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usernamenumberContinuing through my backlog of posts-to-be-written, a quick rundown of games I played in at the Brandeis Festival of the LARPs.
Short version: I only played in three of the five game slots, but can recommend them all. I played in "Last Night in Jesriah", "The Stand", and "High Tea".
Longer version:
Last Night in Jesriah
This game takes place in an insane asylum, which is always a good sign for me. It was also written by a team whose previous game, The Prince Comes of Age, was very well-received though I haven't played in it myself, and all of whom I know and respect as players and generally cool people.
My character was another of the comically over-the-top crazies that have become something of a (welcome) typecast for me. This has disadvantages in terms of being able to review the game afterward, though. Based on the writeups of other players, I take them at their collective word that Jesriah is a dark game full of film noir themes and heavy, emotional plotlines. For my part, I spent most of the game wandering the hallways in a fuzzy bathrobe musing about how pinky fingers Just Don't Make Sense (this was actually a major theme of my character sheet), examining people with a magnifying glass and/or plastic spoon, and dragging behind me 6-10 feet of streamers I'd stuffed into my pockets on my way out of the house because, hey, if you're going to be crazy you might as well make it a party, right? So while I get the sense that my character's experience of the game is significantly different from that of anyone else's, I had a great time, and so did most of the other players' I've heard from. The writers did an excellent job of creating a character that struck a balance between color and usefulness. While I sometimes enjoy having lots of goals and plot, for high-characterization gadflies like this one I tend to prefer goals that are not so much objectives as excuses to interfere with what everyone else is up to, and it's even more fun when other characters need to use mine to achieve their own objectives. I guess it's the NPC in me, but I really enjoy situations where my character is the locked box that others have to outwit or just outlast to get into. :)
The Stand
This is a solid western game if you like that genre and are ok with some heavy themes involving the racial tensions of the time. For the last couple of years at Intercon there has been a Race In LARP panel with discussion of some of the racial issues that come up when a community of mostly-white people make believe that they're all manner of folks, including those of other races in situations to which they(/we) will never really have access. There have been a lot of involved in interesting discussions about where you draw the line between having a diversity of experiences reflected in the characters of our games and not disrespectfully encroaching on the historical/cultural turfs of others. I suspect that an entire such panel could have been spent just on Stephanie K and I's characters alone. Without spoiling the plot, suffice it to say I played the town barkeep, and she played the only black woman in town, who helped me out at the bar and was basically the object of a whole lot of (largely deserved) White Guilt on the part of my character. It's always a little awkward playing roles like that, but we both did our best to play the characters as people and not just archetypes (to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
_dragonwolf_'s authorial credit, they both seemed sufficiently fleshed-out to facilitate this), and we had some scenes of solid dramatic tension, as well as some comedic moments with the rest of the cast.
High Tea
Unfortunately this game is very easy to spoil, so I can't say much by way of details. Suffice it to say that High Tea was the highlight of the festival for me, and many of the other players seem to agree. I know of one person who had a bad time, and I suspect that that is largely due to things it will be possible to fix in subsequent runs. For the most part,zapf, ninja_report, and Steph (and others?) did a great job of writing a game that was not only fun, but genuinely novel. When I first got my character sheet it seemed a little dry, kind of Downton Abbey-esque. I figured, given my knowledge of the writing team, that there would be more to it, and I was not disappointed.
Highlights about which I can talk about include:
Aaaaaand that's it. I took the rest of the slots off, a choice I can't bring myself to regret despite what a fine time I had at the con. Thanks to everyone for another great year at Festival! :)
Aaaaaand now back to rehearsal for The Grand Duke! Eeep!
Short version: I only played in three of the five game slots, but can recommend them all. I played in "Last Night in Jesriah", "The Stand", and "High Tea".
Longer version:
Last Night in Jesriah
This game takes place in an insane asylum, which is always a good sign for me. It was also written by a team whose previous game, The Prince Comes of Age, was very well-received though I haven't played in it myself, and all of whom I know and respect as players and generally cool people.
My character was another of the comically over-the-top crazies that have become something of a (welcome) typecast for me. This has disadvantages in terms of being able to review the game afterward, though. Based on the writeups of other players, I take them at their collective word that Jesriah is a dark game full of film noir themes and heavy, emotional plotlines. For my part, I spent most of the game wandering the hallways in a fuzzy bathrobe musing about how pinky fingers Just Don't Make Sense (this was actually a major theme of my character sheet), examining people with a magnifying glass and/or plastic spoon, and dragging behind me 6-10 feet of streamers I'd stuffed into my pockets on my way out of the house because, hey, if you're going to be crazy you might as well make it a party, right? So while I get the sense that my character's experience of the game is significantly different from that of anyone else's, I had a great time, and so did most of the other players' I've heard from. The writers did an excellent job of creating a character that struck a balance between color and usefulness. While I sometimes enjoy having lots of goals and plot, for high-characterization gadflies like this one I tend to prefer goals that are not so much objectives as excuses to interfere with what everyone else is up to, and it's even more fun when other characters need to use mine to achieve their own objectives. I guess it's the NPC in me, but I really enjoy situations where my character is the locked box that others have to outwit or just outlast to get into. :)
The Stand
This is a solid western game if you like that genre and are ok with some heavy themes involving the racial tensions of the time. For the last couple of years at Intercon there has been a Race In LARP panel with discussion of some of the racial issues that come up when a community of mostly-white people make believe that they're all manner of folks, including those of other races in situations to which they(/we) will never really have access. There have been a lot of involved in interesting discussions about where you draw the line between having a diversity of experiences reflected in the characters of our games and not disrespectfully encroaching on the historical/cultural turfs of others. I suspect that an entire such panel could have been spent just on Stephanie K and I's characters alone. Without spoiling the plot, suffice it to say I played the town barkeep, and she played the only black woman in town, who helped me out at the bar and was basically the object of a whole lot of (largely deserved) White Guilt on the part of my character. It's always a little awkward playing roles like that, but we both did our best to play the characters as people and not just archetypes (to
_dragonwolf_'s authorial credit, they both seemed sufficiently fleshed-out to facilitate this), and we had some scenes of solid dramatic tension, as well as some comedic moments with the rest of the cast.High Tea
Unfortunately this game is very easy to spoil, so I can't say much by way of details. Suffice it to say that High Tea was the highlight of the festival for me, and many of the other players seem to agree. I know of one person who had a bad time, and I suspect that that is largely due to things it will be possible to fix in subsequent runs. For the most part,
zapf, ninja_report, and Steph (and others?) did a great job of writing a game that was not only fun, but genuinely novel. When I first got my character sheet it seemed a little dry, kind of Downton Abbey-esque. I figured, given my knowledge of the writing team, that there would be more to it, and I was not disappointed. Highlights about which I can talk about include:
- Having the Best Family Evar, consisting of shadowravyn, k1ttycat, beholdsa, Allison S, and faerieboots (who sadly didn't end up with much connection to the rest of the family's plot, but seeing her dressed like a newsie and drawling an Irish accent was totally a highlight anyway). I have to give a special shout out to shadowravyn and k1ttycat. My character was stuck between them in a rather awkward plot that ranged from comedic to tear-jerking (and then back to comedic), and they were both great at playing off of each other and me, evoking in me just the right balance of flirtation and mortal terror. Good times. :)
- All. The. Tea. Any game that forces me to drink copious amounts of tea and eat way more of witticaster's scones than I should is OK by me.
Aaaaaand that's it. I took the rest of the slots off, a choice I can't bring myself to regret despite what a fine time I had at the con. Thanks to everyone for another great year at Festival! :)
Aaaaaand now back to rehearsal for The Grand Duke! Eeep!
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Date: 2012-05-02 10:46 pm (UTC)