FOTL games are up!

[usernamenumber]

The schedule for the Brandeis Festival of the LARPs is now up. It's free, and a great place to try out theater-style roleplay if you're new to the scene and interested.

My first thoughts on the schedule:

Friday
The playtest for Venezia certainly got a lot of talk. People who were in it, opinions?

I can vouch for The Trial being a good game if anyone hasn't played it. Fun fact: it's thanks to that game that I can say I'm a published poet. :)

Saturday 1
I didn't get to play in The Stand when it first ran (though I was there when hazliya and @arnakama got IRL married by zapf in it!), and would like to.

Then again I've also always been... let's call it "intrigued" by Slash: The LARP. Did anyone play in it when it ran at Intercon? Opinons?

Pookah Support Group, by faerieboots and rustycoon, will also be running in that slot. It looks like a great concept, and worth checking out! I'm signed for it at Intercon.

Saturday 2
I was supposed to be in A Dance of Flame and Shadow at PiCon, but it got hurricaned out, so I may give it another go here.

...but then there's High Tea. A period game by zapf and ninja_report wherein one is proper and drinks tea? I swoon at the thought! Swoon, I say!

I've also heard good things about Sky No Longer Blue, but that's about all I can say about it.

Saturday 3
Interesting Times is the second in a series of musical LARPs. If you like Wacky Hijinks and mechanics that involve singing, you could do worse than to play in this game. High point of the game for me was fighting a duel with nyren by salsa dancing (except for the part where I smooshed his foot-- sorry about that...).

I think my choice for this slot will be Folding the River, since Paranoid and Crotchety can generally be relied upon to write and run great games.

Sunday 1
I can vouch for "The Difficult Life of the Costumed Henchman" being fun times, having played it at the WPI festival a few months ago.

For my part, I think I have to play "Yo Dawg, I Heard You Like LARPS". I've seen the LARP-within-a-LARP concept done a couple of times before ("An Evening with Clarence" and "GM Space", most notably), but never in a game that attempts to be even "mildly" (as they put it) serious. So my curiosity is piqued for this one.

That's it from me. Anyone have other recs/infos to share?

Comments

[breakinglight11.livejournal.com]

I didn't love Venezia, but some of it that comes down to personal taste (I disliked how artificial the choice-making system felt) and some of that comes down to things I'm sure they'll have fixed by the Festival run (some mechanical and structural issues).

I hear that Stand game doesn't suck. Also, the GM likes having you in games. But she wouldn't blame you if you went for Slash. ;-)

[laurion]

Not much to add except to second Trial and Stand as recommendations. Paranoia is good campy fun too. I'm also looking into High Tea (Will Downton Abbey be required research?). Other thoughts have me leaning towards High Rollers, Pooka, and Yo Dog, as it sounds like a lampoon spoof of Dream Park.

[electric-d-monk.livejournal.com]

Just providing a quick take on Venezia.

_dragonwolf_ outlined one possible complaint. The game has three acts, and in the two 'breaks' there are decision points. Characters are presented a choice between two options, they must choose one. There is no creative 'take a third option' sort of thing to do. This can feel a little constrained. And there is a 'game time' jump of a few years (purposefully left vague 2-5 year spread) between the acts, so your character gets up to some stuff while outside of your control.

This worked well enough for me (only major change/revelation between acts happened at the start of Act 2, and actually fit how things played out in Act 1 perfectly), but it's the sort of thing that some will have a dislike for so it does need to be noted.

Only other significant problem I noticed was that there is a significant risk for the two French characters to get very cut out of the loop(at least the political/world leader loop) if all the Italians decide to ignore their squabbles/plots against each other in order to just stonewall the French... As one of the two French characters, I noticed this, but had enough on my plate in other aspects of the game that it was moderately irksome but not horrible... it was definitely worse for the other French character, however.

Two major concerns I noticed aside, however, I definitely had a good time, probably the game of theirs that I've enjoyed most, though that was significantly due to certain aspects of casting and the fact I had a wonderful give and take with one other player... so, take that as you will.

[ultimatepsi.livejournal.com]

I played Slash at Intercon. It's basically what it says on the box, plus a few puzzles and mechanics. I think there might have been something vaguely resembling plot there too. Slash is a humor game, and it was amusing to play in. If you enjoy over-the-top sexual innuendo, then you will enjoy this game.

[faerieboots.livejournal.com]

I'd be curious to hear your opinion regarding the amount of prep that went into Interesting Times for you as a player--I am intrigued by the concept, but will be pretty crazy-busy in the time leading up to Festival and should not sign up for it if it will require much more than average prep.

Speaking of which, thank you for pimping our game! :) I may write up my own little plug sometime closer to the date. Unless it is horrible at Intercon, in which case I will hide my face in shame. And also fix it. But perhaps not plug it so much. ;)