Exiles Frequently Asked Questions

 What is a LARP?

A live action role-playing game (LARP) is a form of role-playing game where the participants act out some or all of the physical actions that their characters take. Players interact with each other and usually a game staff who represent non-player characters (NPCs) and foes. It is somewhat similar to improvisational theatre, yet the game is usually bound by stricter rules.

What is Exiles?

Exiles is a live action role-playing game (LARP) that takes place in a Wild West fantasy setting.  It offers the opportunity to use guns in a role-playing game through the use of rubber band guns. Exiles is a boffer style LARP, so physical conflict in the game is resolved using foam padded representations of weapons and rubber band guns.

What is the game world like?

Exiles is a Wild West fantasy game, so while the game world is entirely fantastic, it is heavily influenced by the American frontier and the Wild West genre.  The geography of the world is very similar to Earth, with some minor geographic changes to the structure of the continents.  So, North America, South America, Africa, Europe, Asia, etc. can all be found in the same relative positions with the same type of ethnicity. 

The game is primarily set in what would be North America.  The Great Lakes do not exist, and the entire north of the continent (as far as is known) is covered in rugged mountains.  The east coast from what would be Maine down to Florida is the Empire.  The Midwest is a nation called the Republic, bordered to the east by the Empire, the Great Northern Mountains to the North, and a nation called Serape that occupies what would be Mexico to the south.  The west coast is consumed by a vast desert known as the Wasteland.  The Great Northern Mountains and the Wasteland are relatively unexplored.

The ancient history of the game world is very unique, but the history of the recent several hundred years or so bears similarity to actual history.  As a rule of thumb, you can assume that if it happened outside of North America, and involved an entire nation, it is probably represented in a significantly similar way in the game world.  For Example, the Empire was originally colonized by England, referred to in the setting as “The Continent.”  So, to categorize the style of the game world, it is inspired by actual events, but not based on actual events.  The in-game date is 1850, but influence is drawn from historical events up through the early 20th century.

The in-play locations for most of the Exiles events are a hardscrabble frontier town in the Republic called Redemption Hills and a booming technological area a little south of that known as Silver Springs.  More information about these towns and the game world can be found in the In Game section of the website.  the people and places of the Republic are very similar to the American West.  If you dropped an imagined town in a western movie into the Republic, it would fit right in.  So, while zombies and flying machines exist in the game world, most average people in the Republic would be terrified by a zombie and laugh at the prospect of a flying machine. 

The Empire, on the other hand, is very Victorian Sci-fi, or steam-punk.  It is a sprawling metropolis organized into districts that are centered on massive factories.  The sprawl is so extensive that virtually no wild vegetation exists in the Empire.  While most Imperial citizens aren’t great scientists; mechanics and advanced machines are more commonplace to them than to a citizen of the Republic.  The Empire is not like anything in history, and therefore it is encouraged that only players with an extensive knowledge of the game world attempt to play characters from the Empire. Civilized towns certainly exist in the Republic, and would be similar to New York, Boston, Chicago, etc during the historical period.  Keep in mind that the American cities you know do not exist in the Exiles world due to the different geography and the presence of the Empire.

What kind of character can I play?

Exiles presents players with a dynamic setting that is capable of supporting a wide range of characters.  Because of the Wild West setting, many players choose to play characters that are very typical of the genre such as gun hands, saloon girls, bartenders, swarthy mountain men, and evil cattle barons.  There are five basic character personas in the game: Gunslinger, Trapper, Gentleman, Celestial, and Doctor.  These personas determine what skills a character may learn, and the persona abilities are geared towards the typical roles that the character might fit into, but feel free to be inventive with your character concept.  Doc Holiday is a legendary gunslinger, but could his persona be Doctor?

Can I play a fantasy character?

Yes, it is possible to play a more fantastic character than a frontier doctor.  However, keep in mind that most of the fantastic elements of the game are Victorian in nature.  So, the horror and magical elements of the game tend to correspond to Victorian legends or superstition and the science-fiction elements of the game correspond more closely to what would have been considered science-fiction in the 19th century, such as a flying machine or a motorcar.  Additionally, players have access to character personas that are fantastic in nature, like a tinkering Wild West scientist, but these personas are earned by participating in the game. All personas are encouraged to act and exist within the atmosphere of the wild west.

What is a persona?

A persona is similar to a character class in that it determines what skills a character can learn, how much Learnin’ those skills cost, starting Mustard, and special abilities.  A persona is also different from a character class because it determines, in a very general way, what kind of role a character fits into, how he might have acquired his skills and special abilities, and what kind of an impact the game environment has on him.  This aspect of a persona is usually very subtle, but the game staff always keeps in mind what persona a character belongs to.  For example, a Trapper who is lost in the woods might have an easier time surviving than a Gunslinger, and a Gunslinger might be able to more easily identify the sound that a particular firearm produces.  Neither of these advantages corresponds directly to a game skill, so the game staff would typically use additional information, such as a character’s persona, to resolve these kinds of actions during the course of play.

How many personas are there?

Players initially have access to five personas: Doctor, Celestial, Gentleman, Gunslinger, and Trapper. but there are additional personas are arranged on three different tiers according to the power of their abilities.  These higher tiers require a greater amount of banked Learnin’ to access.  To keep the game interesting, these tiered personas are not identified to a player until that player is able to access the persona, and no player can have access to a persona that has not been represented during game play as a non-player character.  To answer the question more directly, there are no less than 5 personas per tier, which makes the minimum possible personas 20.

What is a Learnin’ Bank?

A Learnin’ Bank is a record of all of the Learnin’ points that a specific player has earned on any of their Exiles characters.  These points are not used to advance a specific character, but they are instead used by the player to gain access to more advanced character personas or Hidden Skills. 

Can I learn skills that aren’t on my persona list?

Yes, you can.  A character usually can’t learn skills that appear on the lists of other general personas, but Exiles includes a wide array of Hidden Skills that characters can gain access to during the course of play.  Many Hidden Skills can be purchased as long as the player has enough bank learnin' and character learnin' to do so.  Some Hidden Skills must be researched or discovered by a character during play, and that character must be taught the skill by a non-player character.  Additionally in this case, a player will have to spend a set amount of Learnin’ before his character can acquire the ability. A list of revealed Hidden Skills is available on the "Hidden Skills" errata page of the Exiles website.

What do costumes look like?

Costuming in Exiles is very easy to do and it can be done on a really low budget.  If you want some ideas, just watch some western movies and take a close look at what the actors are actually wearing.  A lot of the time it's things that you can get any thrift store.  Even the Duke wore just jeans, a button down shirt, cowboy boots, a handkerchief, and a hat most of the time.  You can also spend a lot on a costume if it is composed of period reproduction clothing.  You can find links to websites that sell such items on the Exiles Links page.  Also, remember that just a cowboy hat and a vest will go a very long way towards making your costume look great.

Do I have to bring my own weapon and gun phys reps?

Actually, you don’t have to.  players are encouraged to make or acquire their own reps, but Staff can also supply many reps if needed.  Keep in mind that the supply of reps is limited by what the Staff has available that they do not need to run the game. The game sites also have reps of mundane items scattered around the play area, so if you need a weapon in a pinch, you can just go by the log pile and snatch up a phys rep log.

If you do provide your own phys reps, please make sure that they are safe. Any melee weapon should have a pipe core and be surrounded by foam. Any thrown weapons should not have a core and be made completely of foam. No weapons should have any sharp edges or points, and should not hurt the target when used. Guns are always represented by rubber band guns. For more information, please see the rulebook.

What kinds of equipment do I start with?

Exiles characters do not start with any special equipment that is not automatically gained through the use of skills.  The only such skill available to the five general personas is Income, which provides a character with 20 cents per rank at the start of every game.  This restriction only applies to items which are ‘tagged’, i.e. they are unique in some way; or require the player to purchase a skill or spend money to acquire and are therefore certified with a document of authenticity (an item tag).  Any normal melee weapon is considered to be mundane and is therefore not ‘tagged’, so a character may start play with melee weapons, or any other such mundane equipment (craft tools, card decks, etc.)

What happens if my character dies?

The Exiles system is rather lethal compared to many fantasy LARP games, so a character can die fairly easily if a player is careless or unlucky.  If your character dies, there is little chance to save the character.  Once your character dies, you are allowed to make a new character immediately from the base personas.  The Exiles game rewards players for participating, even if their characters die, so that the "experience points" awarded for each game go towards the character played AND a bank. This Bank Learnin' stays, even if a character dies, while character learnin' is lost. Bank Learnin' can also be earned through service and donations. Once your bank learnin' is high enough, you are able to advance to more powerful personas. Bank Learnin' can also be used to purchase Hidden Skills. Keep in mind that it is certainly possible to play the same character for an extended period of time, and the game staff should not purposefully try to kill anyone. The west was deadly, and consequences have actions, but the portrayal of a character’s life and death should be fun.  Because of this, the game staff encourages all players to concentrate on enjoying the game rather than on keeping a character alive.

Can I fight with a Sword?

Yes, you can fight with just about any kind of item rep (physical representation) in Exiles.  Keep in mind that the weapon rules require a rep to have the same basic profile and color scheme of the item it is supposed to represent.  Also, players are encouraged to use weapons that are themed for the Wild West genre. You might see wood axes, sticks, boards, chairs, bottles, Calvary sabers, bowie knives, pickaxes, and other such commonplace items used as weapons. 

Can I use two guns?

Yes, you can use two guns. You must have the appropriate gun skill and also access to the weapon in-game.  There is no skill in Exiles that allows you to wield two weapons, but any character is allowed to wield two weapons unless the weapon requires that it be used with two hands.   players are encouraged to use weapons that should be paired together, such as two pistols, a rapier and a dagger, a cleaver and a steak knife, etc.  Try to keep the setting in mind and think about what someone in the old west might use together when fighting.