Humanizing the Realms with Michael Durocher, Shiba Vuel of Invictus
1. What do you do outside of the game? What would you like to be doing? (Work, school, projects, etc.)
I work for the Commonwealth of Mass's Department of Transitional Assistance as a supervisor and appeal liaison. My free time outside of work is spent with either my family or at the gym. I try to get 3-4 workouts in a week because as I've gotten older my body has steadily fallen apart on me so working out makes me feel better and allows me to keep up with my growing child. Add in practice when they resume in nice weather I'm trying to do something physical 4-5 days a week. I've been really into retro gamming with my son, introducing him to all my favorite N64 and PS1-2 games and we've been playing those together so I'm passing on the gamer mentality with him and watching him learn the frustrations of the water temple brings a tear to my eye. Outside of that I spend time playing whatever game has my attention at the time
2. What hobbies do you enjoy other than LARP?
Gym is the easy answer but I don't really enjoy it I do it because I hate myself (Kidding i have a dark sense of humor...). My primary hobby is always been gamming, either competitive card gaming like Magic or L5R, Table top games or video games. I've always had a very competitive nature so any game that can present a challenge is on my list (The except to the this is farm sims games. I love me some Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley because they're so mellow). But basically if it involves gaming or some kind of deep lore I'm into it.
3. Favorite meal, dessert, and drink?
Meal: Sourdough grilled cheese with bacon Dessert: Cookies have and always will be my greatest weakness Drink: Coffee
4. If you could go on vacation anywhere, where would it be? Would you bring anyone?
Easiest thing to answer so far. Japan. And not the big cities like Tokyo ect,. My dream is to go into the country side, visit places like the shrine of the 47, Musashi's grave and walk the various trails and visit the old temples.
Mostly just trying to stay in shape because I have a very active child and I want to be able to keep up with him.
I'm also in the process of getting a full Japanese body suit tattoo completed. The entire thing is being done in traditional hand poke (Tebori), Hopefully I will be able to start working on the chest and back either end of this year or start of next year.
6. Favorite outfit other than garb?
Jeans and hoodie
7. Do you have any professional or personal skills you’d be willing to talk about?
I have a B.A in Childhood Psychology and another one in Early Childhood Education and my Masters is in Applied Developmental Psychology. I spent the early part of my career before i started working for the state working with disadvantaged youths and residential programs and in various school systems creating programs that would allow kids to stay in district for behavioral needs. As for personal skills I've been told that I'm a very create DM and plot master and able to take little things and grow them into much larger and more impactful things.
8. What drew you to the realms, and what keeps you there?
Honestly, combat. As I've stated I am very competitive, and I love skill based challenges. Realms was the one LARPI played that didn't rely on points or special powers to do damage. it was all skill. The more work you put in, the better you got and that's what really kept me in the early stages of my career. After that, it was the people. I met my best friends, and people who I consider closer then my actually family in this game and they're the ones who keep me here. Honestly I could not really image my life without my Invictus family and all the shenanigans and debates we get into. More importantly recently watching the growth of my squire Madison has brought me an immense amount of joy and pride. Seeing them grow f and come out of their shell, being recognized for everything they do has made a lot of the years I spent playing this game and being the background support all worth it.
9. Favorite movies/shows/books?
Movie: Greatest movie of all time is the OG Ghostbusters and if anyone says otherwise they are wrong. Show: Shogun, OG or new one Book: Jurassic Park
10. If you happened upon 3 wishes, what would they be? (Wishing for more wishes doesn’t seem to work...)
Oh dear lord....Okay lets avoid the nonsense like world peace. I would like for the world to not actively be on fire for like a year so we can all catch our breaths. On the selfish wish I would want a ton of land and the money to build a traditional Japanese castle via the Edo period on to live in for myself and my friends because of course I do. And third wish would just be the health, prosperity and safety of everyone I care about.
11. Who would you like to see interviewed next?
Cal Marsden [Editors note: Cal's article can be found here], Tom Gallagher, Madison Neil
12. Anything else you’d like to add?
If you'd like to do one of these interviews, send Dani Lacasse (lilpotatogem on Discord) a message to let her know!
