Don’t mind me, I’m just throwing another “Wouldn’t it be great if…” idea into the mix.
I’ve always wanted to go to game conventions, like Battlecry and KapCon. Unfortunately, I don’t really like tabletop. And I don’t do wargaming. And the only card game I play is Magic and only very very casually. So conventions don’t really have a lot to offer for me, other than the big evening larps.
What if we were to have a larp gaming convention, modelled on the tabletop gaming convention model of morning and afternoon slots, several games running in each, prizes being awarded for various things we respect in the hobby of larping, and a big evening larp on either (or both!) Friday and Saturday.
There are a lot of really good pre-written games out there I’d really like to try running or playing. Wellington regularly produces them, and if what IdiotSavant says is correct, then some of them are even publically available to run. Auckland has its share of popular pre-written games, such as Tony Shirley’s Couples games. While pre-written characters would work best for the small period of time that a convention game would allow, short freeform scenarios could work well too. Speaking of Freeform, it might also be a great canvas to bust out some of those Freeform murder mysteries on.
A convention would provide a great way to try out experimental larp concepts, to write short and intense scenarios, to spend a weekend gaming where you don’t necessarily have to devote your whole weekend to it, but you can if you want to.
Would something like this appeal to all you fine larpers out there? Would it be worth it? Or should we instead concentrate our energies on developing a decent larping sector in an existing convention, such as Battlecry? (whose organiser has invited us to for a few years now)
Thoughts?