By Chris Creagh with help from all others
My job is to look through what we have blogged about SwanICon, find the holes and then fill them.
So the first thing I have found in PR1 is that they used to do a Freeform every month.
Just in case you are a newb, a Freeform is a theatrical style live-action roleplaying game which is not heavily combat focused. It is more about character interaction and story than battles. They can be one-off events or regular events in which the story continues. The players usually act the part they are playing rather than sitting around a table, though usually in a fairly limited playing area, one or two rooms maximum. Dice or cards may still be used to decide conflict rather than pitched battles with foam rubber weapons (the latter is more combat LARP). Each character has objectives, they may know who they are and what they are like, but in at least one Freeform that we know of (thank you Anna, Simon & Grant) this was not the case “You are in a room you do not recognise, with a load of people you do not know.” In the middle of the room was an obelisk. At some point there was a disembodied voice counting down. The aim was to survive!
Some freeforms have distinct factions, others are entirely cooperative, and in others it is every character for themselves.
The setting for a Freeform can be based on known genres (TV, movies, books) or made up. The How to Host a Murder style games are a more pre-packaged example of a Freeform but really what they are about, how complicated they are, and what the goals are are only limited by your imagination and free time.
For more information visit freeform role-playing or start a conversation at SwanCon.