Remembering Aliens LARPs (part 3)
The series concluded with Aliens: Apocalypse in 1999. The game occurred at Trentham Racecourse, with interior and exterior usage. Finally set on Earth, the game reflected the world after Aliens had been introduced and the apocalypse that caused. The players took on the role of survivors, heeding a call to come to Sanctuary to try and create a new society.
On the Friday night we had people arriving at the complex in character. We had set up a defendable perimeter, and had some army guys standing there checking people as they came in. I had set up a scanner device (a cardboard tube with a torch inside and a slit cut down it so it glowed, attached to a laptop) where we were checking people as they arrived to ensure they weren’t “infected”.
We had set up an awesome set piece where Vic Johns had a chest-burster start to erupt. I hit a button on the laptop, and the scan result changed from a “clean” result to an ‘infected” one. Vic was ushered aside, getting several odd looks from people and whispered concerns. Then she started to convulse, and her white top was suddenly stained with blood. The army guys (who, aside from me, where unaware this was meant to be happening) raced to “put her down” - in the process one of the wooden palettes that we were using as part of the barricade fell in Vic (and we were very lucky she wasn’t badly injured!). I remember Leon being a smartgunner, and standing somewhere with a good line of fire that would allow him to mow down the entire crowd if necessary.
There were patrols that people had to help out with, generally involving one army guy and a bunch of volunteers. I recall that we had a bunch of Aliens masks, and at some point aliens started to grab people on patrol. Then they started to get closer to the compound.
The rules were that if an Alien grabbed you, you were dead. Which, to be fair, was fairly in line with the movies. I remember someone opening a door at one stage, sticking their head out to check for aliens, and an Alien behind the door grabbing them and dragging them out. Some really great scary moments!
The finale of the game involved a new type of alien, a huge tentacled blob that commanded the Aliens and was trying to negotiate a truce of sorts with the humans. I recall that it was effectively a huge puppet of some sort, with a person each working the arms.
The old website is still up, but the attached files don’t seem to work:
http://www.apocalypse.gen.nz/apocalypse/index.html
On the Friday night we had people arriving at the complex in character. We had set up a defendable perimeter, and had some army guys standing there checking people as they came in. I had set up a scanner device (a cardboard tube with a torch inside and a slit cut down it so it glowed, attached to a laptop) where we were checking people as they arrived to ensure they weren’t “infected”.
We had set up an awesome set piece where Vic Johns had a chest-burster start to erupt. I hit a button on the laptop, and the scan result changed from a “clean” result to an ‘infected” one. Vic was ushered aside, getting several odd looks from people and whispered concerns. Then she started to convulse, and her white top was suddenly stained with blood. The army guys (who, aside from me, where unaware this was meant to be happening) raced to “put her down” - in the process one of the wooden palettes that we were using as part of the barricade fell in Vic (and we were very lucky she wasn’t badly injured!). I remember Leon being a smartgunner, and standing somewhere with a good line of fire that would allow him to mow down the entire crowd if necessary.
There were patrols that people had to help out with, generally involving one army guy and a bunch of volunteers. I recall that we had a bunch of Aliens masks, and at some point aliens started to grab people on patrol. Then they started to get closer to the compound.
The rules were that if an Alien grabbed you, you were dead. Which, to be fair, was fairly in line with the movies. I remember someone opening a door at one stage, sticking their head out to check for aliens, and an Alien behind the door grabbing them and dragging them out. Some really great scary moments!
The finale of the game involved a new type of alien, a huge tentacled blob that commanded the Aliens and was trying to negotiate a truce of sorts with the humans. I recall that it was effectively a huge puppet of some sort, with a person each working the arms.
The old website is still up, but the attached files don’t seem to work:
http://www.apocalypse.gen.nz/apocalypse/index.html