Hydra 2014
Well it's the day after Hydra and I'm conscious enough to type up a report, so here goes
Friday evening - Hotel Paradise
I started Hydra by running Hotel Paradise, a game set in an abandoned hotel inhabited by all the ghosts of those who had died there. As always with a new LARP there was the initial trepidation that the whole thing would fall completely flat. Especially given that in this game the ghosts had been trapped together for as long as a century or more in some instances, so there was limited scope for pulling out sudden revelations.
However, the game seemed to go well from the feedback I had. Towards the endgame there was an interesting split. At one end of the hall half of the characters were involved in a desperate struggle to stop XXXXX from XXXXX, while at the other end of the hall there was an intense emotional scene as some of the characters were dealing with the aftermath of a great betrayal.
I was relieved to hear that there were no prizes this year, because it really would have been difficult to single out one player from so many outstanding performances.
It was very difficult to get to sleep on Friday night due to being so wired.
Saturday morning - Exodus 22:18
This was a historical game set during the Trier witch trials, and so as one might expect things weren't exactly nice. However, I would describe the villagers (for the most part) as being traumatized and allowing evil to happen rather than actively colluding and betraying one another, which I found interesting. My character actually survived, which was a bit surprising given her background. Possibly the fact that not many of the players knew the Lord's prayer might have helped. I enjoyed this game for the intense emotional experience, although I didn't do very much (keeping your head down being both a good survival strategy and my natural inclination)
Saturday afternoon - The BDL 1-act play regional finals
You don't very often get to play a LARP where the writer has spent three years researching the subject matter(and incidentally producing a PhD as a by-product). BDL began with a semi in character acting workshop. Followed by (in character) performances of short fragments of New Zealand plays from the era and then finally roleplaying the competition results and aftermath. I was fortunate to be cast as one of the directors, which meant I got to take credit for having the most difficult job, while not actually having to learn as many lines as the actors (and I got to walk away with a certificate to add to my collection of LARP souvenirs).
I really liked the way the whole room reacted to the announcement made at the end of the competition, it seemed to indicate just how into character everyone was. All I can say is that it's lucky for some we don't get to vote in the 1946 elections.
I feel I would have liked a bit more time just to interact in character, however when I walked away after 3-hours I was a bit stunned at how much we had done in the time available.
Saturday evening - The Insubstantial Pageant
Exiledinpn and I had been involved in the initial writers weekend where the core game concept had been written. However, we had not had much involvement since then (I was focusing on Hotel Paradise and Mr Mouse was involved in Kapcon administration). As the date of Hydra neared it seemed that we would be more use as players rather than writers. So we got to play (yay)!
I played Hafiza, the Head of one of the (smaller) noble houses. I had a great time playing the noble game of patronising the arts, organising marriages, trying to keep tabs on my ambitious sister and plotting revenge. However, as a total mundane the last half-hour of the game was a bit WTF (in character only, I had some OOC knowledge of what was going on) and mainly involved scrambling around trying to avoid being killed.
Saturday night it as very easy to sleep due to sheer exhaustion
Sunday morning - 13 Angry Men with Guns
The characters in this game were not all male, angry, or gun owning. There were also 14 of them. But leaving that aside, this game had won awards at Chimera and was reported as being a great deal of fun by those who had played it. This particular session had the distinction of beginning with a fatal gun battle in the first 5 minutes, which kind of set the tone. I was playing Black Crow Walking, the Indian shaman (thanks Bryn for lending me some of your bling from when you played the role). While I might just possibly have had a tiny role in some of the ensuing chaos, for the large part I was able to kick back and watch the crazy white men kill each other. Leonie was particularly good value to watch as the Deputy Sam Garrett.
Sunday afternoon - The Pendleton Homecoming
This game was set 10 years after the finale of 3rd Rock from the Sun. Given that my knowledge of the series is largely based on the occasional trailer seen on TV I was a little bit dubious about my ability to play it. I was cast as Mamie Dubcek, and a after a bit of googling around I was able to determine that she was a somewhat "colourful" character. The game went well enough (and included delicious snacks some of which even survived to the start of the game). Claire made interesting use of video clips and horde mechanics. However, by the end of the game I was a bit lost about what was going on (which may have been the point). I'm not sure how much I missed out on by not being familiar with the show.
The final part of Hydra was the "packing up in the rain" LARP, which fortunately didn't go for 3 hours.
Next stop: Chimera
Friday evening - Hotel Paradise
I started Hydra by running Hotel Paradise, a game set in an abandoned hotel inhabited by all the ghosts of those who had died there. As always with a new LARP there was the initial trepidation that the whole thing would fall completely flat. Especially given that in this game the ghosts had been trapped together for as long as a century or more in some instances, so there was limited scope for pulling out sudden revelations.
However, the game seemed to go well from the feedback I had. Towards the endgame there was an interesting split. At one end of the hall half of the characters were involved in a desperate struggle to stop XXXXX from XXXXX, while at the other end of the hall there was an intense emotional scene as some of the characters were dealing with the aftermath of a great betrayal.
I was relieved to hear that there were no prizes this year, because it really would have been difficult to single out one player from so many outstanding performances.
It was very difficult to get to sleep on Friday night due to being so wired.
Saturday morning - Exodus 22:18
This was a historical game set during the Trier witch trials, and so as one might expect things weren't exactly nice. However, I would describe the villagers (for the most part) as being traumatized and allowing evil to happen rather than actively colluding and betraying one another, which I found interesting. My character actually survived, which was a bit surprising given her background. Possibly the fact that not many of the players knew the Lord's prayer might have helped. I enjoyed this game for the intense emotional experience, although I didn't do very much (keeping your head down being both a good survival strategy and my natural inclination)
Saturday afternoon - The BDL 1-act play regional finals
You don't very often get to play a LARP where the writer has spent three years researching the subject matter(and incidentally producing a PhD as a by-product). BDL began with a semi in character acting workshop. Followed by (in character) performances of short fragments of New Zealand plays from the era and then finally roleplaying the competition results and aftermath. I was fortunate to be cast as one of the directors, which meant I got to take credit for having the most difficult job, while not actually having to learn as many lines as the actors (and I got to walk away with a certificate to add to my collection of LARP souvenirs).
I really liked the way the whole room reacted to the announcement made at the end of the competition, it seemed to indicate just how into character everyone was. All I can say is that it's lucky for some we don't get to vote in the 1946 elections.
I feel I would have liked a bit more time just to interact in character, however when I walked away after 3-hours I was a bit stunned at how much we had done in the time available.
Saturday evening - The Insubstantial Pageant
Exiledinpn and I had been involved in the initial writers weekend where the core game concept had been written. However, we had not had much involvement since then (I was focusing on Hotel Paradise and Mr Mouse was involved in Kapcon administration). As the date of Hydra neared it seemed that we would be more use as players rather than writers. So we got to play (yay)!
I played Hafiza, the Head of one of the (smaller) noble houses. I had a great time playing the noble game of patronising the arts, organising marriages, trying to keep tabs on my ambitious sister and plotting revenge. However, as a total mundane the last half-hour of the game was a bit WTF (in character only, I had some OOC knowledge of what was going on) and mainly involved scrambling around trying to avoid being killed.
Saturday night it as very easy to sleep due to sheer exhaustion
Sunday morning - 13 Angry Men with Guns
The characters in this game were not all male, angry, or gun owning. There were also 14 of them. But leaving that aside, this game had won awards at Chimera and was reported as being a great deal of fun by those who had played it. This particular session had the distinction of beginning with a fatal gun battle in the first 5 minutes, which kind of set the tone. I was playing Black Crow Walking, the Indian shaman (thanks Bryn for lending me some of your bling from when you played the role). While I might just possibly have had a tiny role in some of the ensuing chaos, for the large part I was able to kick back and watch the crazy white men kill each other. Leonie was particularly good value to watch as the Deputy Sam Garrett.
Sunday afternoon - The Pendleton Homecoming
This game was set 10 years after the finale of 3rd Rock from the Sun. Given that my knowledge of the series is largely based on the occasional trailer seen on TV I was a little bit dubious about my ability to play it. I was cast as Mamie Dubcek, and a after a bit of googling around I was able to determine that she was a somewhat "colourful" character. The game went well enough (and included delicious snacks some of which even survived to the start of the game). Claire made interesting use of video clips and horde mechanics. However, by the end of the game I was a bit lost about what was going on (which may have been the point). I'm not sure how much I missed out on by not being familiar with the show.
The final part of Hydra was the "packing up in the rain" LARP, which fortunately didn't go for 3 hours.
Next stop: Chimera