That’s a very good point. Personally, I’m not very experienced at writing larps, and I’ve certainly never written one as big as this. I’d say my strengths are ideas, plots and evocative writing. Balancing the plots, abilities and knowledge of the different characters to ensure that every one has a great game needs more experience than I can bring to the table.
This year we had a team of veteran game writers, and while there is certainly room for those of us with less experience, it’s a good idea to get a core of skilled writers on board.
That being said, obviously it’s up to them if they want to volunteer.
Oh cool, so are we gonna get a lot of new little day game larps with pre-gen characters in the next few months? Bring them on!
If we end up with the RocknRoll 50’s then we come up against the beauty of having such a large larp. There is plenty of room for both, the comic side with Grease/Happy Days, and the much more serious other issues around it. For the last two flagship larps people have been completely oblivious to half the plots happening at the game so for those who dislike those ideas would still have plenty of room to swim in other themes.
I love the idea of a noir-LA-Confidential style larp, I’ve been kicking the idea around with Prema for some time. Again the beauty of it being flagship is that we can have the classical noir setting and throw Mulhulland Drive into it without half the people even noticing.
Wild Wild West, whether this gets chosen for Flagship or not I’m totally up for a Western movie night.
Titanic sounds like it has quite a lot of potential, naturally with a larp this size you need a setting that has enough source material to fill up the character slots. The only downside would be the repeat of the suffragette movement but then that can always be downplayed by the writing team.
[quote=“Ryan Paddy”]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).[/quote]
The sheer amount of work in it caught me by surprise, I know we reviewed those characters 2 or 3 times but there were still a few things that slipped through the cracks. It’s a formidable task writing something this size and just from recent experience what Ryan says is true. I would rather have had some experience running smaller LARPS before leaping into the Great X in hindsight.
Having said that 
Go for it, it’s quite a lot of laughs, even if your co writers veto every single gay plot you put into the game.
[quote=“Orlandus”]Having said that Go for it, it’s quite a lot of laughs, even if your co writers veto every single gay plot you put into the game.[/quote]I had gay plots when I co-ran a flagship Larp. They went really well, actually. [/brag] Although I made a point of making everyone fill out a questionnaire beforehand, so that nobody got cast in a part that would make them fundamentally uncomfortable. Same goes for all of the romance plotlines, actually.
We had planned on having everyone fill in the questionaire before assigning characters, but it broke the chimera website and the character list went live without it. It would have made a lot of things easier if we knew what people wanted or would be uncomfortable with. But when all you know about some people is, for example, “X player might be new to LARPing”, you kind of want to be careful with what you give them.
But even if we had the info we would still have vetoed some of Hamish’s gay plots. There were a lot of them. I mean a real lot of them. We might have still had a few straight characters if Hamish had got his way. 
[quote=“Ryan Paddy”]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).[/quote]
This is very true. Which is part of the reason I’m trying to put something together, before I fully commit to writing this (despite my enthusiasm, I’d like to see how running a LARP affects me before hand). But all going well I’ll certainly give it my best…
Ideas are all well and good but you know the old saying - great things are 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration
Basically what will happen is that I am interested in a team of writers approaching me with an application - nothing formal, just a rough outline of what kind of game you’re interested in writing, what sorts of characters, how you’re planning to go about it. A basic indication that the team is more committed and organised than just posting an idea on a forum. I will most likely also have an in-person discussion with the interested group(s) to go through what the process is likely to be like.
I agree with Ryan about experience. I’m so hugely pleased to see so many people excited about game writing and volunteering - it’s a great indicator for the future of the hobby. However, if you have never run a larp before, or are new to the larping community, I highly recommend giving a smaller game a go first. I’m planning to have Chimera around for many years yet (she says optimistically) so if you don’t get to write the flagship larp next year, don’t be disappointed, there’ll be more chances.
Look, I’m really happy to hear from all interested parties with regards to game writing, I really want to encourage people to give it a go, but there is a lot riding on the flagship larp and I need to be certain the writing team will not only be able to deliver a larp, but that it will be a good larp There is heaps of fun to be had in writing the smaller games as well, so if you’re new and not entirely certain, let’s discuss writing a 12-25 person larp first
So, here comes the question. Who is willing to be the one person spearheading a team or writers? I am happy to write for any of the ideas currently out, but not to be the spearhead. Anyone out there?
I killed the discussion with my talk of hardwork and expectations 
As you were, people.
It was a much needed dose of reality.
Now, what we need is an experienced game writer who is willing to spearhead the whole process.
Dust? Anybody? No?
I’d really like to be involved in writing a 1950s LARP game - in fact I’ve started writing something now just for the heck of it when it sounded like things would got to a Wild West one. However, since I have just been informed that offpring #3 is due in May this means that it is unlikely I’d be able to put in much time at Chimera itself 
. Also this sort of thing should be written by several people so that there’s a mix of ideas and people cover for each other…
If people start writing a Wild West LARP for Chimera, I’ll still try and independently write a (smaller) 1950s LARP as it is so cool, and make it available for use by anyone that wants to run it. If a team gets together to do a 1950s LARP then they’re welcome to my work so far, even if I cant be on the team. Only 6 characters so far and 8 plotlines but its a start.
Now that offspring are older I have more time than I did last year (when I couldnt do any writing due to younger kids and father getting terminal cancer…) until #3 makes its arrival after which I will have no time at all.
[quote=“No Rectangulars”]
Dust? Anybody? No?[/quote]
it’s got no callories so you can have as much as you like!
simmilarly to steve’s 50s larp, if my 2009 hollywood (turned noir?) suggestion dosn’t get sucked up like jam by the majority of the larpers idd be keen to convert it into a smaller game. maybe 20+ people .
ill chat to craig and porl since they are experienced, closer to the time.
or maybe just force myself upon steves game to get some GM experiance if he dosn’t mind? 
on another note,
i would also be really keen to aid in ‘set design’ so to speak for next years big larp.
i serve up ambience like fresh feta pizza.
i have some connections with theaters and prop hire companys (and geoffs emporium!) so i can get the mean discount.
If it does turn out to be Western, we have some great photos for the 2010 website from the Great Exhibition.
And if we go for a weird West setting, then I would like to play a clockwork cowboy who is constructed from Westland’s Indestructible Neosteel.
So he’s entirely made of WIN. 
I maybe getting in a little late with suggestions but…
1990’s International Antartic Scientific Research Base during the worst storm to hit since its founding. Planes are grounded. People trapped inside. The only thing heating up are the Interpersonal Relationships and political climate.
If this idea isn’t snapped up…I could do it as a smaller game with some help.
May want to stear clear of the Sci-Fi theme for 2010 as battlecry is doing a SF themed larp next year so i have heard.
[quote=“Cameron”]I maybe getting in a little late with suggestions but…
1990’s International Antartic Scientific Research Base during the worst storm to hit since its founding. Planes are grounded. People trapped inside. The only thing heating up are the Interpersonal Relationships and political climate.[/quote]This just screams “At The Mountains Of Madness” to me (not that I wouldn’t be desperate to play in such a game…)
The 1950s HighSchoolProm LARP I was writing last week now has 35 characters outlined (3 fully completed) from a total 55 with potential for more. And I haven’t yet had to get too weird. This is what I managed in the few hours after the kiddies get to bed each night.
However I was wondering how many teenage girls I can make pregnant before someone thinks its weird (now you don’t get to say that every day 
)
Steve