How do I make it absolutely clear that I'm shooting you in the face?

Question

I play live action roleplaying games (LARPs), where myself and the players around me adopt actual physical characters.

I've had a problem in the past where I hold a gun and want to shoot someone, but don't have their attention. Probably trying to shoot them in the back or something. If I shoot them, they have very little way of knowing and don't really have time to reasonably respond. This breaks game immersion, and is a serious problem.

This problem isn't restricted to guns. If I want to punch, shoot, kick, perform spiritual magicks on, slap, or otherwise nonvocally interact with someone when their back is turned, they might not (read: probably won't) get the signal.

Short of shouting at them "Hey, snotface!" to get their attention before shooting them, how can I let them know so they can respond appropriately?

In order to be a successful solution, the signal must:

• consistently telegraph successfully; while some error rate is expected in LARP, the solution needs to work pretty much always. It doesn't make sense and breaks character when people don't respond rationally/logically.
• not break the atmosphere; for instance, no running up to them and whispering "I'm about to shoot you"
• not break character; I can't do anything my character wouldn't, besides basic game mechanics, that would cause me to have to break out of character to execute
• allow for sneaking; it won't do to shout "Hey, snotface!" if I'm trying to sneak around
• allow for selecting one target of many; if a group of people are walking together and I shoot one of them, that person and that person alone needs to know I've shot them
• allow for many people to be aware of the gunfire; imagine the sound of a gunshot, and how others would respond - this needs to be consistent with that
• work on low-tech and low-budget; I don't have access to anything except guns that make a clicky noise (basically cap guns dry firing), so something like paintballs are out. By low-budget, I would like to aim for something reusable (optimally) that's no more than $5-7 per person - if it's not reusable it'd better be pretty dern cheap

This works great if I have their attention and brief eye contact - just point, shoot, and say "bang." But what if you're not paying attention? How do you know that I've shot you?

Answer 1

You could also consider Nerf guns. They won't require eye protection like paintball and airsoft guns do. Projectiles are cheap and guns seem to be in a similar or lower price range compared to a latex sword.

With some creativity and a splash of paint their bright colour schemes don't need to break immersion (although I would advise against "open-carrying" real-looking toy guns):

The only drawbacks are limited range (especially outside, in windy conditions) and the need to collect your projectiles after firing them (although you could try making your own biodegradable nerf darts).

Answer 2

You have contradictory requirements

I feel that there is nothing that fits the whole list that you are proposing - many larp groups have tried, and in the end you must choose to go either with the simulation way, keeping in character; or with the roleplaying way where game mechanics involve obvious out of character actions.

Simulation is expensive

One option to deliver a shot is by delivering an actual hit. The problem is that all the reliable ways of doing so seem to be out of your budget - it's airsoft, paintball or lasertag with the laser detectors. Airsofters and others have long tried to make it as cheap as possible, and it doesn't go any lower than it is. In addition, involving airsoft or paintball (even for a single or few characters) generally would require that 100% of players and GMs wear eye protection at all times as part of their costume, which has to be included as part of the LARP setting to keep the atmosphere suitable.

Fake mechanics are OOC

If you don't actually get hit by a shot, well, then you won't get your criteria of not breaking atmosphere and having the target react as intended. There are gameplay mechanisms to do so, however the more effective they are (as in, telegraph successfully; allow for features such as sneaking or target selection) the more obviously fake they will be.

For example, the old approach of simulating ranged wizard spells by throwing soft objects would also work for such shots. Put a hand catapult on a pistol-like handle - something like http://www.bladesandbows.co.uk/vitesse-catapult-200-p.asp or homemade equivalent.

For sneaky long range effects, involve a GM that can "invisibly" walk to the target and explain that they have been hit by a sniper from unknown direction. Or the great suggestion of using mobile phones to deliver targets info - it's clearly OOC, but it's functional.

Clearly OOC mechanics are probably okay - LARPs can work if there's a very clear distinction between the IC and OOC actions, it's better than if OOC actions look almost like IC and you can confuse if some event has or hasn't a game mechanic effect.

In the end, you'll have to choose, it's generally a tradeoff between proper atmosphere and theatrics versus cheap&functional gameplay mechanics.

Answer 3

Use spell packets aka spackets

Our LARP uses spackets for just about all ranged attacks that occur in-game. For the fantasy games it covers thrown spells, arrows, even heavy weapon launches. For future games, gun fire from all manner of weapons is done using spackets or nerf guns.

Spackets are not complicated to build and the exact construction mechanics can sometimes be specific to an individual LARP, but for ours we generally use the following steps:

1. Cut out a square piece of fabric about 5" square.
2. Fill the middle with about a tablespoon's worth of birdseed (note, some games want players to omit sunflower seeds due to their sharp angles).
3. Fold the corners up, give them a twist, and tie it off with a rubber band.

The goal with our spacket design is that it's an effective way to create something that's biodegradable in the event that the packet is lost in play (happens a lot).

Now there are ways you can modify this for specific goals. For the goal you've described, I would recommend that you use 2 tablespoons worth of birdseed. You may need to start with a larger fabric to accommodate the extra material, so maybe 6" or 7" square. When you tie this off, you are going to have something whose diameter that's about a half-dollar in size and it will have heft.

The increased heft is important because you want the target to know they were hit and to react appropriately. The standard spacket generally lacks enough mass for the target to know they were hit, but our game has a lot of OOG callouts for players to inform a target if they were actually hit. Since it sounds like your game lacks that, heft is important.

I believe this hits all of the goals you have:

• consistently telegraph successfully: Yep, everyone knows your target got hit.
• not break the atmosphere: Those hefty spackets can really zip a long way and land with some pretty solid force to let someone know that you hit them. No need to give them a heads up.
• not break character: This mostly just comes down to everyone understanding what the spacket represents within the world. Spacket lands at your feet?! You almost got shot!
• allow for sneaking: Stealth is usually always hard in LARPs, but if there's enough confusion or cover to allow you to pop up, throw your spacket and duck back down then go for it.
• allow for selecting one target of many: You're going to need to be accurate with your throw, but if you're not, them's the breaks. Guess you shot the guy next to them.
• allow for many people to be aware of the gunfire: This is honestly the hardest part of this to conform to. Spackets are things we use to augment other props in our game. If you've got a prop gun that just makes a loud noise, but fires no projectile, then you can use the spacket to meet that need and let the prop make the noise.
• work on low-tech and low-budget: It doesn't get much more low-tech and budget than spackets. There's folks in my game who'll make you 20 for $5. Some of them charge more and get fancy with things like stitching the spacket up so they don't need to use a rubber band, but that's them making something fancy. Bear in mind, this isn't an option for someone who's going to get attached to some kind of favorite prop, spackets are fire and forget until the end of the encounter when you pick up what you can find and donate the remainder to the birds.

As a final note on safety, please do not aim for heads with spackets. While spackets, in general, aren't that dangerous in the sense that you'd have to be working hard to maim someone with them, it doesn't mean you can't hit someone in the eye and knock them out of play. A solid thunk in the chest is plenty to let someone know that they've been ventilated.

Answer 4

Collude With Your Target

Before the scene begins, inform your target that you're going to shoot them at some subtle cue. If there's a competitive aspect to your game, you need to trust your target not to metagame and avoid it.

You lose your target's OOC surprise, but everyone else will be caught off guard and probably rather unsettled by the sudden noise (yelling "bang!" or "gunshot!") and having the target just topple.

Answer 5

When I was playing a game we called "SWAT" We used toy guns with laser pointers taped to the side of them, It almost always required two hands to be on the weapon (Even a simple pistol) and the results were almost instant without the hassle of being out of character or doing much other then shining the light past their head into their field of view. and even at distances of more then 100 feet we were scoring kills on each other

However this is an extremely honour based system and often times a cheater wouldn't "Call their shots" so you really have to be in the game to appreciate getting into fire-fights without the use of Airsoft, Paintball, Or even nerf and would often cost us less then 5 bucks to make a pistol or other simplistic firearm (2 bucks for a toy gun and another 2 bucks for a laser pointer from a pet or dollar store)

Answer 6

Acting

There is literally only one things that fulfills all of your criteria - and that is, good stage presence.

Being able to single a person out of a group with body language, being able to take an imitated action with a stage prop and run with it, these and other things in your list are improvisational acting skills.

You want to be talking to an actor about this, not roleplayers. They have already found the limits of this sort of interaction by extensive, skilled repetition and innovation - you are trying to reinvent a wheel that is rubberized, air pressured, and rolling down roads all around you at this moment.

What you need is not a magical prop, but rather players able to read and put forth cues like 'I am shooting you' 'I am being shot' in a relatively skilled manner - ergo, run classes. It's usually not hard to find someone with serious improv experience in a larp group - a few quick lessons in how to accept cues will not only improve the 'shooting' situation but also the play experience in general.

Stealthy Sniping

If someone gets suddenly sniped by a hidden sniper, that's not something you can solve with improv acting - or a prop. That sort of thing should be handled by a GM handing the player a note, a text message on a mobile device, or a cue card waved at them from 'out of scene'. You can probably create more byzantine methods like trying to hit someone with a nerf sniper rifle or something but, none of that sounds likely to work.

The Argument Against Interactive Props

At no point will a prop that can simulate some of the effects of a gun firing (pop gun, airsoft gun, laser pointer, nerf gun) not break versimilitude without still leaving significant amounts of mystery as to what is going on. Actions like 'killing someone with a pistol' or 'paralyzing someone with a spell' are or should be rare enough in a larp environment that automatic associations between laser pointer = I just got shot will not happen, and the reflexive moment of 'hey is jim pointing a laser at me' and looking down at chest to see who he's pointing at etc will interrupt roleplaying in a significant manner.

Airsoft weapons also will drop into the uncanny valley of versimilitude - too similar to real thing to be taken as an iconic representation, and not similar enough to 'seem real'. Nerf guns are designed to look as non-gun-like as possible, even painted. Plus, both of these options have the problem of accidental injury. And missing, unless you are playing a boffer larp, will leave people thinking you just intentionally shot Bob when you meant to hit Jim.

To my knowledge, including the suggestions in the answers to this question, there is no good prop option that does this for you. It's a skill, that you have to learn and apply. That is the sole good option until we start rolling out AR goggles for roleplaying.

Calling Attention

Having an associate pop an inflated paper bag, or firing a cap gun, while you brandish a 'weapon' at the person you are 'killing' is a good audial cue. As is shouting 'hey, you!' and then shouting 'bang!'. You'd think this sort of thing breaks versimilitude - in my experience it does not. In the context of a roleplay, a story, your brain accepts onomatopoeic sound effects far more readily than unfamiliar objects like nerf guns as constituting 'a gun'.

Again, also, player awareness of others 'entering the scene', maintaining 'scene space', and 'walking for attention' etc these are all improv techniques used to create a story out of nothing that you can very easily repurpose to a larp environment.

Answer 7

I moved from Fantasy LARP back in the 1990s to Lazer Tag and have never looked back. It's cheap, reliable and safe (as long as you don't try to use laser pointers!!). Generally used for Modern or Sci Fi scenarios it has the big advantage that you can try almost any genre you like that involved using a gun. I have played and Run everything from Aliens to Dr Who (frankly the list of 'games we have played' is quite long).