Slaves on the dockside and guns in the hold
I'm back from Maelstrom, and feeling guilty about not updating my journal in, um, ages. Maelstrom, for those not in the know, is a weekend-long LARP event. It's great, and everyone should come. Conquest of the New World, but the natives are variously human-sized, intelligent (if often stupid in the way only the intelligent can be) snakes and wasps, magic has only just started working, and various inanimate objects are coming to life - probably as a result of the whole magic thing.
It was very hot, but cunning (okay, so mostly lucky) placement of our tent made it bearable. Also, my kit was pretty comfortable. Polycotton drill, sanitary towels inside a latex mask, and a culture which obliges me to wear a hat combined quite well. Also, rjw76 had a gazebo, a table and chairs, so we got to sit down, in shade, with a table. Marshall Enterprises have officially won Maelstrom.
Maelstrom has Rules about not sharing information you've learned in-character, out of character. I think this is great, because it means I don't get quite so confused between IC and OOC knowledge, and finding stuff out is Interesting and Exciting. It does, however, rather limit what I can say about the event. Fortunately, most of the more interesting stuff is pretty commonly known.
So, the mercenaries steam-roller'd the drugs dealers, acting on behalf of parties unknown (I've heard at least a couple of conflicting rumours), and got a decent number of innocent bystanders. I've spent quite a lot of enjoyable time IC and IC-ish drinking with the drugs dealers, and one of the innocent bystanders was a friend, ally and long-term business associate. So I got a wake, which was a generally good Quality Role-Playing Experience, and a funeral, which was a pretty good service, even if it did borrow rather heavily from the Book of Common Prayer. Also, the hymn didn't contain anything I couldn't, OOC, sing and mean. Which was nice.
Most of my actual time I spent in the arms trade; it was enjoyable enough, and no-one stabbed me up or even seemed likely to, but the only interesting things to report are pretty much the sort of things I shouldn't post about in public. However, Marshall Enterprises as a whole are very much Win at the money game.
Also, you should all come to my wedding to the delightful chess. This is an invitation, for those who require an invitation; I've issued one before, but that was a while ago, it didn't have times, and people might have forgotten. It will be at Churchill College chapel, on the 5th of August, at 11.30 am. There will be photographic faff and drinks afterwards, followed by a reception, also at Churchill. The reception will be invitation only, as we have quite a lot of family. Some of them turn out not to be able to come, though, so our ability to invite friends is less strained than we thought. Would any of you like to come? We have a whole class divide in the families, and can offer only Churchill's catering and wine to dull the pain. After the reception, we'll be heading to the Carlton (probably arriving some time between 3pm and 4pm), where we'd be delighted to see any of you; I think Terri(?) would quite like some idea of how many people there'll be, so if you could let me know by some mechanism whether you intend to come to that bit that would be nice.
It was very hot, but cunning (okay, so mostly lucky) placement of our tent made it bearable. Also, my kit was pretty comfortable. Polycotton drill, sanitary towels inside a latex mask, and a culture which obliges me to wear a hat combined quite well. Also, rjw76 had a gazebo, a table and chairs, so we got to sit down, in shade, with a table. Marshall Enterprises have officially won Maelstrom.
Maelstrom has Rules about not sharing information you've learned in-character, out of character. I think this is great, because it means I don't get quite so confused between IC and OOC knowledge, and finding stuff out is Interesting and Exciting. It does, however, rather limit what I can say about the event. Fortunately, most of the more interesting stuff is pretty commonly known.
So, the mercenaries steam-roller'd the drugs dealers, acting on behalf of parties unknown (I've heard at least a couple of conflicting rumours), and got a decent number of innocent bystanders. I've spent quite a lot of enjoyable time IC and IC-ish drinking with the drugs dealers, and one of the innocent bystanders was a friend, ally and long-term business associate. So I got a wake, which was a generally good Quality Role-Playing Experience, and a funeral, which was a pretty good service, even if it did borrow rather heavily from the Book of Common Prayer. Also, the hymn didn't contain anything I couldn't, OOC, sing and mean. Which was nice.
Most of my actual time I spent in the arms trade; it was enjoyable enough, and no-one stabbed me up or even seemed likely to, but the only interesting things to report are pretty much the sort of things I shouldn't post about in public. However, Marshall Enterprises as a whole are very much Win at the money game.
Also, you should all come to my wedding to the delightful chess. This is an invitation, for those who require an invitation; I've issued one before, but that was a while ago, it didn't have times, and people might have forgotten. It will be at Churchill College chapel, on the 5th of August, at 11.30 am. There will be photographic faff and drinks afterwards, followed by a reception, also at Churchill. The reception will be invitation only, as we have quite a lot of family. Some of them turn out not to be able to come, though, so our ability to invite friends is less strained than we thought. Would any of you like to come? We have a whole class divide in the families, and can offer only Churchill's catering and wine to dull the pain. After the reception, we'll be heading to the Carlton (probably arriving some time between 3pm and 4pm), where we'd be delighted to see any of you; I think Terri(?) would quite like some idea of how many people there'll be, so if you could let me know by some mechanism whether you intend to come to that bit that would be nice.