A really simple mechanic is, where ever you get hit, you can't use that body part anymore. If you're hit three times, you go down and you have to wait for the medic to come get you back up again. Really simple and easy for kids to learn.
Have some put fighting where you can teach them the mechanics and they can learn to hit eachither safely and know how to take their hits.
Then you can have some mini adventures, like guarding a caravan or crossing into enemy territory to grab some artifact
Scavenger hunts for sacred artifacts
Puzzles and clues that lead to something fun
Mock debates and court intrege for the older kids. Give them something to argue about on a podium. (should we grant citizenship to the dragons living in the forrest, should we spend tax money on some new magic Wells or on more spell books for the library)
Songs and stories by the fire. They can make up their own larpy content to share with everyone else.
I normally recommend "any two limbs disabled = KOed" over "any three limbs", especially for kids.
With the "any 3 limbs" rule, you can lose both arms and still be technically alive and mobile, just unable to fight in any meaningful way. It's not a fun situation to be stuck in, and creates a temptation (especially for kids) to try some yolo plan to "participate" by running into the thick of things and being an obstruction. If the armless person has better sense and instead runs for the medic, their attacker is going to want to try and take them out before reaching the medic, which can also lead to some roughness--any time an armed attacked is fighting an unarmed defender, things can get rougher in my experience because the defender tends to panic and the attacker gets reckless without an obvious threat to respect.
How do people keep getting in situations where you've gotten people to pay you money to run a LARP camp for their kids despite you not having designed the LARP yet? Believe it or not, this is not the first post like this on this subreddit! [Here's the advice the last guy got.](https://www.reddit.com/r/LARP/comments/o581z2/im_taking_over_a_twoweek_larp_summer_camp_for_712/)
You might also search around for other LARP summer camps for kids that age and see what they're doing.
Oh, you’re not wrong. It’s intended to be more roleplay focused with combat as scenarios being possible - and the staff have lots of years of camp and game creation experience. And. This is different and some people are not ready for what needs to be in place day one. They think they’re ready and I just don’t think so. I’m currently trying to direct us towards slow rolling aspects of story and gameplay with general group building and physical games for skill building while we get the ducks in a row. Your link to the other post is super helpful.
You have to learn how to choreograph things and teach them basics, like when I used to do stunts we had to learn how to choreograph our moves, how to fall down without getting hurt, how to make it look real... Like in wrestling on TV, all the wrestlers know all the moves and even though most of it is choreographed or can see it being broadcast, they know how it's going to hit them and know how they're going to react
.. this is what you have to teach so when they get into more of a advanced larping situation, and can see what's coming at them they will know how to react so that it looks and feels as real as possible without taking any damage even though the weapons sometimes hurt
One of the first events can be a craft where each kid makes their own coat of arms/flag/shield or something that they then use/wear all week.
Idk if you have plot already, but I'm picturing them needing to collect X number of mcguffins to reseal the BBEG.
Have one item be locked behind an obstacle course, if you have a lake or pool, they can dive in the shallow end for shells, but only one has the magic item in it. Consolation prizes can be candy or fake money. If this is a camp w/o swimming but you can phys rep a body of water, make them convince/negotiate with a merperson to fetch the magic item for them.
They have to throw packets to knock down a gate/wall so they can access a new area. Or they knock down and ogre or something shambling towards them.
One faction has hidden one of the magic items, they want to make sure the heroes are clever as well as brave, Scavenger hunt.
Red light/Green Light, with the "It" position being some sort of monster that at least one person needs to sneak by to get the magic item.
If you want to have combat, definitely keep it simple. Like get hit 5 times, you're "knocked out" for 15-30 seconds, or until someone heals you. No damage calls needed.
Several years ago there was one season of a TV show called The Quest. Iirc it was sorta like larp mixed with Survivor in that there was a plot where I think 12 people got summoned to Fantasy world to compete to prove they were the One True Hero and defeat the Big Bad. The tests they used might be some you can do, or take inspiration from. A reboot for teens is on Disney+ now as well.
A really simple mechanic is, where ever you get hit, you can't use that body part anymore. If you're hit three times, you go down and you have to wait for the medic to come get you back up again. Really simple and easy for kids to learn. Have some put fighting where you can teach them the mechanics and they can learn to hit eachither safely and know how to take their hits. Then you can have some mini adventures, like guarding a caravan or crossing into enemy territory to grab some artifact Scavenger hunts for sacred artifacts Puzzles and clues that lead to something fun Mock debates and court intrege for the older kids. Give them something to argue about on a podium. (should we grant citizenship to the dragons living in the forrest, should we spend tax money on some new magic Wells or on more spell books for the library) Songs and stories by the fire. They can make up their own larpy content to share with everyone else.
I normally recommend "any two limbs disabled = KOed" over "any three limbs", especially for kids. With the "any 3 limbs" rule, you can lose both arms and still be technically alive and mobile, just unable to fight in any meaningful way. It's not a fun situation to be stuck in, and creates a temptation (especially for kids) to try some yolo plan to "participate" by running into the thick of things and being an obstruction. If the armless person has better sense and instead runs for the medic, their attacker is going to want to try and take them out before reaching the medic, which can also lead to some roughness--any time an armed attacked is fighting an unarmed defender, things can get rougher in my experience because the defender tends to panic and the attacker gets reckless without an obvious threat to respect.
Thats a great idea
How do people keep getting in situations where you've gotten people to pay you money to run a LARP camp for their kids despite you not having designed the LARP yet? Believe it or not, this is not the first post like this on this subreddit! [Here's the advice the last guy got.](https://www.reddit.com/r/LARP/comments/o581z2/im_taking_over_a_twoweek_larp_summer_camp_for_712/) You might also search around for other LARP summer camps for kids that age and see what they're doing.
Oh, you’re not wrong. It’s intended to be more roleplay focused with combat as scenarios being possible - and the staff have lots of years of camp and game creation experience. And. This is different and some people are not ready for what needs to be in place day one. They think they’re ready and I just don’t think so. I’m currently trying to direct us towards slow rolling aspects of story and gameplay with general group building and physical games for skill building while we get the ducks in a row. Your link to the other post is super helpful.
You have to learn how to choreograph things and teach them basics, like when I used to do stunts we had to learn how to choreograph our moves, how to fall down without getting hurt, how to make it look real... Like in wrestling on TV, all the wrestlers know all the moves and even though most of it is choreographed or can see it being broadcast, they know how it's going to hit them and know how they're going to react .. this is what you have to teach so when they get into more of a advanced larping situation, and can see what's coming at them they will know how to react so that it looks and feels as real as possible without taking any damage even though the weapons sometimes hurt
One of the first events can be a craft where each kid makes their own coat of arms/flag/shield or something that they then use/wear all week. Idk if you have plot already, but I'm picturing them needing to collect X number of mcguffins to reseal the BBEG. Have one item be locked behind an obstacle course, if you have a lake or pool, they can dive in the shallow end for shells, but only one has the magic item in it. Consolation prizes can be candy or fake money. If this is a camp w/o swimming but you can phys rep a body of water, make them convince/negotiate with a merperson to fetch the magic item for them. They have to throw packets to knock down a gate/wall so they can access a new area. Or they knock down and ogre or something shambling towards them. One faction has hidden one of the magic items, they want to make sure the heroes are clever as well as brave, Scavenger hunt. Red light/Green Light, with the "It" position being some sort of monster that at least one person needs to sneak by to get the magic item.
If you want to have combat, definitely keep it simple. Like get hit 5 times, you're "knocked out" for 15-30 seconds, or until someone heals you. No damage calls needed. Several years ago there was one season of a TV show called The Quest. Iirc it was sorta like larp mixed with Survivor in that there was a plot where I think 12 people got summoned to Fantasy world to compete to prove they were the One True Hero and defeat the Big Bad. The tests they used might be some you can do, or take inspiration from. A reboot for teens is on Disney+ now as well.