I have a handful of ideas roleplay rolling around in my head. I have yet to choose which one I want to finish first, (I have one I might prefer, but I won’t tell you which). Right now I’m enjoying designing on these on and off, and not be tied down to any specific project. And it remains to be seen if I ever finish any of them.

But in these corona times I suddenly have more time to move forward with one or more of them. So I thought I’d share these lose ideas with you, and see, if your input, critique and encouragement would help me forward with any of them. So what do you think?

If you want to help me you can answer these questions below:

• From the brief description what questions do you have to one or more of the ideas?
• What pitfalls do you see?
• Is there anything particular interesting you see in some of the ideas?

And ofcourse most importantly:

• Which one would you most like to play?

Enders academy (working title)

World at war with aliens, youth trained as commanders and soldiers. There will be combat training, devious manipulative tests, fair (and unfair) fights in a combat arena with nerf guns, conflicts between teams, conflicts within teams (and conflicts within characters). Its teen drama with laser guns and the threat of aliens! Think Ender’s Game and Starship Troopers meets College of Wizardry and Lindängen.
(A weekend larp)

Eldorado

We cut back and forth between the conquistadors, Sir Walter Raleigh and a group of teenagers, all looking for the fabled Eldorado, each tracing the steps of the former. All three adventures end in blood and tears because Eldorado is a fiction thought up by greed. (Very much inspired by this youtube video)
(A Fastaval scenario)

Say goodbye to me

Five terminally ill patients decide to take back control of their life (and death), by holding one last party, before they are gone. We follow the five and their loved ones up to and after the party. Inspired by episode 12, season 2 of Grace and Frankie. I still can’t decide whether or not to include euthanasia as part of the story.
(A Fastaval larp).

An evening as myself

A group of closeted queer youth go out to an LGBTQ youth meet up, and for the first time in their life they can express their true self. We follow them before and after this event.
(A Fastaval scenario with potential for expanding to a weekend larp)

Wall-E larp (working title)

Having done what they were built for for 500 years, cleaning up after humanity is gone, a group of robots find new meaning when they discover a television, holding messengers from long lost humans.
(A nonverbal Blackbox larp with participatory audience)

After way to much work the larp script for my larp Waiting for Flight GO901 is done and now available online.

I use pictures from the run at Knudepunkt and Minsk Larp Festival by the great photographers Jacob Nielsen (Knudepunkt) and Pavel Hadzinski (Minsk Larp Festival).

See it here:

Waiting for Flight GO901

I have so many blog post in draft form, about all the things I’ve been up to, the larps I’ve played. But I just havn’t had time to write them up. And now I wonder if there’s even a reason to write about things that happened in the autumn. And while I ponder that (feel free to help me ponder), here’s a few ideas I’m working on. What do you think, do you have suggestions?

…And that’s it
That’s it. We’re done. Humanity is over. You are the last group of survivors and the first sign of the illness has just reached you. Now you know your fate, it won’t be painful, but over the next day you will one by one fall asleep and never wake up. You know that this is the end, and that you are the last. What do you do with your and humanity’s last day?

Steve-E – A Wall-E larp
For 200 years they have been doing what they were made for. Now with the discovery of a functioning tv showing bits of old films a whole new world of dancing, feeling and exploring opens for them. How will this little group of robots handle it?

Dance of the Perseids
You are shooting stars, and you are about to burn up. But as you dance across the sky you have one chance to live a story. One story, that’s all a shooting star gets. They have to take all their longings, dreams and desires and put into this one story. Not a life, a story. It doesn’t have to be happy, it’s not about joy. It’s about living and experiencing in that one hour you get. It’s about creating a story so bright that people looking up at you will see your fire and wonder.

This last idea is the one I’m furthest with, the core mechanic is dancing. Not being good at dancing but finding that zone when you are just enjoying to move your body to music and don’t care what it looks like. I want music to be at the center of this larp. From character creation to story creation to how the players move and interact.

It’s been quiet in here for long, mainly because I have been very busy. And don’t expect it to liven up in this year. But In the new year I hope to write a lot. I have a lot to say to old things I’ve been to, but not written about yet. I have it in rough texts, but it needs to be gone over quite a lot.

But that is not the point of this post, the point is Black Box Horsens 2016. I just wanted to bring this message:

The ticket sale will start december 17th at 18.00 CET.
The complete program will be online soon, and it looks great!
Admission to the Festival will be 14 euros.
Tickets for games will be 7 euros each.
See more on: blackboxhorsens.dk

Ok so in an hour it’s a bit past five which means it will be two weeks after the start of my run of Just a Little Lovin’ (JaLL). Others have already written about their experience properly a lot less rambling and more eloquent than me, (I haven’t read them yet but might do after this post and I’ll make sure to link them in a later post as well). As regular readers know I like to write detailed and rambling straight from mind to word about my role play experiences, which until now has been at conventions. With the larpwriter summer school (LWSS) last year being a bit different but Still the same.

I’m a bit in doubt as what to do this time, as the experience was very personal and hard to explain without going on for plus 15 pages, I know because that is what I have done. Before writing this I wrote a long and detailed retelling of the whole thing. Not to be published but as an exercise in remembering and as it turned out handling the whole experience. It’s an epic journey in notes, ramblings and disorganization. If I ever write it up I might publish it a bit hidden as some have asked to read it (the poor bastards).
But this will then be the short version to try and tell just quickly about my JaLL experience. And that will properly be followed by a few other posts, we’ll see. Right now I’m on the train heading to the alumni gathering at the LWSS, so I might get around to write some more posts there. Any way let’s get going. (Edit it’s still five but now it’s the other five and I’m at Riga airport).

JaLL is without a doubt the most intense and through designed game I have ever played. I understand now why some call it the best larp in the world. There’s other as well designed games out there but it’s the mix of brilliant design with a theme and especially the handling of the theme that creates just a more intense experience.

Quick recap (read my posts leading up to JaLL for more about the game and how I prepared for it here) the game is set in the gay and alternative communities of New York in the eighties and followed how the aids epidemic devastates the community, but also brings people together in friendships that defies even death.

In short: a well designed game will give a strong experience, a game with the themes such as death, friendship and happiness in the darkest hour will, even with a halfhearted design, give a strong experience, and a game with such well written, colorful and just living the hell out of it characters would even without the theme and design give a strong experience. Combine all three of them and you got why JaLL does what it does.

I knew that the theme and the design was strong. Through out the game the designer in me thought oh that’s just perfect, that’s just pushing all the right buttons that little detail there. But it’s only now I’m fully realizing the importance of the characters, it’s not only that they are well written (although they are) it’s that they’re just right. They are intense, they are living life, they are well I lack words, just right. They all have the themes of desire, fear of death and friendship written into the core of them. That’s the lesson your characters shouldn’t just be the right kind of people to tell the story (we need a stockbroker and a drag queen and a closeted senator) they should also be the essence of the themes and feelings you want your players to explore. I only see this now, but it’s brilliant.

I know part of the credit have to go to us players (yay pat ourselves on the shoulder). Just to mention one thing: people went all out on costumes, found looks that both felt like the right time, but also made it very clear what kind of character you were and as the acts progressed also showed the development of the characters. I was very aware of this in my own game, each day thinking over what clothing would best show the situation of the character. And it was clear that so did everyone else which just gave such a cool effect.

So what about my experience? Well wow it’s, well it was in a word intense. I kinda had two parallel stories that complemented each other but was very different in hummm emotional effect. One was a cool and different and in its own twisted way beautiful narrative, the other a much more emotional journey for me as the player. Close to home in a way I have not tried before. I think I’ll retell them shortly in a separate post, just like I’ll do a separate post on the design and in that also the structure of the game. (Edit I’m doing that now and finding it very hard to build down the story so that might end up as many posts).

So let’s stop this post here. If there’s any thing about the experience that you would like me to write about feel free to tell me. As I’m a bit in doubt as to what to write about this time. So what do you want to hear about, that would be a great help.

That’s it it’s all done, no more to hang on to. Now normal life awaits, but luckily that also contains some interesting beginnings. More about that later.

– After just a few hours sleep I wake up to the sound of packing. Still buzzing (but not drunk), especially from that last talk with Petra, I start packing.
– Can hear music and shouting somewhere, what is going on? Notice that people are taking their IKEA bedding out of the room. Think I better do that as well.

– Enter a big room, people are furiously and with great big smiles sorting out all the IKEA bedding and putting it into bags. Music is playing, it’s a creacy scene. I smile, as I again see how we roleplayers can make even the must dump and boring task amazing by making it a game and by playing with it.

– I smile and join in. I’m sent out with a group clearing out rooms of any left over bedding and bringing it to the sorting room.

– It’s a very strange experience arriving with a pile of bedding and having people cheer at the sight of you and more work to do. God I love this crowd.

– Walk to the main venue and help a bit with the clean up and eat some breakfast. Then see that people are going to the War Larp. Think: uh I want to see that, and join them. (War larp is a huge danish yearly larp inspired by warhammer, where you fight in strict formations like in warhammer fantasy battle).

– My intention is just to watch, but suddenly I find myself picking up a sword and shield and join a group.
– Most of the groups are friends or fellow nationals but mine as an assortment of strangers from all over the world so naturally we call ourselves: The Foreign Legion.
– It’s great fun, an organizer helps by instructing us and guides us on how to work as a formation.
– Even in the short while we played we develop a feeling of camaraderie with our group. This is the way to play fantasy larp.

– At the farewell ceremony I feel an overwhelming sense of happiness. Nothing concrete, just happy! I even tear up a bit.

– We from op in a big circle, and the groups that helped make KP are called out and walk to the center of the circle for a well deserved round of applause. It was a proud moment when A week and Black Box Horsens was called out and I could join that group of great people. God Black Box Horsens feels so long away now.

– Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning.

– The four(!) busses arrive to take most people to copenhagen and beyond. A lot of goodbyes, a lot of hugs and hope to see you soons. I make it a point to pop into each buss and shout thanks and goodbye to the people there. That was healthy I think.
– The busses leave. Those of us left behind waye and then back to:

– Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, Charles smash! Everything is awesome! cleaning. Even in our truly tired state we managed to make it fun and mad.

– We are done with the clean up, the last bus arrives at the same time as my girlfriend. Say the last goodbyes and drive of. KP is over.
– Plan to sleep in car end up talking the whole way home.

Monday
– Get up early, have to be a substitute teacher, luckily we just have to see a film.
– The film is “Hooligans”, and a strong theme is camaraderie and community
– The film hits home with a lot of KP emotions.
– Take a long walk in the woods afterwards and let all the emotions bubble up and slowly settle down.
– End up at a hotel in the woods and buy a cup of coffee and start to write the first draft of these texts.
– Go home. Feel happy…

Saturday
– Writing these last words. KP is now completely over. But I don’t feel sad, over the last few days I have had the privilege of relieving KP while my body have battled a week KP plague.
– And in my near future is other great and scary things and projects. There’s Fastaval, maybe a larp book, The Courage of Teddies book, and black box larp poems for drama classes, and, and, and.

Sunday
– Robbie Williams just finished
“One for my baby” as I press copy paste to move the text into my blog. It’s all over now.

Thank you all, I hope my words was useful, they were for me.
And thank you all for a KP beyond words.
Hope to see you soon.
– Simon

Jeg bygger og saver og hamrer og slår, og får så at vide, at det er slet ikke nødvendigt  ved en hjemmeside. Men i hvertfald, her er jeg (Simon Pettitt) ved at bygge noget, under kyndig vejledning fra Thomas Mertz, og det bliver godt. (håber jeg)