[LRP] LRP and me...
I've been thinking about my future, and LRP's place in it, and some musings are below.
I realised something over the weekend. For the first time since 1988, I do not have an LRP character. Mario Bardi started in Maelstrom before Lemming died, and whilst you can count gaps between Mario-Ahkator and Ahkator-Azul-Oso, they were death transitions.
Arguably, Doctor Mortimer still exists, but Riftworld has not run in years and it is unlikely he will make an appearance again.
No, this is the first clear break in over 10 years where a percentage of my brain-space is not plotting and planning my IC other life. It is a little strange.[1]
Perhaps more noteworthy is that I am not clamouring to fill that brain-space; at least not with another character.
It is not like there are not good options out there; Insurrection, Ornithocracy, Odyssey and Empire being some strong contenders. I could even try the LT again.
I think what is holding me back is a reticence about investing; partly the resources (i.e. new kit), partly the time/brainspace.
Another part is an acknowledgement of just how spoiled I was by Maelstrom, both as Mario and as Azul-Oso (less so as Ahkator). It was, on the whole, a game perfectly pitched at my level.
The best experiences of LRP are those where the player and the organiser are on the same wavelength; where one is playing in harmony with the game being run, rather than bumping into points of tension and friction.
For various reasons, I had a fantastic degree of synchronicity with Maelstrom. A key part of this was the people I interacted with, within the Cardini/Flambard and Bendal-Dolum V.1 and V.2. In many cases, I had the joy of interacting with the character and then getting to know the player.
Another key factor in this equation is, of course, my kids. It says something that the project that has my attention/brainspace at the moment is planning around a spy-themed SHIELD-vs-HYDRA mission for a 6-yr-old.
So, maybe, this is the time that I retire from LRP. I understand that, in some circles, this is a rite of passage, wherein I have played alongside a number of LRP ex-retirees in recent times.
Most likely retirement comes in the form of possibly crewing Empire to see my contribution realised and/or LRPing-as-a-father rather than for my own sake.
Either way, it feels like some kind of milestone/landmark and worthy of comment.
[1] There is a special exclusion here for Quill, my table-top character in Jimfer's online ACKS, though Quill does not use a lot of brainspace as a character or a player of that character