Match 15724 LARPERS vs. Kobolds

[Mercenaryblade]

 

Daniel smiled as he looked over the site, the renfaire grounds were perfect for the upcoming LARP he’d organized, he and the owners had struck a deal. He got to use the grounds during the off season, and they were perfect for the storyline.

 

It was fall and the grounds had not been touched since the renaissance faire had closed their fake castle gates in spring. As a result the plants had grown tall, wild and untouched. The little huts and stages, and cabins were quiet.

 

Yes it would do nicely.

 

The setting was a fantasy version of the black plague, the players had to brave the undead and stop the necromancer responsible, more than a dozen LARPERs had signed up, some to play undead minions, some as questers.

 

Daniel set his piece de resistance, on a wooden table inside a vacant and empty building. It was an old leatherbound journal he had found in his grandfathers attic. Poor old soul had been committed to the loony bin. Rambling on about portals to other worlds or some such nonsense.

 

The book would serve as a fine prop, the necromancer’s grimoire, and source of his power. The mad ramblings and strange symbols in the pages would do just fine. After all it was just an ordinary leather book.

 

But as the game master walked away he never saw the slight glow from the pages, nor heard the barely audible whispers….

 

**

 

“This is going to be the best one ever!” Jen declared twirling her foam mace around in her hand. The redhead was dressed in costumed chainmail, with a surcoat she had made herself over.  

 

“Watch it! Cleric’s are supposed to heal their teammates not kill them.” Brad the fighter said as she nearly smacked him in the head with it. The dark-haired man was dressed in dark pants and studded leather armor, a foam longsword and shield in hand.

 

“Sorry,” Jen giggled.

 

“Clerics don’t have to heal you if they don’t like you.” Pascal the rogue smirked.

 

The young Hispanic was in dark clothes with a large cloak to conceal his daggers, as he grinned. His parents disapproved of his love for fantasy, so the fact he’d managed to make it to an event was quite an accomplishment.

 

“Oooh, you hear that?” Jen taunted.

 

Another young woman joined them, a tall blonde in a flowing gown and with all manner of jewelry on her limbs and head smirked. She carried a fancy wooden stave. There was no doubt about her being a mage.

 

“Already fighting amongst ourselves? How sad.”

 

“Hi Mandy.” The three other party members greeted her.

 

Mandy had somehow become the leader of the party, perhaps it was her level headedness.

 

“Where’s Cammy?” Mandy asked.

 

“Coming up behind you.” A gruff female voice said.

 

Cammy was a broad shouldered girl with short brunette hair, dressed in buckskins and carrying a bow and a small handaxe. Foam tipped arrows lay in her quiver. The tomboy was the groups ranger.

 

“Well guess we can go ahead and register… Mandy started to say when a large burly man in costumed platemail and tabard suddenly sprinted to them, he stopped hefting the foam battleaxe on his shoulders.

 

“Your paladin has arrived!”

 

All the companions looked at one another, not recognizing him with his full helmet on.

 

“I’m sorry who are you?” Jen asked.

 

“None of you recognize me?” The paladin asked.

 

“You’re wearing a full face helmet bro.” Pascal said.

 

“Oh!” The paladin jerked the helmet off showing a pale sandy haired youth. “It’s Tucker, Brad invited me along.”

 

Brad looked surprised, “I did. But I honestly thought you’d decline. I never thought you’d actually show, or that you’d have such a well put together ensemble.”

 

Tucker looked hurt as he put his helmet back on, “Well if I’m not welcome here.”

 

Mandy stopped him, “Oh, no, stay we could use a paladin.”

 

After registering and hearing the story the group set off into the fray dodging and fighting the hordes of undead and rival adventurers alike. The undead could ‘respawn’ after a certain amount of time, keeping the game interesting.

 

Finally though the party arrived at one of the houses and found the door ajar.

 

“Yeah, that’s not suspicious at all.” Brad said.

 

“I’ll go first, check for traps.” Pascal said.

 

“You really think they actually booby trapped a door?” Jen asked.

 

Pascal declared it safe as he strode in followed by the others wary of an ambush.

 

“The grimoire!” Mandy declared.

 

“Yes, we got it first!” Tucker shouted.

 

Thinking back on things Cammy spoke, “Wasn’t there like a magic word we were supposed to say before taking it?”

 

Mandy nodded, “Right, all together now.”

 

“Klaatu Parada Nikto!” The party said in unison.

 

The book glowed.

 

“Wow, they went all out on the special effects!” Jen stated.

 

Thinking nothing of it Mandy grabbed the book, and screamed.

 

There was a blur of colors and movement and every party member felt as if they had sudden;y been tossed into a giants dryer until the spinning and colors stopped and all of them found themselves sprawled out in the mud.

 

Something was different though, Tucker groaned as he stood up his armor weighing down on him and clinking. Wait clinking? He was wearing real armor! The same as his LARP but… well real.

 

Mandy looked around bewildered she had felt herself touched by something so unworldly she recoiled even after it was done, but she felt powerful, fierce.

 

“Everyone alright?” She asked.

 

Jen stood up on wobbly legs. “I guess so?”

 

The cleric looked down at her mace and hefted the heavy thing, it was real. “What the hell is happening?” Jen declared.

 

“Sweet.” Brad said as he drew his sword.

 

Pascal looked around, somehow he knew if he wanted to he could pick their pockets, or a lock, knowledge he never knew he had. Likewise Cammy had knowledge she didn’t know she had in her head, how to skin a deer, what berries were safe to eat. Her bow was now more stout and the arrows steel tipped, with barbs.

 

Mandy summoned a ball of fire. “Oh my! Look at what I can do!”

 

“Somehow I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.” Tucker muttered.

 

“We never were,” Jen replied.

 

Tucker facepalmed his helmet.

 

A new voice startled all of them, “WHAT ARE YOU RECRUITS DOING GAGGLING!”

 

It sounded vaguely Scottish and they all turned to see a dwarf, not a little person playing a dwarf, but an honest to god dwarf with a full bead, armor and battleaxe.

 

“GET IN FORMATION!” The dwarf bellowed. “NOW!”

 

Startled the LARPERs all made a line shoulder to shoulder.

 

“Bloody rookies, look at ye! Sloppy.”

 

“Um, sir I think there’s been a mistake…” Mandy started to say.

 

“Speak when spoken to soldier! I don ken if ye are a mage, I’ll tan your fair hide ye speak out again.”

 

Mandy shut up.

 

“Now listen here, the main army is engaged our job is to keep em from getting flanked. Be grateful ye aren’t on the frontlines. You would die in seconds. Now shut yer gobs and march.”

 

In a mix of shock and fear the LARPERs obeyed moving single file while the dwarf berated them the whole way.

 

“This is nuts, I’m going to sneak off.” Pascal muttered.

 

“There’s nowhere to sneak off.” Cammy warned.

 

“STOP GABBING!” The dwarf shouted. Just then an arrow sailed over their heads, from a copse of trees ahead came small reptilian creatures hopping about like kangaroos as they charged them.

 

“KOBOLDS! Skirmishers! Let’s give it to em!” The dwarf bellowed charging in.

 

The LARPER’s wanted to run but the Kobolds were closing in and they were fast. With a collective shrug the group charged in as Cammy loosed and arrow, and Mandy threw out a magic missile.  

 

(Fight is on it’s roughly 25 Kobolds, seven with shortswords, ten with spears, five archers, three low level spellcasters. The dwarf fighter is a vet but he can’t be everywhere at once. The LARPER’s are inexperienced except for their LARP battles, and are not used to real armor and weapons, or wielding magic. They do have knowledge but they are still rookie level.)

 

So can noob roleplayers beat low level DnD monsters?        

[Callisto]

Learn More About
LARPERS
Read more about LARPERS at Wikipedia
Official Site: Public Domain Links: Wikipedia

Kobolds
Read more about Kobolds at Wikipedia
Official Site: Wizards Of the Coast Links: Wikipedia Forgotten Realms Wiki Dungeons&Dragons Wiki

[Bergy_Berg]

Assuming these larpers are analogous to level one DND characters... they dead.

[Culwych1]

Awesome setup!

Unfortunately it doesn't give us enough information. I remember a module I played many years ago called Dragon Mountain where kobolds were a threat through sheer numbers, skill, traps, experience and cunning, to even seasoned high level adventurers.  Trust me, by the end of that module, you'd be happier facing a dragon than walking into trap infested kobold domain.

However, kobolds can also be portrayed as low level fodder, and in most settings that is exactly what they are. They could be farmers or labourers who have picked up weapons to defend their land, and be as skilled in that scenario as you'd expect (I.e. comparable to a level 1). They also tend to run the moment the battle goes against them.

With an experienced dwarven warrior to aid them (who undoubtedly will have faced many kobolds), and knowledge of their characters as larpers (which I'm guessing, given that Mandy can summon a ball of fire, they have), this could well go in the larpers favour.

[Mercenaryblade]

2 hours ago, Culwych1 said:

Awesome setup!

Unfortunately it doesn't give us enough information. I remember a module I played many years ago called Dragon Mountain where kobolds were a threat through sheer numbers, skill, traps, experience and cunning, to even seasoned high level adventurers.  Trust me, by the end of that module, you'd be happier facing a dragon than walking into trap infested kobold domain.

However, kobolds can also be portrayed as low level fodder, and in most settings that is exactly what they are. They could be farmers or labourers who have picked up weapons to defend their land, and be as skilled in that scenario as you'd expect (I.e. comparable to a level 1). They also tend to run the moment the battle goes against them.

With an experienced dwarven warrior to aid them (who undoubtedly will have faced many kobolds), and knowledge of their characters as larpers (which I'm guessing, given that Mandy can summon a ball of fire, they have), this could well go in the larpers favour.

Ahh, I was thinking they were your typical low level kobolds usually faced at the start of campaigns. They may be somewhat experienced as there is a war on. 

Glad you enjoyed it. 

[Mercenaryblade]

4 hours ago, Bergy_Berg said:

Assuming these larpers are analogous to level one DND characters... they dead.

Yeah they are level 1 pretty much... 

[Boratz]

Outstanding and pretty fun set up! It was very entertaining and different 

Im not too familiar with DnD. It is something that I have been wanting to get into for some time, just don't know anyone around me. As far as the match, I'd have to look into it some more. 

[Mercenaryblade]

1 hour ago, Boratz said:

Outstanding and pretty fun set up! It was very entertaining and different 

Im not too familiar with DnD. It is something that I have been wanting to get into for some time, just don't know anyone around me. As far as the match, I'd have to look into it some more. 

Understandable I'm not the most avid player, I mainly play Dungeon World via Discord, but basically Kobolds are low level monsters. You can think of them as sort of like Goblins but more reptilian. Dangerous in larger numbers

[Boratz]

27 minutes ago, Mercenaryblade said:

Understandable I'm not the most avid player, I mainly play Dungeon World via Discord, but basically Kobolds are low level monsters. You can think of them as sort of like Goblins but more reptilian. Dangerous in larger numbers

I may have to look into Discord then. I have some friends where I live that have talked about getting into it but nothing has happened yet. 

[Callisto]

Match Final Results

Member Ratings:
4.00 - patrickthekid
5.00 - Boratz
4.30 - Culwych1

FPA Calculation:
3 Total Votes cast
13.30 Total Combined Score
13.30 / 3 = 4.43 Final Rating on the match

MATCH SCORE
LARPERS: 0
Kobolds: 7

[Mercenaryblade]

14 hours ago, Callisto said:

Match Final Results

Member Ratings:
4.00 - patrickthekid
5.00 - Boratz
4.30 - Culwych1

FPA Calculation:
3 Total Votes cast
13.30 Total Combined Score
13.30 / 3 = 4.43 Final Rating on the match

MATCH SCORE
LARPERS: 0
Kobolds: 7

Ouch. 

Larpers get creamed.

[SSJRuss]

Didn't get to this in time, but it was a solid read and I would have given my vote to the Kobolds, for sure. I like the idea of this match though, really cool.

[Mercenaryblade]

3 hours ago, SSJRuss said:

Didn't get to this in time, but it was a solid read and I would have given my vote to the Kobolds, for sure. I like the idea of this match though, really cool.

Thank you!