Erratica Reduex

Indeed my cold was courteous, in that it waited until after the LARP was all finished to manifest. Or maybe it just couldn't stand the excitement of the day, since it seems to be a pretty mild cold, more annoying than anything else.

But the weekend was wonderful- I survived a bout of zombie movie on Halloween, to attend a brilliant Dragaeria LARP that involved governmental change and macroeconomics. Since it's Dragaeria, it all worked out well. I got to play a brilliantly decadent Phoenix, something like a Bertie Wooster with a deathwish. I bumbled around, insulting Dragons and inserting the occasional pointed observation or question between my calls for drinks. And then abruptly, solved a mystery that turned out to be far more personally important than the turning of the cycle. Lots and lots of fun, and I actually got some fairly intense acting in. I'm looking forward to the next LARP.

Had a lot of fun at the convention, and now I'm back too making bunch of phone calls with a remarkably low connection rate. Bah. So lets do some random notes on the game.

• I have no idea why I get so anxious before conventions. Interrupted sleep and apocalyptic scenarios are the major result, but it makes it difficult to plan ahead of time. Fortunately, the convention itself was pretty much stress-free.


• The online game pre-registration and online posting of game attendees was simply brilliant. Conventions should have been doing this for YEARS.


• We arrived to a hotel with a power outage. It made a pretty good precursor to the pajama LARP.  Rain also cuts down on the "Why am I spending the whole weekend inside?" thoughts.


• If I'm ever in a game with a night-time or lights-out theme again, I will pack a flashlight. Reading character sheets in the dark using glowsticks is a major pain.


• It's an excellent LARP when one can't help make plans for what ones character is going to do after the LARP. It's a really excellent doubleplusgood LARP game when dancingshaman  decides my character has to die, and he wasn't even one of the people I stole from, lied to, swindled or tried to seduce in the game.  I liked my character-he was amusingly over the top.


• Rather harsh that, given that I heroically managed to sweep a group of assorted lovelies, (along with a doomsday weapon, blueprints for super-guns and a bunch of political treaties) away from incipient political violence. Admittedly, I DID torment the prickly fencer that's the daughter of the werebear and the lover of Dancingshamen's character, and I DID hide the empty case for the super-gun plans on her, and I teased her unmercifully. But she was really prickly, and she had to go and accuse me of being sneaky and lacking honor. Honestly!


• There's also the assumption that a chartered privateer of Avalon with a vice-admiralty waiting for him would simply merrily go to his death, simply for having gone and given a doomsday weapon and the plans for a super-gun to the lovely Ussuran scientist for safekeeping. Why, one would think he is an utter fool, willing to betray his country for a- well four- pretty faces!


• Or alternatively, a former pirate might use the opportunity afforded by being on his own ship to sneakily retrieve the doomsday device and the plans he gave away, drop off the charters, switch ships, and then up sail to Avalon, where the weapon plans will be given to the Queen, and the doomsday device in the shape of a watch will remain on his person, where it belongs. Which come to think of it, may be sneaky and lacking in honor. But oh well- once a pirate....


• Did I mention I LOVED that LARP? I never even had any interest in 7th Sea setting until that LARP, and now I want to know more about the setting. It was one of the most fun games I've ever been in, and that's especially a noteworthy achievement as the GMs stated that it was their first LARP. I am SO looking forward to playing that character in the next 7thSea LARP they do.


• I also enjoyed the Warhammer LARP, though oddly enough, the most important thing my character will do is after the game. But that was partially because I was playing a dwarf with a low, low, LOW social attribute, which I chose to play as being uncertain with the language a bit, and very taciturn when it comes to diplomacy (Damn those humans talk too much), except when talking about runes. And guess who was chosen to talk to priests about religion.


• I am totally going to have to get a pair of shoes with good arch support for these LARPS- I flaked on the last LARP because my feet hurt too much. While I'm at it, I'll make it a nice pair of boots. In fact, I need to get more costume stuff entirely.

We survived the convention, and the LARP was a success, though a disorganized mess of a success.  My freinds had fun, and I nearly passed out from laughter, so that was the important thing.  I'm honopred to know such brilliant, creative people.

I'm ready for a rest from conventions though; everything is heightened at a convention, emotions, relationships, drama.  Especially drama.  I guess the point of having a good time at a convention is to not let the drama control you, and in a sense, the apocalyptic daydreams I had before the con actually served me well.  But, I am ready to avoid drama for a while.

In other news, I have a few ideas I'm tossing around, LARPwise.  Something simple, fun, and yet dramatic.  *sigh*, and so it goes....

It's been a while since I've shared a stupid video, and well this is silly enough that I have to share it.

D&D: the Music Video

While the video is really wonderful in its over-tyhe-top sillyness, with explosions, stunts, horsies, and latex-wearing hellaciious babes, it is missing a certain something.  Somethign it really needs, but I can't put my finger on it.  Oh yeah!  It needs music that doesn't make me retch.

"Knights of Cydonia" it isn't.  It's not even in the same league.  Still, watch it.  It's a silly thing.

It's interesting to see how a single LARP can place a nuance onto my larger gaming attitudes.

For instance, I have been reading a thread recently, where some gamer pundit was decrying demihuman characters as simply humans with different features and cultural traits exaggerated. This is all something I've heard before, and while I disagreed somewhat, I could see where he was coming from. Until he continued with this:


I was surprised by how viscerally I reacted to that statement.  So much so, that I had to step back and consider why (besides it's simplistic nature) I rejected that idea so vehemently.

And then I thought, "Oh yeah. Geist."

Because Geist was not motivated by happiness. He was about honor before life, accepting fate, and seeing through a curse he laid upon himself. He was even about love and fealty. But not happiness.

And that gave me a useful bit of insight into how culture and personality will triumph stereotypes about basic nature. It will help me make my characters all the more individual in the future I hope.

In the future, I think it will be valuable to keep in mind these questions:
What does he need
What does he want
What does he love
What does he hate
What does he fear
What is he willing to give away, and for what
What will he hold on to at all costs.

In the LARP, I was surprised by some of the answers I came up with. I'm looking forward to being surprised again. And that's one of the best things I can say about any game.

To cheer myself up after a really depressing morning, I've decided to do a helpful guide for an upcoming LARP.  

racerxmachina and others of my friends haven't played Vampire, and so don't know what the various clans are.   So, to help them out, here's a simple guide:

 
 
 
 
GUIDE TO THE VAMPIRE CLANS:


Clan Boy-Toy Dork, AKA Clan Poser:  This is the clan for people who still like Anne Rice; They constantly talk a lot about beauty, and tragedy, write bad poetry, and use their special power "Vogue" a lot.  They don't drink blood, subsisting on cappacino drinks.

Clan Brew-Haha, AKA Clan Slamdancer:  They are mammals, and they fight ALL of the time.  They are supposed to be rebels, but can't agree what to rebel against,  except whatever's within punching range.  They like to stomp around in combat books and talk tough.

Clan Wolverine: These are the nature vampires: they're tough, mean fighters, and like the woods and animals- up to the point of sometimes looking like animals.  They say "Bub" and "Snickt" a lot.

Clan The Man, AKA Clan Pot bellied Pigs: These are the guys who are usually in charge, and are political overachievers due to their name actually translating out to "Pot bellied Pig".  Pity them, because they have to rule over the rest of the crew.

Clan Ooglay, AKA "Clan "Whatsthatsmell?": Every clique needs a token ugly person, and these guys are it.  They live in sewers, but seem to know everything that's going on.  They're favorite hobby is standing around with their arms crossed over their chests.

Clan Bozo, AKA Clan Your Not Playing one of them in MY game:  these are the annoyingly crazy vampires: identifiable as the vampires dressed in pajamas and a teddy bear, or running around hitting people with a fish.  Or the ones dead five minutes into the game at the hands of the other, annoyed vampire players.

Clan (Name owned by Another Company), AKA Clan Wait, we're not playing Ars Magica?  This is the clan made up of the people who thought Mages were the best thing in D&D, so they claim to be mages made into vampires, and no, not twinks at all, really.  They have Magic Powerz, are really mysterious, and get beat up a lot by people with no patience for that kind of crap.

And some others:

The Sabbat Clans:

Clan Labomba, AKA Clan Twink: This is a clan of vampires that are also political, suave, and eviler than Clan The Man.  You can tell they're eviler because they control shadows.  And no, they don't have a major inferiority complex, no not at all.  They just formed the Sabbat to have their OWN club.

Clan Tze...Tzisc...Tzish...AKA Clan Ah hell, who can pronounce that name anyway?  These are the really creepy vampires who have creepy powers that can shape flesh into creepy things.  Have I mentioned they're really creepy?


OTHER CLANS:

Clan Set-up.  AKA, Clan Bad Pulp Villains: A group of Egyption vampires dedicated to corrupting and controlling other vampires for their masters.  In what way this makes them different from other vampires I don't know.  In a pinch they can turn into giant snakes, which as everybody knows, never helps.

Clan Ass-Munch, AKA Clan We're Not a Racist Steriotype, Really!: A bunch of middle-easter assassin vampires, that hate everybody and are really good at killing.  Recognizable by the fact that they tend to die within minutes of being revealed, because nobody likes combat munchkins.

Clan Three-Eyes, AKA Clan We're not REALLY ripping off  the anime 3x3 Eyes: A clan of three-eyed pacifistic vampires that heal people.  No, I don't know what the point is either.

Clan Lesbian Wolverine, AKA Clan Not Appearing in this Game: An all-female minor vampire clan that actually had some cool abilities and background.  So cool, that White Wolf killed them all off.

Clan Farie Vampire, AKA Clan I Really Wanted to Play Changeling Instead: a bunch of vampires with faerie dream powers, sort of, and an appearance that wasn't trying to rip off Dream fromthe Sandman comics, no sir, not at all. 

Clan Diva, AKA Clan Will You Please SHUT UP!: A clan of musical vamps.  They sang, and um, had powers based on singing...and well, they sang.  A lot.

AND FINALLY...

Clan Asian Vampires, AKA Clan Wire Fu:  A clan of foreign vampires, based around the idea that anything the western vamps could do, they could do better or cooler.  Though they invaded the west coast of the US, it turned out the only thing their powers were good for was igniting fanboy flame wars.

 

 

 

Well, I had a pretty fine time at the con, in spite of a minor incident not worth talking about.  I actually played in two LARPS, assisted in one other, and played a cheapass game; which is a steady increase in the number of gaming activities I'm doing at cons.  Maybe someday, far in the future, I'll actually do an RPG as well as LARPS in a con.   Of course to do that, I've figured that I'm pretty much going to have to start running games again- it's been too long sine I've done any GMing anyway.

It's oddly hard to find players in this town though, so to get back into practice, rather than try to fit a campaign into everybody's schedule, I'm planning to put together some one-shot games.  Maybe make it a dinner thing, where I provide a nice one-dish meal for people.  Anyway, more planning later.


Oddly enough, my favorite game may well be the one that I didn't play in: I had the privilege of assisting at the Ashenheart LARP, and took lots of pictures of the fantastic masks that were used there.  One thing I'd like to do is post some of the better pics off of my photobucket account, assuming I get permission.

Anyway, I survived the Con, and now all I have to do is make it to payday.  "*sigh*, back to reality.