efficiency and whatnot.

What the system mechanically encourages however is to have a rich and complex character, with a lot of evocative elements that can easily be summoned during scenes. As long as it inflames your imagination, amateur gardener is a better asset than a laser sword you have no idea what to do about.

For people from a L5R (or GURPS) background, think of a character made solely of fluff advantages and disadvantages yet still "mechanically competent".

Actions are naturally descriptive, cinematic, verbose, and thus offer a great base to write good posts.

An example: If you wish to have your PC cross a river, in a lot of TTRPG, it would be, out of the box, a relatively bland Athletics roll. In CoM, it's an opportunity to delve deeper into your PC's medal-winning triathlete past, parkour artist present, or sea-parter mythos.

Of course, you may object that you can add flavor and color on your own to even something like a basic Athletics roll. This is very true. But it's not something that the system encourages or supports you doing. Meanwhile, CoM, through its mechanisms, gives you the thumb up for being more narrative about your actions and provides a well of leads about how to do just that.

What is the most important thing I should keep in mind?

Out Of Character (OOC) communication is everything.

I.e. talk with your fellow players (and GM) directly, without the mask of your character.

Ask people what they meant in that IC (In Character) post you have a doubt about. You're interacting with people from all around the world, a lot of them non native to the English language (and even so, writing unambiguous speech is a complex, professional skill, not an innate quality) that you don't have in front in you to see on their face or hear in their voice the tone the text should be interpreted through.

Arrange for threads beforehand backstage, including an agenda for what you wish to talk about. Asynchronous format, each back and forth can possibly take a very long time. If you just try to subtly guide the conversation a certain way with your partner being oblivious to it, chances are high that nothing at all will come out of it.

Remember: You are actors playing characters. But you are also the showrunners, the screenwriters, the costumers... All of these people that aren't on screen but whose hidden work is indispensable for any scene to flow well.

Players are sometimes afraid to organize too much OOC that because they have been told repeatedly that metagaming is the ultimate evil. I'm not honestly sure what metagaming is, it often feels like an umbrella term for "behaviors I don't like in TTRPG". Regardless, OOC communication is just always good. Period.