By Amy E. Weaver My husband I fell madly in love while at Michigan State playing in a LARP called Darker Images. Valentine's Day always takes me back to that time. We loved gaming and we were doing World of Darkness table top plus the Saturday night LARP scene. As 'adulting' set in and we moved away from the group we found ourselves in need of new games. We found another LARP in Ann Arbor, then eventually the Camarilla Fan Club. We made lifelong friends from these games. But, the game changed. The New World of Darkness rules set was introduced and try as we might it wasn't fresh enough to get us to stay with the game. Two years ago a friend from my days in Lansing had contacted me to gauge my interest in being part of the Darkness Remembered LARP team at GenCon in 2015. I jumped at the opportunity to go to GenCon, but more than that, I was excited to be part of a game that gave me such amazing friends and memories. I very much enjoyed GenCon and running Vampire again. LARPers speak a language I understand. No matter what our differences I see people that share my interest and that commonality draws us together. Here we are in 2017 and I am going back to GenCon with Darkness Remembered in the role of Head ST. Since GenCon 2015 I've been reading about various LARPs. I find myself fascinated with the Nordic Style LARPs, but am left with the thoughts that this is nothing new. For me, my first brush with LARP came in a big blue marbled box. This early system of LARP was reliant on the same principles that are part of the Nordic Style game. It relied on a blend of collaborative storytelling and competitive play. Players were themselves storytellers and the game masters filled in as the stage where people could strut and fret for an hour or more each week. Growing up playing AD&D and MechWarrior this rules light system was a departure from what I was used to, but I felt it was a welcome change. It was hard to convince others. In time, a much more defined rules set was offered by White Wolf and from there the rest is history.
Currently, the LARP side of the game has split off from the table top rules and there are gaming clubs building a big collaborative world through a network of games. While I am willing to try these new rules sets and groups, I still think that there is a place for the independent game, especially in a convention setting. For GenCon 2017 I want use the Classic World of Darkness trait bidding system for maybe the last time before I find my way to being involved in Nordic Style games and throwing away the rule books in favor of a simple one-pager. As I prepare with the team for GenCon 2017, I find myself falling in love all over again with the Classic World of Darkness. I can feel the emotions in me stirring as I read through the characters we are writing. This isn't just a game of vampires, it is bringing the rage and anger of Werewolf to the same place where Wraiths haunt the halls. I am in love with the pageantry of Changeling perhaps most of all. As someone who feels a lot like a grump these day I am looking to be inspired all over again. These games take the worst parts of what it means to be human and concentrates them and then gives them the faces of monsters. For a night, weekend, or sometimes longer, I can get out of my head and immerse myself in those strong emotions. I can work through the pain and pitfalls on my slow descent into darkness. I know there is no winning, what was ever human in me before I raged or had my chrysalis is losing this fight. In doing this, I feel like I have understood more about people out of game. I see everyday life through different eyes. For that I am immensely grateful.
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