Phoenix 2017

Phoenix 2017 will be held at the Glenroy Lodge in Hororata on August 25-27. That about an hour’s drive out of Christchurch. As with Chimera and Hydra, it will be residential and fully catered.

This year’s flagship is The Beginner’s Guide to Buying and Selling Haunted Items by Chloe Sutherland

Got a chandelier that flickers erratically every time someone enter the parlour? In the market for a possessed Ouija board keep you company? Sick of your daughter’s porcelain doll continually waking you up with the sounds of fire and maniacal laughter?

Then, head on down to a supernaturally special event at the Salem Auction House!

Pre-registration form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1vwGL8TSGAB4mSF073K5E9nRDaOKyh4yl2e1p9flI1fA

Game submission form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1gmYd15ZLbEXNb6LMHgVuKv0GREF5Jj3rB-7rztXSpaw

If you haven’t been following this, they’ve already announced their first four games:

  • Persephone’s Choice: an Asimovian robot larp
  • The Adventures of the Very Witty People: a workshop about improving witty comebacks combined with a short larp about courtiers where participants can put the lessons into practice.
  • Today’s Special: Tyranny: someone taking revenge on a jury for a wrong decision?
  • The Omega Delivery: Part 3 of the “Kestrel saga” (will be rerun in Wellington, as usual)

Phoenix is still looking for games:

Officially “anyone who runs a game gets first dibs on the rooms with en suites”. They’re also planning on organising a shuttle bus or carpooling to get everyone to the venue and to make your logistics easier. So come to Phoenix and larp in (semi) luxury!

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Three more games have been announced:

  • S.W.I.P.E. (Symbiotes Will Inherit Planet Earth), about a botched alien invasion.
  • LARPS on Demand, an improvy framework game.
  • The Final Voyage of the SS Prometheus, an SF thriller.

The latest batch of hot new games:

  • Fools Gambit, a cold war espionage / diplomatic thriller.
  • Jane Austen’s “Emma”, a larp adaptation of the ur-RomCom.
  • Small Town Folks, an excellent larp about a tornado.
  • Longest Night, a seance larp.
  • It Ain’t Easy Being Gilled AKA Innsmouth High.

They’re still looking for games, but this is looking like a very hot lineup.

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Not sure how many people check here over Facebook and the NZLARPS events page, but I thought I should announce that prices for Phoenix are out.
$60 for the con and accommodation and an additional $30 if you want to be fed (This includes dinner Friday and Saturday, and breakfast and lunch Saturday and Sunday).
Pre-registrations are still open and there is a $5 discount for NZLARPS members.

The timetable for games should be published within 10 days.

Pre-register here: https://goo.gl/forms/s6jvf4N7UtEcUJsz2

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I check all of them, but facebook often hides things from me for a few days depending on whether it thinks its important enough - so I saw this one first. :smiley:

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Phoenix’s hungry shark week opens on Saturday, June 3rd. The game selection form will be posted on the Phoenix Facebook event and on the Saga website. The preliminary timetable is already doing the rounds among GM’s and those who have registered, and its hot - but there are some hard choices to make.

If you’re thinking of attending from the North Island, posse details are here.

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Game selection for Phoenix is open!

The full timetable showing all of those hot, hot games is here.

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Hungry Shark Week is over. If you still want to play sign up now. Games are filling fast, and some games have already filled.

Game blurbs and timetable can be found here:
http://saga.org.nz/phoenix-timetable/

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Thanks to everyone who helped organise, run, cook, GM, write games, ride share and play at Phoenix. It was a great Con and a really nice venue. Too tired to say much more ATM

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I had a great time. Also, “It ain’t easy being gilled” = best party ever!

I’ll put something up on the Other Other Other Place, but there’s a high proportion of games expected to be rerun so I’ll have to be careful to avoid spoilers.

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Thank you @catnip and @IdiotSavant for fitting us into your carbon budget! Always good to see you. I had a great time at Phoenix, thank you very much to all the organisers!

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My Phoenix review is on Dreamwidth for those of you who use that platform. The TL;DR is that I had a great time, played great games, loved the venue, and I’ll be back next year. And not just for The Kouros Intercept

Link to this Dreamwidth thing?

Its locked down for privacy (as was LJ, where I used to put that stuff). If you’re on the platform, I can add you to the friend list.

I’m not, and have no plans to be, and the link you sent me via email displays Apr 10th as the most recent post. Ah well.

Over the weekend I went to Phoenix, SAGA’s annual larp con. Phoenix has changed format this year to a residential con, using the Glenroy Lodge about 45 minutes out of Christchurch. Fortunately, they’d arranged car-pooling, so we didn’t have to rent a car for the weekend, and apart from getting lost on the way to the venue (my bad: I followed the signs, but pointed people down the wrong road at Hororata), the logistics went pretty smoothly. As for the venue itself, it was damn good: GMs had their own block, with carpeted rooms and ensuite bathrooms and showers - none of this freezing cinderblock bunkrooms and communal facilities full of spiders we have to cope with at Brookfields or Motu Moana. The food was good and plentiful, which is pretty much all I ask for from a con - basicly enough to keep me going, so I can focus on the larping. There’s a full list of games here, but here’s what I played in:

Friday night: Baby, its cold outside (Carla Bayard): I’d missed this one at Cerberus, but fortunately it was back for a rerun. Pitched as a game of psychological tension, it was more of an Antarctic comedy, with scientists and support staff drinking and joking to get through their last night on the ice. And then Things Were Revealed, stuff got unpleasantly serious, and emotions were unleashed. It was a good game, and well worth playing; I recommend it if it comes North or if you go South.

Saturday morning: The Omega Delivery (Tony Mitton, facilitated by @Catnip): Part 3 of the Kestrel saga, and the game I was really looking forward to. This will be re-running in Wellington in November, so all I can say is “hell, yeah!” and I am looking forward to The Kouros Intercept next year.

Saturday afternoon: Jane Austen’s “Emma”: A second run of my “Emma” adaptation, I was able to run this outside (a grey but warm Canterbury plains winter day being a perfect substitute for an English summer). This went very differently from the first run, and the book, with Harriet giving up on Mr Knightly when she realised he was just being a gentleman like Frank, and Mrs Elton prising everyone away from Emma. In the end only Harriet got engaged (to Mr Martin), while Frank and Jane were grumpy with each other. The game has now been published and is available on DriveThruRPG.

Saturday evening: The beginner’s guide to buying and selling haunted items (Chloe Sutherland and Robert Vincent): A cross between Antiques Roadshow and Ghost Hunters, where people have gathered at an auction of the sadly supernatural. I was a student cultist, my girlfriend had been murdered, and I really had no idea what I was meant to be looking for there. My character ended up hitting bottom halfway through the game after finally getting the McGuffin he was after then having it promptly taken off him, then quitting the cult, selling his soul to a devil for worldly power, and deciding to become a lawyer, join the Young Republicans, and pursue a career in politics. There was a lot of action, I was always busy, and I had a great time even if I had no idea what was really going on. Like Catnip, I was impressed by the auctioneer, who had the perfect delivery (and managed to hold it even when talking about his boring career).

Sunday morning: Persephone’s Choice: My Asimovian robot larp. This will also be running in Wellington in the near future, so I’ll restrict myself to saying that it went well, delivered the sort of experience I wanted it to deliver, and @Ciaran made a wonderful stressed-out robot at the end.

Sunday afternoon: It Ain’t Easy Being Gilled (Anna Klein, run by Jennifer Hay): Teenage hijinks in Innsmouth! There are big spoilers here, even about game structure, so I’ll restrict myself to saying “best party ever!” and that Anna really should publish this game.

So that was Phoenix. I’ll be back next year (because Kouros Intercept), though I’m not sure what I’m going to run. Though that main hall is big enough for Blackfyre Rising

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All that grass for fighting! A fort! So much potential…

You could definitely run Black Hart of Camelot there if it wasn’t dry(ish).