Treasure Trap
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Treasure Trap is a common name for Live action role-playing game groups across the United Kingdom. The original Treasure Trap was established at Peckforton Castle in Cheshire in April 1982.[1] It was probably the first 'live-combat' LARP. It established many trends and conventions that subsequent LARPs have followed.
Although the original club closed in 1984 (as a result of financial problems as well as losing access to the Castle) many of its attendees formed their own games, clubs and societies around the UK, frequently adopting similar rules and settings, and sometimes bearing the same name of Treasure Trap. A few of the original Treasure Trap members still LARP today.
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[edit] Format
The original Peckforton Castle system was a fantasy game, drawing its setting from sources such as Dungeons & Dragons, Tolkien, Conan the Barbarian, Robin of Sherwood, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, European mythology, and fictionalised medieval Britain. Heroic knights and wizards, humans, elves and dwarves, battled for survival against evil orcs and trolls, and dread necromancers with their zombie hordes.
The group ran events over weekends. Common areas of the castle would be permanently "In Character". Throughout the weekend, a number of adventures would be run for groups of players, with other players acting as monster crew.
Players wore costume appropriate to their characters; monsters used makeup, simple prosthetics, and masks, to help portray fantasy creatures. Weapons such as swords were constructed out of foam rubber and gaffa tape over a solid core, allowing players to fight safely. All of these conventions have been widely adopted in UK LARP.
[edit] System
The system used at Peckforton Castle was a simplified role-playing game drawn heavily from RuneQuest and Dungeons & Dragons, amongst others. The system was designed to be simple enough to be carried in people's heads without recourse to dice or reference books.
Each character class had 8 levels and broadly followed established D&D classes, albeit with some influence from UK D&D extensions, such as the Warwick System from the University of Warwick. The system had Dungeons & Dragons' 2-axis alignments (Lawful/Chaotic and Good/Evil axes) with extra classes that emphasised the Good/Evil conflict.
Health was measured in Life Points, both total and locational. Weapon damage affected both of these; armour reduced this damage. [2]
Magic was based around the classical elements. Spellcasting cost mana points and also damaged Total Life Points according to a quadratic formula relating spell level and character level. Priestly miracles were a different kind of magic, costing spirit points, and following a linear rather than quadratic progression.
In order to keep track of these numbers, referees would carry paper "Battle Boards". Monsters would sometimes coat their weapons in wet paint, so that the blows inflicted in combat could be counted after the fight.[2] This idea was generally dropped by the later spin-off systems due to the damage caused to costumes, and players were instead required to keep track in their heads of the hits they had taken and declare them to the referee after the fight.
After 8th level, characters would become Immortal after doing a Professional Level Special that was meant to thoroughly test their performance in that class. These "Pro" events were generally 24 hours in duration
Many of these rules have been copied by later LARPs, although "Treasure Trap rules" have become less popular in the 1990s and 2000s, with many groups preferring to use some variant on the much simpler Lorien Trust rules.
[edit] Other Treasure Trap clubs
[edit] Durham University
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Durham University Treasure Trap (known locally as 'DUTT' or simply 'TT') was founded in February 1983 with the aim of helping members travel to Peckforton Castle. When the original Treasure Trap folded, members began running day-long adventures in the woods around Durham using the original Treasure Trap system. The society is still going strong, with over sixty events a year, and can justifiably claim to be the oldest continuously-running LARP society in the world.
Adventures are primarily run in woods around the city of Durham, such as Great High Wood, although other locations around the North East of England have been frequently used. While often stand-alone events, modern adventures are sometimes interlinked with the ongoing plotlines running in the Interactives, the society's other weekly event.
In the mid 80s, the society began running these interactive tavern nights (known simply as 'Interactives') each week, offering a more player-vs-player game in contrast to the player-vs-monster games usually experienced on adventures. The style of Interactives has become increasingly socio-political, with characters more likely to be involved with plotting schemes against one another or securing business deals than slaying monsters; in stark contrast to the combat-intensive weekend adventures. Plotlines for Interactives are created both by the players (for player-run plot) and a group of Referees, with the 'Head Referee' being an elected position.
Other regular events include a two-day highly immersive weekend event in June (known as the 'Third Year Goodbye' or '3YGB'), and an annual medieval banquet, which draws both current members and players from up to twenty years ago. The Third Year Goodbye gained its name through it being the traditional last adventure third year student members of the society would undertake.
As with the Peckforton system a character may only achieve eighth level by undertaking, and surviving, a Third Year Goodbye. Because most players would leave the system soon after the event (which traditionally takes place after final exams but before the graduation ceremony) eighth level characters have traditionally become NPCs 'owned' by the society and may then be used by the Referees in Interactive and Adventure plotlines.
Almost all events are run within the setting of the fictional Palatinate of Durholme, based very loosely on medieval County Durham in the thirteenth century. The rules system has undergone many profound changes since the society was formed although it is still recognisable as a descendant of the original Treasure Trap.
[edit] Cambridge University
Cambridge University Treasure Trap was founded in 2002 by ex-members of Durham University Treasure Trap who had moved to Cambridge and wished to continue the hobby in the local area.
The society still has close ties with Durham Treasure Trap, both in terms of rules and world settings, and the two societies occasionally run joint events.
[edit] Birmingham University
Birmingham University Treasure Trap was also originally formed to help students attend Treasure Trap at Peckforton Castle. When the original Treasure Trap closed, Birmingham Trap members continued to run their own games in the local area, adopting the same rules and some of the setting. Membership was not restricted to students.
Lacking the luxury of a castle, Birmingham Treasure Trap would typically run single-day events consisting of two adventures, often twice a weekend.[3] Popular sites included the Lickey Hills, Kinver Edge, and the University campus. There were also occasional 'Tavern Nights' - nonlinear, low-combat, political events - mostly held at Bell's Farm Tudor house, as well as an annual medieval banquet each Christmas and a "48-hour" event each summer, which lasted for an entire weekend. Originally the "48" took the form of an extremely long linear adventure where a single group of players were "in character" from Friday evening till Sunday evening and could even be attacked whilst camping during the night. In later years it was more often a linked series of separate standard-length adventures spread across a Saturday and Sunday, with a tavern night on the Saturday evening.
The setting was the Duchy of Merkar in Angland - a fictionalised version of the English Midlands[4] - where the Norman feudal system had continued into the 20th century, the Catholic church still held sway, wizards practiced mastery of 6 elements, and the Adventuring Guilds of Barmanham battled every conceivable kind of villain and monster.
As a university society, it was run by students for students, with AGMs and a constitution as meted by the Guild of Students. Consequently the rules and setting went through many adjustments as the membership changed. It also supported a lively out-of-game social scene.[3]
Due to declining membership, Birmingham Treasure Trap stopped running events in 2002, and the society was formally closed in 2005, although former members still occasionally get together to run events using the game system.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
There are currently Treasure Trap societies at
- Durham University [1] (spun off in 1983)
- Cambridge University [2] (spun off from Durham in 2002)
- Birmingham University [3] (spun off in 1984, now defunct)
- Labyrinthe [4] (spun off from Treasure Trap 1984)
- Forever's Destiny [5] (formerly Flights of Fantasy/Nothing Ventured, spun off from Treasure Trap in 1986)
