Last weekend was the last larp of the year for me: Manticore X.VI.II - Stilte voor de storm II.
As two of the team just became fathers we made this a so called 'mini' event. This meant less plot, less time etc. This to put less pressure on the team.
In the end we delivered what we promised. But while some thought it was again a great event, others, mostly new players, thought it lacked something.
For us as a crew it was an exhaustive event as we were undermanned for this one. We even had the ill luck that one of the team had an accident the day before the event and his knee was wrecked and thus could not attend the event. Michaël, best of luck with the healing of the knee.
Given the circumstances I think the event was good, we only need to make certain that we always foresee (and use) something for the new players.
As Vincent already told most people: we can use more people in the Manticore team. We can not keep up delivering good events with the current amount of people, we need fresh blood :-)
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Caege was a success
While I wasn't attending this event I've heard that it was considered a success by all who attended.
Although there were some minor moments: e.g. the dreaded Saturday afternoon dip that all Belgian Larps know.
But it seems that the overall event was well liked by those who attended.
Reports like this make me sad that I have such a busy agenda. If I could I'd attend all the larps that I want, but sadly real-life is taking more of my time meaning less time for larps.
Anyway, congrats to the Caege team.
Although there were some minor moments: e.g. the dreaded Saturday afternoon dip that all Belgian Larps know.
But it seems that the overall event was well liked by those who attended.
Reports like this make me sad that I have such a busy agenda. If I could I'd attend all the larps that I want, but sadly real-life is taking more of my time meaning less time for larps.
Anyway, congrats to the Caege team.
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Calam was a great success!
Well it's a long time since I last blogged so let's give you guys and girls some updates :-)
Calam was a success
This time I'll not use my own words, I'll let the participants speak:
No more Caege for me
It's not that I don't like Caege, I actually LOVE the world and there are some really good roleplayers there. But for Elves there's not really much to do.
Oh, I hear ya telling me to stop playing an Elf, but if the organisation doesn't provide things to do for Elves then they just shouldn't let players allow to choose an Elf as race.
I did enjoy myself last time, but that was because I made my own game. And frankly, if I have to make my own game in order to have a great time, then I believe 105 euro's is far too high participation fee. I have nothing against a Larp asking players to make their own game, but then the price should be accordingly.
I stop with Caege with pain in my heart, as it's the only larp I'd consider playing an Elf (and no, I won't consider Poort, as Poort is too old-school for me and I only hear negative feedback from friends who play/npc there). But with my diminished time schedule for larps I need to cut somewhere and Caege had enough reason for me to send it to the chopping block.
How much money is a larp worth?
Well in the previous topic I stated that 105 euro is too much for a larp where I need to make my own game in order to enjoy it. So what are the items that make me decide if a larp is too expensive or not?
Well I'll try to set up a list of things that I take into account when I choose a larp:
That's an easy one: if the game world intrigues me I'm already with half a foot in.
Rules system
Well this is more complicated. Sometimes I'm all in for a complicated system, while I personnaly prefer the free-form system (like Calam and Dragonbane has).
I think it mostly boils down that if the system is too complex or leaves the game wide open for abuse I might not participate in that larp.
Food/drinks included
If food/drinks are included in the fee I would be ok to pay a bit more for the game. But since I organise larps where we include food and drinks I know how much it all costs. So you need to provide some pretty good food/drinks to make me pay say 40 euro's more for a larp :-).
Costume&rpg standards + visual realism
I'm grouping these threee as for me they are the main deciding factor to participate in a larp.
If a larp would allow US type of weapons, I'm out. If they allow sneakers, jeans and tshirts I'm also out. If there's too much suspension of debelief needed (aka visual realism sucks) then that's not a larp for me.
I also hate the fact when people talk too much OOC. I have no problem with a little OOC talk (I'm guilty as charged), but I still remember a larp when we were in a high tense moment, ready to kill the first who would blink in the wrong way and suddenly the main person said: "Hey, 5 minutes ago, did you ask if I had object X IC or OOC", the guy said "IC of course...", and then she would reply "Oh, but then I didn't say IC that I had it, I thought you asked it OOC". I mean, that's the worst roleplay I ever encountered. Larps where such things happen on a regular basis (people dropping in and out of the game at regular intervals) I leave aside.
Amount of scenario/fighting
If there's too much brainless fighting I won't participate. Also if there's little scenario then I won't participate if the price it too high (too high is subjective to the other items here)
Distance from my home
Well this one is easy. The further away a larp is the higher quality it must have. As I need to take into account the higher traveling costs.
For example Outlore cost me around 200 euro's but it was worth every single cent. I almost believed I was really in that game world and that's already worth some extra money :-)
The price was also high because I had to do a last minute booking of the eurotunnel and that I was alone in the car. I believe I can bring the total cost of Outlore down to 120-150 euro if I book on time and have someone along in the car to share transport costs.
Till next time
Calam was a success
This time I'll not use my own words, I'll let the participants speak:
"To say it with the words of Saturday evenging: fracking awesomeAs you can read it was a success. I'm rather proud of my crew to help me pull it off and make Calam achieve the goal I was aiming for.
Oh ja, the demons are sissies, if I could do all that I'd dare it too"
"Calam was an enjoyable experience
from the point of view of an NPC it was a wonderfull interaction between players and npcs
it always made me more anxious to stay more IC when seeing the other participants
I really loved the quote "that's no metal sir, it's vulcanic glass, that's something completely different"
I'd say, all join for good rpg and athmosphere"
"I can only agree, Calam is so much more than other Larp's.
With the limited amount of participants it looked like a peronal LARP
I'd say, join us if you like some decent roleplaying"
"Calam II was super. I really enjoyed my time there. The location was beautiful (ok, at night "a little bit cold", but still beautifull). I really enjoyed the story, the just enough story and just enough fights
so congratulations to the crew, to the npcs and to anyone who cooked this weekend"
"Thank you, to those who organised it, for the memorable event, and all the effort being put in. And thank you to the playerbase, who made the great moments all the more fun, and with whom I had some hilarious OOC moments as well."
"First of all I would like to thank everybody for the great weekend. Special thanks to the crew that spend a lot of time in scouting for a location, preparing and organising the event. Special thanks to Jeremy, Steven and Chris for making it actually work."
"You can be sure we'll be back.
Thx to the crew, it was really great.
Special thx to Steven and his Defender (you saved us a LOT of trips)."
No more Caege for me
It's not that I don't like Caege, I actually LOVE the world and there are some really good roleplayers there. But for Elves there's not really much to do.
Oh, I hear ya telling me to stop playing an Elf, but if the organisation doesn't provide things to do for Elves then they just shouldn't let players allow to choose an Elf as race.
I did enjoy myself last time, but that was because I made my own game. And frankly, if I have to make my own game in order to have a great time, then I believe 105 euro's is far too high participation fee. I have nothing against a Larp asking players to make their own game, but then the price should be accordingly.
I stop with Caege with pain in my heart, as it's the only larp I'd consider playing an Elf (and no, I won't consider Poort, as Poort is too old-school for me and I only hear negative feedback from friends who play/npc there). But with my diminished time schedule for larps I need to cut somewhere and Caege had enough reason for me to send it to the chopping block.
How much money is a larp worth?
Well in the previous topic I stated that 105 euro is too much for a larp where I need to make my own game in order to enjoy it. So what are the items that make me decide if a larp is too expensive or not?
Well I'll try to set up a list of things that I take into account when I choose a larp:
- game world
- rules system
- food/drinks included
- rpg standards
- visual realism
- amount of scenario
- amount of fighting
- distance from my home
That's an easy one: if the game world intrigues me I'm already with half a foot in.
Rules system
Well this is more complicated. Sometimes I'm all in for a complicated system, while I personnaly prefer the free-form system (like Calam and Dragonbane has).
I think it mostly boils down that if the system is too complex or leaves the game wide open for abuse I might not participate in that larp.
Food/drinks included
If food/drinks are included in the fee I would be ok to pay a bit more for the game. But since I organise larps where we include food and drinks I know how much it all costs. So you need to provide some pretty good food/drinks to make me pay say 40 euro's more for a larp :-).
Costume&rpg standards + visual realism
I'm grouping these threee as for me they are the main deciding factor to participate in a larp.
If a larp would allow US type of weapons, I'm out. If they allow sneakers, jeans and tshirts I'm also out. If there's too much suspension of debelief needed (aka visual realism sucks) then that's not a larp for me.
I also hate the fact when people talk too much OOC. I have no problem with a little OOC talk (I'm guilty as charged), but I still remember a larp when we were in a high tense moment, ready to kill the first who would blink in the wrong way and suddenly the main person said: "Hey, 5 minutes ago, did you ask if I had object X IC or OOC", the guy said "IC of course...", and then she would reply "Oh, but then I didn't say IC that I had it, I thought you asked it OOC". I mean, that's the worst roleplay I ever encountered. Larps where such things happen on a regular basis (people dropping in and out of the game at regular intervals) I leave aside.
Amount of scenario/fighting
If there's too much brainless fighting I won't participate. Also if there's little scenario then I won't participate if the price it too high (too high is subjective to the other items here)
Distance from my home
Well this one is easy. The further away a larp is the higher quality it must have. As I need to take into account the higher traveling costs.
For example Outlore cost me around 200 euro's but it was worth every single cent. I almost believed I was really in that game world and that's already worth some extra money :-)
The price was also high because I had to do a last minute booking of the eurotunnel and that I was alone in the car. I believe I can bring the total cost of Outlore down to 120-150 euro if I book on time and have someone along in the car to share transport costs.
Till next time
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Dragonbane II
While pondering about Dragonbane I posted on Facebook that I'd love to get some idea if there would ever come a Dragonbane II. One of the former team-members of Dragonbane then posted that I'd probably had to do it myself if I wanted a DBII.
Since I'm never scared to take up a challenge I'm asking you: "Would you be willing to travel all the way to the middle of Sweden to spent a week (5-6 days) in the middle of nowhere and larp like you've never larped before?"
If the answer is yes, then let me know. If I get around 50 serious commitments I'll start working on a possible Dragonbane II. BUT, be aware that it will take at least 2 to 3 years to organise such an event.
First we need to get permission to re-use existing DB material, next we'll need access to the site, then we'll need to know the state of the village is (last I heard it was rather bad), we'll need money to fix the village and most importantly: we need crazy people like you and me to go there and fix the village.
So if you're fed up with me telling you how GREAT Dragonbane was and how it's still, to this date, the BEST LARP EVER, then let yourself be heard and let me know you're committing to attending DBII (whenever it may take place).
PS: if you're not sure you'll be going to Sweden for a Larp then DON'T commit!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Non-larp post
BEWARE: this topic will NOT be about Larp!This will probably be the first topic not about Larp and for a long time it will also be the only one not about larp.
It will be a topic about TABLETOP RPG!
Long before I participated in a Larp I played AD&D and Star Wars D6. It was in those days that I started to really love role-play and started asking questions about this thing called 'larp'.
Now I'm pretty sure a lot of larpers also play tabletop rpg and it's for those people that I want to talk about XDM!
XDM (X-treme Dungeon Mastery, but it also stand for the X-treme Dungeon Master aka the person running a tabletop using the XDM rules) is what I've been looking for for a long time. If I'm Parsifal then XDM is my Holy Grail (when speaking in terms of tabletop role-play).
Since my early days of tabletop role-playing I was missing something. Not knowing what I was missing led me into buying all kinds of DM guides, Gamemaster guides, books with new systems, etc.
A year ago I discovered Castles & Crusades from the hand of Troll Lord Games. This was a mix of D&D 3rd edition and good old AD&D. I thought my search for the ideal tabletop system was finished. I introduced it immediately to my new campaign Mythandir Chronicles and off we went.
But it still wasn't perfect. For me the perfect system is one that provides rules, but doesn't complicate the game for the DM/GM/... And while C&C makes a good show of making the game simple I still had to look up some rules while running the game.
In comes XDM
So while C&C was not yet perfect it was the best I had found, so I still used it and vouched to re-read the rules again and again until I would know them by heart.
But then I stumbled upon something called XDM. X-treme Dungeon Mastery, hmmm strange title, but wait I recognise one author: Tracy Hickman. Yeap the same guy who co-wrote the very first fantasy book I ever read: Dragonwing from The Deathgate Cycle. This was one of the people who made me fall in love with fantasy. So on a whim I pre-ordered the book (earning some XDM levels along the way :-) ). When the book arrived I read it and was amazed, bedazzled, stunned, ... you get the point. They were talking about fog-generators, laser beams, pyrotechnics and even magic tricks. Well I just LOVE the book!
The goal of the book is NOT to make us quit the gamesystem we all love (be it C&C, D&D (3rd 3.5th, 4th), SW D6, ...). No! It strives to make us better DMs/GMs/... by bringing the essense of the game back: yes, I'm talking about the fun.
With good examples the book explains how you can spice up your tabletop game by adding extra's. How about handing your players a real handwritten letter instead of just saying "you find a letter in which is stated...". These are all things that we find natural in a larp, but they also work perfectly in a tabletop.
This book is full of ideas for a DM to bring their games to a next level.
But that's not all, there is also a section for the players. That one tells the player to play their character, not to play a puppet using die-rolls.
Of course, this book wouldn't be complete if it would not also have it's own game system :-). XD20 is for me the same revolution as a larp that goes with WYSIWYG rules.
XD20 wants to simplify the game by having very little rules to give the XDM more freedom to focus on the game, not the rules. Ah, this is exactly the same phylosophy I uphold for my own larps :-)
XDM is written by Tracy Hickman and Curtis Hickman, with excellent drawings by Howard Tayler. It costs $29.95 and is absolutely worth the money.
Go to http://www.xtremedungeonmaster.com and go buy it NOW.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Fighting in larp
A couple of months ago I posted a message on larp fora to ask for people to accompany me to Outlore in the UK. To show how cool it was I posted along some videoclips from previous Outlores.
The result was a cry for unsafety, disaster in making etc.
It's seems that in Belgium a lot of larpers are afraid of some bruises and want super safe fights.
Now I also like fights in a larp to be safe. But aren't we overdoing it here in Belgium?
My first larp at Conquest of Mythodea introduced to me fighting that was a lot harder than in Belgium. Harder weapons, shieldbashes, etc. But did I cry out that it was unsafe? No, I actually enjoyed it immensely.
I still remember when I was a kid we played zorro. We hadden WOODEN sticks that we used as swords. Some of us even had hard PLASTIC swords that are way harder than the hardest larp sword. You can even buy those today in toy shops!
So why is it that some larpers cry out that we are fighting unsafe with our very soft latex coated weapons when we allow kids to hit eachother with wooden or hard plastic swords?
I believe that with some common sense and safe weapons and shields (i.e. all foam shields) you can have some 'hard' fights where the worst one can get is some bruises.
I still remember the guy with a gambeson under a full plate armour who was crying out when someone hit his SHIELD to hard. I mean, a foam weapon on a foam shield and that guy (in full plate) was complaining of the hard hit.
Maybe we should have a larp revolution to bring the fun back into fighting instead more and more safety rules.
The result was a cry for unsafety, disaster in making etc.
It's seems that in Belgium a lot of larpers are afraid of some bruises and want super safe fights.
Now I also like fights in a larp to be safe. But aren't we overdoing it here in Belgium?
My first larp at Conquest of Mythodea introduced to me fighting that was a lot harder than in Belgium. Harder weapons, shieldbashes, etc. But did I cry out that it was unsafe? No, I actually enjoyed it immensely.
I still remember when I was a kid we played zorro. We hadden WOODEN sticks that we used as swords. Some of us even had hard PLASTIC swords that are way harder than the hardest larp sword. You can even buy those today in toy shops!
So why is it that some larpers cry out that we are fighting unsafe with our very soft latex coated weapons when we allow kids to hit eachother with wooden or hard plastic swords?
I believe that with some common sense and safe weapons and shields (i.e. all foam shields) you can have some 'hard' fights where the worst one can get is some bruises.
I still remember the guy with a gambeson under a full plate armour who was crying out when someone hit his SHIELD to hard. I mean, a foam weapon on a foam shield and that guy (in full plate) was complaining of the hard hit.
Maybe we should have a larp revolution to bring the fun back into fighting instead more and more safety rules.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Dilemma
Last weekend was Conquest of Mythodea and some of my friends went their. It seems I missed great game. This was the first in three years that I didn't attend Conquest and I'm really wondering if Avatar was worth it to miss out on Conquest.
I have one big dilemma and that is that I'm having less time to play all the larps I want.
If I would only think about myself I would go to Conquest next year and skip Avatar. Avatar is nice and I have a lot of friends playing there (plus the organisation I preside runs a faction there), but Conquest is a total different league. And in my opinion so much better than Avatar. At Conquest they 3000+ participants, 800+ NPCs, toilets running on water, great atmosphere, awesome costumes and much more.
What would you choose if you can only do one of the summer larps. Avatar, Conquest or something else? Let me know in the comments.
I have one big dilemma and that is that I'm having less time to play all the larps I want.
If I would only think about myself I would go to Conquest next year and skip Avatar. Avatar is nice and I have a lot of friends playing there (plus the organisation I preside runs a faction there), but Conquest is a total different league. And in my opinion so much better than Avatar. At Conquest they 3000+ participants, 800+ NPCs, toilets running on water, great atmosphere, awesome costumes and much more.
What would you choose if you can only do one of the summer larps. Avatar, Conquest or something else? Let me know in the comments.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Avater 2009 - the review
I'm finally almost back up and running after Avatar, so it's time to write a review while everything is still somewhat fresh in my mind.
Before I continue I want to make it clear that this review is my perception and I'm 100% sure that some will have another opinion, which is perfectly OK :-)
Avatar 2009 day -1 (aka the day before the game starts)
I arrived in the evening with wonderful Belgian weather at the game site (aka it rained). I was happily surprised by the work already done, factions tents were all set up, the wall was there, player tents were being raised. For me personally, my main concern were the new Viking Tent Canvas that I made with my mum for Arrowhead Event. I was really anxious to know how they held in the rain and I have to say that they held wonderful, not a single drop of rain entered them, special points to my mum for making them :-).
Upon saying hi to most people I checked out how things are. Besides some small logistics problems everything seemed ok. Since it rained I didn't set up my own tent and checked if someone needed my help. When there was a dry moment I started setting up my tent, which means that it, of course, started to rain again, but some 15 mins later my tent was up and I could start moving my stuff in.
For the rest of the evening we got IC-ish and had great fun.
Day 1 - finishing touches and game start
After making sure all the logistics problem got taken care of I went to collect my Walkie (as Responsible Time Out (RTO) and Scenario responsible of the faction I had to get a Walkie from the organisation). While the Walkies were great I'll make sure to get my personal in-ear and mike next year, to decrease the break in IC-ness.
Next we had to bring the final touches to our camp as do our own check-in of our faction members.
Besides a small problem with one tents location everything went fine.
The game would normally start at 18h, but for some reason it took till 20h to start. Luckily I got informed via the Walkie thus I was able to communicate this to the faction.
All in all the only complaint of day 1 was the 'late' Time In.
Special points to the Organisation for the use of horses and carts to transport everything around. High improvement over the quads of the years before. Some extra points for the IC-ness of the crew. A great improvement against the Crew t-shirts of the previous years. In total I saw maybe 5 people with a crew shirt walking around against the 20-30 of the years before.
Day 2 - let hell break loose => storm, rain and Time Out
In the morning there was some great role-play when people from our faction (Koninkrijk) took some prisoners from our former faction (Vlammende Adelaars). For me this was the BEST moment of the whole event. Especially when I got confronted with my King and we had a difference in opinion. Thanks to all for the 100% IC role-play we had there, situations like this are for me the reason why I do LARP, thanks.
This day was also marked with a massive storm, some tents got broken, walls were blown away and at least one gate crashed down. Luckily no-one got badly hurt. The force of the storm made the Organisers decide to have a Time Out for at least half an hour in order to assess the damage and do some repairs. I did some checks on our camp and besides some ropes that needed extra tension nothing bad occurred in our camp.
The heavy rain was also perfect for me to show off my leather highwayman coat (made by my mum after those of The Brotherhood of the Wolf).
When most of the storm was over the Time In was called and the game continued.
Today I also had to organise a scenario for a group in our faction. Here I must say that the organisation was a bit dangerous by using real life torches on a muddy path with overhanging trees. The torches only became extremely dangerous when they were handed over to a player and that player got into a fight. Result: almost one player with his hair burned and almost another with the fur on his hat burned. Positive note: the organisation quickly took away the torch when the danger was apparant.
End result today for the organisation: some points lost by overusing the muddy tracks with they Manitou (modern day work lift kind of truck), resulting in muddy ways. The straw to fix this was delivered a bit too late. But I'm here just nitpicking. And some extra points lost for the dangerous situation with the torch.
Day 3 - sunshine, lolipops, ...
On Saturday the weather improved greatly and was marked by the first sunburns. This day was also the first with some dull moment. It also marked a quarantine in the city to take care of the plague that started on Friday. Soon this became an annoying OOC for the shops in the city and the quarantine was lifted for OOC reasons.
Then there was a blockage of the guilds where there was some presumed foul play by some people, making abuse of their RTO walkie and such. But since I have no more knowledge about it I can not make a call on who was right and who not. The end result was a lot of 'anger'.
But nothing really bad happened beside that.
In the evening I went to the Vlammende Adelaars for the performance of the tribal folk group Prima Nocte. While their musical performance was not flawless (I'm a musician in the folk scene myself so I notice those things :-P ) the show they gave was uber-great. Everybody was dancing, clapping, jumping, ... it was magical. After that performance we got to another camp and had some great fun there.
There was only one drawback of Saturday, the day after would be Sunday or the last day of the game. During this day I got a briefing of the planned events on Sunday and they really spoiled the event a bit for me. The organisers expected us to be up and ready at the battlefield at 9.30 that's a.m. in the morning. The aim of that fight would've been 1 guy getting some inside information about a treasure hunt that would take place Sunday afternoon.
But since a lot of people would be partying the last evening of the game till early hours I expected that not many would be there at 9.30
Day 4 - dull, dull and more dull moments
As I expected we were with only a small part of our faction at 10.30 on the battlefield. The battle was, of course, not yet started so we got with our 10-some warriors and the like on our spot on the battlefield and waited and waited and ... oh yeah, the sun was burning hot while we were waiting.
What could've been a great Avatar was completely screwed by the orchestrated events on Sunday. It was of course not a wonder that a lot of people started packing their stuff early.
The only positive note of Sunday was that by 17.00 our camp was cleaned up of everything except the stuff that would be picked up on Monday. Really a great THANK YOU to all the faction members for their help in the clean-up.
End conclusion
As I said in my previous post Avatar was good, not great nor bad, just good.
There were a lot of improvements but there were also some screw-ups.
My number 1 problem still is the participation fee and the fact that the organisers take 40% of the profit of all drinks sold. This while the faction needs to rent (or have) all the things in order to sell drinks (aka coolers, tent to use as bar, tables and benches, ...). For me it really feels that we are paying the organisation money in order to be able to earn extra money for them.
Also for 65 euro we are not getting a lot in return. If I compare that to what events like Conquest of Mythodea or Maelstrom offer for that money there is a big difference. At Maelstrom we get benches from the organisation for FREE.
Next are of course the Munchkin players. I really hate and hate and hate and ... the freaking kids and adult loosers who kill people during the game for nothing but the thrill of the kill. If you kill me then be sure to have an IC reason for it. On other big events that I've attended (Maelstrom, Conquest of Mythodea) I NEVER saw such behaviour. In this I would advice the organisers of Avatar to attend an event like Maelstrom or Conquest of Mythodea, just to get an idea of how Avatar could different.
Last bad point is of course the fact that Sunday was bad in my opinion. I had the feeling there was too much orchestration from the organisation to make us do stuff that some people just acted as if the game had already ended and they started packing.
I want to end this review with the fact that I got enough of good out of Avatar to be almost certain to come back next year. The only thing that would hold me back is if Avatar will still take 40% of our drink profit. If that's the case they should give us all the needed material to sell drinks for free.
Before I continue I want to make it clear that this review is my perception and I'm 100% sure that some will have another opinion, which is perfectly OK :-)
Avatar 2009 day -1 (aka the day before the game starts)
I arrived in the evening with wonderful Belgian weather at the game site (aka it rained). I was happily surprised by the work already done, factions tents were all set up, the wall was there, player tents were being raised. For me personally, my main concern were the new Viking Tent Canvas that I made with my mum for Arrowhead Event. I was really anxious to know how they held in the rain and I have to say that they held wonderful, not a single drop of rain entered them, special points to my mum for making them :-).
Upon saying hi to most people I checked out how things are. Besides some small logistics problems everything seemed ok. Since it rained I didn't set up my own tent and checked if someone needed my help. When there was a dry moment I started setting up my tent, which means that it, of course, started to rain again, but some 15 mins later my tent was up and I could start moving my stuff in.
For the rest of the evening we got IC-ish and had great fun.
Day 1 - finishing touches and game start
After making sure all the logistics problem got taken care of I went to collect my Walkie (as Responsible Time Out (RTO) and Scenario responsible of the faction I had to get a Walkie from the organisation). While the Walkies were great I'll make sure to get my personal in-ear and mike next year, to decrease the break in IC-ness.
Next we had to bring the final touches to our camp as do our own check-in of our faction members.
Besides a small problem with one tents location everything went fine.
The game would normally start at 18h, but for some reason it took till 20h to start. Luckily I got informed via the Walkie thus I was able to communicate this to the faction.
All in all the only complaint of day 1 was the 'late' Time In.
Special points to the Organisation for the use of horses and carts to transport everything around. High improvement over the quads of the years before. Some extra points for the IC-ness of the crew. A great improvement against the Crew t-shirts of the previous years. In total I saw maybe 5 people with a crew shirt walking around against the 20-30 of the years before.
Day 2 - let hell break loose => storm, rain and Time Out
In the morning there was some great role-play when people from our faction (Koninkrijk) took some prisoners from our former faction (Vlammende Adelaars). For me this was the BEST moment of the whole event. Especially when I got confronted with my King and we had a difference in opinion. Thanks to all for the 100% IC role-play we had there, situations like this are for me the reason why I do LARP, thanks.
This day was also marked with a massive storm, some tents got broken, walls were blown away and at least one gate crashed down. Luckily no-one got badly hurt. The force of the storm made the Organisers decide to have a Time Out for at least half an hour in order to assess the damage and do some repairs. I did some checks on our camp and besides some ropes that needed extra tension nothing bad occurred in our camp.
The heavy rain was also perfect for me to show off my leather highwayman coat (made by my mum after those of The Brotherhood of the Wolf).
When most of the storm was over the Time In was called and the game continued.
Today I also had to organise a scenario for a group in our faction. Here I must say that the organisation was a bit dangerous by using real life torches on a muddy path with overhanging trees. The torches only became extremely dangerous when they were handed over to a player and that player got into a fight. Result: almost one player with his hair burned and almost another with the fur on his hat burned. Positive note: the organisation quickly took away the torch when the danger was apparant.
End result today for the organisation: some points lost by overusing the muddy tracks with they Manitou (modern day work lift kind of truck), resulting in muddy ways. The straw to fix this was delivered a bit too late. But I'm here just nitpicking. And some extra points lost for the dangerous situation with the torch.
Day 3 - sunshine, lolipops, ...
On Saturday the weather improved greatly and was marked by the first sunburns. This day was also the first with some dull moment. It also marked a quarantine in the city to take care of the plague that started on Friday. Soon this became an annoying OOC for the shops in the city and the quarantine was lifted for OOC reasons.
Then there was a blockage of the guilds where there was some presumed foul play by some people, making abuse of their RTO walkie and such. But since I have no more knowledge about it I can not make a call on who was right and who not. The end result was a lot of 'anger'.
But nothing really bad happened beside that.
In the evening I went to the Vlammende Adelaars for the performance of the tribal folk group Prima Nocte. While their musical performance was not flawless (I'm a musician in the folk scene myself so I notice those things :-P ) the show they gave was uber-great. Everybody was dancing, clapping, jumping, ... it was magical. After that performance we got to another camp and had some great fun there.
There was only one drawback of Saturday, the day after would be Sunday or the last day of the game. During this day I got a briefing of the planned events on Sunday and they really spoiled the event a bit for me. The organisers expected us to be up and ready at the battlefield at 9.30 that's a.m. in the morning. The aim of that fight would've been 1 guy getting some inside information about a treasure hunt that would take place Sunday afternoon.
But since a lot of people would be partying the last evening of the game till early hours I expected that not many would be there at 9.30
Day 4 - dull, dull and more dull moments
As I expected we were with only a small part of our faction at 10.30 on the battlefield. The battle was, of course, not yet started so we got with our 10-some warriors and the like on our spot on the battlefield and waited and waited and ... oh yeah, the sun was burning hot while we were waiting.
What could've been a great Avatar was completely screwed by the orchestrated events on Sunday. It was of course not a wonder that a lot of people started packing their stuff early.
The only positive note of Sunday was that by 17.00 our camp was cleaned up of everything except the stuff that would be picked up on Monday. Really a great THANK YOU to all the faction members for their help in the clean-up.
End conclusion
As I said in my previous post Avatar was good, not great nor bad, just good.
There were a lot of improvements but there were also some screw-ups.
My number 1 problem still is the participation fee and the fact that the organisers take 40% of the profit of all drinks sold. This while the faction needs to rent (or have) all the things in order to sell drinks (aka coolers, tent to use as bar, tables and benches, ...). For me it really feels that we are paying the organisation money in order to be able to earn extra money for them.
Also for 65 euro we are not getting a lot in return. If I compare that to what events like Conquest of Mythodea or Maelstrom offer for that money there is a big difference. At Maelstrom we get benches from the organisation for FREE.
Next are of course the Munchkin players. I really hate and hate and hate and ... the freaking kids and adult loosers who kill people during the game for nothing but the thrill of the kill. If you kill me then be sure to have an IC reason for it. On other big events that I've attended (Maelstrom, Conquest of Mythodea) I NEVER saw such behaviour. In this I would advice the organisers of Avatar to attend an event like Maelstrom or Conquest of Mythodea, just to get an idea of how Avatar could different.
Last bad point is of course the fact that Sunday was bad in my opinion. I had the feeling there was too much orchestration from the organisation to make us do stuff that some people just acted as if the game had already ended and they started packing.
I want to end this review with the fact that I got enough of good out of Avatar to be almost certain to come back next year. The only thing that would hold me back is if Avatar will still take 40% of our drink profit. If that's the case they should give us all the needed material to sell drinks for free.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Avatar was good
I'm back from Avatar and it was not bad at all.
I had some good moments, I had some bad moments, but all in all it was good.
I was well surprised to see that the level of IC-ness of the crew was a great improvement, compared to past events. In total maybe a handfull of crew people ran around in OOC clothes.
Also the addition of horse and cart to transport drinks etc instead of quads was a brilliant idea.
An in depth analysis will have to wait until I'm back full on energy as 4 hours of sleep per night is not ideal when done 4 nights in a row.
I just want to end with the fact that I heard lot's of positive comment on upcoming Calam event. Seems the new approach is working.
I had some good moments, I had some bad moments, but all in all it was good.
I was well surprised to see that the level of IC-ness of the crew was a great improvement, compared to past events. In total maybe a handfull of crew people ran around in OOC clothes.
Also the addition of horse and cart to transport drinks etc instead of quads was a brilliant idea.
An in depth analysis will have to wait until I'm back full on energy as 4 hours of sleep per night is not ideal when done 4 nights in a row.
I just want to end with the fact that I heard lot's of positive comment on upcoming Calam event. Seems the new approach is working.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Calam II - IC newspaper
Last week I spent some time making an IC newspaper for Calam.
I'm actually happy with the result.
It just shows the new approach we're taking to Calam :-)
This evening I'll be picking up 1000 flyers to promote Calam II.
If people reading this blog are not yet sure if they will attend Calam II, let me know what's holding you back, as we're always interested in knowing what we're doing wrong.
In August we'll also shoot a new trailer.
Keep larping.
I'm actually happy with the result.
It just shows the new approach we're taking to Calam :-)This evening I'll be picking up 1000 flyers to promote Calam II.
If people reading this blog are not yet sure if they will attend Calam II, let me know what's holding you back, as we're always interested in knowing what we're doing wrong.
In August we'll also shoot a new trailer.
Keep larping.
Avatar is almost there
People reading this blog remember that last year I was not that a huge fan of Avatar. Well, nothing has really changed. But I'm again going this year. Reason is that this year Arrowhead Events is supporting one of the many player factions.
Now that I've been in the middle of faction organising I have gained a lot of extra respect for those who've been doing it for years.
Since Avatar is an expensive game (if you compare the return on investments it is very expensive) each faction has to juggle their budget in order to make Avatar not to over-expensive. I've learned that e.g. a simple bar is more a money making machine for Avatar itself. Where the faction actually has to pay for the infrastructure in order to sell drinks (where a lot of the profits go to Avatar).
Hmm, seems I'm not that really positive about Avatar :-/
Anyway, almost all my larp friends go to Avatar and that's the other reason why I'm going. But depending on how the game turns out it might be my last Avatar. This year I'm not going to Conquest of Mythodea, which I deeply regret, so I'll probably switch next year in order to attend Conquest of Mythodea.
As I'm sure that there are other who love Avatar, please leave a comment with your Avatar experience. I'm always open to discussion :-)
Now that I've been in the middle of faction organising I have gained a lot of extra respect for those who've been doing it for years.
Since Avatar is an expensive game (if you compare the return on investments it is very expensive) each faction has to juggle their budget in order to make Avatar not to over-expensive. I've learned that e.g. a simple bar is more a money making machine for Avatar itself. Where the faction actually has to pay for the infrastructure in order to sell drinks (where a lot of the profits go to Avatar).
Hmm, seems I'm not that really positive about Avatar :-/
Anyway, almost all my larp friends go to Avatar and that's the other reason why I'm going. But depending on how the game turns out it might be my last Avatar. This year I'm not going to Conquest of Mythodea, which I deeply regret, so I'll probably switch next year in order to attend Conquest of Mythodea.
As I'm sure that there are other who love Avatar, please leave a comment with your Avatar experience. I'm always open to discussion :-)
Thursday, July 02, 2009
Calam II - Dawn poster
I finally found some time to make a poster for the next installment of Calam.
I again want to point out that we have listened to all the feedback we got from the participants of Calam I and we are 100% sure Calam II will be great.
I've also added some extras after my participation in Outlore in May.
If you were at Calam I you don't want to miss Calam II.
I again want to point out that we have listened to all the feedback we got from the participants of Calam I and we are 100% sure Calam II will be great.
I've also added some extras after my participation in Outlore in May.
If you were at Calam I you don't want to miss Calam II.
Larp magazine on hold
Due to a very busy schedule I have to put the Larp magazine on hold.
I do this reluctantly, but real-life is demanding a lot of my attention at the moment leaving me little choice. (I mostly putting a lot of free time in renovating my house)
But all received articles will be published when I have again more time.
I do this reluctantly, but real-life is demanding a lot of my attention at the moment leaving me little choice. (I mostly putting a lot of free time in renovating my house)
But all received articles will be published when I have again more time.
Mini Manticore was super
Beginning June (5th-7th) gave us a mini Manticore event.
As readers of this blog know I quit volunteering for Oneiros vzw, this also means that I will no longer officially work for Manticore (since it's still a project run under Oneiros vzw). This was for me the first event where I no longer run the show (officially). It was a bit awkward, but I also enjoyed it immensely.
The event itself was well liked by everybody and the food I prepared (together with Michaël) was well tasted.
It was also the first event where I was a full blown Knight of the Order of the Black Crow. This is an Order of Knights who have a kind of elite status, only the Empress can command them or ask them for clarifications. I've always refused to play one because at those times I didn't feel sure enough to play them right. Such a person must show that he is the Law, (except for the Empress and the Gods) nobody stands above him. So now I played one and I hope I did it well. I know I still need to work on some of my roleplaying skills for this character, but all in all I think it went well.
Below is a picture of me as Knight Maurice de Beauville of the Order of the Black Crow, while looking angry at a Knight of the Order of the Twelfth Moon.
As readers of this blog know I quit volunteering for Oneiros vzw, this also means that I will no longer officially work for Manticore (since it's still a project run under Oneiros vzw). This was for me the first event where I no longer run the show (officially). It was a bit awkward, but I also enjoyed it immensely.
The event itself was well liked by everybody and the food I prepared (together with Michaël) was well tasted.
It was also the first event where I was a full blown Knight of the Order of the Black Crow. This is an Order of Knights who have a kind of elite status, only the Empress can command them or ask them for clarifications. I've always refused to play one because at those times I didn't feel sure enough to play them right. Such a person must show that he is the Law, (except for the Empress and the Gods) nobody stands above him. So now I played one and I hope I did it well. I know I still need to work on some of my roleplaying skills for this character, but all in all I think it went well.
Below is a picture of me as Knight Maurice de Beauville of the Order of the Black Crow, while looking angry at a Knight of the Order of the Twelfth Moon.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Saga was great
Back from Saga and I must say it was a great one for me.
I had just little dark looks due to what happened last week so I had little difficulty enjoying myself.
As I was NPC-ing I got a role handed by the team, and what a role it was. I was able to play the father of my late character, this allowed me to feel how it would've turned out for my former character (if he wasn't turned undead at the previous event).
It really felt good to hear IC from all the players how well Hakeem (my former character) was liked by them. I heard stories that I myself had forgotten.
As is always the case with Saga the game area was again well transformed into a nice IC area. They really surpassed themselves in the decoration of the local 'inn'.
Here's a picture my good friend Vince took of me at Saga (I'm on the right :-) )
I had just little dark looks due to what happened last week so I had little difficulty enjoying myself.
As I was NPC-ing I got a role handed by the team, and what a role it was. I was able to play the father of my late character, this allowed me to feel how it would've turned out for my former character (if he wasn't turned undead at the previous event).
It really felt good to hear IC from all the players how well Hakeem (my former character) was liked by them. I heard stories that I myself had forgotten.
As is always the case with Saga the game area was again well transformed into a nice IC area. They really surpassed themselves in the decoration of the local 'inn'.
Here's a picture my good friend Vince took of me at Saga (I'm on the right :-) )
Friday, May 08, 2009
Dark clouds
A couple of weeks ago I informed the Oneiros board that I wanted to stop volunteering for them as I was having too many disagreements with them and didn't like the rules they wanted to impose on me (one of those rules will directly influence how 'cool' the Inn looks at each Manticore event). I told it to them as to make the break easy and to stay friends: 'we agreed to disagree’ and then move on.
I used to have a lot of respect for the board of Oneiros, but after events of this past week I was shocked by their disrespect towards me.
For more than 10 years I was a volunteer for Oneiros. I attended almost all stock-cleaning days, I was for a couple years their webmaster and editor-in-chief, I promoted Oneiros on numerous game fairs (sometimes I was the only one present to promote Oneiros), used Oneiros as an example of a good way to organise Larp (when giving a lecture at Knudepunkt in Denmark) and I made Manticore such a successful event that it earned an awful amount of money for Oneiros. In all the things I did I was supporting Oneiros (and not just my own project) in ways other volunteers didn't. I used to think that those things counted for something with Oneiros.
But it all turned to dust as if it never happened as I've just experienced the worst kind of backstabbing possible.
I want to tell more about the how and why, but that would mean I'd be lowering myself to their level, which at this point is not my intend (yet). Suffice it to say that I'm deeply disappointed in those I used to call friends.
This evening I'll be attending the very excellent Oneiros larp SAGA and I expect to get some dark and evil looks. But I'll try my best not to change my playing habits and will do everything to try to enjoy the game.
I used to have a lot of respect for the board of Oneiros, but after events of this past week I was shocked by their disrespect towards me.
For more than 10 years I was a volunteer for Oneiros. I attended almost all stock-cleaning days, I was for a couple years their webmaster and editor-in-chief, I promoted Oneiros on numerous game fairs (sometimes I was the only one present to promote Oneiros), used Oneiros as an example of a good way to organise Larp (when giving a lecture at Knudepunkt in Denmark) and I made Manticore such a successful event that it earned an awful amount of money for Oneiros. In all the things I did I was supporting Oneiros (and not just my own project) in ways other volunteers didn't. I used to think that those things counted for something with Oneiros.
But it all turned to dust as if it never happened as I've just experienced the worst kind of backstabbing possible.
I want to tell more about the how and why, but that would mean I'd be lowering myself to their level, which at this point is not my intend (yet). Suffice it to say that I'm deeply disappointed in those I used to call friends.
This evening I'll be attending the very excellent Oneiros larp SAGA and I expect to get some dark and evil looks. But I'll try my best not to change my playing habits and will do everything to try to enjoy the game.
Outlore was GREAT
Last weekend it was Outlore in the South-West of the UK.
For me it was the first time that I participated in it and I must say it was AWESOME. At this moment it's nr2 on my Best Larp List (nr1 is still Dragonbane).
The visual realism was excellent (despite the very visible 'plastic camp') and the atmosphere was magical. Great battles were had along great songs and storytellings by the bards.
I can only say that if you want to try a larp unlike anyother in Belgium you should check out Outlore at http://www.dumnonni.com/ you will not be disappointed.
For me it was the first time that I participated in it and I must say it was AWESOME. At this moment it's nr2 on my Best Larp List (nr1 is still Dragonbane).
The visual realism was excellent (despite the very visible 'plastic camp') and the atmosphere was magical. Great battles were had along great songs and storytellings by the bards.
I can only say that if you want to try a larp unlike anyother in Belgium you should check out Outlore at http://www.dumnonni.com/ you will not be disappointed.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Caege Renaissance VI and new trailer
I've updated the previous trailer for Calam II - Dawn, go check it out at www.calam.eu
Last weekend it was Caege Renaissance and it left me with mixed feelings.
On one side I enjoyed myself while on another side I was sometimes frustrated and even bored.
One reason for this might be that we were with two Elves and that neither of us could speak the human language => very little interaction will all the other players.
We even sometimes hear that on Caege Elves are so passé, but I don't believe as if they really don't want Elves they would not let us have the choice to play them.
I think one frustration was that we had little to do: nothing happened in the forest (which we did check out), our skills (repairing wood and leather armour) were not often used as Caege knows little fighting.
But I foresaw our inactivity so I brought along some work that I could do during the game (i.e. carving a walking stick).
But the thing that most frustrated me was the amount of participatns (i.e. crew/pc/npc) running in OOC clothes around the game area. I just don't understand how people think it's OK. It's not that difficult to grab some IC clothes and follow-up on plots in the game.
Sometimes I think people should participate in a larp where everything really is 100% IC and everybody (even crew) walks in IC clothes around. The difference is huge, but it's difficult to get this across if people have only experienced larps where most of the crew walks OOC around.
Dragonbane in Sweden really opened my eyes on this problem.
In the end Caege was an OK larp with excellent food so I'll be waiting for the next one. I just hope we'll be there with more Elves :-)
Last weekend it was Caege Renaissance and it left me with mixed feelings.
On one side I enjoyed myself while on another side I was sometimes frustrated and even bored.
One reason for this might be that we were with two Elves and that neither of us could speak the human language => very little interaction will all the other players.
We even sometimes hear that on Caege Elves are so passé, but I don't believe as if they really don't want Elves they would not let us have the choice to play them.
I think one frustration was that we had little to do: nothing happened in the forest (which we did check out), our skills (repairing wood and leather armour) were not often used as Caege knows little fighting.
But I foresaw our inactivity so I brought along some work that I could do during the game (i.e. carving a walking stick).
But the thing that most frustrated me was the amount of participatns (i.e. crew/pc/npc) running in OOC clothes around the game area. I just don't understand how people think it's OK. It's not that difficult to grab some IC clothes and follow-up on plots in the game.
Sometimes I think people should participate in a larp where everything really is 100% IC and everybody (even crew) walks in IC clothes around. The difference is huge, but it's difficult to get this across if people have only experienced larps where most of the crew walks OOC around.
Dragonbane in Sweden really opened my eyes on this problem.
In the end Caege was an OK larp with excellent food so I'll be waiting for the next one. I just hope we'll be there with more Elves :-)
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Trailer for Calam II online
Last weekend we shot the trailer for Calam II - Dawn.
I made a first version and put it online in order to recieve some feedback about it.
In the coming days I'll be editing the trailer in order to take into account the feedback I got, but I still wanted the readers of this blog to get some insider info :-)
I made a first version and put it online in order to recieve some feedback about it.
In the coming days I'll be editing the trailer in order to take into account the feedback I got, but I still wanted the readers of this blog to get some insider info :-)
Monday, January 26, 2009
Calam II - Dawn
Dear reader,
it's been some time since I last posted so first of all I want to wish all of you a great new year and I hope that 2009 will give you some amazing larps.
In the meantime the team for Calam II has hit the ground running. We've set a date for the event (25-27 September 2009), set the overall plot and side-plots (yes, Calam II will have plot and numerous side-plots) and fixed our game area.
As I said we already established the main plot and numerous side-plots. If there's one thing we've learned from Calam I is the need for a real plot, not just a setting. So we've created a main plot that picks in on the things that happened during Calam I. But to make sure that every single one of our participants will have things to do (if they so wish of course) we've also created numerous side-plots. And I must say, I'm very anxious about Calam II, there won't be any dull moments, but this won't mean that we'll be holding your hand. The plots are there, they'll create action, but it's up to the participant to react on the action. We will not push you if you decide to ignore certain events, but you'll also need to live with the IC consequences :-) (as is normal with any Larp).
The game area for Calam II is for me close to perfect. It's completely isolated from the civilised world. It has lot's of forest, enough of grassplains for the faction camps, a river runs along the game area, it's big but nog huge, in short it's perfect for a larp as Calam.
The site in itself will provide many good moments, it really enhances the feeling of the world of Calam. I personally think the game area is the closest we can find here in Belgium to get the feeling of being in another world.
Next we also increased the participation fee. But before you all cry havoc and revolt, let me say that the fee now includes food ingredients and drinks. You'll still have to cook for yourself (and all your friends who threatened you into the cooking :-) ) but we'll provide the ingredients.
Damn, I'm just so excited about Calam II, can you tell? :-)
it's been some time since I last posted so first of all I want to wish all of you a great new year and I hope that 2009 will give you some amazing larps.
In the meantime the team for Calam II has hit the ground running. We've set a date for the event (25-27 September 2009), set the overall plot and side-plots (yes, Calam II will have plot and numerous side-plots) and fixed our game area.
As I said we already established the main plot and numerous side-plots. If there's one thing we've learned from Calam I is the need for a real plot, not just a setting. So we've created a main plot that picks in on the things that happened during Calam I. But to make sure that every single one of our participants will have things to do (if they so wish of course) we've also created numerous side-plots. And I must say, I'm very anxious about Calam II, there won't be any dull moments, but this won't mean that we'll be holding your hand. The plots are there, they'll create action, but it's up to the participant to react on the action. We will not push you if you decide to ignore certain events, but you'll also need to live with the IC consequences :-) (as is normal with any Larp).
The game area for Calam II is for me close to perfect. It's completely isolated from the civilised world. It has lot's of forest, enough of grassplains for the faction camps, a river runs along the game area, it's big but nog huge, in short it's perfect for a larp as Calam.
The site in itself will provide many good moments, it really enhances the feeling of the world of Calam. I personally think the game area is the closest we can find here in Belgium to get the feeling of being in another world.
Next we also increased the participation fee. But before you all cry havoc and revolt, let me say that the fee now includes food ingredients and drinks. You'll still have to cook for yourself (and all your friends who threatened you into the cooking :-) ) but we'll provide the ingredients.
Damn, I'm just so excited about Calam II, can you tell? :-)
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