Flagship LARP 2011?

Auckland Chimera
#81

There are some cool ideas about space opera, and the opportunities for costuming would be great (although you have to keep in mind that there are lots of people that like to costume simply, so the casting in that respect would have to be careful). I haven’t ever played a scifi larp but i would agree that it could be done badly, but so far I’ve seen every flagship go well. It would definately be great to see a break away from the historical bent that the past three have had. i would be wary of any pulp larp just because players have too many expectations. Feel free to steal stories and plot lines, but never solely base a character on an exsisting fictional/historical person, it gives you way more licence. I would also be wary of adding too many different things, at times ive found some larp confusing because they try to have to many conflicting supernatural entities like aliens, vampires (personally i think vamps are done way too much in larp), timetravellers etc. Sticking true and simply to a genre is really good. of course spaceopera has a lot of these figures inherent to the genre.

I think that roman also has lots of potential, and fae even more (maybe in 2012, i might even put my hand up for the team if i get kicked in the head by a donkey and forget the stress), but the most popular seems to be space opera, and this year it worked out when we picked the most prevalent theme. As long as you have a good team together i’m sure it will be great, and i can’t wait to play in it.

#82

woops that was prema posting that btw :stuck_out_tongue:

#83

Actually, I picked based on team, not theme :slight_smile:

#84

Actually, I picked based on team, not theme :slight_smile:[/quote]

And on that note…

The yet to be named Space Opera is now hiring - please email resumes to flagship2011@gmail.com

I am of course willing to give up this email addy should my bid not be successful…

Preference will be given to past winners of Best LARP and previous writers of Flagship LARPs (although I’ll understand if they avoid this like the plague).

#85

[quote=“Joel Williams”]The yet to be named Space Opera is now hiring - please email resumes to flagship2011@gmail.com

I am of course willing to give up this email addy should my bid not be successful…[/quote]

But you’ll write the larp anyway to be run somewhere else, right?

#86

Vanya mentioned to me that if the 2011 flagship was going to have 100 participants (I’m guessing more like 110-130), then there should be 10 writers on the project.

I think he’s right, the rule should be about 1 GM per 10 characters. As the flagship starts to get really large, the writing needs to be handled as a large structured group activity, otherwise it will become unmanagable. Some writers will always pull their weight more than others, and the hardest-working writers can’t be relied on to write an increasingly large number of characters. Writing even one good pregen character can be a lot of work.

As for what these GMs do at the game, my thought is to have them all play characters. In the first instance, they can play any required characters of players who pull out. That will get rid of a lot of the grief of inevitable missing characters. If those roles are all filled, then they can play unimportant “extra” characters split across the various player factions, so that they’re in costume amongst the players, in touch with how their game is actually running and available to GM on the spot.

So, I reckon we should be looking for a team of 10-12 writers for the flagship at Chimera 2011.

#87

I’ll stick my hand up now and volunteer for building props and stuff for the flagship larp. I’d like to get in earlier in the game design process if possible as well.

#88

My hand is up to write.

Conditions: I want there to be around [color=#0080BF]10[/color] (edit: [color=#BF0000]7[/color], thanks Anna) writers, and I want to be involved in the early/ structural planning where I do my best work (the structure workshop might not involve all of the character designers)

#89

[quote=“Exquire”]
Conditions: I want there to be around 10 writers, and I want to be involved in the early/ structural planning where I do my best work (the structure workshop might not involve all of the character designers)[/quote]

I think this is really important. this year we had a couple of writers pull out and i think that was because they weren’t there for the whole process and didn’t get invested in the project, so involving everyone in the early planning is really important.

#90

I will be happy with seven writers. A large number has benefits, but if we need 10-12 writers a year from here on out, we’re going to cycle through everyone in the community in no time. Kapcon regularly writes their 60 people larps with about four people, and I’ve written a 40 person larp by myself, so it’s not an unreasonable ask for 7 people. So long as all seven people do what they promise to do.

#91

OR, at least setting expectations. So like, if we’re not doing something in a genre I’m familiar with I think I’d be happy to help with structure & early relationship maps but wouldn’t be able to do the detail of a character brief/motivations/experiences. :arrow_right:

…so who else is in?

#92

Recruit 10 and you’ll be left with 7 actually doing work. Stuff comes up, it’s happened every year.

#93

I think Ryan’s idea of having the GMs play characters is really good - we tried to do that this year for a couple of the more important characters, and the rest of us were either important NPCs (like the bartender) or just generally hanging around in costume so as not to seem out of place.

#94

Yeah, if there are going to be:

  1. a heap of GMs, and
  2. the chance of the player of some important character just not turning up
    then having the GMs able to take on characters at the last minute seems like a natural fit.

I also really appreciated the GMs being costumed this year even if they weren’t playing anyone in particular, they blended in with the atmosphere nicely.

#95

Why does Battlecry having a Fae theme rule out a Fairytale theme for Chimera? Suely these two themes are quite distinct?

That said I adore the idea of a fairy tale Larp and will wave my hand about wildly to help with writing it.
:smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

#96

I agree. There are actually very few actual fae/fairies in “fairy” tales. Perhaps if we called them “folk” tales instead it would cut down on the confusion? What I was assuming was Snow White and Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel and The Snow Queen and Hansel & Gretel and Baba Yaga and stuff. Not, like, “fair folk” and the courts of the Sidhe and brownies and banshees and whatnot.

#97

I think I might have confused the issue with siggesting they be combined earlier…
For the record, what I was thinking (and would quite like to be a part of) was a dark fairytales background - we’re talking actual Brothers Grimm here, none of the Disney princess stuff. There is a lot more scope in terms of themes and plots, as well as just character numbers, if you go back to the dark old days of fairytales. A lot of the Brothers Grimm’s stuff never made it to todays child-friendly stories. We can also throw in stuff like Wind in the Willows, and other classics.
Although, I don’t know if it would work that well for the flagship - I can see it being very dark, and there might not be 120 characters.
And there would still possibly be fairy characters, which would also be darker than their disney equivalents.

#98

The use of “Sidhe” makes me think of 2 authors. Hehe.

One is Jim Butcher and his Harry Dresden books, which I am currently addicted to.

The other is far more snerk worthy… Laurell K Hamilton and her Meredith Gentry books, which, if they had pictures would be better found in sealed plastic bags at the dairy.

Neither would make a particularly good flagship larp.

#99

It could. Most fairytales take place in a medieval or maybe renaissance kingdom with royals, noble factions, peasants, soldiers, magical folk, etc. Like in Cinderalla, there’s a whole ball full of people. You’d have to give the crowd of people much more depth as individuals than they’re usually shown with, but that’s true for a lot of genres.

#100

Something Steampunk/Gaslamp could be awesome … the Girl Genius universe springs to mind … (see http://www.girlgeniusonline.com or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl_Genius)

"Baron Wulfenbach has summoned his vassal Lords, Ladies, Counts, Dames, and Sparks [think mad science super-geniuses, of varying levels of capability and competence] of all calibers, to Castle Wulfenbach [a giant floating castle/airship/zeppelin thing], in order to discuss the state of Europe, share the latest developments in the myriad fields of Science, and examine the emerging situation in the province of Outer South Belgium … "

Everyone has an excellent excuse to dress to the nines in high Victorian fashion, there’s plenty of political intrigue/infighting/maneuvering-for-power, there are the Jaegerkin for those who like monster makeup, and the prop-makers among us could have great fun constructing science fair exhibits, shoulder mounted hat-doffers, man-portable foot-resizers, maybe add a couple of extra arms to one’s torso … and of course there’s the Baron’s legendary temper, his endless quest to find a suitable bride for his son, his charming and dashing nemesis Othar Tryggvassen, Gentleman Adventurer, etc… etc… etc…

Also, I rather suspect it would fit the HA/KA/Super-KA system excellently.