Monstering Guide

Brixham Berzerkers Guide to Monstering

Introduction

So you got in your car, You drove some miles, you turned up to a Brixham Berzerkers Presents LRP event and decided you wanted to get repeatedly battered into the floor by overly keen players.

We salute you!

This Guide is short and sweet and will hopefully let you know what your job is as a member of the hallowed few that have joined the ranks of the Monster Crew™

Kit/Costume

Hopefully you haven’t turned up wearing Day Glo pinks and yellows and some trainers sent down from the heavens. If you have, we’ll find some mud for you to roll in. If however you have brought some black/grey/brown clothing you are now ready to monster for the next few hours. The Berzerkers have some extra costume parts that they will provide for individual encounters, please treat any loaned kit with respect and try to see it is returned in much the same state as it was given to you in.

Masks and face paint may also be daubed on you liberally and if you have an allergy to either latex or the face paint, please let the monster ref know before he starts decorating your mug.

Your Role

 Before you are even given extra kit or weapons, before you have even got your encounter brief, understand that your role is to keep the players happy and well exercised. Those guys aint getting smaller and any extra effort we can give to sneaking in exercise will be appreciated later on. Jokes aside, the players have paid some money, booked time off work, made arrangements to come and get slapped around by you guys and the least you can do is die on time. Whether you have a ‘talky’ role or a ‘hitty’ role, you should not be going out to face the players and try to win. They are the big shiny heroes, they are supposed to win.

Different Types of Encounters

As noted above, there are many types of encounter but most are broken down into ‘talky’ or ‘hitty’. For those that don’t know what this means, Talky roles will involve you going out and communicating something to the players. Hitty roles will be given to you and will involve some sort of violence at some point in the encounter.

For talky roles you will normally get a brief covering some sort of plot point the players will need to know about. They will probably forget it within moments of being expertly told by your well crafted story, however they are players…the big shiny heroes…it is well within their right to have memories like sieves.

For Hitty Roles, the brief given by the monster ref will be as important as any talky roles. This is where you have to remember the rule, the big shiny heroes are supposed to win. If they fall over, move on to the next one. If you have been briefed to do so, please feel free to mangle them while they are on the floor HOWEVER if you have not, please do not. Listen to prompts from the monster ref during the encounter as well. He may decide the players have had enough and want to march you off singing victory songs.

Combat

Rule number one in combat club is…Safety. Just because you have no issue being wrestled to the floor in a headlock, the 8 stone lass in front of you might take offence.

No leaping, head-butting, punching, unpulled blows, kicking, screaming, actual death will be tolerated. We lie, well role-played unarmed attacks are not an issue but try and make sure it is consensual.

We have, and will probably in the future, suffered from ‘the red mist’. If it gets too much, put your finger in the air and walk away from the fight. We are all here to have fun and a proper smack on the head followed by some harsh language will ruin most peoples mornings.

Remember rule 1 back at the start, shiny heroes again. Give them a good fight but we don’t want ten dead players on the floor. That’s a waste of a day for all of us and think about what happens when you as a monster become a player!

Calls

Time-In This call is used to tell the players and monsters that they are currently in character and should be acting accordingly

Time-Freeze This call means everyone should stop what they are doing and stay where they are with their eyes closed until a Time-In is called again

Time-Faff a new call and basically means the players are at the next encounter but the monsters are not ready ( slackers) so instead of standing there frozen they are able to stay in character and talk to each other while waiting for a Time-In to be called

Time-Out a call used for  end of the adventure and means that after your voting is done, you’re almost on your way back home. Maybe for a Chinese….mm Asian food.

Man-Down You hear this you stop, you stop moving, you stop talking, stop everything. It means that someone has actually been hurt and is being sorted out. Deadly serious. Also in this case, give whoever is down some space and do not stare.

XP

At the end of the days adventuring, you will be accosted by those pesky refs. They will ask you to vote on each players experience points for the day. They will be based off the following things. The players kit, How well they role-played, Whether they had good ideas, and the one that concerns you the most, how well they did in combat. This includes the taking blows/spells, how well they reacted to being hit, how heroic they looked and whether they were safe in the fights. Try to be neutral and fair and vote on each player if you have encountered them.

Conclusion

Well my friends, I think that’s all the basics covered. I hope you are prepared to get knocked down and get back up for a good few hours. The players will appreciate you all the more for bringing an adventure to them that they survive and live to tell the tale of. They will feel more inclined to monster for you if you bring your A game to monstering. And the refs and organisers will sing your praises for many a month to come.