Post-SLARPcon Post
Well, I've been silent for long enough. I had a lot of things on my plate for a while there. :-)
I'll post a bit of an update about the current situation later... for now, I just wanted to talk about the Con. Despite the turnout being WAY down from last year (closer to the first year's numbers), it was a rousing success. Everyone had a great time at all of the games, and there were at least a few new faces. Not as many as one would hope, but then the LARP community in Saskatoon is shrinking pretty steadily, due to advancing age/commitments/responsibilities and plain old attrition (moving away or quitting the scene). Still, I feel that the goals of SLARPA are being met as much as they are ever likely to be, unless some major new blood takes an interest. We had about 30 people this year, down from 45 last year. The year before that, we had close to 30 as well, but many of the players that year attended only one or two games, so turnouts at each game were generally smaller. Anyway, here's my game-by-game breakdown:
Vampire the Requiem was somewhat fun, although the focus of the game was a bit confusing. Many of us were uncertain how we were supposed to take the whole "you're all doomed!" aspect of things, but despite that minor nitpick there was enough meat on the bones to keep everyone quite entertained throughout the night, and the costumes and roleplaying were great! I would send out specific nods to Emmanuel, Rhea and Travor, but nobody was particularly far behind. Rhea and Alina were very much sexing up the place with their outfits, and everyone was on their game. It was a good time.
Legend of the Five Rings was probably one of the best LARPs I've ever played in, period. The pacing ran into a few problems, but the costumes and roleplaying and well-designed characters/goals made up for it. Trent should be damned proud as an ST, considering this was his very first LARP! I only have two pieces of advice for him, and neither were a big deal. Firstly, to take a bit more care with pacing (ie, be ready to nudge the players to get certain things moving when necessary). One of the main reasons the game ran late was that Trent was waiting for people to act on certain goals and/or have a few duels, and it would have been pretty easy to nudge people here and there to speed things up enormously in that regard. Second, he should have been a bit better prepared for the mass combat. The Ninja attack could have used one or two more STs (or even just some designated narrators) to handle it, so people didn't have to stand around waiting for so long. Attention to those two little details would have made this hands-down the best one-shot I've ever been in. And the costumes were AWESOME. There were NO bad ones. Even the weakest costumes fit well enough with the theme that they didn't really stand out at all. Alina's outfit was about the best LARP costume of any kind that I've ever seen. :-)
I didn't get to play in Kingdom Come because I was doing setup for my own game, which was a pity... but I heard it went VERY well. The pictures looked great, and the costumes were, once again, phenomenal. I didn't even recognize Rhea at first. The Angel looked absolutely amazing. I heard that Dave's plot had people absolutely thrilled, so kudos to Dave for that one! I'm sorry I had to miss it.
Shadowrun went very well, especially considering the couple of major near-disasters we encountered. One of my players had an emergency crop up at the last moment, and had to cancel right at noon! We were fortunate enough to find a replacement on zero notice, or we would have been totally screwed. Then another player had a blood-sugar-related episode and nearly passed out during the game, and had to leave (along with her boyfriend, one of my Staffers). We were very concerned, but she was alright after getting some rest, and came to hang out later in the evening. I was able to fairly effectively write her out, since the timing was appropriate, so no worries. Overall, things went much smoother than the last time I ran this, and I'm actually confident enough to run it again someday (if I can find another workable venue). There were only two things that I was disappointed with, and neither really hurt the overall game too much: The first was that not all of the NPCs got played, which meant I had two Staffers who didn't get to play their parts, which sucked for them. I could have probably forced the issue, but the second problem, the fact that Act II ran WAY too long, meant that there was no opportunity to do so. I have some ideas, however, to fix those issues if I ever run this LARP again, which would make things go even SMOOTHER. In any case, it looks like everyone involved had a great time, even the Staffers who didn't get to play their main parts, so I'm pleased with the overall effort. I am REALLY happy with the Staffers, who all worked their butts off, stuck around to help clean up, and made the game an absolute joy to run. My hat is totally off to those people. :-)
Serenity was a bit of a blur, since I was so tired out after my own game, but it was nice. I was actually glad that it was a bit quiet and subdued, because it meant I didn't have to be too on the ball. I had fun playing Wil in live action, and managed to figure out much of the plot in character, which is always fun. I wish Shani had run the game for a bit longer though... the game started late and I told her that she didn't have to wrap at midnight (since they don't kick us out at St. Andrew's), but she did anyway. However, despite the short game length, I think people still very much enjoyed themselves, and so things ended on a good note.
Overall, the attendance was down, but the people who WERE in attendance all played in multiple LARPs, unlike in years past. I'm very happy with how much the local crowd is taking to the idea of trying new things. People are already talking about next year! Best of all, there are people who are interested in keeping things going after I leave, which is thrilling! I was SO worried that the moment I left Saskatoon, the entire SLARPA organization would basically fall apart... Barry has a vested interest, but he has limited time and energy to donate to the cause. But, there are people willing to step up to the plate, and I think it's all going to work out great. I can't wait to come as a visiting player or ST next time around. :-D
I'll post a bit of an update about the current situation later... for now, I just wanted to talk about the Con. Despite the turnout being WAY down from last year (closer to the first year's numbers), it was a rousing success. Everyone had a great time at all of the games, and there were at least a few new faces. Not as many as one would hope, but then the LARP community in Saskatoon is shrinking pretty steadily, due to advancing age/commitments/responsibilities and plain old attrition (moving away or quitting the scene). Still, I feel that the goals of SLARPA are being met as much as they are ever likely to be, unless some major new blood takes an interest. We had about 30 people this year, down from 45 last year. The year before that, we had close to 30 as well, but many of the players that year attended only one or two games, so turnouts at each game were generally smaller. Anyway, here's my game-by-game breakdown:
Vampire the Requiem was somewhat fun, although the focus of the game was a bit confusing. Many of us were uncertain how we were supposed to take the whole "you're all doomed!" aspect of things, but despite that minor nitpick there was enough meat on the bones to keep everyone quite entertained throughout the night, and the costumes and roleplaying were great! I would send out specific nods to Emmanuel, Rhea and Travor, but nobody was particularly far behind. Rhea and Alina were very much sexing up the place with their outfits, and everyone was on their game. It was a good time.
Legend of the Five Rings was probably one of the best LARPs I've ever played in, period. The pacing ran into a few problems, but the costumes and roleplaying and well-designed characters/goals made up for it. Trent should be damned proud as an ST, considering this was his very first LARP! I only have two pieces of advice for him, and neither were a big deal. Firstly, to take a bit more care with pacing (ie, be ready to nudge the players to get certain things moving when necessary). One of the main reasons the game ran late was that Trent was waiting for people to act on certain goals and/or have a few duels, and it would have been pretty easy to nudge people here and there to speed things up enormously in that regard. Second, he should have been a bit better prepared for the mass combat. The Ninja attack could have used one or two more STs (or even just some designated narrators) to handle it, so people didn't have to stand around waiting for so long. Attention to those two little details would have made this hands-down the best one-shot I've ever been in. And the costumes were AWESOME. There were NO bad ones. Even the weakest costumes fit well enough with the theme that they didn't really stand out at all. Alina's outfit was about the best LARP costume of any kind that I've ever seen. :-)
I didn't get to play in Kingdom Come because I was doing setup for my own game, which was a pity... but I heard it went VERY well. The pictures looked great, and the costumes were, once again, phenomenal. I didn't even recognize Rhea at first. The Angel looked absolutely amazing. I heard that Dave's plot had people absolutely thrilled, so kudos to Dave for that one! I'm sorry I had to miss it.
Shadowrun went very well, especially considering the couple of major near-disasters we encountered. One of my players had an emergency crop up at the last moment, and had to cancel right at noon! We were fortunate enough to find a replacement on zero notice, or we would have been totally screwed. Then another player had a blood-sugar-related episode and nearly passed out during the game, and had to leave (along with her boyfriend, one of my Staffers). We were very concerned, but she was alright after getting some rest, and came to hang out later in the evening. I was able to fairly effectively write her out, since the timing was appropriate, so no worries. Overall, things went much smoother than the last time I ran this, and I'm actually confident enough to run it again someday (if I can find another workable venue). There were only two things that I was disappointed with, and neither really hurt the overall game too much: The first was that not all of the NPCs got played, which meant I had two Staffers who didn't get to play their parts, which sucked for them. I could have probably forced the issue, but the second problem, the fact that Act II ran WAY too long, meant that there was no opportunity to do so. I have some ideas, however, to fix those issues if I ever run this LARP again, which would make things go even SMOOTHER. In any case, it looks like everyone involved had a great time, even the Staffers who didn't get to play their main parts, so I'm pleased with the overall effort. I am REALLY happy with the Staffers, who all worked their butts off, stuck around to help clean up, and made the game an absolute joy to run. My hat is totally off to those people. :-)
Serenity was a bit of a blur, since I was so tired out after my own game, but it was nice. I was actually glad that it was a bit quiet and subdued, because it meant I didn't have to be too on the ball. I had fun playing Wil in live action, and managed to figure out much of the plot in character, which is always fun. I wish Shani had run the game for a bit longer though... the game started late and I told her that she didn't have to wrap at midnight (since they don't kick us out at St. Andrew's), but she did anyway. However, despite the short game length, I think people still very much enjoyed themselves, and so things ended on a good note.
Overall, the attendance was down, but the people who WERE in attendance all played in multiple LARPs, unlike in years past. I'm very happy with how much the local crowd is taking to the idea of trying new things. People are already talking about next year! Best of all, there are people who are interested in keeping things going after I leave, which is thrilling! I was SO worried that the moment I left Saskatoon, the entire SLARPA organization would basically fall apart... Barry has a vested interest, but he has limited time and energy to donate to the cause. But, there are people willing to step up to the plate, and I think it's all going to work out great. I can't wait to come as a visiting player or ST next time around. :-D