Warning, the following post contains a Wall-of-Textâ˘. For those who like to TLDR, please skip to the summary at the end.
Well, it seems there is a lot to get through, I guess chronological order will give me some kind of organisationâŚ
Friday evening, walking into the room during the social gather, and as an extrovert, feeling the energy in the room rushing into me. Ahh, such a good feeling, and indicative of the Weekend of Legend to come.
Quest to the Forest of Darkness: Simon the Sorcerer. Loved Team Human who I started with, especially our devoted clerics and our incredibly stealthy ninjas. Seriously, both rogues in the human team kept vanishing and reappearing, but the best Rogue moment was Ben, playing the rogue Ben, slipping down a bank in the mud onto his bum: "Found a trap! Disarmed it!"
Running into my characterâs mother, an Undead, who the rest of my team wanted to kill, and they succeeded for a half hour. Lying bleeding in a chapel while waiting for the clerics to finish their Goal completing chant and get over an heal me was fun, and it made the character really consider his own mortality.
So much so, that he decided to accept his mother and her undead friendâs offer of immortality, and went down the path of evil. Killed fey and elves, carried off their bodies, ran from vengeful elves, ended up alone and with only lightning bolt left!
Team Orc. Already on friendly terms with the orcs, fleeing Simon stumbled upon them as they were about to start a summoning ritual, and asking for their protection, he helped them achieve their goal: Summon a demon who wreaks havoc upon the world! But the orcs, and the undead, and Simon, the soon to be lich, were spared!
And so, the best moment was at game end, when I got to unleash bouts of maniacal laughter, and join in a rousing shout of âWaaaaaagh!â
Nexus, Gathering at Foxlight: Dante
Best moment here was when my characterâs dark secrets were all being exposed and revealed, and he summoned the Abyss demon who he had dealings with. The demon walks into the room, and no mage moves to kill it, in fact, the only one looking like heâs ready to fight it is Dante, whoâs still trying to maintain the facade of not knowing the demon.
Then, Cassandra casting a spell on Dante to make him only tell truth, wow, that was a good Paper Rock Sissors by her player,Yuli. Having Scott Kelly as Summerthaw say afterwards how hard it was even after that spell to pin things on Dante was rather edifying.
Finally, the epic moment of the gameâs end, with Dante dueling a Nazi mage, pulling reality around himself to add to his destructive power, (causing the characters of the current Nexus game no end of grief), and everything going black.
Happy Birthday RJ: GM
My first time GMing a larp, this was a Freeform Murder Mystery set in Texan 1980. First favourite moment was where I had to recruit half my players on the spot. Then, the larp turned out so swimmingly well, it was as if each player, last minute or not, was meant for the character that they recieved. Everyone did so well.
Standout moments from that larp: Saskia playing a really seductive younger sister, who kept taking gentlemen out of sight, and then returning five minutes later, both with ruffled hair, and one with more information. Nick managing to host the event as a Texan oil Millionare, and doing a âMighty Fine Accentâ. Hamish, with his wit and ability to dodge questions by planting multiple stories about his characterâs true nature with the trustworthy characters!
Was a good afternoon.
Refuge: Well, those moments are best written in the other thread, so check there.
Sunday morning was fantastic. Had to join the Dead Manâs Chest at last minuteâs notice. Well, the best moment there had to be when Anna calls out to her players: âWho can help Rob kit up to be a pirate?â The players scatter, and within moments I have options for what to wear. The game itself was epic, with Derek keeping us nice and wet with his rain dances. I loved especially being Salamanca, (Tiggerâs) Don Inigoâs valet. We mocked all the non spanish constantly (thatâs everyone else), tried to woo ladies, spritedly sprinted up volcanoes together ahead of the slow others. The best part was when Cherylâs character insulted Don Inigo, and Salamanca jumps into her face, and goes from a bad Spanish accent to full on yelling at her in faux Spanish! Salamanca would do anything for his Don⌠towards the end of the game I started wondering if anyone else had noticed just how much Salamanca liked him though⌠I tried to subtly put that homoerotic subtext in, even if no-one noticed, it was still fun to do.
Jade Empire: Hatou Chiao, a very skilled bushi, the heir to the Shinken Miyamoto Bennosuke style of twin sword fighting. Best moments: forming a cohesive team with my other Wave clan mates, dueling Derekâs npc Hiro, and losing with honour. Running into NPC lizardfolk, one of whom (Kerry) was speaking Chinese, and understanding most of what he was actually saying, even though most of the characters had no clue. I especially enjoyed appeasing a spirit, Derek again. I had to match him stroke for stroke through a kata, and it was quite tough, but apparently it looked really good to those watching, when at the end Hatou-sama is performing a kata in sync with a Spirit of Law and Order, matching strokes through the just-damp morning air.
Recieving the best roleplayer in this game was fantastic, because I had just been having fun, and not trying to roleplay, I was just doing roleplay. So thanks folks, that was a highlight.
The people. The people are always key in all of life for me, and so it is with larp. I met so many new friends, and developed relationships further with existing friends. So many people were helpful with costumes, kind with their words of encouragement, and there was a wonderful selection of people to roleplay with, a large helping of really compentant roleplayers having a ball of a time.
Standout roleplayers for me: Hamish, both his portrayal in Happy Birthday RJ, and his mage in 1940s who âpreferred the company of gentlemenâ. âFancy a walk with a handsome gentleman?â Dante asks Lucius.
Nick OâKeefe from Wellington: Hitting it off with this fellow in and out of character was awesome. It started when he made a Monty Python quote and I finished it, thatâs a sure sign of awesome there. In character, loved his roleplay, and he made Happy Birthday RJ for a number of people.
Scott Kelly as Summerthaw, he was a real challenge to play against.
Sridat Kota, the best Mastigos I know, even when not playing mage. His wheeling and dealing in refuge, his dodging the issue in Jade empire, his backstab in Dead Manâs chest - Itâs always a privaledge playing with him.
The new folks from HBRJ: TK, Saskia, Yuli, Emma, Jess; they all were fantastic in that game and in all the others I saw them in, great stuff for their first time out Larping.
And we cannot forget that moment and those people from the beach trip, 3am, and stealing the clothes of those who ran in skinny dipping! The tradition is now set!
In summary: A great weekend meeting new friends, and roleplaying with new and old friends alike.
In shorter summary:The whole weekend was Awesome.