Odyssey
I've just had a weekend of roleplaying at Odyssey. Another fantastic event which has thoroughly cheered me up.
I found out on Friday before going in character that I was sans husband and warband, the former couldn't make it and the latter had decided they would have their own warleader, so I was a bit worried. I did wonder about changing my class to priest so I asked some advice from story team people and they reckoned I would still have fun as a warleader. And I did.
There was more politics at Rome at this event, with motions being put to the senate being passed for voting by those who were at the Annual so that gave the senators more to do in the camp. Neither of the tribunes were champions for a change which I think was an improvement as they were around much more and it shared out more of the political action. I would gladly see champions banned from being tribunes - they have plenty to do between the arena and quests - but I dunno if that is fair. Our tribunes did diplomacy and got others to do so, so we actually found some allies in Egypt, although we will need more allies if Rome is to survive. There's going to be a bit of a change in the term of tribunes and the position of consul was created so it will be interesting to see how that works out.
The arena was fantastic as usual. Greece and Carthage unleashed all of their attacks at Rome so Rome had a lot of fights (9 in total on the Saturday) - Saturday was spent mostly at the arena, either fighting or spectating. I never imagined I'd enjoy the arena quite so much. Not that I'm particularly good at that type of fighting but I'm better than I was, having had a chance to fight with much more experienced people.
By Sunday, Rome was too hard pressed to manage two defences as Greece and Carthage kept after us. Unfortunately one of the places being attacked was my home. After a bit of angsting I decided to go out in style. I thought - better a good end than dragging myself along without any territory - I'd never wanted Drusilla to be that sort of tragic character. So, rather than cede it, I fought it with the help of some (but sadly not enough) Egyptians and a couple of Romans. We were badly out-numbered by most of Greece. At the end of the fight, when the territory was lost, I got one of the Greeks to help me to the centre of the arena and fell on my sword (actually, I fell on Lucretia's sword, which I had been loaned for the fight). It felt like a good Roman ending.
As usual, House Praxis, though depleted in number, were an absolute pleasure to play with, as was everyone in Rome. The nation has a really fantastic feel and the quality of roleplaying across the groups is really high. Sadly the numbers for the game seem to be down and this hit Rome quite hard. Hopefully this will improve a bit for the next event. I would really recommend Odyssey - I am never bored or short of something to do for entire events and there is a good mixture of fighting, politics, religion and drama. Because it is split between nations which are quite distinct and separate, the game has more of a personal feel than other fest events, which I prefer.
I'm definitely going back in August. I think I might give the priest game a go next (if I can tear myself away from the arena) In Rome, obviously.
Now I'm off to join facebook so that I know what the bloody hell is going on in the world. Grr.