Festival 2012 Con Report, part II

Saturday night was Folding the River, the newest game from powerhouse writing team wired_lizard* and mllelaurel*. I am at the point where I'll sign up for a game based on who wrote it more than anything else, so I jumped on this. It took place in a world rebuilt after basically a cataclysm on a strange new source of power. I was playing a scientist who had discovered some secret projects going on and I was trying to get to the bottom of them. Though I enjoyed the game a lot, I was expecting to absolutely adore it, so I was ever-so-slightly disappointed, and I feel like I was considerably less awesome a presence than I usually work to be. It is a gorgeously written game with great characters and a lot going on, I was just thrown by the fact that there is so much fictional science that I had to understand. It was hard for me to keep it all in my head, and when a phenomenon happened around me I was never sure if I was interpreting it right. I feel like it kept me from unraveling my plot as far as I would have liked; I'm sorry I made so little progress. That said, I had lots of good interactions, particularly with Greg Lohman, Micah Hollis-Symynkywicz, Mike Hyde, and morethings5*. Definitely would recommended this to people who are interested in complex science fiction games.

Sunday was Paranoia: Research and Dismemberment, our crazy silly dystopian game set in the tabletop universe of the same name. Basically you buy into the concept and you go nuts, which is definitely what happened in this game. There actually is a fair bit of structure and plot for those who want to pursue it, but it's also a great big silly sandbox for those who just want to indulge in Paranoia-style craziness. I think this group tended more toward playing in that sandbox, which is great, as I think most players found that very fun. I played the Vending Machine who is distraught to the point of histrionics over being abandoned by a certain clone who she thought she HAD SOMETHING with. That NPC has gotten more and more over-the-top every time I've played her, and this time we had the hilarious twist ending of when it had seemed that the cruel clone who'd left her also clumsily triggered her destruction in an explosion, a kinder clone put her in the body of the warbot, after which she and the warbot body's former owner ran away together to kill all humans. It was a lovely high note to go out on.

Dead Dog this year was great, a buffet-style affair at Margarita's on Moody Street. My compliments to Shannon for arranging it. She did a wonderful job and I'm so impressed with how she handled everything. This Festival has yet again lived up to my exalting it to the status of one of the most important weekends of my year. Next year lightgamer* will be helming the ship, and I offered to be GM Liaison. I know that now my brain is absolutely buzzing with larp, so I hope to bring something new to delight all my lovely fellows. Thanks to everyone for the wonderful experience!

Call for games for SLAW 2012

The lovely Sarah Judd is getting an early start on planning for SFS Live Action Weekend, a Festival-like weekend of larps at WPI that will happen November 9th through 11th this year. She's put out a call for games to get things going, so if you are interested, send her an e-mail containing this information:

1. Name of game

2. Short Description

3. Min/max gender player breakdown

4. Kind of room/rooms you'd like (Salisbury Labs is reserved for the weekend)

5. If your game can take last-minute casts and add-ins.

She has expressed a preference for newbie-friendly games, as there seem to be a nice group of new larpers at WPI now. I haven't decided what I'm bidding yet, but I am certain that I will bid something. Most of my games have been run into the ground at this point. Though it occurs to me that Paranoia is popular at WPI, and there might be enough people still interested in playing to fill a fourth run. I didn't think to bring it up last night with my co-GMs when we were casting the game, but it's something worth considering.

I may even take this opportunity to break my no-new-larps rule for real. I've been pondering my idea based on Merely Players-- a humorous two-hour larp, maybe fit for a Sunday morning, where just before the actors must go on stage, their leading lady's body is discovered lying dead backstage. Figuring out who did it, and how to deal with it so the show can go on, will reveal the troupe's humorous dysfunction. I think I will go ahead and bid it once I give it a name. Don't want to go with Merely Players, as that's not quite the point in this one. "The Show Must Go On" is an obvious choice, but it's a bit long and unwieldy. "Walking Shadows," maybe? Hmm. Suggestions welcome. Hopefully it will be funny and fun, and not too burdensome to write. *crosses fingers*

Anyway, bid something for SLAW!

Larpocalypse signups begin!

Festival signups opened last night, and the flurry for game registration began! As I predicted, Jesriah filled within the first few minutes, but I was fast on the button and made it in. Glad I made that my first-round pick. Congratulations, morethings5*, lightgamer*, and ninja_report*! You win the brass ring for this Festival. The tiered system I think is really good, as nobody will get shut out of everything they want. There were some minor technical issues that some people observed in that some of the games didn't have a signup button appear even though signups were open-- both The Stand and Paranoia were affected by it. But our intrepid con chair and heroic webmaster were on it, and before long all issues were solved. We even got a few people making those two their first round pick! I am flattered that katiescarlett29* and nennivian* chose The Stand-- can't wait to cast them! --and there's also a young man I don't recognize but who appears to be a Brandeis student. Yay, new larping blood! In Paranoia we have, among others, Prentice and niobien*, Emily Baum, and Nat Lathrop. I am confident that everything will fill within the next few rounds, and I look forward to the final cast roster.

My next pick will be Folding the River, and if I don't make it into that, High Rollers. I want to play both of them very much so I won't be disappointed either way. Jared's going for High Rollers as well. Remember to be at your computer at 7PM this coming Thursday so you can get into the game you want before it fills!

Festival schedule almost ready

Our lovely Festival con chair ninja_report* just sent out the preliminary schedule for Larpocalypse. It looks to be a very good con. Shannon looks to have balanced the schedule nicely, meaning there should be a good variety of games in every time period with an appropriate number of slots. And she and natbudin* have arranged to have tiered signups-- as in, one signup total per person for the first round, two signups total for the second round, and then as many signups as you like for the third round --which Festival has needed for a while now. We've had a problem in the past when people who logged in at 7:03 rather than 7:00 when signups opened and got shut out of their preferred games in every slot. Everybody should get a shot at getting into at least one of their first-choice games.

Oh, and I don't believe I ever mentioned the final verdict on which games I would be running. I did bid The Stand first, as I am quite proud of that game and it's only been run twice before. I'm excited to put it on again. My one concern is that maybe the map needs one more GM, so more traveling and exploring can happen at once. But after some discussion with my co-writers, we elected to run Paranoia as the second one. Despite having debuted it in 2009, if I remember correctly, because of its particular space requirements and the need for the right players (not everyone's into that style of game or the Paranoia setting), we've only run it two times. Bernie in particular has wanted to run it again. We've been waiting for the right time and place, but it did well at Festival in its maiden run so now seems as good a time as any. The edit we made for the second run was really strong, so players should be in for a treat.

Current state of my larpy life

So with Intercon now officially one week away, I take stock my of position in regards to my larp life.

In pretty decent shape for Intercon given the amount of time that remains. All my costumes are assembled; I even printed out my chest symbol for my Super Villain outfit. Yesterday I packed away as many items as I could that I would need to take but wouldn't need to use before then. I have arranged the ride situation for my merry band of intrepid congoers. All that is in fairly good order, or as good as it can be right now.

Yesterday I also took stock of what needed to be bought in order to pack and print Oz and GM Space. Most of the GM Space cards were left over from the last run, so I just printed out the handful of missing ones here and there. Now all cards are printed, though I will leave the packing to Jared as I'm not sure where everything goes. I didn't print any full sheets either; again he can cover that. As for Oz, I am mostly out of the supplies I need. I have a handful of white index cards left, but I'll almost certainly have to buy more. As for playing cards and nametags, I'm certain I've got enough of those left over, and the sheets themselves I printed at work. That leaves only the index cards, and of course folders to pack them in. Today I think a Staples run may be in order, or at least hitting the dollar store.

So Intercon is pretty much set. That means that now I should start looking ahead to Festival. I think, like many people, I've been caught in the "Oh, Festival is forever away, I don't need to think about that yet," but at least point I think we've only got five weeks. Which means I've got to decide what to run. I've got a number of possibilities here, and a number of concerns to think about. I have had requests from people to run both Alice and Oz. I am totally willing to do either, or both. I spoke to Jared, and he is willing to help both either or both. So, in all likelihood, is Bernie. I have concerns about both, though.

First let's deal with Oz. The advantage of Oz is that, as a fifteen-player game, it's pretty easy to fill. But Oz has run A LOT recently-- with Intercon it will have had four runs within the first year of its existence --such that I'm concerned people may be a bit glutted on it. And I've run it so many times over such a short period I think I'm more interested in running something that I hadn't put on as recently. Don't get me wrong, there are people who told me they want it to play at Festival and I certainly love GMing it, but a fifth run at this point doesn't feel like a big personal priority right now.

Now there's Alice. I am finding myself wanting very much to run this again-- for all that it was my first, it's still the game I love best and am most proud of. As with Oz, there have been requests to rerun it, and I haven't put it on since last August in Chicago, so I've been itchy. My worry here is that it is a large game that has had two previous Brandeis runs. Ever since Chicago, I have been terribly gunshy about the game not filling. I'm thinking of cutting two characters that I've never quite managed to be satisfied with, at least until I figure out how to fix them. That brings the total down from twenty-seven to twenty-five-- not much different, but some.

Still. It might not be too hard. Fortunately for me my games, particularly Alice, have been blessed with excellent word of mouth. I remember when I went to WPI for SLAW in November, I was recognized by name alone as the author of Alice. :-) I know WPI has a ton who haven't played, and I know I can think of a number of people off the top of my head that I'd like to bully into playing (natbudin* , pezzonovante* , londo*, ultimatepsi*,juldea*, mllelaurel*...) Hell, I think captainecchi* has forgotten enough by this point to actually play. And I have a couple of friends new to larping, like April and nennivian*, who might be persuaded.

I'm also concerned that Bernie will want to rerun Paranoia, which honestly I would be happy to do if I wouldn't rather run Alice and Oz and I'm not certain I want to run a third thing. I'd like to have a little more flexibility in my schedule, to have more options for what I'm able to play this time around. It wouldn't be the end of the world if I ran three things, and it would certainly be easier this time since all those games are actually finished in advance, but it'd be nice to have a little choice of what to play.

What does everyone think? Any opinions or insights you can share to help me figure this out would be very welcome and appreciated.

Home from WPI

I ran Oz with Jared, Bernie, and Joe sticking around as an AGM. I wouldn't have thought so much help would have been strictly necessary from previous runs, as I've run it with just one other GM in the past, but I was incredibly glad to have them all for this one. I suppose it had slipped my mind that WPI and RPI larpers tend to be a lot more intensely goal-oriented than those of us at Brandeis, but I was definitely reminded by this run. Personally I prefer a bit more balance between plot advancement and character development, but I guess that's a matter of taste. I was very pleased to see that my measures to fix Ryan's character (also played by simplewordsmith*and Kevin Munn) so that he wasn't too brokenly able to tip the scales of the game actually did work. Also improved the workings of the character previously played by beholdsa*, usernamenumber*, and most recently ultimatepsi*. I think pretty much everyone had fun, which is the true measure of how well the game went.

Saturday I rose early to take Ryan and Tegan to their morning game, then immediately turned around to hit Somerville to collect in_water_writ*. I was happy to help her out and get to spend that extra time with her, but the extra driving was tough on me physically. I'm not used to driving for long stretches of time, and my back and tailbone were killing me by the end of it. Still, we got there in plenty of time for her to buy me a nice lunch (thanks so much, love!) and we got to our first game of the day, Bard of Avalon.

I really enjoyed Bard, and I was especially glad since I'd been looking forward to it for so long. It was really a well-written game, so props to yunafonfabre*, and something really funny happened. The game is inspired by the characters of Shakespeare, and I found myself stalking around reverting to my Hamlet persona. And I was like, "Why am I doing this? This character is not Hamlet. I should be capable of doing something other than Hamlet!" And then I found out at the end of game, I actually was Hamlet and my instincts were right! It just wasn't directed at my own family, if that makes any sense. Oh, I love being the Hamlet character. :-) Though it wasn't really part of any of my goals, I ended up becoming the lord of two duchies and the king of the realm, so heh. I made out like a bandit! But I had to be married to Goneril, so maybe those things didn't balance out. And, incidentally, my character was technically an amalgamation of Hamlet and Tybalt, so I was actually playing, well, Frances. :-D That delights me.

Saturday evening was Chateau Ennui, a game that I am still pondering my feelings about. The premise is brilliant, and I had a character that was both interesting and very well suited to me. But there were some real structural issues that needed to be sorted out, and I'm trying to put my finger on exactly how that should be done. I'm thinking the trouble is that so many plots depended on pursuing mysteries, and while plots can still function if the mystery is not solved, it needs to be possible in game to access the information necessary to make any progress on that front. Mysteries are hard to write in games, because it isn't always easy to leave truly useful clues in game, but I think if some real effort is put into including real accessible helpful clues, that would go along way toward helping plots move. So I had fun during the game, but I think it needs some real fixing.

Sunday then was our second run of Paranoia. I must say, our GMing team worked our asses off editing this thing, and I am immensively proud of what we produced. The first run went really well and players had a lot of fun, but it needed tightening and fleshing out in a lot of places. The game as it stands right now is incredibly well-rounded, and the job we did during actual runtime was excellent. We quantified the NPCs and cast them-- Bernie as Friend Computer, Joe as the wandering janitor bot, Matt as the mech bay bot, Mac as the doc bot, and myself as the vending machine, plus stellar performances from Jared as both the High Programmer Acc-U-Men and HK-47 and 1/2, the warbot brain stuck in the storage bay computer, and Ryan as the poor frightened Friendly Luggage Bot. Also, none of the players seemed bored at any point during the game, which pleased me immensely. There may still be some minor kinks to work out, but overall the thing is extremely solid, and good fun to players whether you're a Paranoia fan or not. Also interestingly of note-- I think we had eight drops over the course of signups for this game, and we still ran with a full complement. Yay for us!

We all went back to my place afterward and had a really nice, low-key chat that included Jared, Bernie, Joe, Matt, and myself. I enjoyed this until I fell asleep. Now that weekend, the preparing for which has dominated my life lately, is passed. Physically, I feel okay but off in small ways. I got a good night's sleep last night, which helps. Body is still a little stiff from the unusual amount of driving I had to do on Saturday-- knees feel tight, lower back is still a bit tender. Also woke up with a slightly sore throat, which worries me I'm going to get sick. Don't really have time for that right now, so God, I hope not.

Gaming status update

Had the day off today, but still, very busy. Today included running errands for Jared, getting the last costume piece I needed for the weekend, finalizing Oz, and working on the last major task left for Paranoia.

Almost ready for SFS Live Action Weekend. Costumes are chosen, only must be packed. Oz is pretty much finished. Paranoia is extremely close; only a few more editing jobs remain, and the game has become so much tighter and more polished for it. The ride situation has been organized, though it was no easy task. Just have to get my stuff in order, and then I will be ready to go.

On another gaming note, Oz filled for Intercon J, huzzah! I'm among impressive company too, seeing how few other games are full at this early point. I even got lovely people from Chicago in, including the wonderful David Cave and Marc Blumberg. The only thing I'm sorry about is that bronzite* is on the waitlist. I really want him to play. But he's number one, and the first person almost always gets into the game eventually. I myself used my signup this time to be first on the waitlist for Supervillain Academy, the work of Marc Blumberg that Jared says is fantastic. I'll probably get in, and if I have no morning game, that's not the end of the world.

Weary-head

The weariness is now setting in. The last week and a half has been a mile a minute, and I'm sure you all know by now how much I hate it when I don't have time to myself due to the packed nature of my schedule.

Bernie has this theory that "recharge time," as he calls it, is different for you depending on whether or not you're an introvert or an extrovert. Extroverts recharge by hanging out with people; the socialization relaxes them and makes them feel better about things. Introverts recharge by being alone; they relax by not having the outside stimulation of other people. I am very much the latter, and I know that when I don't get my alone time for a while, I just start to wear down. It's been days since I had any time to myself, or time when I wasn't committed to something. Don't get me wrong, most of my commitments were voluntary and many of them were a lot of fun, it's just that after a while I get so burnt out on socialization and scheduling that I just want to crawl into my room and hide in the quiet for a while.

It's not over yet. I've conquered a large chunk of it, but there's still miles to go before I sleep. My current to do list is no longer relevant, so it's time for a new one. The most pressing thing on the table is getting ready for SFS Live Action Weekend. Oz is almost completely ready, just requires some printing and packing yet. Paranoia we finished editing the sheets for last night, so they should be going out this morning. There are only a few more writing tasks left in that game, but we can probably start printing before that's finished. Once those are ready, that's a big burden off my shoulders. Of course, I still have to costume for the two games I'm playing, Bard of Avalon and Chateau Ennui. I think I've got everything I need for Chateau, but I'm cross-cast in Bard and the theme is Elizabethan-fairy, so I'll probably have to raid the Hold Thy Peace storeroom for period guy clothes.

One thing at a time, I tell myself. And the next free evening I have I think will be spent locked away in my room, recharging with some much-needed alone time.

Larp prep crackdown

Okay, play's over, Halloween's over, we're now into November. That means time to crack down on all the larp work for the upcoming events.

I basically have Oz cast, but I wanted to consult my co-GMs in the spirit of cooperation before I sent them out. This might be a little tough, given the constraints on everyone's time. But I'll give it one more try, and if it seems like they won't be able to put in their two cents within a reasonable time frame, I will apologize and just send out the castings I did myself.

Paranoia is undergoing editing right now, but we should at least cast and send out costuming hints. Not like costuming is hard. The trouble is we've only gotten seventeen out of twenty-two questionnaires back, which is a pain. Paranoia is such that character is as important or unimportant as you want it to be, so it probably won't be too big a deal, but still. We don't know a number of people in the game, so it might be tough to get things right in places.

Also, I have an idea for a side project to propose for Hold Thy Peace. It would be a small, easy one-act that would go up alongside the mainstage show. Got to write up my proposal so I have it in in time for the meeting.

Casting questionnaires

Last night Bernie, Matt, and I got together for dinner to discuss plans for editing Paranoia in preparation for the upcoming WPI run. The most important thing we accomplished was to go over the casting questionnaire and the world bluesheet and get them sent out to players; I've very pleased with the edits we made. We've even got three of them back already, a most excellent start. There's a good bit more to do, of course, but that got the ball rolling.

It occurs to me, having filled out a couple of other people's casting questionnaires lately, that mine are probably frustrating to read because I very rarely have any strong demands on them. I know that if the GM casting doesn't know the player this can make them not terribly useful, but what I'm trying to go for as a player these days is "That really good larper who I can put wherever I need because they will make the most of any role I give them." It's like a personal acting challenge, to see if I can get into and make something no matter what kind of character I'm in. So, GMs who read my perhaps infuriatingly noncomittal questionnaires, know that need not worry; you may do with me what you will. I am yours. Use me. :-)

I am so very popular lately

So, as it turns out, I am in demand for more than just WPI Live Action Weekend. I got contacted by Nick Milano from RPI last night asking if I would bring games to the weekend he's trying to put together in Troy, exactly one week after the one at WPI. I am quite flattered to be asked, and I'm tentatively interested, but there's a couple of things I'd have to figure out before I agree.

First of all there's the time committment. Two larping weekends in a row is pretty intense. I think my schedule personally could handle it, but I'd be concerned about people like Jared, who I would want to help me run my games, but has too much work to neglect it for two entire weekend. He's already agreed to come out to at least part of WPI weekend to help run Oz, so that's already a chunk of his time committed. Also there's the travel involved. I have a car, but it's a long way and basically we're committed to be there for the entire time. For WPI at least Jared could come out for one of the days but not for the others because we'd just drive there and back; if he needed to stay home one day, he could. For RPI we'd have to go out to New York and crash there. I suppose we could just find him someplace to work when he needed to, but that's something to consider.

Also, there's the matter of what games I would bring. Nick says there's a ton of people out there who haven't played any of my games, which is good to know, but I wonder if there's anything to know about what kind of games are good to bring to RPI. Nick says they're looking for anything, but still. Also, what makes sense from a logistical standpoint? As I mentioned, just the week before I will be running Oz and Paranoia. Oz is a good possibility because it's easy to fill, but Oz will also be running at Intercon in the fall, so will an addition run so close together be super-saturating people with it? Paranoia is probably not feasible, as it is contingent on enough GMs being able to spend the weekend in Troy. What about Alice? I'd be willing to bring Alice, but would we be able to fill it? How big is the weekend's attendance supposed to be? If Jared can't come, he might not be happy if I ran it without him, and I don't think I want to do it without him anyway.

Ahhh, so many variables. Any insight, suggestions, or input would be very much appreciated.

Bids in

I have now bid Oz and Paranoia for WPI Live Action Weekend, as I believe it is officially called. After serious consideration, I have decided against bringing Alice. As much as I want to run it again for the people who've missed it, I don't think this is a good venue for it. As a GM I can see the preliminary schedule for the weekend, and there are already several games with twenty-plus slots running; Paranoia is one of them. I'm considering Paranoia to be my priority because it's only had one previous run, and I think the WPI crowd will really appreciate it. This weekend is not projected to be as highly attended as something like Festival, so they will probably not be able to support many large games. Alice, being twenty-seven players and with four previous runs, might have trouble finding enough new people for a small venue. So I am ultimately deciding to hold off on bringing my baby out again until I'm certain I have a place for her. :-) Sorry to those of you who would like a run in the near future. I'm always on the lookout for chances.

So basically all of you need to put WPI Live Action Weekend on your calendar-- November 13th-15th at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and get ready to play Oz and Paranoia, if you haven't already, and tell all your friends to come play them too. :-) And hey, this time around I'm not packing the weekend solid with my own games, so I'll be able to play in some things as well! Yay!

WPI Larp Weekend?

So I recently recieved an e-mail from nyren about the idea of a larp weekend along the lines of Festival of the Larps at WPI this coming November. I for one would be really happy to have another larping event to attend, particularly one that's a lot sooner than Festival and Intercon. It sounds as if this one would be a lot smaller scale-- after all, it can take a few years to really build attendance to a larp weekend, as we learned with Festival --so any games there would be more of the focal point of the event than at larger ones. I've already bid Oz, as a fifteen-player game that's only run twice before I figure that's a good choice. I am debating whether or not to bid Alice as well; I know there are people, at WPI and elsewhere, who still want to play it, but it's a twenty-seven-player game and what with four previous runs I'm not sure a smaller weekend is going to be able to fill it. I'll ask around and see what people think; I'd be more than happy to bring it if people believe there will be enough interest.

The really interesting proposition, however, is if we should bring Paranoia. As Nyren pointed out, at WPI Paranoia games go over really well, so perhaps this would be a golden opportunity to rerun Research and Dismemberment for a really enthusiastic audience. I will have to talk to my co-GMs. The game went pretty well the first time but it needs a significant amount of editing, so we'd have to commit to undertaking that before we could bid it. I would be up for it, any of you guys who are reading this-- let me know your feelings as well. But the weekend would be November 13th-15th, so we'd have to decide fast and get to work.

Jared's LARP resume

Played:
Nexus - Ivan Tadeov - Brandeis - '06
Welcome to Scearbridge - David Merrin - Brandeis - '06
Elanthia - Prince Edmund - Intercon G - '07
The Awful Truth - Silversleeves - Intercon G - '07
Alice - White Rabbit - Festival of the LARPs - '07
Final Voyage of the Mary Celeste - Johann Volkert - Brandeis Festival of the LARPs - '07
Divus Ex: Convocation - Anubis - Brandeis Festival of the LARPs - '07
Fire on High - Sir Joseph Butler - Brandeis - '07
MASKS: Superheroes Have it Damned Tough - Crawdad - Brandeis - '07
Game of Empire - Ahl Yenkowik/Zyph - RPI - '08
Wonderland 2.1 - White Rabbit - Intercon H - '08
Desperadoes Under the Eaves - - Intercon H - '08
Paradox Rides - Floyd - - Brandeis Festival of the LARPs - '08
Marlowe 2020 - Detective Calvino - Brandeis Festival of the LARPs - '08
Miskatonic Archaeological Expedition - Warren Delapore - Brandeis Festival of the LARPs - '08
The Morning After - Winthrop Filmore - Brandeis - '08
Unconventional Odyssey - Horde - Brandeis - '09
Casino Xeno - - Intercon I - '09
Supervillain Academy - Crimson Cobra - Intercon I - '09
League of Extraordinary Hogwarts Students - Percy Longbottom - Intercon I - '09
Paranoia: Research and Dismemberment - Bug-R-Off - Brandeis Festival of the Larps - '09
Miskatonic Class Reunion 2000 - Warren Delapore - Brandeis Festival of the Larps - '09
Oz - Phineas An - Brandeis - '09
A Midsummer Night and the Living is Easy - Nazbok - WPI Gaming Weekend - '09
Redemption: High Noon at the Devil's Luck - Jake "Buffalo" James - Brandeis - '10
Shadow Over Babylon - - Intercon J - '10
Limbo! - Jazz - Intercon J - '10
Nepenthe a Surcease of Sorrow - Father Thomas - WPI - '10

GMed:
Alice - GM - Intercon H - '08
GM Space - Cast GM - Brandeis - '09
GM Space - Cast GM - Intercon I - '09
Alice - GM - Brandeis Festival of the LARPs - '09
GM Space - Cast GM - Brandeis Festival of the LARPs - '09
Alice - GM - Chicago Fete Fatale - '09
Oz - GM - SLAW - '09
Oz - GM - Intercon J - '10
GM Space - Cast GM - Intercon J - '10

NPCed:
Paranoia: Research and Dismemberment - Acc-U-Men/HK 47 1/2 - SLAW - '09

Written:
GM Space - '09

Edited:
Alice - '07
Oz - '09

Slammed

If the next two weeks don't kill me, I'll know I can do anything.

Alice character sheets are out. Reactions have been positive so far, though I haven't heard from everyone. Special thanks to Jared for the care he put into casting with me, by which I mean "not letting my tired ass just throw people wherever 'cause I wanted to go sleepy-bye."

I sent out the Oz world bluesheet last night, though with one false start of sending an earlier draft with the same file name that wasn't quite finished. That's fixed now, and hopefully that will tide players over until they get their character sheets. Special thanks to Bernie for helping me with ideas and problems, by which I mean "putting up with my screaming at him for not being able to read my mind and understand my story despite my not having him told it to him."

Paranoia will be casting shortly. We just need a time in our busy schedules when we all can meet. We may have to do it TMA style, and just write down our impressions and compare them. There's a lot of leeway in any given character anyway, so it shouldn't be too hard for players to do what they like with whoever they are.

Jared's parents are coming this weekend. I will at the very least probably being going out to dinner with them and him Friday night. I want to be able to be with them all as often as they want me, but I also need to fit my mountains of work in on my free days.

I also have a Latin midterm this coming Wednesday. When I'm going to have time to study for this, I have no idea.

I am working very hard not panic. I am hoping to use intense planning and scheduling as a means to control my situation and stay on top of it. I have to write sheets, plan out what needs to be printed, format everything, buy supplies, study for Latin, go out with Jared and his family... all in the next week.

Larp writing machine

Now that Midsummer is through, I am set to being a larp writing machine. I plan on sending out Alice sheets shortly, and I am laboring to finish the world bluesheet for Oz. With any luck, that will go out today. The character sheets will then follow. I'm also planning on organizing a casting meeting with my fellow Paranoia GMs. That game doesn't require a lot of advance notice for costuming or pre-game planning, so getting it out by the end of the week would probably be okay.

*Deep breath* Wish me luck.

Two out of three games cast

Well, after a long night and some very serious thinking, Jared and I have cast Alice. This was by far the most difficult casting we've ever had for this game, because lots of people seemed to app for the same handful of characters. But we worked really hard, and I think we gave everyone somebody they will enjoy. I'm very proud of us for the care and attention we devoted to this. I think it will really pay off in players' good times. Heh. At this point, nobody had better fucking drop, or you'll knock down our gorgeous delicate house of cards.

Also, Oz is cast as well. It too had its share of difficulties, including one player whose questionnaire basically said "I have no interest in the sort of things that happen in this game," but that I think I nailed down as well. Fifteen players are easier than twenty-seven, I suppose.

We'll have to get together soon to cast Paranoia. We don't have quite all the questionnaires back, though,

We have our closing of Midsummer this afternoon, to which both mine and Jared's parents are coming. I'll certainly be glad; my blocking, which involves mostly crawling around like a creepy little forest animal, is fun and looks cool but not easy on my body. Yet again, my knees are bruised to hell. It's worse now than it was even when I was Dromio or the Fool.

But as for the lists. When all of that is finished, I will be sending out the castings. If you are in Alice or Oz, expect them tonight, and if you're in Paranoia, they will be coming out soon.

Festival... like, wow...

So Festival signups started a couple nights ago. As you all my know, I'm currently running three games, all of my own or partially my own creation-- Alice, my baby, Oz, my new one, and Paranoia, a collaboration with several friends.

Apparently, Oz was the first game to fill-- it had a waitlist within two minutes. And now that waitlist is up to ten, having at one point had a high of eleven. From what I've heard, were I not packed to the gills for that weekend, I would have enough people for a second game at Festival alone. Additionally, there are eight people waiting on Alice and eight more on Paranoia.

I am flattered, I am pleased, I am terrified.

Okay, I'm not terrified. Alice has proven itself and I know will have a third great run. I am reasonably confident that I am making a very good game in Oz, and that the players will enjoy it very much. Paranoia is coming along nicely and I think we'll all be proud of it. I am a little nervous about how much is left to do for Oz. And a few things for Paranoia on top of it. Though all the questionnaires are out, as is the Paranoia bluesheet. Should work on finishing the one for Oz and get it sent out.

I really, really don't want to be a one-hit wonder.

Thank you all for so much interest in my games, it really makes me feel good. I promise I will be rerunning Oz. As soon after Festival as possible, if need be. It's only a fifteen person game, which is limiting, but also that will make it easier to organize a second run. And if you didn't get in this time, you're among a group of fantastic larpers who will make for a great cast.

Here's hoping I justify that much enthusiasm.

Larp progress

I am attempting to take advantage of my current pleasantly low stress level to do larp work. We're far enough along on Paranoia that we're into writing character sheets now. We're all assigned to write one team each, and I've made a decent chunk of progress on two of my six characters. I'm ambitiously aiming to have at least rough drafts done for all of them by the end of this week. They're not enormous or particularly difficult, so it seem fairly achievable, though I will say they aren't coming quite as easily as I thought they would. We just have to come up with a decent name for it besides just "Paranoia." Attempts thus far have not been impressive. Oz progress is slow, but at least I've got the mental presence to devote some focus to it. I finally wrote up my bid for that game, that's a step in the right direction. The trouble was I'm still in the process of hammering out the story, so I'm not exactly sure how to describe it in the blurb. Ah, well. I guess if I work out a better one I can always change it later.

It occurs to me that I'm going to be running three games at Festival this year-- Alice, Oz, and Paranoia. I'm delighted to rerun Alice, as I will with Jared's help. It's a large game, but it's both so rules-light and we both know it so well that it doesn't really need more than just the two of us. As for Oz, it's a small game, so Bernie is the only other person I'll need to help me run that. He's great to help GM because he's capable, and he doesn't larp so having him doesn't reduce the player pool. Though the pressure is on, I will be really glad to finally be writing another larp of my own. I've been coasting on the success of Alice for way too long. ;-) I'm also helping write Paranoia. In fact, Paranoia has both a huge writing team and a huge GMing team, consisting of Bernie, Joe, Mac, Matt, and myself. Hopefully we'll all be there to run it. I'm pleased with and excited for this, but I'm wondering if I'll not get enough playing time with three of my slots already taken. I don't mind not getting to play per se, but I am concerned I might miss games that I particularly want to be in. I know a couple of the games I'm interested in that will be running at Festival I have or will have already played, such as GM Space or League of Extraordinary Hogwarts students, so perhaps I won't feel shorted. GM Space will undoubtedly run Sunday morning anyway, so that time slot won't conflict. Speaking of time slots, I'm hoping that Alice runs in the evening-- probably Friday. Bernie wants Paranoia to run in the evening on Saturday, to give his brother Joe the best chance to come to Waltham from Maryland to help run the game. I don't really have a preference for when Oz runs, except that it not conflict with, say, Jared's game so that he can play in it.

I have a good feeling about all of this. Here's hoping it pans out. I guess I'd better get back to work.

Useless scarves

Have you ever seen someone wearing a trenchcoat or something similar with their scarf under the collar of the coat rather than inside it? I've noticed this phenomenon fairly frequently recently, and I don't get it. How can a scarf keep you warm when it's not actually touching your neck? Is it just purely decorative there? That's nice, I guess, but wouldn't it be equally decorative if worn in a way that would also keep you warm?

I'm at home now, curled up in bed. It took almost seven hours to get here and I was fairly carsick, and I'm only just now losing the headache. I was working on coming up with technobabble component piece names for the Paranoia larp, and names for characters. The naming conventions are a three-piece hyphenate. The first part is your given name, usually one syllable, then the first letter of the color of your clearence level, then another one-syllable word to indicate what facility you were spawned in. It's best when it's some sort of pun on a real word. Like, one of the red-level characters is named Hum-R-Us, pronounced 'humorous.' Red  names are pretty easy. I'm trying to come up with I for infrared and Y for yellow. I like them best when the word actually includes the sound of the letter in it-- like Par-I-Ah. Y words or phrases are hard, though. The best I've come up with is Hot-Y-Erd.