Training Weekend part 3 - the OOC commentary.
I think one of the things I enjoyed most was the sense of personal development I got for my character in a very short space of time. I constructed a quiet, shy persona and then in the initial stages of the game found it impossible to contribute to the robust group discussions with the result that during the test my character looked pretty ineffectual. However during the live situation when other characters started to lose it completely, my quiet little mouse took control of various aspects and pulled her team mates through their hallucinations and was instrumental in getting the mission completed. So it felt like a really nice personal mini story going on in the background of the game. I really enjoyed playing this out and got a great deal of satisfaction from it. Particularly since on the final morning I made a joke and one of the characters I had been interacting with the night before turned to me and smiled saying "that is the first joke I have ever heard you make." So that was really cool as well.
Although it won't mean much the joke revolved around the fact that Sunday night Steve had dreamt he could only go to the toilet if he broke the code combination lock on the door. A sure sign that someone had been doing too much code breaking the day before.
Other enjoyable moments included waking up on the Sunday morning and taking stock of the night's events in-character. I ended up discussing this with the only other vaguely early riser - Sarah - and as we chatted a group of young children piled into the field at the back of our training hut and started playing a variety of games arranged by the adults looking after them. Sarah and I looked at each other and commented how the "end of the movie scene" had arrived and that our work was indeed done.
People pretty much consistantly used in-character names all weekend and this was great in creating atmosphere. I myself made only one slip at 12.30am on the Sunday morning when I needed someone to hold a box I was carrying because my bra had just come undone. So I think that is ok!
Also although I knew some of the people there I didn't know all of them and there is always something special about the first time you role-play with someone you have never met before. RPing with someone you don't know anything about gives you the purest reactions. Some of the best stuff I have ever done has been with virtual (and occasionally complete) strangers.
There were some damn cool props used over the course of the weekend and we are being encouraged to bring our own next time which I certainly intend to. I have even started to arrange an IC meeting between me and a couple of other players to visit the site the next session is at ahead of time to walk the area and take photos for an IC briefing pack I am going to organise the preparation of.
Although it won't mean much the joke revolved around the fact that Sunday night Steve had dreamt he could only go to the toilet if he broke the code combination lock on the door. A sure sign that someone had been doing too much code breaking the day before.
Other enjoyable moments included waking up on the Sunday morning and taking stock of the night's events in-character. I ended up discussing this with the only other vaguely early riser - Sarah - and as we chatted a group of young children piled into the field at the back of our training hut and started playing a variety of games arranged by the adults looking after them. Sarah and I looked at each other and commented how the "end of the movie scene" had arrived and that our work was indeed done.
People pretty much consistantly used in-character names all weekend and this was great in creating atmosphere. I myself made only one slip at 12.30am on the Sunday morning when I needed someone to hold a box I was carrying because my bra had just come undone. So I think that is ok!
Also although I knew some of the people there I didn't know all of them and there is always something special about the first time you role-play with someone you have never met before. RPing with someone you don't know anything about gives you the purest reactions. Some of the best stuff I have ever done has been with virtual (and occasionally complete) strangers.
There were some damn cool props used over the course of the weekend and we are being encouraged to bring our own next time which I certainly intend to. I have even started to arrange an IC meeting between me and a couple of other players to visit the site the next session is at ahead of time to walk the area and take photos for an IC briefing pack I am going to organise the preparation of.