tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47643932774521455762024-03-13T09:01:32.640+01:00The Red PillMy ramblings on LarpJeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08681958695113781082noreply@blogger.comBlogger96125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764393277452145576.post-45856148159563367972018-03-05T14:33:00.003+01:002018-03-05T14:33:49.669+01:00Accepting character choices<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgddE8o89y8xm1iBlPP_x6HCMFNLEKlIRGiLkAcVK55Ddo1BJJN7XRrmsbAo__9fHRqr-t3SSWZVG-vVMjgi9AgKmer3STL-crfoLo4olNpxz0122lLE6jpygYNOf0n2eG0yQ1kMn4hyphenhyphenGM/s1600/CalamVI_031.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="800" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgddE8o89y8xm1iBlPP_x6HCMFNLEKlIRGiLkAcVK55Ddo1BJJN7XRrmsbAo__9fHRqr-t3SSWZVG-vVMjgi9AgKmer3STL-crfoLo4olNpxz0122lLE6jpygYNOf0n2eG0yQ1kMn4hyphenhyphenGM/s320/CalamVI_031.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
As most following this blog know, I run 2 larps at the moment: the <a href="http://www.calam.eu/">Calam</a> larp and the <a href="http://www.manticore.be/">Manticore</a> larp.<br />
In both these larps there are some players who made the tough decision to play a bit of a darker character. They are not the normal <a href="https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/goody_two_shoes">goodie-two-shoes</a>, they are either acting like an ass-hole/bastard and/or a thief, a backstabber, ...<br />
It's great to have people willing to play these kind of characters. But some of these players don't see the disadvantage such a role brings with them. It means that a lot (if not all) other characters will refuse to help these roguish characters. Cause why would you as a 'goodie' help someone who would steal from you?<br />
Why would you help someone, if the only words they say are mostly insults in your general direction.<br />
<br />
It's a coincidence that I've noticed this non-understanding from different players in both larps.<br />
<br />
One person seemed to be unable to cope with the fact that his/her actions led to a counter-reaction of other players, and that this counter-reaction was one they did not like. I mean, if you insult someone who is honourable, that person will react if you keep insulting his/her honour.<br />
If said person tells you on numerous occasions that they will kill you if you continue, then well, ... don't be surprised if they actually do try to kill you (your character that is 😉).<br />
<br />
Another of my players was surprised when his/her character was left out of all the fun the other players were having. But in the same sentence he/she told me that they loved how they were able to steal stuff from those same players...<br />As a solution a change in the game-system was suggested, which I did decline 😇.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirrmRQ7JlsrvYgT4cwJpYwEHTMXEebhuf8TrRfG_ZU4uxUXdp0X7GUmr4MDV87yIzGPno0rZGVrBTbTacM9I4Iq5EGtUhkyQfSi-q4rSagBKnsZ-Z64U_LOJwNzKYTz5LrHFZw5I2Y9hE/s1600/CalamVI_036.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="533" data-original-width="800" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirrmRQ7JlsrvYgT4cwJpYwEHTMXEebhuf8TrRfG_ZU4uxUXdp0X7GUmr4MDV87yIzGPno0rZGVrBTbTacM9I4Iq5EGtUhkyQfSi-q4rSagBKnsZ-Z64U_LOJwNzKYTz5LrHFZw5I2Y9hE/s320/CalamVI_036.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
I'm all for players making a brave decision to play a character that doesn't play nice with the other players. But please, don't come crying to me if you notice that nobody wants to play with you anymore.<br />
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I think that before people choose to play a rogue, or a backstabbing bastard, they should ask themselves the following important question: "How can I play my character realistically and still be of use to the other players?"<br />Cause if you play your 'bad' guy/girl that well that nobody will trust you and/or need you, you might have off-sided yourself.<br />
<br />
Personally I would play such a character like the great <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasslehoff_Burrfoot">Tasslehoff Burrfoot</a>. As a thief he steals from his friends (amongst others), but he is there to help them when needed, even giving them their belongings back when they need them. The party knows he's a thief and they are annoyed when he 'borrows' their belongings, but they also know that he's got their back. And that when the situation becomes dire, he'll be there.<br />
<br />Of course it also helps if you are with a group of like minded people, then you can have great fun with your group. But don't forget that if at a next event you are alone, people might still remember all the bad/good you did with your group and treat you accordingly.<br />
<br />
All in all, I think it's great if someone plays a roguish/bad-mouthed character. But please also think about how you'll still be useful to the other players. Cause that's one thing that I have noticed to be very difficult to pull off right.</div>
Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08681958695113781082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764393277452145576.post-20405154449519006942013-04-12T07:57:00.002+02:002013-04-12T07:57:17.965+02:00The importance of timely registration<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
In the past I had seen that some events had to cancel their event due to low registration. When they cancelled the event they were met with disbelieve from participants. All said that they would've registered and paid, as would their friends.<br />
<br />
Well we've experienced something likewise with Calam now. We've had to cancel our upcoming event as the registration was low. While we knew some people could not come, there was a big questionmark on people who we believe would register, but just didn't.<br />
<br />
It's nice that people tell us that they are coming to our event. It's nice that they say on Facebook that they are going to our event. But we can not take that in account if they do not register on our website and pay the participation fee. Only then are we about 99% sure that those people will really attend.<br />
<br />
Now most of the time we don't really make a fuss about this as in 99% of all cases we get the number of expected people in the end. But this time it looked a bit too close a shave for our taste. Certainly with the amount of work it would take us to bring all our gear to the remote location (more than 2hour drive (one way) for us, x2 to get all the gear there). And then all the hours to set up the gear to give our players a nice game location. => look for a 10+ hours to get everything there and set it up.<br />
<br />
So we've decided to cancel the event. But we gave a bonus to those who registered on time: they get a free event (excluding food and drinks) and custom scenario. All which will take place in my own forest (yeah, first larp there :-) ). That way those who did register on time and already were preparing themselves for the event will get what they wanted and more. A way of saying 'thank you' from us to them, for registering on time.<br />
<br />
So, if you like an event and want the organisers know that you'll attend: register and pay on time!<br />
That way the organisers KNOW that you are really attending.</div>
Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08681958695113781082noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764393277452145576.post-1600190418821365492013-03-25T10:03:00.002+01:002013-03-25T10:04:37.298+01:00Poort was great<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Two weeks ago was the Poort larp. Suffice it to say that I had a great time.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.poortlarp.be/site/">Poort</a> is one of those larps that got me started in the hobby. I still remember my first event, being awed by all the sights and sounds that come with a larp event.<br />
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A couple of events back, Poort had a reset, meaning that all old characters had to retire. This was due to their game system where some characters were overpowerful when compared with new characters. It led to a playerbase with little new characters.<br />
While I'm not sure that the current game system will prevent that imbalance over time, it had the desired effect: a lot of new characters and even a lot of new particpants.<br />
The past event was one where there were a lot of new faces.<br />
<br />
Although it was cold (5°C) I was playing my Wood-Elf hardcore: sleeping in the wood in my hammock. It was fun :-)<br />
<br />
While Poort is still a bit an Old School larp with skillpoints, damage shouting, fireball magic and battleboarding I had a great time. I think it all has to do with what I can expect from an event.<br />
If I know that people will be talking about soccer and computer problems, I'm more inclined to not bother when that happens.<br />
On the other hand if I ever here people talk OOC about soccer or computer problems at a Dumnonni Chronicles event I would really be annoyed!<br />
So Poort was great. If their participation fees will not be raised I'll be there in September, else I'll use the non-spent money for buying more larp stuff :-)</div>
Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08681958695113781082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764393277452145576.post-42656024506200937082013-03-06T15:08:00.000+01:002013-03-06T15:19:50.379+01:00Larp magazine<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
People who know me, know that I'm the one who always has grand ideas.<br />
I want to own my own larp terrain, I want to organise a pirate larp with real sailing ships and an island, I want to organise a larp in Scotland while travelling the highlands, I want a larp with horses, etc.<br />
One of this grand ideas was to start a new larp magazine: <a href="http://issuu.com/rumey/docs/cloakndagger?mode=window&viewMode=doublePage">Cloak&Dagger</a><br />
I even went as far as to create a small proof of concept.<br />
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But alas I was never able to get that first magazine out. My main problem was that I had a lot of things on my mind, mainly renovation of my house. While my life hasn't gotten any less busy, I'm thinking of trying to publish at least one magazine this year.<br />
What do you people think. Should I start again, what topics should it mention? Would you be willing to help out (I would make it using <a href="http://www.scribus.net/canvas/Scribus">Scribus</a>)?</div>
Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08681958695113781082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764393277452145576.post-55997675947768096022013-03-06T14:57:00.000+01:002013-03-07T08:50:43.445+01:00Prices for larps<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Two weeks ago I wrote about larp budgetting and prices for larps and I came to the conclusion that larps can be inexpensive and still deliver quality, as long as people keep to a budget.<br />
It seems that this topic is still hot here in Belgium.<br />
<br />
Last week <a href="http://www.oneiros.be/">Oneiros vzw</a> made it public that they've decided to raise their participation fees for player characters (PC) from €105 to €120 while dropping the fees for non-player characters (NPC) from €55 to €50.<br />
Some months ago this intent was posted on their <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Oneiros-vzw/114734671904263?ref=ts&fref=ts">Facebook page</a> and got a lot of comments. There were a lot of people thinking it was time prices were raised, while others, like me, were against it.<br />
But the ball has been dropped and now the prices for all their events have been raised for the PCs.<br />
<br />
For me it is simple, I believe €120 to be too much money for an Oneiros larp. Yes foods and drinks are included, but as I've stated in my previous post, you can have a larp where players pay €80 (including foods and drinks).<br />
I've run the Manticore larp with Oneiros vzw for all it's events and we could easily have lowered the price to €90 and still make a healthy profit for the organisation.<br />
I believe that if people really want they can lower their prices and still deliver the same quality.<br />
<br />
On the other hand I understand why Oneiros raised their PC fees. They have a lot of material and they need to rent a big place to stock it all. Such a place costs a lot of money and they've noticed that each of their events has less and less participants, meaning less and less income for the organisation. Also their Manticore and Caege project have stopped so that's less income from those events.<br />
I just wonder if the price increase will not scare off people. I mean, I'm already one person who will no longer participate at Oneiros' <a href="http://www.poortlarp.be/site/">Poort</a> events, just because of the price increase.<br />
<br />
As far as I know all larp organisations in Belgium have as goal to promote larping. I don't think that can be achieved by having a high price tag. UNLESS you get a lot in return for the money.<br />
I would pay more for a larp if I know that the experience will be really good. I mean, I spent up to €110 euro extra to go larping in the UK. Making my total pay (excluding food and drinks) for the Empire larp to 173 euro. Of course the price get's lower once someone accompanies me to the UK. But that's still a lot of money to go play in the UK.<br />
But for me it's worth it because the game delivers what I want in a larp: IMMERSION, VISUAL REALISM, GREAT ROLEPLAY.<br />
As far as I understand I won't be getting extra value for the €15 price increase I'll have to pay in the future. So for me it's no longer worth it.<br />
Also as a larp organiser (Calam and Manticore) I know how much a larp costs and I know that you don't need to ask €120 to go by.<br />
<br />
It is my believe that this price increase will actually harm Oneiros as they will loose more PCs than they will gain NPCs making the net result a loss.<br />
I hope for them that I'm wrong and that they'll keep their public, but I don't have high hopes for it. I've analysed their participation lists from the last years and I see everywhere one constant => less and less participants for most events. So increasing the price is not what brings more people in. Especially since there is so much larp choice here in Belgium. With more than 20 larps a year to choose from.<br />
But still, I'm sure that for some people €120 is not that much for a larp and I can understand them. But for me it's too much for an Oneiros larp. And as said, the Heroquest larp in the UK has higher prices than that and still keeps on going.<br />
<br />
So in the end I think that a participation fee can be anything as long as you have enough people willing to pay the price. I hope for Oneiros that the future will prove me wrong.<br />
<br />
ETA: also look at the medium age of the PCs, they're all getting older. High participation fees make it more difficult for students to participate as a PC, meaning that these people will go to a larp that has lower fees. </div>
Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08681958695113781082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764393277452145576.post-69397669157287272372013-02-27T08:38:00.000+01:002013-02-27T08:45:45.153+01:00Immersion in Larp<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I've been talking a lot on how my larp experience have changed after attending the <a href="http://dragonbane.org/en/">Dragonbane</a> larp.<br />
A year later I also went to Knudepunkt in Denmark, where I was even more influenced by how we can improve Larps over here.<br />
Since those days I've been sold on the immersion thema and done my best to introduce it in my games.<br />
With the new <a href="http://www.profounddecisions.co.uk/empire-wiki/Main_Page">Empire</a> larp in the UK upcoming the team, under leadership of Matthew Pennington started to look into how they can improve their game. The below video is one where Matthew talks about immersion.<br />
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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/237_vhQ09rU?vq=hd1080" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
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It's a great watch/listen for anyone new to the term immersion in the larp world.</div>
Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08681958695113781082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764393277452145576.post-16782867788785423742013-02-25T13:49:00.001+01:002013-02-25T14:19:02.226+01:00Farewell to Alcharion<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I still remember the day when I entered the local game store and saw some friends huddled together. Seems they were having a meeting to start a new larp, Alcharion.<br />
Since that day a lot of things have changed to their original concept (as far as I knew), but they nevertheless caused a lot of good times for people in the larp community. <br />
<br />
So it was with some sadness that the last event of Alcharion was held last weekend.<br />
<br />
I hadn't participated in about 5 years, as I had grown out of how Alcharion was run. Although for years I had a great time at Alcharion, I was ever anxious for their next event. But at one time I went to Dragonbane, which forever changed my look on larping.<br />
<br />
So when the last event was announced and friends asked me to come over, I knew I had to adapt my expectations. And well, I wasn't disappointed. I still got the look and feel of the Alcharion that I knew from years ago.<br />
<br />
You see, I've always considered Alcharion the larp where the larp-newbies start out. It had low costume standard, a lot of fights where you always tried to increase the damage you could do, you might find more OOC talk than in other larps, etc.<br />
And there's nothing wrong with that. As there are a lot of people who actually like that kind of game.<br />
Not everyone is a larp purist :-)<br />
<br />
With these things in the back of my mind I attended the event and, as said, I wasn't disappointed.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3039/3055681905_8fe056a92e.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3039/3055681905_8fe056a92e.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me at Alcharion years ago</td></tr>
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But upon closer looks I did notice some differences. Costumes of all participants were of a higher standard than what I remembered. I saw people who looked their part, from head to toe. On the other hand there were still people (mostly OOC people) wandering around in modern clothes, because they were not yet playing an NPC or such. But I didn't mind this, as it was one of the things I had expected.<br />
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Now I won't say that this last Alcharion was the best ever, but it was a good one. And frankly, they did a tremendous job bringing the story to a satisfying end. Especially all the characters from old times who made an appearance was really appreciated.<br />
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At the end we, the heroes, got nice a IC thank you speech, along with cava bubbles, snacks etc. All heroes were rewarded for their part in saving the land and such.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3150/3055593339_dc5b7a8a41.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3150/3055593339_dc5b7a8a41.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me at the same event as other photo, but in 'disguise' ;-)</td></tr>
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So with this I want to thank all those that had a role in making Alcharion the larp it was. For some it was a nice game along the road, while for many others it was the start of new hobby.<br />
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I hope that there will always be larp with a low entry level, so that new players to the hobby have a nice starting point. 'Cause frankly, we all started larping with costumes that were pieced together of what we had.<br />
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Here is the link to a lot of pictures of past Alcharion events on Flickr: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=alcharion">http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=alcharion</a> </div>
Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08681958695113781082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764393277452145576.post-49485703726494764392013-02-22T10:09:00.000+01:002013-02-22T10:09:22.223+01:00Bugetting a Larp<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Everyone wants to make their larp successful and popular. One of the factors that accomplish this is good budgetting.<br />
If the financials of the event are well handled you can lower your registration fee and thus giving your participants more bang for their bucks.<br />
<br />
I've always went for strict budgets when I've organised a larp. Always asking: do we really need to spend money on X or Y?<br />
My main rule of thumb has always been: "do we already have something in our stock that we can re-use for the same effect instead of buying/making something new?"<br />
That of course led to the fact that on the Manticore larp we never had a new monster for each event. This while others were able to offer that to their participants.<br />
On the other hand, you don't have to have a new monster each single event. Although I do understand how this anticipation of new monsters can make people keep participating.<br />
<br />
The same goes with food, you can spend a lot of money on catered food, but having a volunteer kitchen crew can also bring the costs down and still give people quality food.<br />
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A location is always something difficult. I've organised larps on locations that were super-expensive and on locations that were almost free. One of the reason why it's good to stick with your participation fee is that when you choose a cheap location, you save more money. That money can then be invested when next time you go for a more expensive location, without having to raise the participation fee.<br />
<br />
So why am I talking about this? Well, some people have been saying that they don't want to attend some <a href="http://www.calam.eu/">Calam</a> larp events because they thought it too expensive.<br />
This gave me a mixed feeling as I've always thought Calam was a larp that gave the most bang for its buck: €80 euro (player), including food and drinks. But then I've discovered another larp, <a href="http://www.stichtingatherin.nl/">Nara, </a>which offers almost the same for €55. That's a big difference!<br />
<br />
So when you compare those prices Calam is indeed more expensive. Until we take a closer look.<br />
Nara's participation fee is without drinks. So if we take €15 for drinks that brings the price at €70, still €10 lower than Calam.<br />
So it's understandable that €10 is a big difference. Although when compared with some other larps at €105 the difference is minimal.<br />
But I've seen that at Nara the price is €45 for NPCs (excluding drinks), while Calam asks €40 (including drinks).<br />
So maybe we are not that different. Players pay a premium at Calam, but our NPCs pay less. This is mainly so because NPCs have to play a role written by the organisation, while players can play however and whatever they want (within the game world).<br />
The reason why Calam has a lower participation fee for NPCs is that NPCs have always been a problem the last years in larps. Events have had it more and more difficult to find sufficient NPCs to fill their game world. Today the price at Calam for an NPC is almost 100% the cost of food and drinks that we provide them with.<br />
Of course one can argue that an NPC is also having a lot of fun during a larp, which I personally hope they have. And that they therefor should also pay more. But sometimes a NPC has to play numerous roles during a weekend, he or she has to die numerous deaths, etc. This all to make the PC feel like the hero.<br />
<br />
So in short larps can be organised cheaply (see Calam and Nara) while still providing quality for the participants. At least I hope people enjoy the quality we provide at Calam :-)<br />
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On the other hand organisations need their events to make some profit in order to pay for stock-rental, new props/costumes, maintenance of existing props/costumes etc.<br />
<br />
In Belgium our hobby is facing a decline in attendance for each event. This is mainly due to the abundance of larps we can choose from. Where in the past there were maximum 6 events/year in whole Flanders there are now easily more than 20 events/year (check <a href="http://larpkalender.be/">Larpkalender</a> for their, not yet complete, overview of 2013).<br />
Participants have become more picky, rightfully so, because they have more choice. So we all need to do our part in keeping our participants happy.<br />
Some do it with low prices, some with very high quality, some giving exclusivity(1), etc.<br />
But here in Belgium there is a thin line. One bad event can be enough to loose a lot of participants.<br />
<br />
Anyway, no matter what type of larp you offer, budgetting is something important for any larp to survive. Bad budgetting can lead to negative financial results and/or people feeling cheated in paying too much for the delivered quality. The main question to ask yourself while budgetting your event is: "Do we need this, will this make the event better?"<br />
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Happy larping.<br />
<br />
(1) <a href="http://www.heroquest-larp.co.uk/">Heroquest</a> larp in UK charges up to £500 (5 day event), but has only 10 PCs and a lot of (non-paying) NPCs, making their PCs really the feel of a band of heroes on a real adventure.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08681958695113781082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764393277452145576.post-37231071700383464632013-01-31T14:20:00.000+01:002013-01-31T14:20:36.174+01:00A lot of tidbits<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
2012 was, for most of it's part, a great year for me in larping.<br />
<br />
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.<br />
Next I attended Conquest of Mythodea in Germany and lastly 4 larp events in Belgium (2 of Poort and 2 of Saga)<br />
<br />
Man, seems I did 11 larps last year :-)<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Saying goodbye to some events</h3>
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 <b>Saga</b>, an Arabian Nights style larp that was really one of the best in Belgium.<br />
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!<br />
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.<br />
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.<br />
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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.<br />
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
New events in 2013</h3>
<div style="text-align: left;">
While I'm saying goodbye to some events I'm also going to a new one. I'm talking about <a href="http://www.profounddecisions.co.uk/empire-wiki/Main_Page">EMPIRE</a>.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
This new larp is a product of Profound Decisions, the company behind the Maelstrom larp I attended a couple of times.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
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.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I've planned to go to their last 2 events of the year (July and September).</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
For the rest I'll keep going to Poort and Dumnonni Chronicles. And I'll keep organising Calam.</div>
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<br /></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<b>Larp kit plans</b></h3>
<div style="text-align: left;">
With Empire coming up this year, I'll be needing to make some new costumes.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
This year I'm planning to make:</div>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>new leather armour for my Wood-Elf at the Poort larp</li>
<li>brigantine + new costume for my Empire - Marshes character</li>
<li>new tunic for my bard at Dumnonni Chronicles</li>
<li>chests and chairs for DC and Empire</li>
</ul>
<div style="text-align: left;">
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.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
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.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Keep larping</div>
</div>
Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08681958695113781082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764393277452145576.post-4060478881990960142012-06-11T09:36:00.002+02:002012-06-11T09:36:35.862+02:00Calam V went the extra mile for larping<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
While I've been rather silent on this blog (what else is new? :-P ) I've been rather busy with larping.<br />
I went to the UK for some excellent larping at the Dumnonni Chronicles larp (best larp after Dragonbane), having your own IC village really helps getting the mood right :-).<br />
<br />
I also prepared for the first <a href="http://www.calam.eu/">Calam </a>event of the year, which took place a week ago. Well, Calam V was awesomely great! :-) Everybody who was present had a great time, telling me that they bring more people next time.<br />
<br />
One of the things I was extremely happy about was how the inn-personnel handled the inn. While at Calam IV we had a great inn, that looked good (including the curtains we put up), where food was served in a real fashion, we now went the extra mile.<br />
At <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/112070923090000249967/CalamIV">Calam IV</a> people could only choose one item on the menu and food was served at fixed times.<br />
This time however food was served all day round AND you had a choice of 4 dishes. YES, we had a real-feel inn at Calam V! :-)<br />
When at Belgium larps food is provided by the organisation it's in all cases typical camp-style => no choice in food, food served at fixed times, people line-up to get their plate filled, people have to clean their own plate and store it themselves. As we can all agree this is not really in-character, it breaks the game.<br />
That's why I'm so happy with my kitchen crew (aka the inn-personnel) that they made it this awesome and really in-character => a real menu, no line-up, you don't need to have your own plate, eating at ANY time of the day, no cleaning of plates, ...<br />
<br />
Of course Calam is still a small larp (25-ish players), but still, we are (as far as I know) the first larp (in Belgium) that offers this kind of realism. The only things we still miss to make our larp 100% in-character would be that all participants have IC shoes and our game area has 100% IC buildings. But well, small steps at a time will (hopefully) get us there, no?</div>Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08681958695113781082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764393277452145576.post-13122624956341064812011-09-27T12:09:00.000+02:002011-09-27T12:09:06.012+02:00Calam was great :-)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Two weeks ago the next installment of Calam ran. While we had some drawbacks with people having to skip this event (due to an abundance of larps going on in September), the event itself was great.<br />
People liked our approach for this event and the fact that the inn had a real feel was wel appreciated.<br />
The real feel was one of the main items that I wanted to test this event. We had decorated the inn to make it look good and real, and then we provided service to make it feel good.<br />
<br />
Ordering food was done by asking the barkeeper of the waitress for food. They would go into the kitchen, fill a bowl on serve it at the table. No more queing and doing dishes as all other Belgian larps (that I know) ask of the participant. No, we went for the real deal :-)<br />
<br />
There were of course some things that could go better, we had this time somewhat more fights than during past events, but everybody agreed that they fit the world. But we'll see how we can dimish them and keep the Calam athmosphere that people are liking.<br />
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In the meantime all of the crew is in favor for running 2 events per year, so keep out an eye for 2 events starting 2012.<br />
I'll see that I'll post some pictures this weekend.</div>Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08681958695113781082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764393277452145576.post-3038816015918879702011-08-01T10:43:00.001+02:002011-08-01T10:44:51.167+02:00Ragnarok larp<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Last year I was rambling on the <a href="http://www.larp.be/">Avatar</a> larp forum, about the fact that they could take some hints from the Conquest of Mythodea larp in Germany. This resulted in a PM from Thierry who was already working (behind the scenes) on a new mass larp for Belgium: <a href="http://www.ragnaroklarp.be/">Ragnarok</a>. Having read my posts he wanted me to join the crew.<br />
So I went ahead, helped out where I could and ended up as a referee during the game.<br />
<br />
So how was Ragnarok? Well, as a referee I had not much to do, 2 battles to supervise, some easy questions to answer, so all in all I had an easy time. But what about the game itself?<br />
<br />
Well the looks were great! They made some wooden buildings for the 'official' places of the in-game Harapan city where the larp took place. They even had a beer brewery :-)<br />
All the players and npc's looked great. It reminded me very much of the Maelstrom larp in the UK.<br />
<br />
Ragnarok goes for the What You See is What You Get approach. Which means that people wanting to craft items, will have to do it (or at least make it look like their doing it). This resulted e.g. in players wanting to learn the brewing skill, to actually having to brew a beer for real :-). Pretty awesome, no?<br />
<br />
Everywhere you went or looked it all had a real feel to it.<br />
<br />
From what I saw, all players enjoyed themselves at the event, so that part they got going good. I especially loved the resources hunt each morning. That was really a splendid idea :-).<br />
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But there are some places that they'll need to improve.<br />
Since they want to give all the players so much possibilities to create different kinds of stuff, the organisers are giving themselves a lot of work to do during the event. Each crafted items needs a laminated card and that means you'll need people to make those cards, hand them over and such. In my Manticore larp (max 80 players) we do the same and it's a hassle. If you do it for 500+ players (as were present at Ragnarok) this means you have a lot of adminstration to do. And it seems that this is something that could be done better. I heard a number of times that people had to wait in order to create stuff as the papers were not readily available.<br />
Maybe they should use the Maelstrom approach: make stuff between events => all the laminated cards can be made in the months between events and put in the player envelope to hand out at the check-in.<br />
<br />
What I never really liked is the 'paper-work' in order to fight between two armies. I hated it at Avatar and I sure don't like it a Ragnarok :-)<br />
I understand it's done to give referees (like me) the ability to be at the fight and supervise if needed. But if a larp of 6000+ players like Conquest of Mythodea can do without this paper-work and have major battles, Ragnarok should also be able to do without.<br />
Each faction has their own referee, so if faction A attacks faction B you'll already have 2 ref's present. If needed they can call in some backup if the fight is really big.<br />
This would lead to more instant fights making it more fun, and also more tactical. Faction A can then attack the camp of Faction B if those people are going in a big group to the 'city' or such, leaving their camp almost empty...<br />
<br />
They could alsodecrease the distance between the camps/city. It took at least 5 minutes to get from the city to the nearest faction camp. That is in my opinion too far. You want the camps closer to the city, so that people will visit the camps and cities more quickly instead of 'planning' the trip.<br />
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Final remark is one that I'm sure is not needed to say, but still: more toilets :-) I hate chemical toilets and I hate it even more when there are not enough so that they are full by Saturday afternoon. But like I said, I'm pretty sure the organisators know this one :-)<br />
<br />
Here are some things that would improve the game even more:<br />
- give free entrance for people who can play live music, give fireshows etc. They will have to perform X hours per day and in exchange they get drink/eat tickets and free entrance. That's how they do it at Conquest of Mythodea and it results in a great atmosphere.<br />
- lower the price of the NPC's to e.g. 20 euro => the NPC faction will become huge and can bring lots of fights to the players :-) This also means that you lower the hurdle for people wanting to test out the larp without breaking their piggy bank :-)<br />
<br />
So all things considered Ragnarok larp is a larp with a huge potential. If they can fix the minor beginer's errors they will have a larp that will attract a lot of people.<br />
Everybody who stopped going to Avatar because it was no longer fun, to much munchkins or such should give Ragnarok a chance, you won't be disappointed.</div>Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08681958695113781082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764393277452145576.post-69156289301748013182011-04-11T14:42:00.005+02:002011-04-11T14:48:13.843+02:00The people behind the larp<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">There is never a larp without the (mostly few) crazy people willing to spend A LOT of their SPARE TIME to organise an event. They spend days, weeks, even months thinking of a good scenario, creating props, writing character roles, decorate the site, manage the event and afterwards cleanup the site.<br />
<br />
When an event is good these people are happy and know that all their hard work meant something. But beware if the event is not as good as they hoped or even if it was right out bad. Then these people ask why they put in all the effort if the feedback afterwards is: "the event sucked", "I won't be back", ...<br />
<br />
I've been running events for more than 10 years and I've had those moments. When I said 'this is it, I'm stopping', but each time I came around and continued on.<br />
<br />
I remember Manticore 12, for me one of the worst as a projectleader, I told myself on the last day of the event that I would quit because I was breaking down (body and soul). But during the cleanup of the site people came up and told me that they loved the event. Suddenly all my reasons to stop were gone, as all the work did mean something!<br />
Manticore 14, it's Sunday 22.30, everybody has already left. I'm cleaning up the mud in the corridors of the building we rented. After 15mins it's still not very clean. I remember thinking "This time it's for real! I will stop and spend the time thus saved on other stuff". Well, that never happened, along came Manticore 15 with me still in charge.<br />
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Now why am I all saying this? Well, last weekend we had Manticore 19, the pen-ultimate event before our grand finale of the current storyline. And while I'm not giving up (I plan to at least start the new storyline) I had mixed feelings of this one. My main storywriter is stepping down and I'm not blaming him.<br />
The event received mixed reactions (people are saying that it was great, but those same people also say that is was "so so"), but in the end it was not the event that failed, it was I who failed as the project lead.<br />
<br />
I saw from miles away that things in the team were not 100%, but I decided not to intervene, as these problems have always been present and they always solved themselves without my intervention.<br />
But this time it was different and I didn't intervene at the right moment. My main concern with intervening is that the team consists out of volunteers who are also my friends. I find it personally difficult to criticise them if they do something wrong. I don't want to loose them as a teammember and certainly not as a friend. But my hesitation to intervene has cost me one team-member that I did not want to loose before the grand finale. Oh, he'll still be around and has promised to help out and such, but he won't take the lead in the storywriting anymore.<br />
In order to keep the rest of the team going, to deliver at least an awesome finale, I'll have a talk with them in order to smooth things out and to lay down some rules. This to make sure that noone oversteps their function within the team.<br />
<br />
Larping is fun, organising a larp can also fun, but like Mark Horstman (of Manager Tools) always says: from the moment you put two people in the same county you have a conflict. I just need that conflict to lead to great results :-)</div>Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08681958695113781082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764393277452145576.post-15592449665514734292011-03-11T14:37:00.000+01:002011-03-11T14:37:29.389+01:00Forest<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Well as always it's been awefully quiet here :P<br />
But there's been a lot going on. People knowing me, know that one of my dreams has always been to have a piece of land with buildings specifically made for larp. Well, that dream might become true.<br />
I'm in the process of buying a nice big piece of forest just over the Belgium-Netherlands border. It's part of a bigger forest so lot's of opportunities for great larps.<br />
Of course it's not as easy as a piece of cake, but I'm confident that all will work out fine.<br />
Once all has been concluded and I'm ready to build I'll put some more info here.<br />
In the meantime keep larping ;)</div>Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08681958695113781082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764393277452145576.post-16342604186403011632010-10-01T12:11:00.001+02:002010-10-01T12:13:35.236+02:00It's been quiet hereIt's been just too quiet here on this blog. Well I've been busy with life. But a lot has happened on the Larp scene.<br />
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There's been Avatar (where I only help in the build up a bit), I went to Conquest of Mythodea (which was awesome) and last weekend there was my Calam larp.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.be/jeremy.naus/ConquestOfMythodea2010"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_6XS3UcHjRbo/TG0slB9unAI/AAAAAAAACBo/ENRQi_vz7XU/s400/Conquest_2010_090.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Above a picture of Conquest of Mythodea (click on it to be redirected to the gallery of pictures I took)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.be/jeremy.naus/Outlore2010"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_6XS3UcHjRbo/TE3dC47nfNI/AAAAAAAABa0/S-qbXBlNAWM/s400/Outlore_31.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Above is also a link to photos I took at Outlore last May (yes, that's me with a hawk :-)).<br />
<br />
I'll see that I'll post some reviews of each event, but in the mean time I hope you'll enjoy the pictures :-)Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08681958695113781082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764393277452145576.post-36665795890920452642010-06-23T10:23:00.000+02:002010-06-23T10:23:58.115+02:00Calam III, subscriptions have openedIt's been a while that I talked about Calam and so I thought it good to inform all of you that we've opened the subscriptions. Go to <a href="http://www.calam.eu/">www.calam.eu</a> to subscribe for the next installment.<br />
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Once again the team is very enthousiastic about this event. The plot will thicken (duh) and we will make some nice new props that should dazzle the players :-).<br />
Next we will also add extra background information for all faction as we've received the help from some players to help us out on that. This will all result into a Calam that will feel more alive.<br />
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If you're not yet certain about Calam you should also check out our forum and ask for info from our participants of Calam II. You won't be disappointed.<br />
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More posts will follow later :-)Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08681958695113781082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764393277452145576.post-73824377135074923912010-05-29T13:35:00.000+02:002010-05-29T13:35:35.140+02:00Updates soon (I hope :-) )It's been very quiet on this blog. So I thought to give a quick update on things to expect:<br />
<ul><li>review of Fantasy Design larp shop in Italy (awesome quality for honest price)</li>
<li>review of Outlore 2010</li>
<li>review of Manticore 18</li>
<li>and the usual stuff I talk about</li>
</ul>First review will hopefully be posted somewhere in the coming weekJeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08681958695113781082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764393277452145576.post-79028640040618602322010-01-11T09:00:00.001+01:002010-01-11T09:15:57.012+01:00Evolving from enthousiast to proMost of us larp organisers started our hobby as enthousiast. We wanted others to experience the wonderfull world we created. But we all quickly learned it's not all fun.<br />
<br />
In order to organise an event we often have a legal organisation backing the event, we need an insurance, bank account, accounting, IT and much more. Soon the hobby takes on the aspect of a small company (packaged inside a non-profit organisation).<br />
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With this organisation comes meetings and that's what I want to talk about today.<br />
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In the professional world I'm a freelance IT consultant working for a big international company. We have our share of meetings. And like those meetings in the larp world they mostly start late, have no agenda, have discussions in between, end late and lastly no summary of the meeting is sent around.<br />
<br />
But since a year now I've introduced the <a href="http://www.manager-tools.com/2005/08/effective-meetings-get-out-of-jail">Manager Tools effective meeting guidelines</a> in my professional meetings. And the result is remarkable. My meetings start on time, have an agenda, stick to the agenda and the time for each agenda bullet, the meetings end on time (sometimes the meetings end earlier) and in the end I sent a summary of what was discussed and agreed.<br />
<br />
So having made my meetings in my day job more effective I'm now trying to do the same for my larp meetings. A month ago I tried it out at a board meeting of Arrowhead Events vzw and it works :-)<br />
We started 5 mins later than expected, but in the end we ended the meeting 5 mins later than expected. This means that we actually stuck to the meeting schedule and we didn't loose hours on needless talk.<br />
<br />
Yesterday I was attending a meeting of the Belgian Larp Fedartion, BE Larp vzw. And it was what I expected it to be: starting rather late (30mins later then announced), no clear agenda (just a document was sent about what we would discuss), people talking amongst themselves, talking about one topic for more than an hour, etc.<br />
Now, don't misunderstand me, what was discussed was important and people made some good points. But I had set aside 3 hours for that meeting and in the end those 3 hours were not enough. When I left after 3 hours only one third of the document was discussed. Meaning I missed 2/3 of the discussion.<br />
<br />
I really think that if we would introduce the same standards we use in our professional life into our larp organisations it will really be a great help. I truly believe that the meeting of yesterday could've been done in 3 hours max.<br />
It would already be a great boost if all attendees would start behaving professionally in those meeting. Now a lot of people were talking amongst themselves when someone was trying to make a point, showing a lot of disrepect to the speaker. Having the meeting start on time shows also a lot of respect to those people who actually made the effort to be there on time (btw: I was late, so shame on me).<br />
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If meetings always start late and run late you have the following result:<br />
<ul><li>people arrive late, because they know the meeting will start late</li>
<li>people will just not come because their fed-up with how long the meetings take</li>
<li>meetings will each time start later and later and last longer and longer</li>
</ul>I've received the proof that using the Manager Tools guidelines for effective meetings work. They work in the professional world and they work in the larp world. It all take some practice. And a little bit of courage to start those first 'effective' meetings on time, even when one 1/3 of the attendee are already present.<br />
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I'd say, check out the podcast and start using their rules into your larp meetings, you'll notice the difference.Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08681958695113781082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764393277452145576.post-66910770032281052772010-01-08T15:39:00.003+01:002010-01-08T15:57:19.972+01:00Player organised IC get togetherI was browsing the <a href="http://www.dumnonni.com/forum/">Dumnonni Chronicles forum</a> when I saw a discussion about an IC Social get together.<br /><br />Seems some people think that if players come IC together it might ruin the actual game itself.<br /><br />Well I disagree. Nothing is more fun than players coming together IC to socialise IC. They may even make big plans, forge alliances, try to kill one another (without really killing someone as that should be reserved for during the actual game), ...<br /><br />For Manticore we've always allowed that (we even encourage it) and most players even invite us (the crew) to attend. When we have time we gladly accept the invitation and create an NPC character for ourselves.<br />For players it's always nice when crew attends since we can then give them some extra background information, mostly concerning their own group. We do try to make everybody equal be making that info either group specific or publishing the given info in the IC newspaper.<br /><br />One of the fears that some crew have is that people would undertake actions that might break the game. But I don't understand this fear. Players can always secretely come together (IC or OOC). At least when the crew knows about the get togethers they can invite themselves :-) and check that everything goes well.<br /><br />Most notoriously of all player IC get togethers I participated in must be the annual Rafiki's Birthday party each August. In 2008 there was even a murder attempt on Rafiki, without actually killing him. Result: the players who attended it were even more anxious for the next Manticore event.<br /><br />I believe that the crew should be thankfull that players want to organise IC get togethers. It proves that you have players who really enjoy your fictional world and want to spend time in that world. What better praise can there be? :-)<br />It also means your players want to prepare themselves for the next game, meaning better IC-ness on their part.<br /><br />This makes me remember Dragonbane, the day before the game started we were already IC-ish, which helped us get to know each other better in RL (we only knew most of the other players from the internet). Get to know the IC names of everybody etc. All in all the end result is in most cases better IC moments and immersion.<br /><br />The only caveat of IC get togethers and crew attending is that the crew might give those attending the get together some advantage. Here I mean that the crew can give some background info that is specific to some plot of the (next) event. Crew should take caution to make sure that (a) the info they give is solely intended for the given playergroup or (b) that the info will be distributed via an IC newspaper or such.<br />As it would else be unfair to those players who are unable to attend/organise IC get togethers.<br /><br />Let me know if I missed something major :-)Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08681958695113781082noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764393277452145576.post-71572649743813991892010-01-04T09:03:00.002+01:002010-01-04T09:28:06.549+01:002009 is goneWell 2009 is forever gone and will only be kept alive in our memories.<br />For me 2009 had some ups and downs on the larp scene.<br />Main downturn was of course the fact that I resigned as a volunteer of Oneiros. I didn't like having to take that decission, but in the end I believe it was needed.<br />The biggest upturn was for me Calam II. After the mixed result of Calam I some people told me that Calam was lost beyond recovery. Since I'm hard-headed I went along and organised Calam II (with a whole new crew). Although there were not a much participants as at Calam I it still was a big success. Now I just have to confirm this success with Calam III.<br />Between my big up and down were other things of course; 2 mini Manticores, Avatar, Saga and of course the excellent Outlore.<br />For me Outlore gives me the closest opportunity to experience how Calam might feel to our participants. Both Outlore and Calam have self-cooking, high costume standards, quick and easy game system, etc. The story is of course different and the game areas are somewhat different, but in spirit they feel the same. Only pity is that I need to go all the way to the South-West of the UK for Outlore.<br />All in all 2009 was a good year for me on the larp scene.<br />For 2010 I have the following on my plate: Manticore (ending the current cycle), Calam III (needs to at least be as good as Calam II), trip to Sweden to check out Cinderhill for a possible Dragonbane II, Conquest of Mythodea, Saga and Dawn.<br />You'll notice that Avatar is missing from the list, well I'm not sure if I'll attend it this year. While I do understand why people like it, it's just not my thing.<br /><br />Anyway, best wishes to all of you for 2010 and hope you'll make it a blast.Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08681958695113781082noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764393277452145576.post-36446352768143033402009-12-08T09:51:00.003+01:002009-12-08T09:59:20.843+01:00ManticoreLast weekend was the last larp of the year for me: Manticore X.VI.II - Stilte voor de storm II.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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 :-)Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08681958695113781082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764393277452145576.post-92102803017143574262009-10-21T09:40:00.002+02:002009-10-21T09:44:05.871+02:00Caege was a successWhile I wasn't attending this event I've heard that it was considered a success by all who attended.<br />Although there were some minor moments: e.g. the dreaded Saturday afternoon dip that all Belgian Larps know.<br />But it seems that the overall event was well liked by those who attended.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />Anyway, congrats to the Caege team.Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08681958695113781082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764393277452145576.post-33505964983868684092009-10-07T10:37:00.004+02:002009-10-07T11:51:02.956+02:00Calam was a great success!Well it's a long time since I last blogged so let's give you guys and girls some updates :-)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Calam was a success</span><br />This time I'll not use my own words, I'll let the participants speak:<br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic;">"To say it with the words of Saturday evenging: fracking awesome<br />Oh ja, the demons are sissies, if I could do all that I'd dare it too <img src="http://www.wolfguard.be/forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="Very Happy" border="0" /> "<br /><br />"Calam was an enjoyable experience<br />from the point of view of an NPC it was a wonderfull interaction between players and npcs<br />it always made me more anxious to stay more IC when seeing the other participants<br />I really loved the quote "that's no metal sir, it's vulcanic glass, that's something completely different"<br />I'd say, all join for good rpg and athmosphere"<br /><br />"I can only agree, Calam is so much more than other Larp's.<br />With the limited amount of participants it looked like a peronal LARP <img src="http://www.wolfguard.be/forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="Very Happy" border="0" /><br />I'd say, join us if you like some decent roleplaying"<br /><br />"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<br />so congratulations to the crew, to the npcs and to anyone who cooked this weekend"<br /><br />"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."<br /><br />"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."<br /><br />"You can be sure we'll be back.<br />Thx to the crew, it was really great.<br />Special thx to Steven and his Defender (you saved us a LOT of trips)."</blockquote>As 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.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">No more Caege for me</span><br />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.<br />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.<br />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.<br />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.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">How much money is a larp worth?</span><br />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?<br />Well I'll try to set up a list of things that I take into account when I choose a larp:<br /><ul><li>game world</li><li>rules system<br /></li><li>food/drinks included</li><li>rpg standards</li><li>visual realism</li><li>amount of scenario</li><li>amount of fighting</li><li>distance from my home</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Game world</span><br />That's an easy one: if the game world intrigues me I'm already with half a foot in.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Rules system</span><br />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).<br />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.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Food/drinks included</span><br />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 :-).<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Costume&rpg standards + visual realism</span><br />I'm grouping these threee as for me they are the main deciding factor to participate in a larp.<br />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.<br />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.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Amount of scenario/fighting</span><br />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)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Distance from my home</span><br />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.<br />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 :-)<br />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.<br /><br />Till next timeJeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08681958695113781082noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764393277452145576.post-48328571690772311272009-08-26T19:03:00.002+02:002009-08-26T19:13:08.063+02:00Dragonbane IIWhile 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.<div><br /></div><div>Since I'm never scared to take up a challenge I'm asking you: "W<i>ould 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?"</i></div><div><br /></div><div>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.</div><div><br /></div><div>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.</div><div><br /></div><div>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).</div><div><br /></div><div>PS: if you're not sure you'll be going to Sweden for a Larp then DON'T commit!</div>Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08681958695113781082noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4764393277452145576.post-67112869190705613452009-08-25T12:11:00.004+02:002009-08-25T14:11:02.049+02:00Non-larp post<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.xtremedungeonmastery.com/"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 160px; height: 600px;" src="http://www.xtremedungeonmastery.com/Graphix/Fankit/XDM_Sky_Wide_A.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">BEWARE: this topic will NOT be about Larp!</span><br />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.<br /><br />It will be a topic about TABLETOP RPG!<br /><br />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'.<br />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!<br /><br />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).<br /><br />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.<br /><br />A year ago I discovered <a href="http://www.trolllord.com/cnc/index.html">Castles & Crusades</a> from the hand of <a href="http://www.trolllord.com/">Troll Lord Games</a>. 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.<br />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.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">In comes XDM</span><br />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.<br />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!<br />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.<br />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.<br />This book is full of ideas for a DM to bring their games to a next level.<br />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.<br />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.<br />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 :-)<br /><br />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.<br />Go to <a href="http://www.xtremedungeonmaster.com/">http://www.xtremedungeonmaster.com</a> and go buy it NOW.Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08681958695113781082noreply@blogger.com0