Game idea: Occupiers vs Resistance

The whole aspect of "Who does this civilian support?" has been reworked a bit, and the following idea is currently on the table:

- German garrison signs up for the garrison role
- Commandos sign up for the commando role - but their identity is kept secret; only the organizers will know who the Commandos are
- all other players simply sign up as Civilians; the three civilian sub-factions - Partisan (P), Collaborator (C), Neutral (N) - will have varying numbers assigned to them during the course of the day

Spawns:
- Germans = at their barracks
- all civilians = at the village square

Civilian teams:
- when a non-German player goes to the village square to respawn, they turn in their ID documents and get issued a new set at random (this is for the role-playing element)
- in addition to the ID, each player also draws a simple token (imagine a brass disc like a dog's ID tag) with a letter stamped on either side; this letter can be the same on both sides, or can vary; this disc may not be requested during an interrogation/inspection, but may be studied if found during a search
- the letter options are P, C or N - matching the three civilian sub-factions
- most of the tags will have the same letter on both sides of the disc, and will be considered true-faction tags; some will have a different letter on each side - PC, PN, CN - and will be considering dual-faction tags; if you pick a dual-faction tag, you may choose which of the two teams to join for that life (until you get shot and have to respawn and draw a new tag)

Here is where it gets interesting:
- a Commando will draw a tag like any other civilian player, BUT WILL IGNORE THE ALLEGIANCE GIVEN ON THE TAG
- if you are known to carry a dual-faction tag, both those factions will distrust you for the simple reason that on e.g. a PC tag, you could choose to be a Partisan, but pretend to cozy up to the Collaborators - and vice versa
- if you have a dual-faction tag, you can have it swapped out for a true-faction tag by approaching either one of the Commandos (so PC or PN becomes PP), one of the Germans (so PC or CN becomes CC), or the village mayor (so PN or CN becomes NN)
- in this way, the Germans and Commandos will acquire dual-faction tags in exchange for true-faction tags:
a) the player who swapped a dual- for a true- will now no longer have to worry about suspicions from his own teammates, as he can show them the true-faction tag to convince them that he is on their side
b) by accepting the dual-faction tags, the Commandos/Germans will be converting those civilians to their side for the duration of that life/spawn
c) BEST OF ALL - a player with a true-faction tag may now be selected to act as a double agent, trading in their true-faction tag for a dual-faction tag; e.g. a CC player might talk to the German CO and get a PC tag for an hour; during that hour, the player with this new PC tag can cozy up to the Partisans, find out who their true PP members are, identify and locate the commandos... and then betray them to the Germans; however, if this double agent does not return within one hour and have his PC tag swapped back for a CC tag, he will be considered as "gone over to the other side", and will be arrested on sight and treated as a hostile/PP player

Thoughts?

Sounds like a good plan for not identifying who is attached to who for the civilians. It does sound like certain death for the commandos once other players have identified who there are over a couple of respawns.
Have you read the 1980's RPG game "Paranoia". It was reminding me of this. Every player belongs to a faction and is government operative and may have a secret allegiance as well. It makes for all players being at risk of being denounced as traitors and shot at any moment. Oh and the government is an insane computer and is likely to send you to certain death on any mission. It may have some learning points for you!

Well, the Commandos need not necessarily be identified that easily - anyone wanting to swap a PC or PN tag for a PP tag need only approach an existing PP player (not necessarily a Commando, as I mentioned before - thanks for pointing this out) to swap their dual-faction tag for a true-faction tag. If I was a Commando, I would just make damn sure that NO-ONE ever knew that I was one - except for my fellow Commandos, who would be informed pre-game. The moment you give that information to a non-Commando player, it has the potential to come back and bite you in the arse.

Also remember, your Commando allegiance overrides whatever the tag assigns you - so you could get a Commando picking a PC or CN tag, and then going to the Germans to get a CC tag - but still remaining a Commando for allegiance purposes! Paranoia will be the order of the day here...

EDIT: another thing to consider - if a guy in civies takes a shot at a German patrol, what is his allegiance really?
- he could be a Commando
- he could be a Partisan
- he could be a Collaborator, pretending to be one of the above (shoot to miss!)
- he could be True Neutral, and pissed about someone trampling his cabbage patch (or hoping to piss the Germans off, and get them to clear out the village of all these damn trouble-makers!)

I'm always dubious of anything that requires 'searching' players and having an item that can be hidden as you're opening up yourslef to a workd of potential problems, people being too enthusiastic, someone being a bit too 'hands on' with the opposite sex etc.

items that have to be removed from players or checked should always really be in an 'in play' bag carried. Thats how we run our post apocalypse games, you have a 'loot bag' and other players can serach that, steal it, rifle it etc.. what they cant be doing is going through your pockets, looking in your wallet, searching you boxer shorts etc.

Potentially if i have a tag that 'may be found during searches' , how 'detailed' will your search be, if i put it in my underpants you're going to let players search them? Or put it in my wallet, what if you look through then i find £30 is missing at the end of the day... see what i mean its best to keep things like this to an ID card that can be asked for and *has* to be produced when requested.

Either that or insist that only the contents of your outer jacket can carry plot items and only that can searched. That way players keep personal items and non game items in their trousers pockets etc.

I think the tag thing is a great idea but if you have just *one* gamey person there out to exploit the rules its very very easy to manipulate by either hiding it somewhere icky or just binning it and pretending its hidden when 'searched'.

Good point on limiting the searchable areas on the player.

How about limiting searchable areas to the following:
- any bags/satchels/webbing worn over the clothing (civilians should not carry more than a bag at most)
- the contents of your coat/jacket pockets - this is done by asking the player to remove said item of clothing, and then going through it once they hand it over (so no worries about accidently/intentionally touching off-limit bits); keep in mind that a civilian can doff his coat/jacket more easily than a soldier that is burdened by webbing, so this might not work too well for games where both sides are in uniform
- NO OTHER AREAS MAY BE SEARCHED/FRISKED
- game items must always be carried either in the webbing, or in the outer coat/jacket

I can already see Jerry using their mine detectors to sweep the civilians' clothing at a check-point, trying to find their ID discs...

Is there going to be a manual of rules for this game?

Steves got a point. Something this LARP and complex is great is every single player is *really* into it and gets it but you only need one or two types who cant be bothered to learn the rules or just want to 'shoot stuff' and it falls to pieces.

Basically i think if you've got a small group of less than say 20 playing it it could work but if you're going for more people you're going to end up with people not that dedicated who will simply 'forget' the core rules.

Its a tightrope in all games between 'rules that add realism and stop it being a shoot out' and 'rules that just get in the way'.

Essentially its a great fun idea but i can see it being an utter nightmare to implement so good luck with it!

Our group here in Gauteng is very much NOT the 'shoot on auto with a 11.1v Lipo all day' type. Heck, it was exactly that type of behaviour that drove most of us away from the modern games! From a role-immersion viewpoint, I do not really anticipate any issues - the commitment required for the game will be clearly outlined upfront, before booking opens, and anyone who is not interested in this game type will be welcome to... well, not attend!

Also, mess around on the day, and you WILL be asked to leave. Our group marshalls itself rather well.

Going to see the LARP group tomorrow evening, fingers crossed that we can get their involvement on this.

This is a wonderful idea and I do think that Airsoft-LARP hybrids could be a fantastic experience. Consider this post my 50 Reichsmark:

Having recently attended a Nordic LARP I have a couple of suggestions for what a Occupiers/Resistance game could look like.

My experience is that LARPers are looking for a good roleplaying experience. This means that roleplaying a character is the main goal, rather than shooting the most enemies, or even "winning" the game.

Every player gets a written role for their character. At minimum it should include any formal duties and faction/allegiance as well as some relationships with other characters.
Relationship examples could be a civilian family, a couple of sibling Soldiers or old friends.
Formal roles could be the commanding officer of the German soldiers, the mayor of the village, the rich and influential landlord/innkeeper and so on.

Now, every game needs a story and context which players can relate to.
Maybe it could look something like this:

Roles?

But what about internal conflicts?

The game could be split in two parts. The first one being the occupation of the village, the forming of a/several resistance movement(s), sabotages and raids on weapon and ammo stashes, political intrigues, thievery, gambling, and so on. In this episode the violence would be toned down in favour of roleplaying.

The second part on the other hand would turn up the "violence" with torture, confessions, executions, and shootouts, ambushes and so on.

I like the way you think