If you have participated in a live action role playing game as a member of the cast/non-player characters that help run an event then you probably know that things don’t always go as smoothly as you planned them to – if indeed you planned them to.
One of the major wrinkles in the smooth canvas of LARP simply boils down to timing. You show up as a cast member/NPC and suddenly you are asked to play a vital role to the engagement. Unfortunately you have had no prep time and no one sent you your character information days in advance so you have had no time to bond with your role.
Thankfully there are learning techniques that can help you to get into your character quicker and will less slips or spills along the way.
Read Your Character Bio/Profile Out Loud
This suggestion actually tackles 2 of the different ways that you can help commit your character profile, facts and information to memory. The first is the act of reading the profile itself.
When you read a profile you see the words on the paper which creates a visual memory of the words that you are trying to commit to memory. This also forces you to process each word individually instead of merely getting the ‘idea’ of the character through a verbal prompt.
Second, reading out loud lets you listen to yourself. This provides you with an audio memory of what was said and by extension what was written down. An audio memory will reinforce what you are reading and give you a greater chance of remembering your character information in the future.
Visualize the Meaning of What You Are Reading
As you read the information about your character take the time to visualize scenes in your mind of how the character information would be relevant to the character. For example, if the character you are playing is a horse thief then visualize a scene or two of how she may have stolen a horse or an entire herd of horses.
Pictures of your character’s belongings, heirlooms, or other details will greatly help you to visualize various scenes that your character may have been involved in at some time.
Visualization is another one of the main ways that you can teach your mind.
Repetition is Key
After you have read your character profile out loud – do it again. I know that this may seem boring and you may find that you skip over some words on the second and third reading but memorizing new material is not unlike anything else – practice makes perfect.
Make sure that you stop yourself from skipping over any words or paragraphs – read the entire profile at least 3 times. If you are not able to read the profile 3 times out loud then at least read it to yourself more than once .
I have heard that 7 is the magic number to ensure that you have the best chance to remember but I recommend no less than 3 readings. This shouldn’t be hard as most character profiles are not that long to begin with.
Find How You Relate to The Character
Find something about the character that you can relate to – something that is important to you. This is a key aspect of remembering details about the character at a later time.
The human mind is conditioned to treat situations that you find interesting or emotional as a higher priority than those that you find boring or uninteresting. If you are able to relate to the character then you will find the character more interesting and perhaps even have an emotional investment.
According to the AARP the mind remembers on average more than 90% of something that the person is interested in. The rate of learning for something they are not interested in is less than 10%. (citation)
You should be able to complete all of these suggestions in 5 minutes or less and taking the time to ensure that you are prepped as best as you can be will show. A NPC that doesn’t know their role is like a pair of nice shoes without shoe polish; they do the job but they also stand out.
All the best in your future LARP endeavours,
Kevin Tjia
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