The Very Long Night of Owen Asteria

Normally, I only talk about snippets of play unless it was a full event. That being said, the last game of Requiem was pretty spectacular and I thought I should share. This is the story of Owen Asteria becoming Prince of New York. This will be done both In Character and Out of Character.

Before we begin, I should explain some things. My character, Owen, is a member of House Asteria, a centuries old Family of Vampires who are founded by three Siblings: Ramiel, Phoebe and Rhona. Through the centuries, they have politicked, enjoyed, and experienced so much as they became mainstays of the Circle of the Crone, the political body of pagan Vampires. Owen is the childe of Genevieve Asteria, who is herself the Childe or Ramiel. Owen was Embraced in the mid 1920's, is a member of the Circle himself, and is also a Khaibit. Khaibit are a rare form of vampire who are able to manipulate and even become living shadows. Owen's Khaibit mentor has manipulated and guided Owen through covert and overt measures for decades, with Owen's instruction coming to a head by being tortured for months and left to fend for himself.

In New York, the City is on the brink of war. Vampires of Belial's Brood, a chaotic cult of Devil Worshippers, have infested Long Island and consistently breach the borders into the City proper. Owen, who was made Seneschal (think Chief of Staff) for the Prince of New York, Maria Lorraine. While Maria was away and Owen given nominal Praxis of New York, it was decided that War were to be declared against the Brood. It was also that night that Owen was to learn his mentor is in Long Island, or at the very least another vampire like him. The Asteria are very much aware that Owen is willing and able to go into Long Island, which is a chaotic nightmare for Vampires, to hunt them down and have made very loud noises to stop him.

A month passes, April to May. I come in to game after dinner, where I meet Jenna, the player for Maria Lorraine. She came up to me and said "So I'd like to start off the game by giving up Praxis to Owen."

I blinked, we had discussed this happening for a while ICly and OOCly, but we hadn't nailed anything down. We agreed to hold off, because Genevieve, Owen's Sire and Harpy (think Court Reporter meets a Gossip Columnist and Social Demagogue. Then add Fangs) isn't there and this is something that should be recorded and should have someone to play Social Referee in case shit goes weird. We agree and hold off until Genevieve can arrive. I come in to game as Owen and approach Owen's aunt, Phoebe. Phoebe is one of Owen's teachers and out of most of the family one of the people Owen trusts. Owen tells her that Maria Lorraine intends to step down that night. Phoebe, and her player Margaret, blink.

"We need a family meeting, right now" She says, both of her, Phoebe AND Margaret.

We grab the members of the Family in attendance. Myself, Phoebe, Ramiel, Rhona, and Owen's cousin (and Prince of Oneonta) James. Owen unites them and then explains what is to happen. There is general shock, especially from Ramiel, who isn't a fan of the rather large and already present Asteria gaining any more overt power. Becoming Prince of New York, arguably the most influential City currently existing on God's Green Earth, qualifies as having more overt power.

A lot of things were said there in the initial reaction.  Too many for me to remember. Ramiel was aghast, and immediately spoke of people readying to declare that the Asteria wished to declare Imperia, Dynastic rule of the NorthEastern Region. Rhona, on the other hand, had other thoughts. Apparently, during the time that Owen had been away at 'Summer Camp', being tortured and instructed in the Khaibit Arts by his psychotic Ra's-al-ghul-was-a-rank-amateur Mentor, Juniper (Owen's cousin, Rhona's daughter, and a somewhat insane dreamseer) had a dream of Owen.

There was a lot of fire, a lot of death, and Owen was the bringer of most of it. I have the whole thing on my computer, because my ST is a vicious bastard and my writing partner and wanted to share. I know the omen, Owen only knows that something has gotten people spooked. Apparently, Owen is a stand in for Fenrir, the wolf of Darkness and the beast the cracks off Ragnarok and the death of the Gods. By Gods, we mean the Founders.

Oh fun.

Owen got the liner notes from Rhona, which left nothing to make Owen any more comfortable with things to come. It was decided that if Owen wished it (and very darkly, he did) then the family would give him their blessing. From there, Owen just had to wait out the night, wait for Genevieve, and also get a hold of his allies.

His main ally is Johanne Fleischer, Viceroy Johanne Fleischer of the Invictus. To describe the Invictus, well, they are the Nobility. They have vassals, lieges, and courtly traditions. They are civilization in the face of vampiric inhumanity. And Johanne is the Final Word for the Invictus in the NorthEast. Johanne is a Nosferatu, a rare form called a Caporetti that was prone to freezing things at a touch and for stoic efficiency. He's a civilized killer, much like Owen. Owen spilled things out to Johanne, and his goals to appoint Johanne as Herald. Herald is like the Vice President, ultimately they do nothing unless the top office becomes vacant. Owen did this for several reasons, 1) because Johanne is his ally; 2) because Johanne is one of the few vampires in the City Owen trusts not to attempt to stab him in the back, but rather go for the chest 3) because it would help keep the OTHER invictus off his tits, and possibly put more of them to work for the City.

Of course, just as Owen's about to give that pitch, Ramiel appears and informs him that he has spoken to House Bari, an Invictus Family that has long been allied with the Asteria, and that they support Owen's Praxis in return for Status and the title of Herald.

Owen loves his family. He has to in a real sense. He is a Khaibit, a servant in the same way Samurai serve. They are spies and killers and administrators. Owen serves House Asteria, and he loves them all very deeply.

That does not mean he likes them all of the time.

Later on, when Owen encountered Ramiel and asked for further details, the title had changed to something else. This has lead to an ongoing discussion as Owen sets his Court in order.

While also discussing with Ramiel, Owen lets it out of his fear. He is afraid, he is afraid that this is exactly what he wants and that he's afraid that this is all playing into the hands of his Mentor/Torturer. He explains to Ramiel that Khaibit are servants, but he clarifies that Khaibit don't have to serve people, they can serve an idea. Owen is aware that his mentor is the latter, and that his Machiavellian schemes are being played like 3d chess, and all the moves Owen can make are to his advantage. Owen taking Praxis is in part Owen's way of preparing the City, because Owen realizes that while his mentor is on Long Island, he isn't part of the Brood. If anything, he's using the Brood for his own purposes.

This entire meeting happened on the fire escape of the studio we were playing in, the night giving way to darkness and a light pattering of rain hitting us as we take the night air. It added a lot to the scene, giving it a more naked and vulnerable feeling. Owen, being something of a cthonic figure, definitely felt more comfortable in the darkness and away from the light. Most of his meetings took place behind a heavy black curtain. He did this as much for privacy as much as the fact that anyone dumb enough to challenge a Shadowmancer in a darkened corner is someone Darwin would have just handed the Award to.

Other meetings that happened in waiting for Genevieve's arrival included Maria Lorraine, keeping her apprised of several things. As they were talking and sharing in one of the few candid moments, Owen and Maria kissed. I haven't really done romantic scenes in larps, mostly because I'm awkward with them in real life. But things had gotten intense, and Owen's main Vice is Lust. So I went out of character and Narrated to Jenna that Owen kisses Maria. She in turn narrated that Maria returned it and added her own. It had become clear throughout the night that the two of them would be seeking relationship devoid of business and more towards pleasure.

Around this time, Genevieve arrived, with the rest of the Asteria. Owen's Uncle (and some times Lover) Nikolas and Owen's cousin Adwin (aka Winny) Asteria, along with her Ghoul, nicknamed "Roomba" or "Futon", arrived with her. Owen guided them and the family as well back into an empty corridor (which thanks to the people in the building we were playing game, definitely had the nice druggy smell of a real Asteria meeting) and reiterated what he had said before. No one was really surprised, if anything Genevieve was expecting it, continuing a long history of Owen and Genevieve just being complete assholes to each other.

Of all the other members, Owen was most interested in Winny's reaction. The month before, when it became clear that Owen was going to War with the Brood, Winny had gentle taken him aside and said, in her utmost sincerity and unabashed commanding tone that she refused to let Owen go into battle alone. This would have been fine, Owen had fielded a similar scene with Ramiel the same night, except that Owen and Adwin up to that point hadn't really interacted in a serious way. Owen and Adwin loved each other in a light, somewhat shallow fashion. They'd talk and flirt, they'd make jokes and snide comebacks at each other. Their first scene together involved Adwin jumping on Owen's back for a piggyback ride. This outburst, and the scene in of itself, marked a very large beat change for them both. It was one of the more heated scenes I had ever taken part in, made all the more possible because Adwin's player, Jill, is not one to pull her punches. It ended with Owen confused and angry, and with Adwin angry and shouting at him at how important he is. The conversation was set to continue

That conversation didn't continue until a month later, when Owen announced his ascension. Eventually, Owen took her aside, back onto the darkened Fire Escape, and asked her if there was going to be any problems. She said there weren't. They discussed their situations on a fire escape with a light drizzle hitting them.  And the two of them came to an understanding, that the two of them genuinely do care for each other. Even in a Family of Vampires, genuine love is rare. It'll be interesting to see where that goes, if anywhere.

The night continued. Owen, Genevieve and Maria convened to coordinate her abdication to the Throne. After announcements were made, including a tie in to the North East convention later this month, Maria Lorraine made hers. As far as transitions of Praxis are concerned, I think this one was the most amiable I've ever heard of. She handed it off, taking a smaller office with some lands attached, and going off to enjoy the rest of her nights, which apparently would include Owen, and very little clothing.

So, there I was, and there Owen was. And the Court of New York applauded him. He spoke of the coming war with the Brood, he spoke of New York and it's importance. He spoke of hard times and he made promises to do right by them.

And then, Ramiel stood up and said, very clearly.

"The Circle of the Crone support Prince Owen Asteria,"

There was a pause, or at least I remember a pause. And then another voice rose up.

"The Carthian movement supports Prince Owen Asteria."

Another voice rose,

"House Bari supports Prince Owen Asteria."

Another, this time Adwin

"The Unaligned supports Prince Owen Asteria."

another,

"The Lancea Sanctum supports Prince Owen Asteria."

Chills flooded me that moment. It's one of those "you had to have been there moments" I had been there, and both my character and I shared a moment of surrealness. This was a scene most people saw in movies and books, it was something that most Vampire Players dream of doing. My Character had been made Prince, and in the most theatrical way was accepted by the Court. I talk of the Mythic aspects of Larping, and I talk of Bleed. After all that had gone on that night, that was the crescendo to a full evening. Four hours of pure roleplay, with little-to-no-stops, and with experiences from nearly everyone in the room. It was a thrill and a joy.

Now that Owen is Prince, and is the first and last line of most of the intrigue, it's only going to get better/worse from here.

Hopefully I'll have more to report on that soon,

Later

A good few weeks

The past month has been a pretty enjoyable series of events in larping circles. That's saying a lot considering the recent rash of burnout. I figured I would share.

Last week, I went to Boston to play their Requiem and Accord games. My friend Abby invited me to come with her and it was a great opportunity. Boston is a great town, even for someone who is born and raised in the Bronx. We made our way in to Requiem, which was already under way. Abby and I play (respectively) Genevieve and Owen Asteria. Genevieve is the Harpy of New York, one part Court Reporter, two parts Queen High Bitch of Sass. She records the goings on and sordid details of Court as well as recording the major currency of Vampire Society: Favors. She records their purchase and cashing in, as well as the Status one acquires for the City. Owen is her childe, she is the one who bit him almost a hundred years ago. He is Seneschal of New York, the chief of staff for Prince Maria Lorraine (note: Prince is considered a gender neutral term to Vampires) of New York. Together they are a part of House Asteria, a family of hedonists, ritualists, socialites and influence mongers that span the Eastern Half of the United States.

Visiting the Boston Court was interesting, as there had been some drama as of late between a House member and the current Prince of Boston. Genevieve was there to smooth things over, Owen was there to make sure she got out of Boston without breaking a nail. It was mostly a social gathering for us. Many of the other characters were chasing down plot (more of that to come), so it was just Genevieve, Owen, Prince Claudia Malve and her Harpy, May. Owen/I sat at the sidelines and just enjoyed the three talking. All of them having been Harpies at one point or another. Just being able to socialize and learn about things outside of New York, especially how people view Owen's family.

As the game moved on, the characters chasing the plot arrived. The spoke of a Cult that Worships eternal darkness, being able to summon Monsters of Shadow from a different dimension. Genevieve and Owen just look at each other, because Owen is a Khaibit, a type of vampire that can control shadow and darkness, one whom worships eternal darkness. Owen shakes his head and just goes "Not my circus, not my monkeys". I'm not sure what Owen could have done, but I don't like coming into a town and just going "by the way, I have this thing which could quite possible kill your plot." Social are for visitors, plots I like to keep for the locals unless it's absolutely necessary.

At Accord, my Mage Rhys had a full night. Rhys came in with Abby's Firewall (spelled F1R3W@LL, because fucking computers), a Changeling who runs the New York Cell of the Accord. They came to celebrate a cell member of Boston at his wake, as he sacrificed himself at the National Convention just a few months before. Rhys went to mingle with other Accordists and to do what he does best: Speak to Cities. Rhys also went to brow beat another Mage, who had essentially abducted one of his friends into the Spirit Realm for no reason other than "I wanted to make friends with him and show him what I can do"

Rhys, if nothing else, is not a fan of other Mages. He's from the school of playing smart and clever than Hard and Loud. The running joke from people more often working out of New York is that Rhys is one of the most competent Mages in the entire (global) Accord. We joke about it, we laugh, then it was spelled out to Rhys (and myself) that this wasn't a joke. Not only that, but people had been keeping Rhys off of people's radars because incompetant Mages can be used. A competent Mage is a threat.

This was made abundantly clear when the Cell Leader of Boston asked Rhys to investigate the major problem going on in the City...actually, he asked a lot of things, to which Rhys replied with "Whoa! Whoa! I'm good, but I didn't exactly bring my CSI kit, and I don't think Cities speak much Science, except maybe Silicon Valley. He searched, and he got some answers with the help of others. Rhys became useful the entire night as people kept asking him to look into things.

By the end of the night, he *might* have found a way to fix things for Boston. Which he then goes "Guys, go and do a thing. Seriously. Will help you." Because I DO NOT LIKE BEING THE SPECIAL SNOWFLAKE OF THE ROOM, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT'S NOT MY ROOM.

Oh, and he managed to get a date that night with one of the local cell members. Score all around.

It's refreshing to play outside of your home town, because you don't know who these people are for the most part, both in and out of character. You don't know the set lingo, you're out of your comfort zone. You feel the need to be on your best game. Whereas in your home game, you slip into familiar patterns, allowing yourself to have off nights and such. If you're going to be visiting another group, you might as well give it some extra oomph.

Also happening this month was the all call for articles for the Wyrdcon Companion. WCC is a yearly publication for scholarly larp articles. Having met quite a few of the writers, and being spurred on by my own cheering section (hi guys), I submitted my abstract for the publication. The Article is about Mythology and Larping, how Mythologies create larping situations and how larping situations (players and their roleplay) in turn create their own mythology. It's a subject I hold near and dear, having formed the idea some months back. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens.

I was also able to meet Johanna Koljonen and Bjarke Pedersen, members of the Nordic Larp scene. They did a lecture on Nordic Larping as an artform. Together, they gave a breakdown of larp, of Nordic Larp, and as it's use. They spoke of four games, one in which it was a larp based around Hamlet, and the players took on the roles of the court of Elsinore. The second was a larp about a futuristic commune based around the concepts of Perls and Gestalt Therapy (which having spent years reading Perls, he'd have most likely gotten a kick out of it). They touched on a lot of feelings I have towards Psychodrama, having studied it in my internship. The third was Just a Little Lovin, the story of love and life at beach houses in New York during the beginning of the Aids epidemic. And finally, Monitor Celestra, a Battlestar Galactica larp taking place on a WWII ship to simulate the retro tech of the series.

During the lecture, Johanna asks an important question: Are these high concept larps 'games'? My answer was that it was more 'play'. You have rules agreed upon, boundaries and settings. And then you stretch out your imagination. Games, at least in the modern sense, denotes a winner and a loser. What is winning and losing in a larp? How does that factor? It's more playing with one another, less competitive and more collaborative (KEY WORD).

After the lecture, I spoke with Johanna, Bjarke and Shoshana (who of course hosted). We talked about the shaping of mythology in larp (which gave me some really good feedback). We also talked about the Harry Potter larp that's forming in Poland by Claus Rassted (major Nordic Larp designer and overall awesome human being), and the planning that some people are putting into their trip, including a trunk and filling it with genre appropriate things. I spoke of my love of in-world books and my projects in that vein, making field journals and grimoires and tomes for my characters and games. We spoke a lot and it was a fun night of exchanging ideas. It's also made me want, in a very real way, to go to Denmark next winter for Knutepunkt, the Nordic Larp conference. Several days in Copenhagen listening and playing a bunch of interesting high concept games? Yes, please. All of this.

Finally, this past weekend (after my trip to Boston), Owen was made Prince of New York. This was something that, quite honestly, I didn't think was going to happen, but somehow it just worked out that way? I had said before that Owen would want praxis, but Craig wasn't sure. Craig made the decision to go for it. The Prince the past several months has been played by Jenna, my friend of five years. This was her first ever larp character and her first time roleplaying, and she managed to play Prince so well that people didn't want to kill her to take the throne. Now the game has changed a bit, and while Owen has the throne, he now needs to prove he earned it.

This also means that, at the end of the month, Owen will be at NERE (the regional convention for Mind's Eye Society) as a Prince of New York, joined by probably several others. That means I get to be sociable to all of the fellow monsters.

It's been a good couple of weeks for me. I'm sure I'll update as the time goes on.

Later,

C

Resignation and Resolutions

So last night, I resigned my position as Mage Storyteller of New York City. For those who aren't members of the Mind's Eye Society, Storytellers are a volunteer position elected for a term of one year for the respective venue (longer if you're in a Regional or National position). I have been running the Mage The Awakening game here since October of 2012, closing out the Chronicle (the global campaign) and creating the setting for the new Chronicle .

Then August came, and burn out came and I stopped really caring. In retrospect, I should have stepped down completely in September when I first decided to take a break. I didn't, because there really was no one to replace me for Mage, and because I loved the venue. I continued, and my burn out continued.

Mage went from a larp in a studio to what really boiled down to a tabletop in the apartments of the DC or DST, run on sundays on the same weekend we have Changeling, Accord, and Requiem. It's the last game, and you can see just the exhaustion roll in when game time comes. It's also the one with the lowest interest in the club overall, so most of the people who were interested in helping were people who were playing, and I like plots that overlap with one another which leads to a lot of Conflict of Interest for my assistants. There was also a focus more on achieving personal goals than working together, which makes a live game so difficult since you're all in a group together during a live game.

 So, in short, I was the only person running a venue that cannot be done by one person. Ever. Mage covers the entire cosmic structure of the New World of Darkness and consists of essentially ten different magic systems. You cannot be everywhere at once. And then when it gets to a live game and people are coming in to character simply because the schedule says so and they have no impetus either IC or OOC, it becomes murder to get them interested.

So, with some prodding by people who clearly have more invested interest in my mental health than I do (thank you guys), I resigned from Mage.

And that sucks. It sucks because out of all the venues in White Wolf's World of Darkness, I like Mage the most. It's a game that asks pretty existentialist questions. What is the soul? What is our connection to the universe. Are we defined by our abilities or do we define them? Mages are the only of the Higher Templates (Hunters and Psychics are considered Lesser Templates) that can be argued are still human. They have normal life spans (unless you're fucking with Life and Time magic pretty roughly) and can conceive children. They are human, they've just had their souls opened to the magic that exists in the universe.

I also liked Mage because, out of the whole bunch, it got the most flak from the other players. I've been in Mage for two-three years now, and I keep hearing 1) the mechanics are scary/confusing/too much and 2) it's predecessor, Mage the Ascension was 'their game'. Mage gets the short end of the stick because it can do everything...and oddly nothing at the same time. In Accord, which throws all of the various white wolf games into an adventure against an evil presence from beyond this dimension, Mages have the most restrictions in their abilities. In a survey, the Template that people felt needed fewer restrictions was Mage. In the same survey, the Template that people felt needed more restrictions was Mage. It's a polarizing game, and I have a thing for the underdog.

There was another point that some people have put in: Mage works best as a Tabletop, not a Larp. I will refute this kicking and screaming. It's difficult for it to work as a Larp, because so much of the White Wolf games relies on going out of character to use their abilities. This becomes a problem when every solution involves showcasing your powers. My stance now is that Mage can work as a Larp, just not in the culture it's currently being played in. There is a culture that focuses too much on their own personal things and not on the collaborative efforts of the club. This some times comes off as loan-wolf types just wanting to play their sheets, to being the most influential, to cliques forming up. It becomes more competitive than collaborative and that's what larping really is: a collaborative effort. There is competition involved, and it should be involved, but in order to push others to be their best, not to promote yourself. Some people have not gotten that message.

So, where do we go from here. I am going to enjoy being a player instead of an officer for once, haven't done that in a while. Or maybe I won't, maybe I'll just take that vacation I wanted to take in September and never really got to because of my work with Mage. I'm not really sure. People have already nudged me towards playtesting Dresden Lives, and I'm tempted to. I know that I'd like to actually work on Kensei, because dear lord that game needs to be born if anything just to see what happens. I also have a ton of ideas I want to do to run freeform or even Nordic style games, because in my time in MES I've gotten a craving for deeper role play and more immersive experiences.

Part of me would still like to work with Mage though, just not in the MES. A bunch of friends have gone off to do their own game of Werewolf, and the experience there is probably better than in a club, especially when it's all based on pack dynamics. I'd like to do that, build a game for a group of people that I know and we can all come to an agreement about what we're all looking for in a game like Mage and a group that is small but has some chemistry with each other. And, of course, actually want to be there.

Which leads me to some things I would love to have done differently if I could go back and do things differently during this Chronicle. The first would be to have an already running Consilium. The Government exists and none of the players are in it unless they want to. The players would need to join PC teams (called cabals, for those non-mages) or establish significant ties with one another. That didn't happen much, and even a year into gameplay there is little to no dialogue between players or PCs.

Another thing, and my major point, would be that for the first few games that your PC is in, they are a normal human being, maybe someone who is aware of magic, but they are mortal. The idea is that I want people to get a taste of their PCs normal lives, and then have their Awakening to magic horribly alter that normality.

But that's after Detox, and that's exactly what this feels like.

Later,

C

Location, Location, Location

A while back, I mentioned that I had been working on a boffer Larp concept called Kensei. The premise was that it was a Larp set at a World Martial Arts Tournament, with combatants, managers, trainers, merchants and reporters all running around and making deals and drama. The real drama was what happened outside of the ring. Life being what it is, Kensei hit a bit of a snag and has been on the back burner, but gamer friends of mine have expressed interest and it makes me want to explore more options.

One thing I was thinking of during the planning would be the 'where' this would take place. The actual, physical location that people would meet and put on this personal theatre for a weekend. In my mind, I thought of using the same grounds that Dystopia Rising's New Jersey game uses: Camp Sacajawea. The Camp rents itself out to Larps almost exclusively and I know of two or three that use the site regularly.

I imagined a game of Kensei to playout through the campground, with the main building being used as the central hub for the players and the managers to receive their match times and locations, the barn next door to be the medical pavillion where the medics worked and slept. I imagined the wagons and tents in the far distance of the grounds to be Merchant Mile, and have almost a Carnival/Travelling wagon flare to selling as people used the wagons and heavy tents to sell their stuff. And throughout the grounds would be designated rings, where matches would take place to the PCs attending. It would almost be a village unto itself at times, a zone where people could fight and battles could be won.

But, in discussing certain points with my friends, they were put off by the location. Camping isn't for everyone, and it would bar a lot of my friends opposed to the idea. The suggested possibly holding it at a hotel, almost as if it were a convention or conference. In an odd way, this made a sort of sense, especially when considering that that was what it was, effectively, and even more so when you consider that a major thing I wanted to take place in: The Media. Hotels have more available internet access and are more readily tech friendly. It makes sense that this is where it would take place...

But I liked the concept of the game taking place at the campground, because it was a fixed location that could be familiar and lead to a lot of fun activities out in the wild. In a hotel though, there could be more intimate roleplay, more connection. But having it in a hotel is a tenuous situation, and wouldn't be good for regular events unless we made a lot of money/donations to make it worth it to the Hotel to let us keep coming back and to reschedule, while the camp would require rent and upkeep, but as long as the checks cleared and everything remains copacetic, then we could use the place indefinitely.

This brings me to where I am now: Do I want this game to be a one off/seasonal/annual game? Or a game played on regular intervals? One location makes it very easier to do the former and the other makes it easier to do that and the latter. And this got me to thinking of something that I discussed a lot in the past few months:

Drama doesn't happen in a vacuum. You're operating in some form and space that helps bring context to your actions. I mentioned this to the actors during our run of Jedi MacBeth (you heard me!) in a black box theater. The key to acting was to make it feel like you were in a location. You weren't just walking on and walking off the stage, you were in the fields of Dunsinane/Dathomir or of the various other places. You had to pretend you were in a castle or hallway or on the field of battle and act accordingly or else your audience's suspension of disbelief dies a very short lived death.

Actors have it both harder and easier than a larper, when you consider that we are our own audiences. We have to collaboratively keep the veil of disbelief suspended for each other to maintain the performance, otherwise we're just standing there, reciting lines and not experiencing anything, and not giving our audience/fellow performers, material to work with. Not having anything to react to kills any performance dead in it's tracks. This was one of the things I was stressing to people I was working with in scenes, if you just say something, I can't respond. Give me something to work with, an emotion, a touch or a look. Let me work off of you if I can't work off of the environment.

Most of the games I've played have been in black box situations. Most games happen in studios, where we have to remind ourselves that we're doing this game in a bar, or a castle, or an apartment somewhere. Sometime, we CAN do a game at a bar or apartment, and it adds to the flavor and depth (or at the very least cuts out a lot of the work on imagining it). Then you've got some of these games, mostly the Nordic games, that take place on world war two ships to simulate retro-like battlestars in space, or in corporate offices to simulate an advertising agencies corporate headquarters. These games are all about Immersion, about the deep dive into environment, which in turn leads into a deep dive into character. Then you have the folks at Sleep No More, who are just going for the anal retentive 'everything is in character' attire where the books, notes, and tools are all able to be looked at and manipulated.

Speaking of Sleep No More, they do location and it's role in performance right. Several warehouses mashed into one superstructure with various rooms. The only way to enter the space is through a darkened, smoky tunnel where you are greeted by music from the 1930's. Suddenly you find yourself in a dive bar and you realize that the show starts now. Of course, this is the point. And the producers of SNM have made the site as much an attraction as the performance. The principle of it, however, makes all the bloody difference in the world.

Which brings me to another point, Locations help designate the Magic Circle, that area where we've designated for our roleplay. Like any good Ritual Circle, the boundaries are prepared and delineated through special (if not symbolic) tools to give us space to work in. Working in a space that is just arbitrarily declared game space takes a lot more work, and leads to ambiguous game play. This is especially true when you are in a space that could potentially overlap with the public. Where do the lines of games begin and end, locations help set that.

In a camp like Sacajawea, the boundaries are clear and the character play is solid. In a Hotel, depending on how much area control we have and how we plan it, the magic circle could be pervasive and persist throughout the whole building or just in designated areas. The former would make things awkward and possibly problematic when witnessed by those not in the game and viewing things out of context. The latter option of playing in designated areas limits the options of what players can and can't do.

In the end, I'm siding with a Hotel for the inaugural game...if of course I can get the world and mechanics ready. If the game can go a weekend, and people wish to make it a regular event, then we'd discuss other options. Meanwhile, I'll plan for the world in my head, and deal with the world outside when it's time for that.

Later, Liches.

C

Patreon Support

Hey gang, I recently opened up a Patreon account. Patreon is a funding website, like kickstarter, which supports projects through generation donations and rewards. Patreon's focus is less for larger projects and more for items like blogs, videos, short stories, drawings and the like. You're paying by the post (up to a limit you set for each month). It's a great way of supporting projects you enjoy.

This blog, and furthermore this hobby, means a lot to me and has become a great source of talking to and meeting other like minded individuals. Unfortunately, times are hard and I'm unemployed. So while I'm not asking you to fun my life, I'm asking help in donating to the blog. The money spent there will go primarily to gaming and related items, which in turn goes back to the blog. So we all win.

Any donations are beautiful, and so are you. Here's a link, and one is permanently pasted in the far right corner of this page: http://www.patreon.com/WrathfulLarper

Thank you,

Craig

Magic Makes People Dumb.

My friend Brandon, who along with being the bastardly Storyteller for Requiem is also my best friend and one of the people who plays in my Mage game, sent me a link to This Article. In it, it talks about Game of Thrones and how after 12,000 years of human history, they still haven't exceeded the feudal systems that we've shaken off centuries before. The article, which is clearly geared towards cars and making for an interesting slant in the discussion of the page, believes that a lot of that has to do with the fact that Magic, the dragons and the magic that surrounds it, has only waned for a century or two, and it is making a return. More importantly, the article supposes one major thing:

Magic Makes You Dumb.

The article talks about this on a technological level. When you have powers that could conceivably alter the course of storms, fate, life and other such fun aspects of the Cosmos, then you don't really go looking into developing much afterwards. They have the knowledge and will power to, if at any point, make things like steam engines, but when you have dragons and fire priestesses and men who could change their appearances to kill indiscriminately, why?

Of course, this is looking at things on a grander scale than most of what we've talked about before, and I think it's dependent on the world you're telling. Personally, I think the author is thinking a lot of High Fantasy settings like Tolkien, Pern and other such places where it's Magic, pure and simple, and science is completely segregated (if at all). But there has been an upsurge lately of fantasy worlds that view the magic as their science. Jim Butcher, Patrick Rothfuss and Brandon Sanderson, masters of worldbuilding, do this all the time. There are Rules to their magic, as much as Science as it is an Artform. If you're creating Fire, then that heat must come from somewhere. If you exert energy here, it must come from some place here. The reason no one has ever thought in these worlds "Hey, let's build a train!" Is because:

1) They already have an equivalent to the technology needed, making a non magical version redundant, especially if magic out-trumps science in this world.

2) The ruling government doesn't want them to. This is most often in Magocratic societies where those who can use magic (or the most powerful of them) are in absolute control and to keep the population from having an equal foothold withholds technology. This is the Lord Ruler of Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series, having spent 1000 years of his life stunting human technological evolution and relying on feudal systems and making the nobility, which comprise those descended from the first magic users he created, the high pinnacles of power and authority, second only to his praxis. Tech doesn't exist because the magic users won't allow it.

3) No one ever thought about it. Seriously, in a world where magic is prevalent and a major part of the culture, Why would they think about it? I'm reminded of the Codex Alera Series by Jim Butcher, where every Aleran could use to various degrees the Furies, spirits of the elements of Earth, Wood, Metal, Air, Water, and Fire. The buildings were made by raising them from the sheer ground. People could fly and carry messages to the far corners of the map, all healers needed was a tub of water and some patience and a cup of water could serve as a communication tool. It was also a magocracy, of sorts, with the strongest being the emperor.

The playing field changes throughout the series because someone (ironically, the only Aleran who couldn't use Furies) began thinking of technological ways of dealing with things. He took the most basic elements of fury crafting like placing fire into glass spheres, and placing stacks of those spheres into newly patented catapults. The Aristocracy, built on it's principle of Authority Equals Asskicking, is floored by this at this means that the common folk, given enough time and energy, could level entire forces if they so please.

So while the article is based on the principle that magic makes you dumb, it's presuming that Magic is separate from science. Arthur Clarke is famous for saying that "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic". In fantasy these days, the reverse is true, "any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from science".

In Patrick Rothfuss' Kingskiller Series, magic is treated exactly like sciences. That includes Sympathy, which is treated as thermodynamics on a larger scale. Alchemy, which is like chemistry but on a apparently markedly advanced version (the narrator is forced to admit he knows nothing of alchemy), Sygaldry is the use of sigils on items to give them special abilities, like absorbing heat to make iceboxes. The last one is markedly more magical, but used in a highly practical way. The use of Names, of knowing of things such as rocks and fire and flesh and commanding them to your will, is seen as close to true magic, even to those who can do the previous schools. That one, when the scientifically minded narrator attempts to take, becomes utterly confused by it, even frustrated. That form of magic is more an artform in the sense that there is almost a sublime understanding, but there is a method of the madness.

The problem with the technology in most fantasy stories has more to do with the era they were based on. The feudal societies of the Dark Ages times were stagnant and never ending, with technology and education going more towards the nobility and religious castes and protecting/usurping more land and resources. A novel during those days is going to reflect the technologically backwards mindset. Write a fantasy series in Rennaisance Italy or after and you'll get a different outcome. In fact, look up Clock Punk, Steam Punk, DieselPunk, DecoPunk and Raygun Gothic. Every fantasy set roughly after the Dark Ages allows the use of technology, because it makes sense that it would be there.

Now, the article was sent to me as a comment about Magic in Mage the Awakening in regards to it's players. I've already gone on a rant about how people sometimes view magic in Mage. Where most people see it as a I see thing, I use thing; I view magic in Mages in terms of applied sciences. Death magic is no more important than a wrench when things happen, and over specializing costs a lot.

 A friend playing in Accord (where all the New World of Darkness venues are legal to play) recalled to me a scene of where a Mage recently learned the abilities to speak to and deal with Spirits and the Spirit Realm, and then immediately coerced him (my friend) into going into the spirit realm with him for no other purpose than to show off. The Spirit Realm, where anything and everything is potentially alive and disproves of your life choices (you're alive, bad choice) and you just bring someone in to jerk your staff a bit.

This notion is prevalent throughout Mage quite a bit, as I've seen. People respond to everything in terms of "how can I magic this." Magic isn't always the answer, if anything it's often the problem. It's widely considered that the forces that inhibit the mages, despite the fact that it is imbued with an alien and malevolent will, is in fact a good thing. It's often seen as the only answer because the players see it as the only answer. One of the problems I have with the culture of the Mind's Eye Society games is a sense of one-upsmanship that a friend of mine once called The Arms Race. "This party has the ability to call Shadows and be fused to the Spirit of whatever Domain their in, then I must have the ability to summon the Sun and exorcise even the mightiest of Gods".

It's not just Mage, it's the other games as well. It's keeping up with the Jones' and the Cold War in the same gasp, with Accord putting into place some pretty strict rules that make pvp a bad idea. However, you still see some of that come through. There's a sense of being the special snowflake, of being the one that is THE authority in the thing and playing it out on their sheet instead of building it up through role play and through out of character and in character collaboration. It's tacky, it's cheesy, and in a game system where actions take someone out of character, entirely derails roleplay.

Magic makes players dumb, giving them far too many options and making them want to show those off. And as someone who loves the magic in these games, especially Mage, I want to play in a culture that actually rewards roleplaying over the length of one's magic staff.

Night Liches,

C

The Living Games Conference

This weekend, I attended and worked at The Living Games Conference, a three day academic event where scholars, designers and players from all across the globe joined to discuss, theorize, argue, celebrate, commiserate, explore and play larps. The event was held at NYU's Magnet Center, where students learn to design and develop games of various shapes and formats. The conference was conceived of by resident New Yorker and CEO of Outlaw Phoenix Productions, Shoshana Kessock. The conference is Shoshana's Master's Thesis, and parallel to that, it is the first Academic Larp conference to be held in the United States.

Some people bitch about having to do a research paper for their Thesis. Shoshana created an unprecedented conference. Gauntlet. Thrown.

The conference began with Shoshana, telling of her journey to put this event together. She travelled the world, going to various gaming conventions and larp conferences, networking and learning how to develop and run the event and also to speak to the attendees, to broach their interest and get many voices on board. "No ideas grow in a vacuum," she had said, speaking of her intent for this conference to generate ideas from the diverse backgrounds of all those who attend. She also commented on the difficulty to share larp. It's not something that transmits easily to a passive audience, it must be shared and experienced.

Shoshana also announced the development of Dresden Lives, the Live Action Roleplay version of the Dresden Files RPG game. For as long as I've known Shoshana, she has attempted to make the Table Top into a larp, and working with Evil Hat (creators of the RPG) she and her company helped produce it. This brings me immense joy. The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher is in a highly convoluted way responsible for my entry into larp. There's an odd symmetry in that, and a vital passion.

In short, take my money you blessed lunatics.

Note: My review of the conference will be kept to highlights. Far too much note taking happened and I want to be concise without writing a dissertation just on the conference. These notes and themes will crop up again in future writing, as they touched a lot of points for me that I have either been talking about or wish to discuss more. I only caught the afternoon panels, and ran for errands during others, so I missed several speakers, including author Lizzie Stark on Sunday. If I missed anyone, it is for those reasons. I will also note that this is not an objective blog. My bias and perspective is always present, and I will attempt to be transparent about what is opinion and what was said as I write. When the presentations are released on video, I will upload them. They are worth it.

The Conference then began with a bang, introducing the first of three key note speakers: Marcus Montola, renowned game designer and scholar. He wrote "On The Edge of the Magic Circle", a dissertation that is a cornerstone in academically examining roleplaying games. His Keynote speech, Larping in the Magic Circle, focused on the Rules that quintessentially make up a larp and the rules that make up the fabric of role play. From the laws of nature and physics and the laws of man to the laws agreed upon in the Role Play world.

It was followed by Josh Harrison's speaking on the Console Wars of larp. Taking it's cues from the Playstation and Xbox's generational war for 'which one is better', Josh spoke on the stratification of the various forms of larping. Josh noted that tensions rise partly out of the fact that ours is a hobby/subculture that is often critiqued and demeaned by the Mainstream. We tend to self-define, which leads to dissonance to rules, understanding, which leads to stereotypes, protection of traditions, and the fragmenting into smaller sub communities.

David Simkins of the Rochester Institute spoke about Player types. From Bartle's graph, the GNS Model, the RPG Triangle and Simkins own take on the Triangle and subsequent Pyramid, the types of players and their motivations is discussed. The reason for learning and measuring player types helps in academic studies and in marketing to potential customers of these games.

Friday night after the conference spilled out into the streets of Brooklyn, where most of us ended up in a small bar and began to co-mingle. It was during this time I got a chance to sit down with Sarah Lynne Bowman. Sarah is a professor, writer, gamer, and overall amazing human being. We got to sit down and discuss gaming, our mutual love of Carl Jung, and academia in larping. Sarah and I have spoken a few times on facebook, her Functions of Role Play book was the first text I had read about larp academia, so being able to sit down and speak with a brilliant and beautiful mind such as hers was a treat and a joy.

Saturday's events for me began with Anders Berner and Claus Raasted, veterans of the Nordic Larp scene and coming all the way from Denmark. The topic of their discussion was how to market and sell your larp. While others will go on about the exploratory nature and intellectual underpinings of larping, Berner and Rassted acknowledge that Larping is also a business. Game designers are working on a product, and they need to sell that product to investors, developers and/or publishers. While I could write a paper on they wrote (and I really, really want to) I want to note something that they said near the end: that the skills you learn in developing and running a larp are portable to other facets of your life. I have developed better leadership, organizational and political skills in the two years I've been running a game. I'd agree wholeheartedly with that statement.

Continuing the discussion of Larp as a business, Michael Pucci and Ashley Zdeb, the co-founders of Dystopia Rising. Their focus, matching that of Josh Harrison from the night before, was of the tribalism of larps. It was brought up that larpers tend to only reach out to other larpers to try their games, instead of reaching out to the broader audiences; that out of protection of their traditions (and player base) that some members will take on an air of judgment, claiming what is the right way or wrong way to game; that sometimes the focus becomes more on the game, rather than the really important aspect: the community. To combat this, Pucci and Zdeb made several simple suggestions. Admit that we're all talking about Make Believe, Reach out to the outside world, Community over Individual Products, Focus on open and honest discussion of what larping means.

Next, Nick Fortugno talked about Serious Larps, and using role play to handle trauma. My notes are nil for this one (sorry Nick, I think I may have been running errands here), but I do remember that what I remembered struck a chord with me. What Nick was doing, in some very real sense, was using Live Action Role Play to help victims of abuse, PTSD and severe trauma learn to cope. He didn't call it a game to them, or larp, but that's what he was doing. This brought up my time studying with a Drama Therapist. We were using Theatrical Exercises and games as a means of exploration, destressing, insight and training for when patients left the outside world. This was what I got from Nick's speech, that larping can be used to help, to train and to heal. This is something that I will come back on.

The Second Keynote Speaker was Aaron Vanek, coming out of California. Aaron runs Seekers Unlimited, an NPO that designs larps to help educate. Aaron's speech talks about using larps for education, recalling two larps and the affect it had on students. Larp works in education because, instead of just having the information dumped on you by a potentially just as bored teacher, you are given context and given the opportunity to apply the information which allows for a deeper understanding. Growing up in the New York City education system and being consistently bored with the process, I could appreciate this system as even if people just try to coast during the exercise, they are still picking something up from it. It reminded me a lot of my Graduate School program, where in some classes we were actually a group therapy session, or a symposium and collaborating, talking. Aaron and I had bumped into each other previously on facebook larp pages, where he gave me some sage advice about employing more social rules for Kensei. It was amazing to sit and talk with him for a brief while.

Next we had Evan Torner discussing Character Creation. I'll be honest, my notes for this one aren't really...coherent. My notes formed into a screed about character creation and the character sheet effectively being a psychosocial evaluation of the character. The PSE establishes, through self reporting and monitoring by the assessment taker, the mental and physical presentation of a client. Are they groomed? is there a stiffness or waxiness to their facial features. Are their sentences fluid or are they clipped? These evaluations change over the course of stay, not unlike a character sheet especially in one like we use in Mind's Eye Society. One of my professors saw one of my character's sheets (I brought the wrong book to class, sue me!) and noted how much like a PSE it looked like.

Finally for Saturday, we had Sarah Lynne Bowman. Sarah spoke on where characters come from in terms of our internal selves. She mapped out various different forms of character creations, from fragments of ourselves, to idealized selves, to divergent or exploratory types. Sarah mapped out the whole process using Jung's model of the Self and psyche as the legend. In case some of you haven't realized, Jung is a major influence in my writing and my philosophy, so I wasn't taking much notes during this and just enjoying the lecture. So, Sarah, if you're reading this, I'd love to see a copy of the presentation so I can give it the attention it deserves.

The night's panels ended, and it was time to attend the game showcase. We moved from the Magnet Center to Triskelion Arts Studio where several games were to be held. I did my task of guiding a handful of conference goers through Brooklyn. During our trip, Sarah and I explained to several goers the joys of Mage, both Ascension and Awakening. I spoke for the latter and Sarah spoke for the former, describing it in a very right brain left brain sort of way.

Getting to game, we all got our spots and I signed up for a game (I was initially listed as an usher, but Shoshana wanted me to go and play). I played Prisoner, an adaptation of a Russian Larp adapted and lead by Christopher Amherst. Set in a Dystopian Country where a four tier caste system, the Affluent Alphas, the Middle Class Betas, the Worker Class Gammas, and the Lower Class Omegas. Members of each caste were arrested for crimes against state and thrown into jail, with their execution being slated for the dawn. Alone, without any guards inside the cell, save for a camera (which lead to the gamemasters outside) the prisoners were all alone. At random intervals, announcements would be made declaring two of the prisoners judges. Those judges would select another of their prisoners to die, with their own lives at risk if they don't.

It was a good game. Surprisingly it was the first time I ever played a Pre-generated PC, it was a fascinating experience and reminded me more of a theater prompt as much. The game and it's experience deserves it's own blog (a lot of things here do...which is frustrating). I got to play with Markus Montola, who played a character that, as I said that night, I was convinced was either the key to breaking out of the prison or the Devil himself. I did not make it to the end, though, my character, an Omega Caste Criminal, decided to walk off and give the system what they wanted. Chris told me I was the first person to ever willingly refuse orders and be sent to summary execution. It's nice to be first. And ultimately was an awesome way to spend your birthday.

The next day I arrived later, missing out on Lizzie Stark's keynote speech, which from all I've heard was entirely kick ass and I'm looking forward to when the video of that will be ready. Lizzie, bless her soul, posted in her own blog her notes and thoughts on the speech, which focused on Building Larp Communities. Lizzie is the writer of Leaving Mundania, her exploration into the beginnings, present and exploration of Live Action Role Play. It is written in such a way that it explains, quite clearly to those not within the culture, what larp is and could be in all facets. There were several moments in the book where, yes, I admit to getting emotional. I'm sorry I could not get to sit down and speak with her, as I was caught somewhere from running errands and suffering from The Shy.

As groups broke off in to workshops, I stayed to help the main floor. At one point, Shoshana and I noticed that, sitting in a circle in the main floor were some of the most brilliant minds in larping sitting and talking and joking. I could *feel* the IQ spike like a heatwave.

The night, and the conference, ended with a panel by Samara Hayley Steele of California, who spoke of Larp as a Leisure Labor, using the bartering system at events like Burning Man and equating them to the practices that are used in Larps. Gary Gatano recounted his experiences as a Sociologist using Vampire the Masquerade as the subject of research, and finally we had Shoshana Kessock herself, describing Ethical Content Creation and the Social Contract players and gamer runners have with one another in terms of what they all wish to experience. The Social Contract is there to develop a safe space for players and gamerunners to enjoy their experience.

The Living Games Conference was an experience that I thoroughly enjoyed. It was the first pure gaming conference/convention I'd attended (the only other one being a Cam only event). It was amazing to speak to so many intelligent people who were passionate about larping, about the culture of larping. What I took from it are ideas and inspiration. Ideas about talking more about building safe spaces for play, about helping players in situations of negative bleed, of burning out and being exhausted. Not just by having a space prepared for relaxation, but to have someone available for debriefing. I have found new inspiration for what I need to do to get Kensei off the ground, and to begin looking in to getting much of this blog, at least in it's spirit, published.

I want to thank Shoshana for putting this together. That sentence sounds a lot less than it really is. This has never been done before in the continental US, and she pulled it off. Was it perfect? No. But for a first time, it was amazing.

Shoshana, you've done the impossible, that makes you mighty. Thank you for letting me take part in the madness.

Later,

C