In Which I Recap WyrdCon
I was at WyrdCon this weekend, enjoying a full slate of LARPs. After banding together with a number of other game designers, mostly from Enigma, to form the Enigma Live Game Labs group (ELGL for short) we procured the Presidential suite of the Hilton where the Con was taking place as our headquarters for the weekend, planning on running games there. Despite my initial concerns that the undertaking would be a miserable failure, with a few boffer-toting folks in fantasy garb rattling around the meeting space like peas in a can while we sat around upstairs in the Presidential suite drowning our lonely sorrows in booze, things couldn't have been more different! Our games were all full, the players complimentary and enthusiastic, and the convention overall lively, energetic, and bustling throughout the weekend.
The weekend kicked off with richardabecker and I running our '20s speakeasy LARP, "Monsieur Beauregard's". Players took on the roles of mobsters, starlets, studio execs and crooked politicians while aaronjv showed off his considerable mixocological chops behind the bar and tunes from the period played on the sound system. We pushed the couch back to the wall and had some dancing towards the end, and based on the enthusiastic applause afterwards, a great time was had by all the participants, including Larry Niven, who showed up about halfway through the game. Aaron introduced us, I shook his hand and, after a beat, asked him if he'd like to play. He said he would (somewhat to my panicked surprise) and so I offered him a couple roles that hadn't yet been cast. He ended up playing a city councilman on a morals crusade against the studios who had a mistress stashed up in a bungalow in Malibu, he had a good time, and I ended up with a story I can tell for years to come.
After the game wrapped, essentialsaltes took over for his Casino Arcana game, but I was already booked for another role downstairs - as Oberon, Lord of Summer, High King of the Sidhe (or just 'king of the fairies' for short) in the latest installment of the Live Effects LARP Messina, a pulp-fantasy crossover game with light boffer combat. I'd always been somewhat leery of boffer LARPs for their focus on hitting people with sticks over actual roleplaying, but I was delighted to find that this was not the case here. Yes, there were players who seemed mainly interested in the foam weapons fighting, but there were a significant number of players - at least half - who never picked up a boffer and who solved problems with negotiation and interaction, just like a theater-style game. I'm very encouraged to see the organizers here incorporating more theater-style elements into their narrative, and I hope it's a trend that catches on. Amanda and Devin, the organizers, did a great job and I had a wonderful time.
That game wrapped around 1:00 am, and I headed back up to the room to find Richard, rizwank and some other folks from the ELGL crew hanging around and chatting. I fetched by Big Bag of Good Booze from the bedroom and happily joined in. The next thing I knew it was after 4:00 in the morning! Now I'm at the age, dear reader, where my internal clock will usually tell me that it's time to hit the hay, but some combination of adrenaline, extrovert energy, and general enthusiasm short-circuited my usual late-night safety protocols. Knowing that I had to be up in about four hours so that Aaron could prep the suite for his Rock Band Murder Mystery, I hit the sack with no small amount of trepidation.
I was awakened the following morning by the sunlight and sounds of folks moving about sometime around 8:30 and, to my tremendous surprise and delight, found myself not only absent of hangover but feeling positively chipper and energetic. I changed and headed down with Richard to find some breakfast. Along the way, I realized I'd left the cloak I'd worn as Oberon in the ballroom where the Messina LARP had taken place, so I went down to see if it was still there. A nice young woman in elf ears and a RenFaire dress told me they'd sent it up to registration, where I was able to retrieve it quickly and easily raising the Con's organizers in my esteem even further!
As we left the registration desk, I noticed a number of Enigma folks, including ian_tiberius , graydons,and citizenbrown with his "Starship Valkyrie" game, a hard sci-fi game with a strong combat element to it. I was one of the crew of the "Hydra" - the Valkyrie's sister ship, along with rsheslin and Chris. We communicated with the Valkyrie - the players were in another conference room on the same floor - via Skype and fed them information to help them deal with the challenges they were facing. We didn't really have a full plate in terms of our obligations - we were only "on" when they initiated conversation for the most part - and so I had some time to zone out and doze, and also chat with Rachel while the crew of Valkyrie were going crazy and breaking off communication. It was a massive and ambitious undertaking, and I was impressed to see how well it came off.
After the game wrapped - a bit early due to the Valkyrie bugging out from what the players thought was an overwhelming alien force - we had some time to chat and eat pizza, coordinated very effectively by notjenschiz . Around 7ish I got into my Oberon costume again with the idea of heading down to the Xantrian Crux dance party, but rizwank seemed to be short a couple players for his "Snow White" LARP. I told him to call me if he had players bail and needed me to make up the numbers. Probably the smartest offer I made all weekend. Teh call came not ten minutes later, and, already suitably attired for a medieval game, I headed up to take on the role of Prince Charming in a dark and disturbing version of the famous fairy tale. I played the 18-year old Prince as sadistic, domineering, obsessive, and creepy, but at the same time earnest in his desire to do well by his new kingdom. Unfortunately, I got poisoned at the very end of the game and was stabbed by the dwarf. I won't give away any of the details because I know Riz could run this again. I'll only say that my character's death was a disaster for Snow White's kingdom, as it sparked a feud with my father than would eventually destroy her weakened realm. I came away from the game jazzed and delighted and very happy , and with ideas for a sequel of my own dancing in my head.
Since Aaron was setting up for his "Road not Taken" LARP - the last ELGL game of the Con, I headed down with casketgirl , who had been magnificent as the Queen to the dance party, where we ran into hagdirt taking a much-deserved break from her crucial role organizing things up in the suite (not to mention her star turn as the Dorothy Parker-inspired character in my LARP) to hang out downstairs. We dragged her (quite literally) onto the dance floor for a few numbers, but when the swinging stylings of Big Bad Voodoo Daddy gave way to anonymous and mediocre bass-heavy club funk, we headed out the hallway and found some a table at which to sit. We were soon joined by citizenbrown for a great late-night talk about religion in LARP.
Aaron's game finally wrapped around 1:30 and we returned to the suite to find the participants eagerly dissecting their experience, a sure sign of a successful game. I joined in as the conversation turned more generally to the theories of game design and I got some very interesting insights from another designer named Greer about different styles of games. It became clear to me that we write games in the style in which we ourselves most enjoy playing - her description of her games sounded to me like very scripted and controlling experiences that I wouldn't much enjoy, and when Riz very cleverly asked us to talk about what we wanted in our LARP characters, it became clear that she would probably be equally at sea in one of my games, where the emphasis is on character interaction rather than directed goals. All in all a very enlightening evening's talk! I may have to write a scholarly paper on linking learing styles and LARP styles and talking about how LARP designers can learn about design from teachers designing lessons for different styles of learners.
This is probably why I was somewhat taken aback when somebody finally looked at a watch and announced it was getting on 5am - even later than the previous night. Yikes! We all headed to bed and, to my even greater surprise, when I awoke and got up some five hours later at 10am, I was again bright eyed and busy tailed, and ready to meet the day. WE had brunch waiting, and I shared bagels and chat with Hanbury and Rachel of the Foundation game, most fof the ELGL crew, and Larry Niven again. A great end to a marvelous weekend.
Now, I did sleep 12 hours once I got back from the Con, dear reader, so I'm not superhuman. But I do think that I drew energy from all the enthusiastic, smart, open, welcoming people at the Con, which let me get by so well on so little sleep.
Did I mention Larry Niven played in my LARP?
The weekend kicked off with richardabecker and I running our '20s speakeasy LARP, "Monsieur Beauregard's". Players took on the roles of mobsters, starlets, studio execs and crooked politicians while aaronjv showed off his considerable mixocological chops behind the bar and tunes from the period played on the sound system. We pushed the couch back to the wall and had some dancing towards the end, and based on the enthusiastic applause afterwards, a great time was had by all the participants, including Larry Niven, who showed up about halfway through the game. Aaron introduced us, I shook his hand and, after a beat, asked him if he'd like to play. He said he would (somewhat to my panicked surprise) and so I offered him a couple roles that hadn't yet been cast. He ended up playing a city councilman on a morals crusade against the studios who had a mistress stashed up in a bungalow in Malibu, he had a good time, and I ended up with a story I can tell for years to come.
After the game wrapped, essentialsaltes took over for his Casino Arcana game, but I was already booked for another role downstairs - as Oberon, Lord of Summer, High King of the Sidhe (or just 'king of the fairies' for short) in the latest installment of the Live Effects LARP Messina, a pulp-fantasy crossover game with light boffer combat. I'd always been somewhat leery of boffer LARPs for their focus on hitting people with sticks over actual roleplaying, but I was delighted to find that this was not the case here. Yes, there were players who seemed mainly interested in the foam weapons fighting, but there were a significant number of players - at least half - who never picked up a boffer and who solved problems with negotiation and interaction, just like a theater-style game. I'm very encouraged to see the organizers here incorporating more theater-style elements into their narrative, and I hope it's a trend that catches on. Amanda and Devin, the organizers, did a great job and I had a wonderful time.
That game wrapped around 1:00 am, and I headed back up to the room to find Richard, rizwank and some other folks from the ELGL crew hanging around and chatting. I fetched by Big Bag of Good Booze from the bedroom and happily joined in. The next thing I knew it was after 4:00 in the morning! Now I'm at the age, dear reader, where my internal clock will usually tell me that it's time to hit the hay, but some combination of adrenaline, extrovert energy, and general enthusiasm short-circuited my usual late-night safety protocols. Knowing that I had to be up in about four hours so that Aaron could prep the suite for his Rock Band Murder Mystery, I hit the sack with no small amount of trepidation.
I was awakened the following morning by the sunlight and sounds of folks moving about sometime around 8:30 and, to my tremendous surprise and delight, found myself not only absent of hangover but feeling positively chipper and energetic. I changed and headed down with Richard to find some breakfast. Along the way, I realized I'd left the cloak I'd worn as Oberon in the ballroom where the Messina LARP had taken place, so I went down to see if it was still there. A nice young woman in elf ears and a RenFaire dress told me they'd sent it up to registration, where I was able to retrieve it quickly and easily raising the Con's organizers in my esteem even further!
As we left the registration desk, I noticed a number of Enigma folks, including ian_tiberius , graydons,and citizenbrown with his "Starship Valkyrie" game, a hard sci-fi game with a strong combat element to it. I was one of the crew of the "Hydra" - the Valkyrie's sister ship, along with rsheslin and Chris. We communicated with the Valkyrie - the players were in another conference room on the same floor - via Skype and fed them information to help them deal with the challenges they were facing. We didn't really have a full plate in terms of our obligations - we were only "on" when they initiated conversation for the most part - and so I had some time to zone out and doze, and also chat with Rachel while the crew of Valkyrie were going crazy and breaking off communication. It was a massive and ambitious undertaking, and I was impressed to see how well it came off.
After the game wrapped - a bit early due to the Valkyrie bugging out from what the players thought was an overwhelming alien force - we had some time to chat and eat pizza, coordinated very effectively by notjenschiz . Around 7ish I got into my Oberon costume again with the idea of heading down to the Xantrian Crux dance party, but rizwank seemed to be short a couple players for his "Snow White" LARP. I told him to call me if he had players bail and needed me to make up the numbers. Probably the smartest offer I made all weekend. Teh call came not ten minutes later, and, already suitably attired for a medieval game, I headed up to take on the role of Prince Charming in a dark and disturbing version of the famous fairy tale. I played the 18-year old Prince as sadistic, domineering, obsessive, and creepy, but at the same time earnest in his desire to do well by his new kingdom. Unfortunately, I got poisoned at the very end of the game and was stabbed by the dwarf. I won't give away any of the details because I know Riz could run this again. I'll only say that my character's death was a disaster for Snow White's kingdom, as it sparked a feud with my father than would eventually destroy her weakened realm. I came away from the game jazzed and delighted and very happy , and with ideas for a sequel of my own dancing in my head.
Since Aaron was setting up for his "Road not Taken" LARP - the last ELGL game of the Con, I headed down with casketgirl , who had been magnificent as the Queen to the dance party, where we ran into hagdirt taking a much-deserved break from her crucial role organizing things up in the suite (not to mention her star turn as the Dorothy Parker-inspired character in my LARP) to hang out downstairs. We dragged her (quite literally) onto the dance floor for a few numbers, but when the swinging stylings of Big Bad Voodoo Daddy gave way to anonymous and mediocre bass-heavy club funk, we headed out the hallway and found some a table at which to sit. We were soon joined by citizenbrown for a great late-night talk about religion in LARP.
Aaron's game finally wrapped around 1:30 and we returned to the suite to find the participants eagerly dissecting their experience, a sure sign of a successful game. I joined in as the conversation turned more generally to the theories of game design and I got some very interesting insights from another designer named Greer about different styles of games. It became clear to me that we write games in the style in which we ourselves most enjoy playing - her description of her games sounded to me like very scripted and controlling experiences that I wouldn't much enjoy, and when Riz very cleverly asked us to talk about what we wanted in our LARP characters, it became clear that she would probably be equally at sea in one of my games, where the emphasis is on character interaction rather than directed goals. All in all a very enlightening evening's talk! I may have to write a scholarly paper on linking learing styles and LARP styles and talking about how LARP designers can learn about design from teachers designing lessons for different styles of learners.
This is probably why I was somewhat taken aback when somebody finally looked at a watch and announced it was getting on 5am - even later than the previous night. Yikes! We all headed to bed and, to my even greater surprise, when I awoke and got up some five hours later at 10am, I was again bright eyed and busy tailed, and ready to meet the day. WE had brunch waiting, and I shared bagels and chat with Hanbury and Rachel of the Foundation game, most fof the ELGL crew, and Larry Niven again. A great end to a marvelous weekend.
Now, I did sleep 12 hours once I got back from the Con, dear reader, so I'm not superhuman. But I do think that I drew energy from all the enthusiastic, smart, open, welcoming people at the Con, which let me get by so well on so little sleep.
Did I mention Larry Niven played in my LARP?