Tags
Absolute Write, action roleplay, Agatha Christie, aliens, Babylon 5, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, classical cultures, Doctor Who, Farscape, Featherstone Castle, Jane Austen, Joss Whedon, Masquerades and Massacres, Mayan Prophesy, Odyssey LRP, Photography, Predator, Roleplaying games, roman priest, Serenity LRP, Star Trek, Stargate, Steampunk, Strange and Norrell, Temeraire, Thirteen, Victoriana LRP, Waypoint LRP
With the year we are just starting having a ’13’ in it it is probably of no surprise that January’s Blog chain topic would link to this rather maligned number. It occured to me that every single article in the chain will mention Triskaidekaphobia so I thought I would get that out of the way now and not mention it again. There would also likely be many many discussions on bad luck, evil spirits and maybe even a Mayan prophesy or two (apparently, this is also the 13th Baktun which contributed to the recent ‘end of Mayan calandar means end of the world’ debacle). With this in mind, I decided not to go with the obvious topics.
Instead, I would like to celebrate the number 13 by posting here 13 photographs of something I love… Live Action Roleplay. Some of these are photos I have taken, others are taken by other more talented people. Full credit will be given where needed.
First up is this shot I took at a Mythic Age LRP game called Odyssey in summer 2012. The concept behind that game is that there are a number of classical cultures (Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, Persians and Carthiginians initially but there is another one now) who coexist and in order to maintain peace on earth, the gods have restored the sunken city of Atlantis to act as a place where territory disputes can be settled in an arena rather than on the battlefield. Before each contest, the priests of each nation perform a blessing, dedicating the fight to one of their gods. Here we have the wonderful Lizy Townsend as a Roman priest sacrficing herself as she screams out a dying curse on the enemy.
From the same system, here we have two Romans fighting side by side against some Carthiginians and finally for Odyssey we have a photo that gives you some indication of how large some of the arena battles can be.
Another system I played this year was called Masquerades and Massacres or M&M (or, fairly often, Jane Austen and Aliens). This game is set in the Regency period (1820’s to be precise) and incorporates elements of Jane Austen, Strange and Norrell, Naomi Novak’s Temeraire stories, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Alien/Predator universe among others (seriously, there was a character who was an industrialist arms manufacturer by the name of Sir Anthony Stark, recently escaped from a Turkish prison…). It is a bizarre mix but it strangely seems to work and allows a lot of ballgowning… Here are some photographs from several events taken by the inestimable Oliver Facey
Waypoint was a LRP game I ran for a good few years, up until 2008 when I stopped because I needed time for other things. It was a Sci Fi system which largely riffed off a lot of things like Star Trek, Babylon 5, Farscape and similar and also inserted some elements of Doctor Who and Stargate.
The top photo shows some sci fi post apocalyptic gangsters apeing the Reservoir Dogs walk. The middle one show some techie types trying to repair a hyperspatial gate while defending themselves from attakc and the bottom one shows an assassination attempt on one of the characters…
Another game I am involed in is called Victoriana LRP which is, predictably enough, set in a Steampunk world. Here are two photos from that game:
This shows the aftermath of a fight with various injured characters being patched up with bandages.
This next one shows a scientist demonstrating a steampunk weapon….
The patch of dust on the ground is actually not the remains of someone who has been shot by the big gun. That was there for an entirely different purpose.
The next two photos are from a system based on Joss Whedon’s Firefly universe – Serenity LRP. These are all taken by the talented Ali Hancock, who was able to take them because she was playing a journalist in the game. All done in glorious black and white.
This first one is me helping to perform surgery. The second shows some players stalking through the woods looking for trouble.
Finally, a few years ago we went to a 1930’s themed event called An Uncommon Affair. There was intrigue, Egyptian Archeology, an Agatha Christie style murder (which we had to cover up for the good of the crown) and Nazis (who had the audacity to disturb dinner). There was also a photographer with a modern digital camera subtly hidden inside the body of a box brownie. This is their portrait of my character from that game…
Of course, for this game it was possible to take our dog along. He even had a character. He was a dog. It was a bit of a stretch for his thespian talents to play this character. The location, by the way, is a Youth Hostel called Featherstone Castle which is a gorgeous building set in the wonderful wilds of Northumberland.
So, there you have it. Thirteen photographs of Live Action Roleplay to celebrate the thirteen in this year… And at no point did i mention bad luck or the day Friday… Feel free to check out the sites I have showcased above as there are more photographs to be seen on all of them…
The usual rules of the blog chain are in force. So, you have to go check out the other members of the chain or else I will send copies of those photographs we discussed on the phone last week to you know who… you do not want anyone to find out about *that* do you?
Participants and posts:
orion_mk3 – http://nonexistentbooks.wordpress.com (link to post)
Ralph Pines – http://ralfast.wordpress.com (link to post)
SRHowen – http://srhowen1.blogspot.com/ (link to post)
areteus – https://lurkingmusings.wordpress.com/ (link to post)
bmadsen
– http://hospitaloflife.wordpress.com/ (link to
post)
pyrosama – http://matrix-hole.blogspot.com/ (link to post)
angyl78 –
http://jelyzabeth.wordpress.com/ (link to post)
gell214 –
http://gelliswriting.blogspot.com/ (link to post)
randi.lee
– http://emotionalnovel.blogspot.com/ (link to
post)
ConnieBDowell – http://bookechoes.com/ (link to post)
writingismypassion –
http://charityfaye.blogspot.com/ (link to post)
Araevno –
http://www.simonpclark.com/ (link to post)
Briony-zisaya –
http://fantasywriterwannabe.blogspot.com/ (link to
post)
Kewii – http://kellyneeson.blogspot.com/ (link to post)
katci13 –
http://www.krystalsquared.net/ (link to
post)
MsLaylaCakes: http://www.taraquan.com/ (link to post) [Jan 9-10,
24-]
Amanda R.: http://www.twoamericansinchina.com/ (link to post) [Jan
14-]
ralfast said:
I don’t think I have neither talent or the energy to make cosplay work. Besides I suck I creating costumes. But it it is cool to see people pull it off with such aplomb.
D.A Lascelles said:
Me neither, I have people for that… 🙂
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krystal jane said:
I love these pictures!!
I’ve always been fascinated by LARPing. I look into it from time to time but a lot of the events in my area are on Saturday and I work on Saturdays right now. Until then, I’ll continue to have a great time living vicariously through pictures like these and waiting for the Renaissance Festival to roll into town. ^_^
D.A Lascelles said:
Yeah, generally it is a weekend thing and occasional weekday evenings. Can’t be helped, I suppose 🙂
S.r. Howen said:
Great! Love this stuff, and it’s been years since I did any of it, great pictures!
D.A Lascelles said:
Thanks! The Oliver Facey link above has far more wonderful shots to drool over and is well worth a look…
Diane Carlisle said:
I love Live Action Roleplay (watching, not participating)! The movie “Role Models” mimics this well. I go to the Annual Renaissance Festival when in town. Love it! Great photos!
D.A Lascelles said:
It’s not really a spectator sport in this country, generally most groups prefer you at least kit up to blend in 🙂 Unless you mean watching the fights and not getting into them yourself? The arena fights in Odyssey are great fun to watch. Not that I get to watch that many of them, usually my role involves sitting in a dark tent being sarcastic at people as they try to solve puzzles…
Diane Carlisle said:
At the Ren Fest, the people who dress up and walk amongst the visitors stay in character, even the Queen will chastise people walking by if they don’t bow to her Majesty. lol
Then they do have jousting and live action battle chess. Awesome stuff!
Randi Lee said:
Awesome images! This looks like a fun (and tiring) experience!
D.A Lascelles said:
It does lead to achey Monday mornings… 🙂
Charity said:
Great photos! Thanks for sharing.
D.A Lascelles said:
No problem, feel free to check out the links to see more of them…
J Elyzabeth said:
Oh! What fun, thank you for sharing them! The photos were great 🙂
Amanda R. said:
My husband and I did Vampire: the Requiem LARPing back in Orlando, but, alas, there is no LARPing in China. Not that I ever actually nejoyed the LARPing, I just liked having an excuse to dress up every week 🙂
D.A Lascelles said:
Oddly enough, Vampire LRP may well be responsible for seeing an increase in women in the hobby, mainly because it is a more social activity than many of the older fantasy LRP systems.
Shame there is nothing in China though I am surprised – would have thought there would have been something out there.
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C. Amrhein (@HistorySleuth1) said:
Oh my God how fun does all of that look! I would have loved the 1930s Agatha Christie event. That is so cool. You look awesome in the photo with your dog by the way. Totally in the era.
D.A Lascelles said:
Well, it’s not obvious from the photo (the benefits of sepia toning) but jacket is actually a 1970s tweed, the trousers are modern and the shoes were german army combat boots (I did not want to use a decent pair of shoes that could have got damaged). But apart from that, all in era 🙂 It may just show that men’s fashion has not really changed all that much in the 20th century… My wife’s dress was also slightly out of period but she was playing a character who could get away with saying ‘Oh no, darling, *this* is what they will be wearing *next* season…’. The dog was completely in period, of course…
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alexp01 said:
So you’re a LARPer, eh? That takes a level of dedication and pure unadulterated geekry that I’m not sure I could ever muster (to say nothing about being too self-conscious). But the idea of doing x HP of damage with a steampunk’d Nerf does have a certain appeal, doesn’t it?
D.A Lascelles said:
Everything looks better with steampunked up nerf guns… When I first started I never thought I would have the guts to get out there and do it but that soon passes 🙂 Within a year of my first game I was running the universithy society and had therefore gone from ‘first timer’ to ‘addict’ and finally ‘pusher’. It can be a slippery slope… 🙂
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