Larping

I don’t think I’ll be going back to larping at Smith. There are several reasons for this, one of them is time. I need to focus on studying if I want to end up doing what I want. And then I need to spend time with the friends that don’t see me every day, my UWC friends. Really, it is a bit of a wonder that they still put up with me when seeing them once a week was about as often as I got around to it. I want to be able to go to our five college UWC parties and hang out with that crowd as well.

Then it is the Arkham by Night crowd. The people in this group that I like to hang out with, I get to hang around anyway, or have contact with outside the game. Apart from these people, a lot of the people in the game get on my nerves. I could elaborate but I am not going to since a lot of it is issues I have with specific people and I am not in the mood to do shit throwing in the open. Having in my head is bad enough. Let’s just say that the entire this started to bore me. I think it was because it felt like we were doing the same thing time after time after time. Which we were. Now you need to know that I fell in love with Norwegian larping way back, and it really is a part of me. I have been a larper for the last 3 years and I was in the scene for two years before that (mainly because Norwegian larps run a 16 or 18 year limit on games unless you have family members in the game). And in those years none of the larps I have been interested in have been the same. The closest is Elencalion Formen which ran its fourth game this summer. But the plot have been different enough that it does not feel like I am repeating myself. And heck for EF:5 we are considering a winter larp. Another is Norwegian Woods where the second game is getting planned for ’08. The first was set in the woods where several groups of people got together, and stuff happened. Yes it was a Call of Cathulu larp. I recommend the Phenomena X; recovered files form Norway movie if you are interested. That was the in game tv crew’s documentary, and it is in English. NW2 is the sequel, and surviving characters can be brought back. But as far as I know they are running it in a different part if the country and in an actual insane asylum. And plot wise it is in an insane asylum as well. That is just beyond cool.

In AbN I also felt like there was a lot of competition between the players; I probably was responsible for this myself, but still. I never really felt comfortable at the dinner or stuff. I larp because of the amazing people in the community, and because of the unique sense of community we have, and to be honest the AbN crowd lacked that. I don’t know if it is the people, the style of larping or just that I never really got into it. But it felt like people was playing, both in and out of character, for the sake of their own character and not for the sake of the story. Now it is true that a selfish and not to mention self preserving character is realistic, especially in a vampire game, but it felt like a lot of people was breaking character and meta gaming. I have yet to encounter Meta gaming in Norwegian larps, yes we do go out of character, mainly because when you are in character for 24 hours, 48 hours or even five days in a row you need to in order not to go crazy. But I have seen 3-5 year olds stay in character better in certain situations than similar situations in AbN.

Lastly I have problems working up enthusiasms to go game in AbN again. I just don’t want to. It has become something I have to do because other characters depend on mine. In comparison, there are larps here where I beat myself over the head because I can’t go. I seriously considered dropping international student intro week last year to go to Dragon bane. DB was a giant (900 - 1200 players) pan-European larp in Sweden. I am secretly lobbying for not having EF5 be a winter larp so that I can go. I was considering to skip work a week to go work (not even be a player) at a larp on the west coast. I look at how much I want to look at that and then I look at myself having to force myself to Seelye on those Saturday nights. Why bother doing something I don’t really want to?

Now, I am not stopping larping, for god’s sake... I’ll larp in Norway, and I might go back to Arkham, but I just need a break from it. I’ll still be plotting my larp for up here in Norway and am going to work on my character concept for a future EF. Heck I am even toying with the idea of a Shadow run or 7^th Son larp. Both of which will require a lot of crew to get running. 7^th Son larp could be real fun though. The idea has been brewing in my head for a few days and prolly will need a lot more brewing. Not to mention an extreme amount of planning to become good. Did I mention a big crew? If I would run these I would want to do it as a Norwegian style larp, i.e. no dice or cards and GM telling you what you know. You know what you know…Now that requires also an insane amount of preparation from the player, but I think it would be a cool experiment. If any of you are 7^th Son fans and agree with me, drop me a line. And when I say a big crew I mean prolly 20-30 people for maybe 10 players. I am using the word crew and not story teller, because in Norway we actually have different names for the different jobs. Arangør (Manager) is responsible for the practical stuff, getting a place, getting food, etc. The IL or Intrige Leder (Intrigue Leader or Game Master) is, surprisingly enough, responsible for the plot and making sure it runs smooth. SIS or Skummelt I Skogen (Scary in the Forest or NPC-players) is exactly that. You are a part of the crew and you generally have more than one character. Now it is not uncommon for a player whose character dies to go be a SIS, did I mention playing for the sake of the story and not for the sake of your character. A 7^th Son larp would need a couple of Managers, 4-5 ILs and a ton of SIS. Shadowrun would as well. But given the choice I think I would actually like to SIS these games.

Talking about 7^th Son, I have caught up so I have to wait for the next chapters… How am I going to survive only getting about 30 minutes of 7^th Son a week? By reading other books. I am rereading Ender’s Game which Nat gave me last summer and I am listening to Number 1 with a Bullet, Infected, Earthcore and Billibub Baddings and the case of the Singing Sword. The three last are by authors who are supposed to be very good and I fell for the concept of the first one.

On a costume/sewing related note, most of the major construction on the coat is done, of the major things I have to do the arms and then it is all small stuff like the collar and buckles and stuff. I might have to do some more design changes though but those have to wait until my mom gets back. Estimated time remaining 5-6 hours, estimated time spent 2-3 hours. I am giving myself loads of time, because now it is detail time and I want them to look good. That is another reason to wait until my mom gets back. It is not like I don’t have other projects…