Introduction: New Players, Read This First!

Hello, and welcome to the website for Night Knights, a parlour LARP run by the Oxford LARP Society in the mould of the OURPGSoc Society Games. If you've never played any sort of roleplaying game before, never fear! Here's a quick introduction. If you're a seasoned roleplayer, feel free to check out the quick guide to sections of the site at the bottom of this page.

One important thing to be aware of first: You don't need to read this entire website!

There's a lot of material here, and you certainly don't need to know all of it to start playing (although if you do want to, that's great!). Read only what interests you and what's relevant to a character you might like to play. You will find a guide to sections of the website and what they tell you below.

Any questions, concerns and character concepts should be e-mailed to the The GM Team.

There are a few acronyms used throughout the website which might be a little confusing if you've never played before. Don't worry—help is at hand! And if you're confused by anything, feel free to email us to ask questions.

• OOC or OC: Out of Character. Events and circumstances in the real world. For example, Night Knights sessions take place OOC every fortnight, on a Wednesday, as listed in when and where.
• IC: In Character. Events and people in the world of Night Knights. For example, the sessions of Night Knights occur IC every day, in a child's bedroom while the child is at school.
• GM: Game Master or Game Moderator. Us! You might know the term 'Ref' or 'DM' (Dungeon master) from other forms of roleplaying. The team of people who write, run and maintain the game for your playing pleasure. The first place to turn if you have a question.
• PC: Player Character. You! The characters that Night Knights players create and represent in the fictional world. You will usually play the same PC every week through the course of the game, though you can talk to the GMs about swapping or retiring a character if you get bored or your character dies. Retired characters cannot be brought back if you change your mind.
• NPC: Non-Player Character. Us again! Other characters in the Night Knights setting, who may appear at session (played by a GM), or just in turnsheets. NPCs present in the session may vary slightly week-to-week, and GMs will often play several NPCs during a game session. If there is a specific NPC you want to talk to in a game session, then ask a GM (it helps if you know which GM is playing that NPC).
• PvE and PvP: Terms to describe the nature of the obstacles and challenges your characters face, 'Player vs Environment' (i.e. the world, including NPCs is out to get you) or 'Player vs Player' (i.e. everyone else is out to get you). Night Knights will be mostly PvE, though there will be some PvP elements.
• Turnsheet: The down-time system used in Night Knights, i.e, the parts of the game happening outside of sessions. Outcomes to turnsheets are determined by the GMs based on your plans, character sheet, and game plot.
• Phys-rep: “Physical representation”, an object, makeup, or costume used to represent something in the game—a plastic blade representing a real blade, makeup representing a scar or recent wound.

A roleplaying game is somewhere between amateur dramatics and collaborative storytelling. You turn up, create a character to play, and play them. There are no scripts or lines, no set outcomes to what will happen—just a setting, a bunch of other characters to interact with, and some GMs to make sure it all runs smoothly.

Night Knights is broadly a freeform¹⁾ live roleplaying game, which means that instead of narrating your character's actions during game sessions (like you might do in something like D&D), you actually perform them: every week you show up, walk around and talk to other characters. There's no dice rolls - everything is either a result of your interactions with other characters in sessions and emails, or your plans in turnsheets. You can plan, gossip, trade news, form connections, diplome, eavesdrop or orate. This doesn't mean you need to be a great public speaker, or even a particularly good actor—just be able to speak as your character would.

These sessions take place in a children's bedroom, where the toys (your characters) are put away during the day while the child they protect is at school. The game is non-combat. In general, sessions are reserved for talking to other player characters and NPCs, in-session politics, and for planning the big actions you're going to take in turnsheets (more on this shortly!)

Most importantly: roleplaying is about having fun and creating stories with other players. Absolutely no experience is required to play Night Knights (indeed, it's designed to offer an easy route in for new roleplayers), and there will be plenty of supportive people on-hand to help you out if you're confused about any aspect of the game. Turn up and enjoy yourself!

Every two weeks on a Wednesday evening, players meet in a room in the Asian Cultural Centre. In character, these represent gatherings of the toys (you!) as they plan on how to defend their child from the monsters under the bed. During these meetings, players will get to consult with each other and with various other interested parties. They will have to work out what threats will be present and how to deal with them, as well as exploring different oppertunities and gathering more supplies. The GMs will be on hand to offer help, advice, and information and to keep the game running smoothly, as well as playing various NPCs every week.

The time between meetings is one day of IC time and the time between sessions is two weeks of OC time. During this period, characters will have the opportunity to explore the house and gather useful materials, fight back against the monsters, make useful items, and more. The time between sessions is the period when your character has the most freedom to act - whether that's gaining knowledge or resources, taking on adventures against the monsters, or pursuing their personal goals.

Each week, we ask that players send in a summary of what they want their character to be doing overnight, known as a 'Turnsheet'; the GMs will then judge the results of your actions and report back to you on how everything went.

There is a system for these turnsheet actions, detailed here—but don't feel you need to memorise it all; we're more than happy to help you out if you're having trouble working out what you want to do in the early weeks!

We'd suggest starting in the following places:

• The Setting pages: Your character can be aware of everything in this section. Every page has a bullet point summary written at the top if you just want to skim through! You'll probably want to look at TBC.
• Intro to the Wiki System: If you are new to Society Games, and want to be brought up to speed on how the wiki works.
• Style and Tone: To get some initial idea about the feel of the game, without reading through every page on the wiki.
• Character Creation: When you want to start putting together your character for the game.
• Turnsheeting: This section will explain what turnsheets are, and how Night Knights uses turnsheets between sessions.