I bow to your superior knowledge! It may have been the Sierra Nevada mountains… at any rate - there were mountains, dynamite and poeple (mostly Chinese) died.
I would be happy to help in the writing of the next flagship, whichever it ends up being.
I think that Western definitely has the potential in it. It’s not too hard to get around the male dominated society thing when building a game, our larps tend to lend themselves to the gender equality themes anyway.
Also, I think the 1980’s Grease, Happy Days etc mashup has a huge amount of potential. The closest thing to a musical larp so far. It would be tons of fun and people would have a lot of really cool source material to work with for their characters. Just imagine, watching all of Happy Days to study up on Fonzie and the gang… heaven.
Just my thoughts but Grease/Happy days, gah, no thanks! Wild west madness appeals a lot more.
There is actually a variety of options there, it may just not be that obvious. In movies you usually see saloon girls because it is interesting for the audience, but in game you can add cowgirls-sharpshooters (we had som in Great Ex), educated women who struggle their way through male domination (I totally adore “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman” series!), indian women, indian women who fall in love with white guys, white women who fall in love with indian guys, puritanic women who make the morals of the town (I’d probably be up for taking one of those roles!), chinese women who work hard (in “Bad Girls” there was a Chinese healer lady), black women who are ex-slaves (or not ex? when did they cancel slavery in America?), weird eccentric eoropeans who came to visit wild west… You can probably add much more.
If people want to do Wild West, I recommend they read Territory by Emma Bull - it has a very interesting take on the events at Tombstone. (Oh, and magic, Chinamen, horse training, and feisty Lady Reporters.)
I just had to speak up for my namesake. 
There were blacks in the North who were not slaves, even before and during the Civil War. Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862/63 but it wasn’t until the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865 that slavery was completely abolished throughout the States. However, that does not mean there weren’t still some heavy misconceptions and prejudices about “colored folk.”
(Man, where’s a “geek” smiley when you need one?)
Of the ideas so far I like the ideas of both 1950s Rock’n’Roll and Western. I also like the space station idea, but I suspect that it probably looks cooler in my head than it would in real life.
Overall I like the 1950s idea best. It seems more fresh and original somehow. It’s not a genre I’ve heard of being larped before, the costuming and decorations could look great, there’s a massive potential for variety well beyond Grease. It’s the Cold War and Marilyn Munroe. It’s McCarthyism, Elvis Presley, the Korean War, Andy Warhol, classic superhero comics, cars with tail fins, cheesy newreaders, and James Dean. It’s Jerry Lee Lewis singing “Great Balls of Fire”. Who can dislike an era that glorified flaming balls? 
EDIT: and we can dress the website up like a Wurlitzer 1015, possibly the coolest thing ever designed.
Although it’s a close competition with the Corvette:
I Like all the ideas, but wild west and 50s sound like the most popular, and probably the most acessible. my vote would probably be for 50s perhaps meshed a little with 60s just because i’m first and foremost the musical theatre geek amongst us. On the surface it may seem a rather feminine appeal genre but there’s lots of scope to branch into more of macho type characters, even just within the gangsters of “west side story”. And I’d love to help with the writing of it coz I’ve never written a larp before and have lots of cool ideas.
On the 1001 nights vein, I am in the process (slowly, as I’m super busy) of writing a campaign larp around this concept, using mythology from the middle east, india, thailand and a bit from other asian cultures so if anyone is interested in helping let me know 
I love both wild west and 50s, leaning just a little towards the wild west one
People considering writing the Next Big Chimera Larp need to keep the following things in mind:
- We will require 85 characters, of roughly 50/50 gender split (with possibly a slight bias towards women)
- The writing team will probably need to consist of no less than four people, probably closer to 5 or 6 with a larp that size.
- The writing team will also have partial responsibility towards the setting dressing of the event.
- The writing team will need aim to have the game finished by August 2010.
- The writing team will need to work closely with the Chimera organisational team, more so than the GMs for the other games, as the Big Larp is a pivotal part of the convention.
- You will need to remember that quality needs to be high because this is the larp that we market the convention on, this is the larp that people will be trying for the first time, this is the centrepiece of the event. (so no pressure
)
I hope these guidelines are not too off putting, but I thought it would be helpful at this stage to clarify exactly what we expect from people who put their hand up.
Hee, Wild West sounds fun! Might need some serious digging to find enough characters, though… hmm
I was foogling around with the idea of something like ‘The Comissioning of the Titanic’ - lots happening in 1911-1912! George V was crowned, the first successful seaplane flew, the Republic of China was formed, tensions in the Baltic, Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole, superconductivity was discovered, Lenin and the Bolsheviks break away, Piltdown Man presented in Britain, first nonstop flight from London-Paris… etc, etc. And, of course, there’s lots of fun literary/historical characters around that time! Science, suffragettes, Scouts, socialism…
(I realise it would be a lot of work for me and everyone involved, but I’d be willing to work at it. It’s worth it. )
It is also worth bearing in mind, as an addendum to my previous guidelines post, that writing a game on this scale is a very stressful exercise. This year’s writers pretty much had no social lives for the past two months, and lived on V and stress since the beginning of August. Potential writers should keep this mind.
Even if the Western doesn’t make the flagship, it sounds like a popular idea. Do any potential wirters/crew for it want to con someone with a big TV into a Western movie night? It might get the inspiration flowing before anyone decides to fully commit to the idea.
It’s not yet clear whether there’s anyone volunteering specifically to run Western or 50s.
EDIT: except Vanya, who said he’d be happy to help do either.
Modern Hollywood was quite a good idea too. It could be crossed over with various things, like LA Confidential-style modern noir crime plots. Or Mulholland Drive wackiness, for that matter.
waves hand frantically
I’m totally excited about the Western idea, although I’m happy to be involved in writing whatever people choose. I’m going to be in Dunedin next year, unfortunately. I’ve talked to Rowena, and she says they used a wiki which made it possible to get stuff done with less face time. That being said, study will be my priority next year.
In short, I’m probably not the best person to spearhead the whole campaign.
BUT I’ll make up for it with lots of enthusiasm and ideas!
So - Wild Wild West, the larp. Who wants to write it with me?
I’m all for Wild Wild West or any other kinda LARP. Bring it on…
If a 1950’s game was just going to be Grease meets Happy Days meets West Side Story, I’d avoid it like the plague. If it was going to be about what was going on in the western world in the 1950’s (McCarthyism/Cold War & Space Race/Korean War/Cuban Revolution and plenty of other stuff I’ve forgotten), I’d be highly interested. I suspect there might be some more people like me 
I still think that Wild West could be good too.
Heyaheyaheya!!!
This is Kiki/Kahiro (currently using Porls account coz i can’t seem to register - GRRR!)
An’ I am putting forward my help fer next years flagship larp!!! I’m pretty keen to be a GM fer it (possibly Blair could too?) and all… >.<
I could also maybe think of idea’s fer it too… POSSIBLY
Porl says he won’t be a GM but will be on-the-side-help ONLY
Anna, how are we/you picking the Flagship Larp fer next year out of all these ideas that seem to be gushin’ forth?
[quote=“No Rectangulars”]waves hand frantically
I’m totally excited about the Western idea, although I’m happy to be involved in writing whatever people choose. I’m going to be in Dunedin next year, unfortunately. I’ve talked to Rowena, and she says they used a wiki which made it possible to get stuff done with less face time. That being said, study will be my priority next year.
In short, I’m probably not the best person to spearhead the whole campaign.
BUT I’ll make up for it with lots of enthusiasm and ideas!
So - Wild Wild West, the larp. Who wants to write it with me?[/quote]Sign me up. When I come back from holiday, naturally.
Just as a general note, it might be an idea for people to get some experience writing smaller larps before they volunteer to write such a large and crucial one. Writing a larp with pregenerated characters is much harder, and much more work, than shows on the surface. And the larger the larp, the more difficult it gets.
(Not aimed at anyone in particular, as I don’t know what people’s experience is).