2012 was, for most of it's part, a great year for me in larping.
We had for the first time 2 Calam events which were in general well received. I furthermore attended 4 UK larp event (3 Dumnonni Chronicles events and the last ever Maelstrom event), having a blast at each of these.
Next I attended Conquest of Mythodea in Germany and lastly 4 larp events in Belgium (2 of Poort and 2 of Saga)
Man, seems I did 11 larps last year :-)
At their last event the best decorated area was one done completely by players, any other decoration was almost non-existent. If that was the only thing missing I might still continue, but for myself I was really bored and even thought of going home while the event was still going on!
I never really felt myself part of the game the last 2 events. This in contrast to the past where I was very often really highly immersed in the game. Combine this with the fact that I do 10+ larps a year and you can understand that I'm no longer going to Saga.
This really saddens me as I have very good memories of great roleplay at their events in the past. But sometimes you have to make a choice. And since the last year didn't live up to the standards I came to expect from it I have to say goodbye to some very good memories.
This year I'll most probably will also say goodbye to Conquest of Mythodea (CoM). The reason for this is that I only go to CoM to meet some friends, have a good time, do some shopping and enjoy the atmosphere. I'm not going there for the roleplay. Although I still make sure that I'm part of the game. But the thing is that (a) I have to take 3 days of holiday for this event, (b) it's a bit expensive considering what you get in exchange for your money, (c) it's a long drive and (d) I'll be going to more UK larps this year.
We had for the first time 2 Calam events which were in general well received. I furthermore attended 4 UK larp event (3 Dumnonni Chronicles events and the last ever Maelstrom event), having a blast at each of these.
Next I attended Conquest of Mythodea in Germany and lastly 4 larp events in Belgium (2 of Poort and 2 of Saga)
Man, seems I did 11 larps last year :-)
Saying goodbye to some events
While I had a great time on most of these event I was sadly very disappointed in one. A larp that used to have very high standards in decorating an ugly modern building into a nice in-character building. The last year those standards just were not present. I'm talking about Saga, an Arabian Nights style larp that was really one of the best in Belgium.At their last event the best decorated area was one done completely by players, any other decoration was almost non-existent. If that was the only thing missing I might still continue, but for myself I was really bored and even thought of going home while the event was still going on!
I never really felt myself part of the game the last 2 events. This in contrast to the past where I was very often really highly immersed in the game. Combine this with the fact that I do 10+ larps a year and you can understand that I'm no longer going to Saga.
This really saddens me as I have very good memories of great roleplay at their events in the past. But sometimes you have to make a choice. And since the last year didn't live up to the standards I came to expect from it I have to say goodbye to some very good memories.
This year I'll most probably will also say goodbye to Conquest of Mythodea (CoM). The reason for this is that I only go to CoM to meet some friends, have a good time, do some shopping and enjoy the atmosphere. I'm not going there for the roleplay. Although I still make sure that I'm part of the game. But the thing is that (a) I have to take 3 days of holiday for this event, (b) it's a bit expensive considering what you get in exchange for your money, (c) it's a long drive and (d) I'll be going to more UK larps this year.
New events in 2013
While I'm saying goodbye to some events I'm also going to a new one. I'm talking about EMPIRE.
This new larp is a product of Profound Decisions, the company behind the Maelstrom larp I attended a couple of times.
I've been following the news of this new larp over the past year and it looks really promising. They really want to raise the standards of UK larping and go for high immersion, high costume standards, high roleplay standards, light rules, etc.
I've planned to go to their last 2 events of the year (July and September).
For the rest I'll keep going to Poort and Dumnonni Chronicles. And I'll keep organising Calam.
Larp kit plans
With Empire coming up this year, I'll be needing to make some new costumes.
This year I'm planning to make:
- new leather armour for my Wood-Elf at the Poort larp
- brigantine + new costume for my Empire - Marshes character
- new tunic for my bard at Dumnonni Chronicles
- chests and chairs for DC and Empire
If I have time left I'll also try to make a new portable IC tent that I can carry on my back during a larp.
Anyway, 2013 looks like a very promising larp year for me. There will be one Big Goodbye to CoM, but in return I expect a blast at Empire.
Keep larping
