Night Watch in Toronto | Larp Structure | Characters | Classifications | Power
Night Watch in Toronto
One of the things we love about the Night Watch series is the deep grounding in Russian culture. When we considered creating a larp around Night Watch, we asked ourselves what Canadian Night Watch would look and feel like; what is important to ground the story in the city and the country. As players, you will help us build answers to these questions, much as the country collectively searches for identity exclusive of coffee chains and beer.
The world we seek to create is one where balance is supposedly sought but constantly tipped toward one side or the other; a city where both an ancient cold war and a struggle between peoples of stolen lands and colonizers is hidden beneath a thin veneer of passive-aggressive politeness; a station house where paranoia is the order of the day, as the enemy is always watching.
As fans of the series are likely aware, ‘Light’ and ‘Dark’ are often relative – history is filled with horrors done on the Light side in the name of the greater good, and there are Dark Others living out their lives with families and jobs in quiet obscurity. The Watches have a party line, but the war before The Grand Treaty was fought by any means necessary, and the eldest of the Others still abide by those rules.
This larp is about:
- Supernatural Cops – Being part of the Watches, investigating crimes, plotting against the other side, trying to get promoted
- A Shadow War – Being a player or a pawn in the millennia-old war between the Dark and the Light
- The Past is Present – History is always present, reaching forward to affect events centuries and millennia beyond. Others live unnaturally long lives, making grudges of the past all too current
We will hold a series of workshops before the larp to build relationships, practice safety techniques, and discuss how the evening will proceed. At the end of the larp, we will have a short debrief, and then the space will be available until late in the evening for socializing.
Larp Structure
Each larp takes place in three phases, with breaks between for a few moments to recalibrate, chat out of character, or have a breath of fresh air.
We begin with workshops to learn and review the mechanics and techniques that will be used for consent and magic for the larp. This is a mandatory part of the larp as it is important that all players be at the same level of understanding pre-game. We will also do some workshops that will provide you an opportunity to talk about and get into the head of your character.
After these workshops and a brief break, Phase One involves a series of directed scenes. These can be set in the past, the present, or even a potential future you might like to explore. Scenes can be limited (i.e.: Nicole and Gary), limited to a group of people (i.e.: the Night Watch, all vampires, anyone with divination), or open to anyone. You can propose scenes ahead of time by contacting the organizers, or at the larp. You can also propose scenes for people other than yourself (i.e.: “I’d like to see Anton and Svetlana investigate the death at the Lakeshore.”)
A break will follow Phase One, then Phase Two and Three will proceed much as a ‘typical’ chamber larp, with action happening in real time and in a What You See Is What You Get setting: the location and setting are exactly as they seem in the real world.
Characters
Night Watch Toronto will have 30 characters, some pre-written for the previous trilogy based on player answers to a casting questionnaire; some that developed from non-player characters; some pre-written for this upcoming trilogy. There will be both Night Watch and Day Watch characters; traditionally in the fiction, the Day Watch has a larger number of diverse characters at lower power levels while the Night Watch has fewer recruits but more heavy hitters. For the larp, it will depend on player interest, though the two sides will have to be relatively even.
We will release characters early so you will have the opportunity to contact one another and develop character relationships and provide a Facebook group to look for said relationships and ties. There are also separate Facebook groups for Night Watch and Day Watch respectively. If you want to play the same character for all three Night Watch larps, you can do so. You can also play different characters for each.
Characters will be Night or Day Watch, and of the following types:
Mage/Sorceress/Enchantress/Healer/Prophet/Battle Mage
Mages of low levels are very common among both Light and Dark sides. They may specialize in the power of Foresight, Healing, Cursing and Hexing, Battle Magic, or any number of other abilities, and use gestures and incantation to direct Twilight power. More powerful magicians are known to live abnormally long lives.
Shapeshifter
Shapeshifters can change into animal form, often used for magical battle. Shapeshifters seem to choose one animal type for their transformations, such as a cat, lizard, bear, etc. Shapeshifter is usually used for Dark Others, while many Light Others prefer the term ‘transformer magician’. There is little difference between shapeshifters and transformer magicians, other than the side they are on.
Witch/Warlock (Dark)
Witches/Warlocks differ from magicians in that they do not draw power directly from the Twilight. Instead they create artifacts which slowly accumulate large amounts of power over time. This is an advantage and a disadvantage. If a witch or warlock wishes to move to higher levels of power, they must sacrifice their youthful appearance (though they may use illusion to appear however they wish).
Vampire (Dark)
Vampires are considered Low Others, and especially disrespected among their fellow Dark Others. Vampires can be born or turned, but all are undead and soulless. All vampires are born with a hunger for blood – some choose to drink only donated blood but hunting licenses for humans can be obtained. They are able to eat normal human food, but it is tasteless to them. They can go out in daylight, but they do not like strong sunlight. Male vampires can only father one child.
Werewolf (Dark)
A Dark subspecies of Shapeshifters. The large, hairy canine forms of human legend, they possess a brutal strength and formidable teeth and claws. Their abilities are not impacted by the full moon, but they receive high increases in power in intervals of roughly one month. During this time, they are much more susceptible to the Twilight and may refuse to revert to human form, a condition known as Lunacy.
Classifications
Each character will have a Classification, which is the power level the Other is currently capable of, in the Watches’ estimation. Classifications go from 1 – 7, except in the case of Others beyond Classification – they are simply given the title ‘Grand’. These Classifications have the sole purpose of determining your character’s relative ability with Twilight powers in relation to others in the larp – they have no mechanical purpose.
Examples:
La Voisin
Grand Dark Prophet
Day Watch
Roberto Tena
Level 2 Light Mage
Night Watch
Where does your power come from?
When Others spend their powers too quickly, or need to gather an immense amount of power, they can draw on the emotions of the mortals around them. Dark Others draw in negative emotions such as pain or anger, while Light Others take positive emotions such as love and joy. Feeding on negative emotion makes it worse; feeding on positive emotion bleeds it away. As negative emotion is easier to inspire in humanity, the powers of the Dark Others are easier to recharge than those of the Light Others.
All this means for you and your character is considering where your power comes from when you need to take it – How do you inspire emotions to feed your power? What do they feel like, smell, taste like? How do you feel about taking the light from someone’s life, or pushing a violent man over the edge? How do you justify taking power, if you do at all?