[RPG] How to make it absolutely clear that I’m shooting you in the face

larpphysical-safetyplayer-communication

I play live action roleplaying games (LARPs), where myself and the players around me adopt actual physical characters.

I've had a problem in the past where I hold a gun and want to shoot someone, but don't have their attention. Probably trying to shoot them in the back or something. If I shoot them, they have very little way of knowing and don't really have time to reasonably respond. This breaks game immersion, and is a serious problem.

This problem isn't restricted to guns. If I want to punch, shoot, kick, perform spiritual magicks on, slap, or otherwise nonvocally interact with someone when their back is turned, they might not (read: probably won't) get the signal.

Short of shouting at them "Hey, snotface!" to get their attention before shooting them, how can I let them know so they can respond appropriately?

In order to be a successful solution, the signal must:

  • consistently telegraph successfully; while some error rate is expected in LARP, the solution needs to work pretty much always. It doesn't make sense and breaks character when people don't respond rationally/logically.
  • not break the atmosphere; for instance, no running up to them and whispering "I'm about to shoot you"
  • not break character; I can't do anything my character wouldn't, besides basic game mechanics, that would cause me to have to break out of character to execute
  • allow for sneaking; it won't do to shout "Hey, snotface!" if I'm trying to sneak around
  • allow for selecting one target of many; if a group of people are walking together and I shoot one of them, that person and that person alone needs to know I've shot them
  • allow for many people to be aware of the gunfire; imagine the sound of a gunshot, and how others would respond – this needs to be consistent with that
  • work on low-tech and low-budget; I don't have access to anything except guns that make a clicky noise (basically cap guns dry firing), so something like paintballs are out. By low-budget, I would like to aim for something reusable (optimally) that's no more than $5-7 per person – if it's not reusable it'd better be pretty dern cheap

This works great if I have their attention and brief eye contact – just point, shoot, and say "bang." But what if you're not paying attention? How do you know that I've shot you?

Best Answer

You could also consider Nerf guns. They won't require eye protection like paintball and airsoft guns do. Projectiles are cheap and guns seem to be in a similar or lower price range compared to a latex sword.

A blue and bright orange Nerf rifle

With some creativity and a splash of paint their bright colour schemes don't need to break immersion (although I would advise against "open-carrying" real-looking toy guns):

A Nerf Maverick Mk-2 repainted in a steampunk color scheme, with added gauge and scope. The orange "safety" ring on the barrel is still showing.

The only drawbacks are limited range (especially outside, in windy conditions) and the need to collect your projectiles after firing them (although you could try making your own biodegradable nerf darts).