Just One More LARP Post, I Swear

Dying Kingdoms events are like game conventions on steroids. I get so caught up in them, it seems like I could do them all the time. When they’re over, I can’t stop thinking about the next one. They’re so all-consuming that coming back from them requires a real period of readjustment. And plans made in their immediate aftermath are not to be trusted.

The truth is that these kinds of intense, peak experience sorts of things always have this kind of effect on me, even though I know they’re not sustainable. It’s precisely because they’re a change of pace from my normal routine that they have such an impact. I can’t do that “always on” kind of thing on a regular basis, and I wouldn’t enjoy them so much if I did.

So farewell until November, Dying Kingdoms. I’ll be ready for you again by then.

Update

Fitness: Ran 4.5 miles
Sun, Moon, and Stars: 0 words, 51 seven-day average, 268 average, 42949 total, 2551 to go for the week

Unhappy Coincidences

One of the things I’m loving about long-term LARP play is the patterns that start to reveal themselves from the series of tiny interactions. Case in point: Yesterday, over the course of about an hour, I had six different conversations with different people, any one of which on its own would have been fun. Taken together, they pointed toward a completely different direction for my character, which caused the last two of those scenes to end in ways — mostly bad ones — I never would have expected.

The fascinating thing, of course, is that I’m the only one who sees that particular pattern, because I’m the only one who was in all of those conversations. LARPs like this are fascinating because of how multi-dimensional and multi-perspective they are. No one can come even close to seeing the whole thing.

Update

Fitness: More running around in the heat swinging a foam sword
Sun, Moon, and Stars: 0 words, 148 seven-day average, 270 average, 42949 total, 2551 to go for the week

Terribly Appropriate

It’s the little things that create atmosphere.

Last night’s Dying Kingdoms game included the fall and sack of Verrakis, the Renaissance Venice-analogue in the game. The site for this weekend’s event is next to the Santa Ana River, between a dairy farm and a shooting range. Because of the location, the last day or so we’ve had circling vultures, sporadic gunfire, and a pack of howling coyotes.

Sometimes, things just work out.

Update

Fitness: More running around in the heat swinging a foam sword
Sun, Moon, and Stars: 0 words, 218 seven-day average, 272 average, 42949 total, 551 to go for the week

In Another World

This weekend’s Dying Kingdoms event is taking place at the site of the Koroneburg Renaissance Festival, which means that while we normally have a big pavilion tent set up to act as a tavern, this weekend we have — well — a tavern. The site is fantastic so far. We’ll see how the heat treats us.

Update

Fitness: Running around in the heat swinging a foam sword
Sun, Moon, and Stars: 0 words, 277 seven-day average, 274 average, 42949 total, 551 to go for the week

Two Kinds of Making Things Up

My plan to hole up in a coffee shop for a few hours near the Dying Kingdoms event fell though, so it looks like I’ve got several days of phone posts ahead of me. It looks like it will be an awesome weekend. Unfortunately it means I’m missing the Smorgas-prov festival at the Ventura Improv Company, but that doesn’t mean you have to. If you’re in Ventura this weekend, check it out!

Update

Fitness: Ran 3.5 miles
Sun, Moon, and Stars: 0 words, 324 seven-day average, 275 average, 42949 total, 551 to go for the week