Alex's Adventures on the Infobahn - larp

The Locksmiths Dream

2022-12-28T14:54:00+00:00

Just before Christmas I attended a LARP adjacent event at the conveniently local 17th century manor house Treowen called The Locksmiths Dream. I use that phrase because I'm fairly sure some of my fellow attendees had prior live roleplaying experience although it is certainly not required. The organisers have evidently spent a lot of time making the game as accessible as possible to the widest range of participants.

Setting

While there is no requirement to dress-up it seems waste of the environment to not make some sort of effort. The world of event is set loosely in the 1920's in a house that sits on the boundary of our world and other planes. Secret gods have met in the house before your arrival and your mission is to sift through the traces of their interactions and perhaps discover some deeper meaning. To aid your exploration and puzzle solving a cast of characters inhabit the house who are perhaps able to help your exploration. The staff will also prepare you 3 meals, lunch on arrival, an evening meal and breakfast the next day, to keep energised for your task.

Gameplay

On arrival I headed to my room which involved some winding stairs and eventually a short ladder to enter my bedroom at the very top of the house. The player bedrooms are off-limits to everyone else unless by invitation so I had a chance to collect my thoughts and read through the supplied materials while enjoying a nice view of the surrounding Monmouthshire countryside.

The materials included a brief overview of the game (solve puzzles, collect the ephemeral birdsong left behind by the gods), a letter from my in-game sponsor outlining some particular tasks and a beautifully bound personal note book.

The note book was the first indication of the attention to detail and production values of the event. It contained a number of in-game printed notes to provide background and clues as well as plenty of blanks pages for taking notes. You are strongly encouraged to make liberal use of the book and it provides for a nice memento of your experience afterwards.

The initial puzzles are fairly simple with keys being found around the house with an attached set of clues. Solving these clues will lead you to a location where you can find and hopefully unlock a padlocked box to reveal your prize. Each key comes with several clue styles so for example those unfamiliar with the lore of the cultist simulator from which the event draws its story don't draw a blank. Sometimes the boxes reveal additional clues to some of the deeper puzzles that require solving in multiple stages and paying attention to changes in the rest of the house and its characters.

My Experience

I was originally going to attend with a friend of mine however they were unfortunately unable to attend thanks to our virus afflicted times. I also missed out on the first few hours where the house tour and orientation events happen which help the players learn about where they are. Fortunately the staff were very helpful and able to give a few useful hints to ease me into the game once I arrived.

The event was certainly immersive and I never found myself bored and without something to do. The food was very nice although at stages I was worried if I should concentrate on eating the meal or trying to solve the meaning of way it was presented. The organisers took full advantage of the nooks and crannies of the wonderful setting.

Next time I will have to make sure I have a back-up buddy in case of illness because some of the more in depth puzzle solving benefits from having another person to bounce ideas off. You can of course talk to the other guests playing the game although some of them might be working for competing sponsors with different priorities.

It was certainly one of the most engaging experiences I'd had this year. I would recommend it for anyone interested in an immersive puzzle solving weekend and especially if they are already interested in the source games lore.

Media

The following video made by the team behind he game was put together with footage from the game I attended and gives a give idea of the setting and ambience you can expect.

I also found another more detailed write-up of the event over at No Prescenium if you want another perspective.

Poking unexplained holes in reality, for science!

2011-09-05T10:01:00+01:00

[caption id="attachment_2385" align="alignright" width="112" caption="What does this do?"]Picture of Lord Townsend investigating something for Science[/caption]

We had a slightly extended weekend as we headed up North to visit friends in Manchester before heading over to the Yorkshire Hippie enclave of Hebden Bridge for Victoriana. This was going to be our last game before our first child arrives.

Victoriana is a steam-punk style alternate history LARP game based loosely around Victorian era Britain. The brainchild of Mikey and his team of writers it's an idea that's kicking around for some time and we are happy it's been finally realised. The system is fairly lightweight with a combat system which is mainly based around cosmetically modified NERF guns and the occasional traditional LARP sword. However the combat is a fairly small part of the overall experience and certainly not a required skill to enjoy the game. Fliss for example was almost entirely involved in the trials of high society including scandal and match-making of eligible ladies with the appropriate bachelors. My game was almost all concerned with poking things in the cause of science. The science system is fairly free-form where the results are driven by the almost omnipresent Jeeves referees who otherwise blend in with the In Character ambiance of the event. It took a little while to get the hang of it but I tried a few experiments of Friday and together with the rest of the scientists we continued to poke at the strange anomaly with reckless abandon as we formulated our theories. By Sunday we were constructing steam-punk style contraptions with handy copper coloured tape and had a better feeling for the interaction between scientists and engineers. There were other areas of the game I didn't really see including occultists and of course the working classes who I only occasionally bumped into .

As it was our anniversary weekend we were off site for most of Saturday evening but nevertheless we enjoyed the game immensely. For a game that was 24 hour time in there didn't seem to be any slack areas where we were just twiddling our thumbs waiting for things to happen. The standard of kit and costume was fantastic including a marvellous automaton by the name of "Number 47" who was being played magnificently by a first time LARPer. Everyone I spoke to after time out seemed very happy with the way the event had turned out. Mikey has said he's learnt a lot from the experience and I'm sure there will be some tweaks to the system and organisation for the next event. However a jolly good time was had by all, including the two of us.

7 Arena Fights, 1 Quest and a fairly late night...

2011-08-15T14:32:00+01:00

..have left my a little weary this morning. I spent this weekend at my first full length Odyssey event which gave me a fuller impression of the world than last years quick visit.

The arena is still my favourite part of the experience. Certainly as I don't get much LARP combat these days it's nice to get several guaranteed mass-battles as day. I was still playing my Roman archer and had a very good day on Saturday notching up some rather nice shots which I was complemented on later in the day. I'm hoping those battles were videoed by somebody because it would be nice to see what they looked like from the bystanders point of view.

Although I went to bed before midnight on the Friday I made an extra effort to wonder about on Saturday night and caught up with the NE brigade and their Greek faction. It was lovely to see them as well as lots of interesting in-play discussion. Having someone mention the presence of the "Roman spy" every few minutes didn't seem to stop the Greeks talking to me.

I got peripherally involved with the "Philosopher" game on the Sunday while indulging in a little cryptanalysis to verify the approach to the solution of one of the puzzles. If I tire of the fighting I might try out philosophising for my next character.

All in all a fantastically fun weekend. I look forward to returning to it when I'm able to LARP again.

A familiar ache

2010-12-06T13:53:00+00:00

I spent a large part of the weekend at the Cambridge Treasure Trap end of term banquet. The format is a cross between a full weekend of club LARP and a day event with a Céilidh tacked on the end.

Most of the Cambridge TT event are effectively day events held around some of the local areas of greenery near the river. The adventures are usually around 10 encounters and entirely battleboard-less which means they run quite fast, typically less than 2 hours. However the end of term event takes place at a local scout site which allows for a bit more freedom in plotting the adventures as well as provide a location for the celebratory meal and dancing.

It's been a while since I last actively ran around for an adventure (I'm not sure the 15 minute bursts of activity at Odyssey count) but it was fun to run around hitting things with rubber swords again. In fact the event gave me a great excuse to bring out my longbow and arrows.

The Treasure Trap crowd are a lovely bunch of people. It's a fairly well mixed group including old-timers from formation (2004 IIRC) to the current crop of University students. While I most certainly won't be attending every event (room based "interactive" every Friday and "day event" adventures every Saturday during term time) I shall certainly be attending some more.