Thank you everybody, awesome game 
go the league !!!
Ahhh, I had so much fun!
I rarely get to play a bad guy, so causing chaos as Professor Moriarty was a blast. Thanks to Sherlock Holmes for providing an adversary, and to Angelus, Dr Horrible, Captain Hook and (briefly) Karl Marx for joining me in my Russian-Sponsored Evil League of Evil.
Thanks to the GMs for doing an awesome job, and all the new people who showed up and did awesomely!
Well, that was a splendid afternoon, thank you everyone, and particularly the GMâs.
I think, however, that I am even more confused now than I was before the game. Do you people have meetings where you discuss how this all works? I have attended a LARP workshop, and now an actual LARP game, and I still have no idea of what Iâm doing! I couldnât achieve a single one of my goals, and spent most of my time standing around looking gormless. I enjoyed seeing all the action (and I do think it is a shame that LARPers generally try to dissuade spectators) but I really couldnât seem to get in on anything that was happening. The little symbols on the identity cards were never explained, and the summary at the end just left me thinking that you all must have been doing something in a different room to me, for I didnât see any of what you were discussing. I would really love to get into LARPing, but I fear that, without some proper instruction, it may not be for me.
Please do bear in mind that I have Aspergerâs Syndrome, so much of the social interaction gets lost on me even in real life, let alone in fiction. One of the things I really enjoy about steampunk and the Victorian era is the etiquette, the very well documented rules for social interaction. This is something that modern society is seriously lacking these days. Even though Aspergerâs wasnât recognized back then, Iâm sure us Aspies would have had a much better time of it back then, with such clearly demarcated social rules.
Irrespective of my failure to comprehend what was going on and to participate fully, I definitely enjoyed the day, getting dressed up, seeing all the other costumes, and trying to have a go. I would love to come along to Chimera, but Iâd like to learn how to LARP properly first, so that I donât just end up standing around looking gormless.
Everyone stands around gormlessly sometimes Augur. I find the big social larp the hardest kind and I have been larping for 12 years. Learning to larp is doing larp, and Chimera is good fora bunch of sound bites of larp. I would suggest you will find Chimera highly enlightening.
Augur, I spent quite a bit of time wandering around not doing anything much. I just pretended I knew what I was doing, and eventually things happened around me that I could get involved in.
[quote=âJaredâ] Learning to larp is doing larpâŚ[/quote]So where do I get to learn about all the other stuff that was happening at the same time. For instance, why were people reading out stories at the end? What was that all about? None of that was explained.
Iâm glad you played and enjoyed playing with you! 
To answer your question: dunno what they were doing - and this is the second time Iâve played this game. And I still donât know what the little symbols on the nametags mean either.
One thing to learn in LARP is that there will be way, way too much going on around you to possibly pick up on everything. A common mistake for newbies and oldies alike is to try and get in on all the action/understand everything that is going on.
If you do that, youâll spread yourself too thin and end up feeling frustrated and frazzled - and STILL wonât learn what âeverythingâ meant!
Focus on a few key people, either those directly related to your character goals/background OR those who you simply enjoy RPing with. If they donât have anything to do with your goals, but youâre having fun, then role with it. I can appreciate if youâre looking for âstructureâ to feel more comfortable that this may seem hard to do, but really, thereâs only one real marker of success in a larp: if youâve had fun.
The confidence to roll with it a bit more will come once you RP with people a few more times and know their playing styles, as well as learning more about what kinds of things intrigue you.
And itâs always going to be hit and miss with games. You may have low expectations/interest in a certain game or genre only to end up having your best larp EVAR. Or vice versa.
Just think of LARP like film. Each time you go to one youâll have a different reaction/experience. And keep asking questions - weâll only be too happy to try and help.
A huge thanks to all involved in writing, preparing and running the game. And just as much to everyone I interacted with.
This was my first actual-LARP (I crewed at Teonn, but this was the first time I had a specific character, with goals and a history and what-not) and I loved every bit of it. Far too many fun moments to remember. But thankyou, everyone, and see you at Chimera!
Dr Horrible/Cinead/Martin/That damned Scotsman that looks like Pitcam.
Long live the Evil League of Evil!
[quote=âamphigoriâ]Iâm glad you played and enjoyed playing with you! [/quote]Thank you. Iâm still finding out who was who, and no doubt peopleâs usernames here on the forum give little or no indication either. I look forward to seeing some pictures. For now if you describe yourself as âlong blue dress with black bodiceâ, or whatever, Iâll probably remember who you are. 
[quote=âamphigoriâ]One thing to learn in LARP is that there will be way, way too much going on around you to possibly pick up on everything. A common mistake for newbies and oldies alike is to try and get in on all the action/understand everything that is going on.
If you do that, youâll spread yourself too thin and end up feeling frustrated and frazzled - and STILL wonât learn what âeverythingâ meant!
Focus on a few key people, either those directly related to your character goals/background OR those who you simply enjoy RPing with. If they donât have anything to do with your goals, but youâre having fun, then role with it.[/quote]Thank you so much for that wonderful explanation. Now, I just need to find a time machine, so that I can take your words of wisdom with me back to 12:30pm this afternoon, and begin the Great Exhibition LARP again with some hope of âlifting my gameâ.
[quote=âamphigoriâ]And itâs always going to be hit and miss with games. You may have low expectations/interest in a certain game or genre only to end up having your best larp EVAR. Or vice versa.[/quote]That is the ting that puzzles me most about today. I was fully interested in what was going on, and being into steampunk and the Victorian era, this particular LARP is definitely a most appropriate game for me, yet I still found it very hard to get into without knowing how to play. I guess Iâm just too used to the forerunner of LARPing, the RPG, such as D&D type games, which I spent many long hours as a child playing. The rule books and character sheets just come more naturally to me.
[quote=âamphigoriâ]And keep asking questions - weâll only be too happy to try and help.[/quote]So, what do all those symbols mean again? 
Hereâs another thing I found really confusing. My character sheet said that I know a certain Mr. Feargus OâConnor. When we met today, his character sheet did not indicate that he knew me. We clarified this with a GM, and the GM confirmed that Feargus did not know me. How can I know Feargus if he doesnât know me? I had pre-planned a lot of what I wanted to say during interaction with Feargus, but it all was wasted because he didnât even know me. What gives?
I played Ayesha. Gold headdress. I gave you the command to go tell the chaperone that your love-interest really ought to come with me to Egypt Sorry about that- you played it very, very, very well though! Well done!
Sometimes the GMs make mistakes. There are a lot of character connections to keep track of and sometimes things donât quite match up. Or perhaps youâve -heard- of someone rather than actually knew them. Either way, if you have questions like that clarify with the GMs, twice if necessary.
I believe that many of them had no meaning, they were simply put in so that each identity card had a full complement of symbols.
This depends on how exactly you know him, and anything going on with Feargus himself. For example, I had several characters that I knew, but only from reputation. Also, I know that one or two characters were suffering from amnesia.
Heya,
The symbols on the cards are a way of indicating something about a character that some people would know, but others wouldnât. Fârâinstance, if a character has an ability to know whether someone is secretly evil, or is infected by a disease, or is a member of the same secret society or whatever, itâd be written on their character sheet what the symbols mean. And then, sometimes, the game writers might put on deliberately meaningless symbols so that people donât try to second guess them.
[quote]and I still have no idea of what Iâm doing! I couldnât achieve a single one of my goals, and spent most of my time standing around looking gormless. I enjoyed seeing all the action (and I do think it is a shame that LARPers generally try to dissuade spectators) but I really couldnât seem to get in on anything that was happening. [/quote]Yeah, this can be a problem sometimes with players who are new or shy - a big larp is a very full on thing, and they do have their own social conventions which I donât think we always explain well as a group. Please donât let this stop you coming back! It can help asking to get cast in a group with close ties and strongly related goals so that youâve got your support network right there as you go into the game, also to think of goals as more being guidelines - itâs perfectly fine to create a new goal for yourself during the game based on whatâs happening, and discard things that you donât care about as much. And sometimes trying to do something huge and failing in a truly epic fashion can be a lot of fun, too.
[quote]Hereâs another thing I found really confusing. My character sheet said that I know a certain Mr. Feargus OâConnor. When we met today, his character sheet did not indicate that he knew me. We clarified this with a GM, and the GM confirmed that Feargus did not know me. How can I know Feargus if he doesnât know me? I had pre-planned a lot of what I wanted to say during interaction with Feargus, but it all was wasted because he didnât even know me. What gives?[/quote]Sometimes thatâs deliberate. I donât know in this case, but it might have been that Feargus had amnesia, or was a doppelganger of the guy you did know, or something. (Or maybe a mistake in the proofreading. It happens, sometimes.)
(You didnât meet me today, Iâm in Wellington. 
)
Steph
[quote=âamphigoriâ]I played Ayesha. Gold headdress. I gave you the command to go tell the chaperone that your love-interest really ought to come with me to Egypt Sorry about that- you played it very, very, very well though! Well done![/quote]Ah Ayesha, yes, thank you, that was fun actually getting something to do. Of course, in the compulsion to fulfill your command I essentially lost the only chance I had at actually fulfilling one of my own characterâs goals. But still, it was great to be able to do something constructive during the game.
[quote=âamphigoriâ]Or perhaps youâve -heard- of someone rather than actually knew them.[/quote]That is not a difference that an Aspie like myself would commonly be able to pick up on. The list of known characters also included my characterâs mother and half-brother. I wouldnât expect to have only âhead ofâ them. How do I differentiate, from such a character list in the future, which ones I actually know, and which ones Iâve only heard of?
I donât think I actually fulfilled a single goal of mine. Measuring the success of a game by how many of your goals youâve achieved can sometimes lead to frustration/worry that you didnât do things ârightâ. If you had fun and had good interactions and had stuff to do, thatâs what makes a good game (I think).
Ask the GMs if itâs not clear
In one of the games Iâve enjoyed the most, Masquerade on Fleet Street, I failed all of the goals on my character sheet. I also failed all the goals I discovered I was working towards during the game itself. And yet, I still had a blast. So Iâm in the same school as Amphigori, and as long as I measure the success of a game (for me, at least) on how much fun I had.
[quote=âStephanieâ]Please donât let this stop you coming back![/quote]Oh, definitely not. It was great fun, and now Iâm starting to learn the things I should have known before going in today, so that Iâll be properly prepared for the next one.
[quote=âStephanieâ]⌠also to think of goals as more being guidelines - itâs perfectly fine to create a new goal for yourself during the game based on whatâs happening, and discard things that you donât care about as much. And sometimes trying to do something huge and failing in a truly epic fashion can be a lot of fun, too.[/quote][quote=âamphigoriâ]Measuring the success of a game by how many of your goals youâve achieved can sometimes lead to frustration/worry that you didnât do things ârightâ. If you had fun and had good interactions and had stuff to do, thatâs what makes a good game (I think).[/quote][quote=âDragnewâ]So Iâm in the same school as Amphigori, and as long as I measure the success of a game (for me, at least) on how much fun I had.[/quote]Great input, thank you all. I wish this were explained at the LARP workshop during Aether & Iron. I know that was only very short, and they crammed a lot in anyway, but such information as Iâm getting now from you and others here on the forum would definitely have made my day today much more enjoyable. I shall take this wisdom with me into the next LARP that I participate in!
[quote=âStephanieâ](You didnât meet me today, Iâm in Wellington.)[/quote]Okay, a pleasure to meet you here, now, then.
Itâs not unusual to feel as if you donât know what youâre doing in one of those big one-off larps. They are lots of fun, but pretty much everyone spends at least some of their time standing around going âI really wish I knew what was going onâ. They also tend to take a little while to get moving and do require you to just wander up and say âHiâ to random strangers, which can be hard. It gets easier as you get to know people out of character as well.
And in any larp over about 50 people, itâs very very common to discover afterwards that there were not only plots, but apparently entire genres that you had no idea about. I played Flight of the Hindenburgh at the first Chimera and thoroughly enjoyed it, but when the summary went down at the end people were talking about aliens and time travel and superheroes and I was going âWhat game were you guys all playing?!?â because my plots didnât involve any of those things. :mrgreen:
Sounds like it was a good time, sorry I missed it. I was up to my eyeballs in 7year old pirates and superheroes, which was itâs own kind of traumatic.
[quote=âamphigoriâ][quote=âaugurâ]How do I differentiate, from such a character list in the future, which ones I actually know, and which ones Iâve only heard of?[/quote]Ask the GMs if itâs not clear [/quote]What is unclear to me is whether or not it is unclear 
I have had this discussion recently with my therapist, who asked me to list some aspects of social interaction in daily life that concern me. That is just it though, as an Aspie I donât always recognize when a social situation should be of concern or not. Back to this situation. If an instruction says on it âpeople you knowâ, how am I supposed to know that some of them I may not actually know? To me, it wasnât unclear at all, and so I didnât ask a GM in advance. It was only when I tried to act on an incorrect assumption during the day that it presented itself as being âunclearâ, and that was when I asked a GM. I could not have known in advance that it was unclear.
Would it not make more sense in future for the GMâs to just list separately those people you actually know, and then list those people you have heard of? âPeople you knowâ seems somewhat authoritative, and not really subjective.
[quote=âtheotherphoenixâ]⌠those big one-off larps. [/quote]Iâve been thinking about that. I saw the 20/20 article where it was mentioned that you had a LARP game that was running for about 6 years or so. That perhaps would be more my style, something where a character can be developed and added to along the way. I even began writing out a character back-story for my character in the Great Exhibition, before someone online advised me that it would not be wise to do so, as my back-story may contradict some of the other plot lines.