Ha! I would have said "Okay".
Then at the table I would have said "Andy wants to steal stuff from the loot and asked that I hide it from you guys. Since we don't treat other players that way, I'm going to be transparent and give you all a chance to catch him. Everybody roll."
Then, at Andy's loud indignation at my revelation of his douche-baggery, I would just smile and say "Oh. That was me role-playing an incompetent GM...just like you were role-playing a thief. But I'm not in character now. Please roll."
:)
Hopefully, he would get the point.
I definitely do not prefer this kind of adversarial play. However, so long as the you make it clear that this is the kind of game that you're running (to the other players), then they can choose whether or not to play in that sort of game.
Should they accept, then they are aware that some players may be trying to steal from them, and decide how to react to that.
If you do *not* tell them, they will almost certainly feel betrayed. They are likely working under the assumption that they're playing a co-operative game, and to be told only after the fact that this isn't the case is douchery at its finest.
Were such a bait-and-switch done to me, It'd be the last time I'd game with that DM, period.
In my perfect world, what beej67 is suggesting is exactly how I would execute.
Thank you for the vote of confidence. Seems we come from similar backgrounds. My first LARP was a World of Darkness event at Dragon Con in the early 1990s. :)
But again, I did not mention this type of behavior being possible, therefore I'm not sure players are prepared for it mentally.
Obviously, in the end, this comes down to your players, which is your judgment call. It sounds to me like you have the perspective and maturity to make that call correctly.
Nothing personal, man, but that's pretty much the big reason I'd never ever get involved with LARPing.
It's one thing to say the dude in my head who I have written down on a character sheet and is a badass dragonslayer is not me, but when it's me waving a foam stick around and getting my ass kicked, it's hard to say the same.
LARPing is a hell of a lot of fun. But do note, in most modern LARPs it's nearly impossible to kill a PC off permanently without a herculean effort. LARPs are a business too.
One of my fondest LARP memories was at a fantasy boffer LARP, where Saturday Evenings were an in-play feast attended by important NPCs, etc, and the 'wait staff' were PC characters who worked for tips - gold and silver. A newbie apparently didn't understand this, and he went around as feast was concluding and collected all the tips off the tables, pocketed them, and headed out.
This LARP had many different groups who were often at odds with one another, and each attempt to get the groups to work together to drive off whatever Great Evil was attacking that month was always a chore. But holy moly, nothing united the Village Mob like discovering that guy had walked off with the tips. Not two minutes after the revelation, there's 50 PCs all outside his cabin, dragging him out for a public execution.
That newbie, the player, when asked about it afterwards said it was one of the funnest things that had happened to him in months. Certainly memorable.
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Well, my brothers and I used to, I guess you could call it, LARP.
It was a full contact type of thing, as it was more of an excuse to RP, and whoop on each other.
Prior to the bad incident involving real LARPing, that was all I had as experience.
Now that was fun. Of course, no one I have ever met has done anything like "full contact" LARPing.
Well, my brothers and I used to, I guess you could call it, LARP.
It was a full contact type of thing, as it was more of an excuse to RP, and whoop on each other.
Prior to the bad incident involving real LARPing, that was all I had as experience.
Now that was fun. Of course, no one I have ever met has done anything like "full contact" LARPing.
Same here, heh.
Just recently got my brother into "real" RPGs but so far we've had more luck/fun planning out new campaigns and settings than trying to play it. All I have is VTT stuff so it's kinda hard to have both of us feeling invested.
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So basically, professional wrestlers are full-contact LARPers.Well, my brothers and I used to, I guess you could call it, LARP.
It was a full contact type of thing, as it was more of an excuse to RP, and whoop on each other.
Prior to the bad incident involving real LARPing, that was all I had as experience.
Now that was fun. Of course, no one I have ever met has done anything like "full contact" LARPing.
Funny that you would say that. One of my brothers is a state champion wrestler. My other brother took some European Sword fighting/martial arts classes. I, well, have an extreme tolerance to pain, and my old roommate taught Jujutsu, and I learned a few minor things.
Combine with our rather vivid imaginations, and tendency to overact our parts, it was quite a sight.
Well, my brothers and I used to, I guess you could call it, LARP.
It was a full contact type of thing, as it was more of an excuse to RP, and whoop on each other.
Prior to the bad incident involving real LARPing, that was all I had as experience.
Now that was fun. Of course, no one I have ever met has done anything like "full contact" LARPing.
You're looking for "Dagohir." No real characters or advancement, much more physical style of play than character progression larps. They basically do field battles during the day and then drink at night.
So basically, professional wrestlers are full-contact LARPers.Well, my brothers and I used to, I guess you could call it, LARP.
It was a full contact type of thing, as it was more of an excuse to RP, and whoop on each other.
Prior to the bad incident involving real LARPing, that was all I had as experience.
Now that was fun. Of course, no one I have ever met has done anything like "full contact" LARPing.
Funny that you would say that. One of my brothers is a state champion wrestler. My other brother took some European Sword fighting/martial arts classes. I, well, have an extreme tolerance to pain, and my old roommate taught Jujutsu, and I learned a few minor things.
Combine with our rather vivid imaginations, and tendency to overact our parts, it was quite a sight.
Any LARP I've attended didnt allow players to steal anything they could find. There's strict rules for theft (granted, from what I've seen about your posts it looks like no one talked to you about it). The one I usually participate at only allows "tagged" (so in game) items to be stolen, then if the player is successful at stealing anything unnoticed, they must go directing to the NPC camp, hand over the rep they took to a mod, at which point the mod will take the "tag" off the item and give it to the thief.
This is because too many expensive reps are brought to our LARP and people are too eager to grab what they can and worry about returning the items later (or not returning them at all due to forgetting, or damaging the item due to neglect).
If a player grabbed a handful of random, Untagged items at my LARP, they'd probably get in boatloads of trouble too.