That Town They Call Refuge

Auckland Chimera
#1

So, over 90 people turned out for the 4th of July Shindig and the mayoral elections in A Town Called Refuge. Once again we set the mark for Biggest Larp in NZ To Date, and Photo Ninja Judit tells me there’s over 500 photos from the event.

Big thanks to Daphne, Prema, Cameron and Hamish, and especially Vanya for spearheading the operation. Big thanks to Derek for his work on the saloon doors. My one condition for running a Western was being able to walk through saloon doors :smiley:

I now want to hear everyone’s stories :smiley:

#2

Me/Carlos “Antonio Banderas” de Santo: "As a blacksmith, I would be more than happy to help you out about your home, should you need it."
Liz/(First name here) Jose: “Blacksmithing, huh? Like fixing my plumbing?”

Or words to that effect. :wink:

#3

My favorite moment was sitting myself down near on one of the hay bails near the end of the game to steel myself to possibly cause some physical damage to the Mormon, only to get myself blown up by that damn dynamite.

#4

[McNulty voice] What the fuck did I do?

#5

You threatened my brother, and you just pissed me the hell off. That’s why.

#6

I had a few favourite things about the game. The set dressing came together well (yay hay bales, yay 4th of July bunting) and costuming all together was beyond great.

I enjoyed the horrified and disgusted reactions I got to my make up. My favourite was Sridat, to whom I had my back and he said, “Anna - Anna - Anna!” and when I turned around, he reared back in horror and cried out, “Oh god it’s a pox-ridden whore!” which reassured me I got my costume exactly right. The revulsion with which people looked at me, even OOC, was satisfying in a disconcerting sort of way, and it really helped with getting into character. During the game, whenever I caught someone looking at me, I’d suddenly feel really embarassed and try to hide under my hat.

My first real in character moment was during the mayoral speeches when someone stood in front of me. “Hey, can you move,” I said. They ignored me. “Hey, buddy, move, you ain’t made of glass,” I try again. They ignored me. I pulled my gun. “Move or I’ll shoot ya,” I snapped. They moved :smiley:

I spent the night spreading vile rumours about Miss Penny’s girls and the black jack dealer Silas Carlson to anyone that would listen to me, and apparently being quite convincing. I had an epic emotional breakdown after confronting Miss Penny about throwing me out and finding her unrepentant.

But my highlight had to be running judge out of town after he tried to take Sarah-Jane back as his wife and beat her. I was so angry and frustrated IC by that point that out of nowhere, I pulled my gun and said “Start riding, law-man.” He sneered at me and said “That is NOT the way things are done in this town.” Then unexpectedly, the new Mayor pulls his gun. “Yeah it is,” he says. The Mayor’s boys pull their guns. The judge looks at us, and runs. Thank you Muppet for that moment, but thank you especially to Hamish. While we all like to come out on top in larps, I think it’s a sign of truly excellent roleplaying to willingly play the defeated party.

My second biggest regret for the night is not ever managing to pluck up the courage to talk to Silas Carlson, and my biggest regret was figuring out how to best have killed him about three seconds too late. When the gangs gunned down Walter’s character right in front of Silas, I realised I could’ve pulled my gun and shot at Silas and they’d never have been able to pin it on me with all the bullets in the air. Dammit!

Big big thanks to Kara for doing my make up - she made the latex pustules on Thursday night and then glued them to my face and coloured them just before refuge. My first reaction when I got my character blurb was “But…but…but I wanted to be pretty!” so I thought it was ironic (and embarassing and awesome) that I managed to win Best Costume for being a memorable pox ridden ex-whore. Thank you Kara for helping me make it happen, and thank you to folk who picked me as for the winner. It made the half an hour I spent peeling my face off at 2:30am that much more worthwhile.

But really, if I have to be honest, it was the saloon doors that made it for me. Nothing makes me feel as badass as a heavy replica gun on my hip and barging my way through saloon doors :smiley:

#7

The set looked fantastic. Californian stamp of approval.

“I see your hoop is as big as mine!” ~ crinoline fighting with my daughter and stepdaughter. Not remotely in character but hilarious.

The, um, “national anthem.”

Negotiating my daughter’s engagement, which took all night. One of the colonels with us was paying an awful lot of attention to her, and unfortunately she seemed responsive. So I thought, damn, I need to get a rich, pretty man in front of this girl, stat. Enter Atherton Barnett. Perfect. So throughout the night I made a point to cross his path frequently and mention him whenever Emily started talking about any other guy, and was immensely gratified when his parents asked to speak to me and suggested a match between our families. Yay! Then said colonel went and proposed to Emily, but she wisely told me about it before she accepted. I found Atherton as soon as I could for some damage control:

me: I feel I should tell you that Colonel Charleston has made an offer of marriage to Emily.
him: I see. ((and my very very favorite bit was right here, the angry scowl on his face and I could feel the muscles in his arm tense up. Very subtle but it just sold the whole thing for me))
me: Now, she hasn’t accepted him yet. Perhaps if she had another offer and a reason to refuse him…
him: Yes, of course. If you will excuse me, ma’am.
me: :smiley: By all means.

Then he went tearing around the room looking for her. He was a man on a mission and it was adorable. He found her outside and I was in just the right spot in the room to see them through the doorway and when I saw them hug and turn to walk back inside arm-in-arm I very nearly said out loud, “Hot damn!” Yays galore.

Now if only my stepdaughter’s true love hadn’t got himself killed I’d have her married off, too, and finally have control of my husband’s money. sigh Now she’s likely to moon about and become an old maid.

By the way, gm’s, were my first husband’s creditors supposed to show up and hassle me? Were they pc’s or just phantoms in my background to keep me motivated? :wink: I kept a wary eye on the gangs just in case one of them was there for me. The lingering paranoia was a wonderful counterpoint to my pleasure at Emily’s engagement.

#8

Wow. What a game. What a fantastic game.
I couldn’t find the Lady of the Evening I was meant to be trying to save from her life of sin, which was a little disappointing, but I thoroughly enjoyed what I got up to instead.

Upon hearing that there was an election, the suggestion that I should run for it came up. I did consider this, but on speaking with Billy Trinity, we decided that it would be a better idea to work together to get him elected, with me as an “advisor”. Ahem. So I threw all my efforts into helping him get elected, though I did get a bit distracted whilst trying to please my parents and find an appropriate lady (the discussion earlier on went along the lines of “Son, there are things that saloon girls are good for, and things that Wives are good for.”) Fortunately, I found said appropriate lady- the general’s very lovely daughter (who was apparently the ugly stepsister, but I have to say, she didn’t manage to pull off the ‘Ugly’ part of that :laughing: ), snatching her away from the clutches of the vile Colonel.

Speaking of the Colonel, one of my favourite parts of the game was when I was talking to him, and he went off on a rant about all the ‘lower sorts’ that he wouldn’t marry. It was quite an impressive list of slurs, I must say. Another great moment was seeing the judge’s spiel about Women when talking to the newly engaged Railroad Geologist and Metallurgist (“Your Gender is flighty!”) as I was passing. Right place, right time. Pure brilliance. But I digress.

Other favourites were the announcement of the new Mayor, getting Engaged to the lovely Miss Emily, and, of course, the bit where The Good Folk (that is, the Railroad crew, the General, his wife and daughters, and, of course, Sridat’s Snake Oil Salesman character) got the hell out of Dodge, so to speak. The feelings of “Hell Yes, we did it” were fantastic. And it also meant that we weren’t around when everyone exploded. Which was nice.

With the victory of Billy Trinity in the election, an explosion dealing to many of the more unsavory types, the success of the Railroad wheelings and dealings, and a lovely fiancee, I feel that Atherton Barnett succeeded that evening. Setting up home in Refuge, he’d probably even get to ride a horse about, and herd a few cattle. Perhaps the ones that his father and the Snake Oil Salesman sold to the army. :wink:

The Future is coming, ladies and gentlemen. The Future. And Atherton Barnett is there to usher it in.

Oh, and biggest Lesson learned? If your father wants to distract you from a Syphilitic Hooker, he should dangle politics in front of you.

#9

… I kinda crashed and burned before the game even started, and got back on my feet, sort of, with the help of David Harrup and Stephanie (thanks so much, both of you), and most of the game passed by in a vibrant blur which I enjoyed, but did not understand.

Have to say how much I enjoyed roleplaying with Malcolm and Sridat, who carried my undead arse through most of it. Special-est moment ever was when this dapper guy (Sridat) floated out of the crowd and said “Cassie? Is that you? Don’t you remember your pappy? I’m so glad to see you!” and went forth offering to kill anyone I needed killed (didn’t) and carry me off to a life of luxury (wanted real bad). And he did everything he said, scheming and bargaining in a magnificent manner to attain wealth, the destruction of his enemies, and, er, making me happy. I’m so very sorry my character had betrayed and robbed him in the backstory. I really didn’t think he’d end up in the clink for twenty years…

Never found those other two guys I was supposed to know, but I had a lot of fun. Thanks all of you.

#10

WOW!
I just want to say thank you to all the players! I was a bundle of nerves and stress for the couple of weeks leading up as I frantically finished last mintue things, and then on the night suddenly we had to run off to do extra printing and files wouldn’t open and all sorts of things but I thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing.
It was just so great seeing all the characters I’ve lived with for the last several months finally come to life!

Thanks again everyone :smiley:

#11

I believe Aliens: Apocalypse was larger, and I have no idea how many people went through “The Game” (which was pitched as sortof theatre, but recognisably larp) during its run in Christchurch. But Refuge was definitely the largest larp I’ve participated in in many a year, and it won’t take too many years of this sort of growth before Chimera beats Apocalypse.

#12

I came to this hole with the intention of deposing my superior officer (the general), killing his daughter (the one in the purple dress) to help destroy the general’s life, and generally screwing this town over for my own amusement. There was some escaped property, in the form of slave sisters, which were to be reclaimed as well. Funny, how those two happened to be in this little popsicle stand of a town.

However, before I got too close to my goals, this lovely lady in a yellow dress came up to me and said she didn’t like her step-sister very much, and I let her know we had something in common. The plan to embarrass her father proceeded falteringly when we found out that the union loyalist who was hanging around with her was someone she wasn’t actually interested in. Drat. Then we find out her actual love interest, while being quite an embarrassing character, was loyal to the South. If the South was going to rise again, it would need every man it could get.

Having seen the slave girls around, I decided to get back what was rightfully mine. Pity some Trinity dog thought I deserved a punch in the face for what I said. I decided I had more important, and less risky things to be doing.

Then over comes a Mr Railroad, telling me he’s going to make this town a great city; through the promotion of a gang to mayoral status; the Trinities. I tell him I’ve got a bit of a problem with that; as they’ve stolen some property of mine and I’d like to get it back. He, very convincingly, tells me that his experience has shown him that a gang given lawful power soon has to behave itself lawfully so it can collect taxes and keep people in town. I agree to vote for their boy; guy by the name of Billy, so long as I get what’s mine. With that done, I stop openly pursuing what’s mine and go after what isn’t but should be soon.

Now, being a desperado and seeing how lovely this lady was, I decided it might be a good idea to court her and try and win her hand. Pity some snob in a suit turns up with the same idea. Then it gets worse; it’s Mr Railroad’s son! Well, I’m going to have a few words with this girl and see about telling her just how I feel. That leads further down hill when I find out her family is actually in a bit of debt and Mr Railroad’s son could help out with that. Well, I’m not one to tell a girl to disobey her mother. Crying shame that silver spoon boy is better for her family than me. I decide not to make an issue of it; too much. I find out Mr Railroad’s business is a might shady; he raped his wife’s maid, covered up shoddy workmanship, etc. I let the girl’s mother know; wife of the General. She doesn’t seem perturbed. Damn.

Well, everything’s gone down hill when Mr Railroad offers up his wife’s maid and a bit of cash to motivate me to stay in this dump. I state what I’ve found out and he admits to his sins, as if that’ll square what he’s done. Feh. Man’s filthier than I am, sleeping with a half-caste.

I’ve had enough; this party’s headed south. Just when I think it’s going to break down into chaos; it does. Only, it’s not what I’d planned. A certain slave girl hadn’t accepted my apology, and they both shot me. Lucky a doc was nearby, patched me right up. Pity though, the pain got worse and worse over the next ten minutes… started drifting… think I heard a loud bang that rang in my ears… I think I remember someone from the past kicking my after I was shot… I’m not sure anymore… darkness.

Pity I acted more honourably than my character was. Ah well, lesson learned; never, ever, play a Starscream character unless you want to suffer. Also; larp goals must be pursued ruthlessly if achievement is desired.

#13

Pretty much everything about this game was great. The setting, characters, scenario, rules, the whole lot. I could have happily played it all day, and it seemed to end way too soon.

I loved the way the Kick Arse system got used. Half-arsed, kick-arse, super-kick-arse. So simple, including both ranged and close quarters combat. Almost no special abilities that we needed to be aware of, just treatment by the doctor, some weakness (desparado, drunk, etc, which were great aids to roleplay), and maybe one or two other things like the teaching ability my character had. It really demonstrated perfectly how you don’t need a lot of abilities or rules to have an awesome game, rules be totally minimal because the real joy’s in the “soft” character interactions, the roleplay.

Another lesson I took home: consider revealing your character’s dark secret yourself if nobody else does. Often, it’s when your secret gets revealed that big enjoyable stuff starts happening, both for you and for any characters who are interested in that secret. By revealing it yourself you can also control just what people hear about it, thus do damage control. Look for a reason your character might let it slip, boast about it, reveal their regret about it, etc. Derek did this really well last year playing Gawaine at Camelot, and now I wish I’d done it this year at Refuge.

#14

I would have loved your secret to have come out Ryan, especially if we were in the middle of a big discussion. To have that conflict of whether I kill you for killing my father and turning me into what I was, or whether to keep you alive as you seemed to be one of the few decent people in the town and had the potential to calm things down. Could have been quite an emotional charged scene.

I also think you running as Mayor would have been fun as well.

#15

Refuge was a hard nut to crack for me. I spent the game on the floor, keeping an eye out for trouble. On the job so to speak.
And not enough time just stopping to interact. I felt the pressure was on to achieve what I needed to and maybe I should have relaxed a little more. The large numbers made identifying people I needed to talk to difficult. Again, my previous point.

I ended up split from the rest of the Devlins for a lot of the game, pursuing my own goals. In retrospect, I should have stayed tight with the family, maybe I would have achieved more. And also spent the time simply to roleplay with them. Oh well, retrospect.

I enjoyed my very brief interaction with the pretty Miss Emily Tweed, to whom I was meant to be besotted with, despite being married. Enjoyable for 2 reasons. One, because it was slightly naughty since my character was married (its also against my real character) and 2 because its not the kind of interaction I have had an opportunity to roleplay before. A bit of a challenge. In all fairness the interaction never got past some flattering flirtation, mostly because this was something that I needed to hide in character.

Nothing came to pass and the other suitors held sway.

Afterwards (post game), I had words with Derek about revealing secrets in larps because they often make the game better. In retrospect this is advice I should have followed. What a scene it would have caused to add yet another suitor to Emily Tweeds attentions and the general uproar from the family of Devlins if I had done so and been discovered. It would have triggered some of my IC wife’s (Carolyn aka Nikki) motivations I think.

Favourite scene of the game.
Actually it was the saddest IC moment in game too. The explosion. Exiting the jail after watching Rick Devlin decapitate the Bear (Derek) only to have the GM’s announce the explosion. I didn’t really see who was there until they said “Boom”, kind of a flash of life moment where I saw my wife and son one moment and the next they were (in my minds eye) engulfed in flame. I threw myself onto a table, against the wall, bounced off and staggered over to my dead family.
I howled in IC anger, I had drawn my gun and hadn’t even realised it and was looking for someone to blame. And shoot.

Other favorites
Just seeing my son (Gaffy) being lead into the backroom and being so stunned I didn’t even know how to react. And telling him off for drinking and gambling.
(I later found out his mother his had organised for him to get laid OOC and that he was basically a wastrel who didn’t fit the Devlin mold)

Embarassing the Pinkerton played by Patrick C (unintentionally) and therefore accomplishing my only character objective of the night. And then deciding maybe we could help each other. Sadly I did not take the time to RP this further.

Averting my eyes during the striptease. IC it made sense particularly since I knew my IC wife was nearby and watching me. OOC not so much.
(On that note, the saloon girls were all dressed fantastically, and found the perfect mix of costume and tastefulness and were distractingly eyecatching all night even if I was meant to be looking elsewhere!)

Surviving - despite the families losses, the Devlin’s did ok. Law will come to Refuge.

Breaking up the fights - being so actively in patrolling the floor left me in perfect positions to react to a good few interactions. And suprised at winning every single fight I was involved in.

Also scaring some of the kids about going to jail after they beat up the school mistress. They reacted better than I scared I think.

Lows
Realising how much I had missed out on because my game strategy was just all wrong and that by the time I realised it was too late.
I know better for next time.

#16

High points of the evening for me were:

The saloon doors. I agree with Anna, there is something awesome about pushing through those. :smiley:

Derek’s character flirting with mine, kissing my hand and making licentious comments about what that leads to, then having him beat an indecorously hasty retreat when I said “Y’all will have to check with the Sheriff 'fore you go any further.” :smiley:

Scott, playing the Sheriff and my lover, who was apparently very intimidating! I thought he was a sweetie myself, but I found after that several men had wanted to approach Ruby until they found out she was with him!

The Devlins, law and order in this craphole of a town, standing discussing our future direction against the gangs. The bar reopens… discussion derails as we all make a dash for it. I do believe the entire clan but one were Booze Hags. :smiley:

Telling Judge Samuels to his face that he was a filthy animal and I’d happily shoot him for the way he treated women. Low point of the night, missing him being run out of town. I wanted to shoot him in the head… or possibly the groin. :frowning:

We spent half the night searching for the missing dynamite. It got to the announcement of the winner of the mayoral race. Rick looks at me, looks at the candidates all lined up in a row, pales and says, “Tell me we remembered to search the stage”. I look back at him with wide eyes and we turn and make a rigidly casual-appearing dash for the stage. Ok, it wasn’t there, but it was a heart stopping moment nevertheless.

When everything started to go nuts, I knew Rick would be in the thick of it. I’d lost him (for the hundredth time, busy man!) in the crowd and had to find him. Someone had to watch his back! He’s always getting in trouble. I ran out the saloon doors calling his name. Suddenly there was a huge explosion inside. I turned and ran back in to see bodies everywhere! Oh no! Then, through the smoke, I saw him, still standing! Yay! So happy! Not only that, but the two family members who’d been most on my back about marrying Rick were dead… ummm… quiet yay? :smiley: They were family, after all…

#17

I think for all one-off-pre-generated-character-larps you need to look at secrets as “things that should come out”. Rather than treating keeping-the-secret as an objective. I prefer to look at it as something that should be spilled for best special effect. Having your secret come out leads to better role playing opportunity than keeping a secret, for everyone.

In contrast to this of course, was what I did in refuge. “The Bear” had the special ability “tough as nails”. Basically I could keep getting up after I was wounded. I was a pretty poor fighter ( but with RPS you’re always 1/3 :smiley: ). This “secret” was pretty much out, in that lots of people had witnessed my gun fight. So, I spun a tail about how my lucky bible had stopped three bullets and I’d then lost it in a game of cards… :smiley:

Oh, while I’m here. My favourite line in refuge:

“So, do you know what kissing on the hand leads to?”

#18

Wow, it sounds like there were more people vying for the affections of Miss Emily than I thought. And yet, I succeeded in wooing her. :smiley:
Just goes to show what a snappy suit and a bowler hat can do for your love life. And, y’know, being wealthy and powerful. That may have helped too.

#19

Y’all mean kissin’ on the hand. And yes, it leads to th’ Sheriff puttin’ a bullet tween yer eyes… again." :wink:

#20

I think for all one-off-pre-generated-character-larps you need to look at secrets as “things that should come out”. Rather than treating keeping-the-secret as an objective. I prefer to look at it as something that should be spilled for best special effect. Having your secret come out leads to better role playing opportunity than keeping a secret, for everyone.

[/quote]

Can I add a caveat to this? Secrets are things that should come out in game.
puts on large red ranting hat
One of my big secrets was revealed (not by me) BEFORE the game started, which meant that what had clearly been intended to happen with my booze hag character -she would get drunk and spill about her past to her fellow gangmembers- didn’t happen like that. It in fact left me with very little to do in game except move around the room trying to stay out of Colonel Charleston’s way. While it was good that the boys had agreed to protect me, it meant I missed out on the emotional turmoil of persuading them to do so.

Yes, I could have been more pro-active about getting involved with other stuff. However, I was rather thrown and cross that a big chunk of what my character was about had been mucked up before the game even started. This put a dampener on my enjoyment of what was for everyone else a really fun game (and I’m not denying it was well written and well-run, and I’m glad everyone else had a good time).
removes ranting hat
So in conclusion, don’t talk about your character before the game, people! (But I think you all knew that).