Chimera is a massive project that takes more than 6 months of work and planning, and the help of a lot of people. There’s no way I could do it alone, so once again I’d like to thank all the people who put in time, work and effort to make Chimera a reality (some of whom I overlooked on Saturday night, despite trying to be organised and write a list)
The Chimera Team
Rowena Knill and Liz McCombe - These two were my rocks for organising Chimera. Rowena helped me out with driving me around procuring gear, arranging gear lists and helping me deal with the GMs. Liz designed and printed certificates, badges, voting forms, vouchers, labels…all the fancy paperwork you guys saw through the week, that was all Liz. Both of them were invaluable in keeping me sane, and being there to give advice and listen to my Chimera woes. They did so many little tasks that I can’t even list them all. They were amazing.
Simone “Moo” Michaux- Moo was around for helping with the early stages of Chimera, and the initial liaising with the GMs to get all the game information onto the website.
The Long Suffering Significant Others
Tigger Brunton - for putting up with me through the entire Chimera process. The man has to live me and he hears about Chimera pretty much nonstop for three months leading up to the convention. His house is cluttered with Chimera things, he gets roped into running extra games, and he has to do countless errands. If he didn’t love me and put with it all, Chimera would never happen.
Dave Luxton - Rowena’s partner, Dave gave up time on his days off to assist me with hireage from First Scene, procuring candy, picking things up for the event and returning all the hired items after the convention, and supporting Rowena and the rest of the team with misc help and advice.
The Website Team
Ryan Paddy and Michael Andrew - Michael Andrew designed the lovely graphics for the website, and Ryan Paddy did all the code work and maintennance. Every time we needed something updated, it was Ryan that did it for us, and at times I was emailing him a dozen updates a day!
The Catering Team
Kim Smits - Kim designed the menu, arranged all the catering logistics, turned up and cooked all weekend on barely any sleep. She took time off her paying job in order to volunteer her time to cater our event. She made amazingly tasty foot for very little money, and she deserves every word of thanks and praise she gets.
Sara Huszak - Sara is not a larper, but she came along anyway to give Kim a hand in the kitchen on Saturday and Sunday. She is wonderful.
Nikki van den Bergh - Nikki arranged all the transport to get Kim and the food to the venue on Friday night, which took the better part of the day. Thank you!
Others
David Harrop - David kept a professional eye on things for us on Friday night and all of Saturday, making sure our belongings were safe while we cavorted madly.
Judit Klein - Our ninja photographer, who hides in the shadows and takes photos of you larping.
Hannah Jackson - Hannah went above and beyond the call of duty in supplying the convention with various props, volunteering her house for extra accommodation, volunteering to run a game even when it meant losing her spot in a highly coveted game, and generally giving her all to the convention.
Jared Hansen and his father - For arranging the buying of hay, bringing the hay to Auckland, storing the hay and then bringing the hay to the venue. It really made Refuge’s set dressing amazing.
Jared, Gemma, Jackie, Steph, Daphne and everyone else who helped me put up posters, hand out fliers and business cards and generally spread the word about the convention, which helped us get phenomenally record numbers.
The Game Masters
This year, Chimera saw an epic 25 games crammed into one weekend, and it couldn’t have happened without the 36 GMs who ran one, some who ran two, games over the course of the weekend:
Thank you to the creative individuals who wrote original games for the convention: Vanya Essin, Gareth Sandford, Walter Hamer, Matt “Tigger” Brunton, Matt Moore, Dave McIsaac, Jared Hansen, Patrick Cummuskey, Peter Cummuskey, Cameron Mclean, Jason Farley, Justin Marsh, Blair Purkiss, Kerry Pellett, Donna Giltrap, Rowena Knill, Dave Luxton, Nikki van den Bergh, Stephanie Pegg, Catherine Pegg, Porl Bowdler, Joel Williams, Zane Mendoza, Alice Mendoza, and Erin Hockings.
And a thank you to the folks who took on the task of adapting and running a prewritten scenario: Ryan Paddy, Scott Kelly, Hannah Jackson, Malcolm Harbrow, Robert Shaw, Muppet Brown, Joeseph Outram and Juliet Thomborson.
And a big thank you to the five who brought us our flagship, A Town Called Refuge: Vanya Essin, Prema Cottingham, Daphne Cohen, Cameron Burns and Hamish Meads
Last But Not Least!
The 90+ amazing individuals who turned up bringing fantastic energy, superb costumes and exceptional roleplaying. Without you guys, there’s no reason to run this convention. Thanks for coming along and bringing it all to life.
See you all next year 