Report on The Opening the Gate Initiatiative

by Jason (Aeston) Rosa 

Greetings people of the Realms,

It is my happy responsibility today to talk to you all about a recently begun initiative which we're calling 'Opening the Gate', headed by the Knights of the Realms and the Knights of the Eternal Flame, in order to spread the joy of LARPing to a wider audience and to act as a recruiting inlet to our community.

Discussions about how to make this concept a reality actually began many years ago, as far back as 2022 when the idea was somewhat piloted at the Bennington, NH Rhubarb Festival. Back then a motley crew of Realmsies set up a tent with some show-and-tell items and trained interested fairgoers how to fight with boff weapons. By all reports, everyone had a lot of fun and the concept was a success.

At the Rhubarb Festival in 2022 (James Murphy).

Since then both knightly orders have had multiple discussions about how to make that initiative larger and more ubiquitous. We’ve discussed returning to gaming conventions, attending fandom-themed events, and exploring more opportunities, like the Rhubarb Festival, to bring what we do to an audience that may never have experienced something similar. 

Several months ago, we had a significant breakthrough in our planning. I had sent several emails and made several calls and left several messages with organizations across various New England towns whose job it was to put on their town fairs held through the summer and fall. Most of those attempts at contact bore no fruit. Except for one. A message I left with a woman named Sandy from the Pepperell, MA Fall Festival Committee. Not only did she call me back but her tone was immediately enthusiastic about my proposal. I gave her a 5-minute rundown of who we were as a community and our plan to host some mini-questing content at her fair and she was completely hooked, inviting us to be a part of both their Summer Festival and the Fall Festival that followed a few months later.

And so what could we do but get to work? We planned a short dungeon experience, we talked about how to best engage people that would be walking by, we divided up tasks like printing pamphlets or organizing props, and this past Saturday afternoon all our efforts came to fruition.

The dungeon starts to come together. 

Our booth getting set up (Kathy Fey).

Another view of our booth.

It took a little less than two hours for all to arrive and set up a free-standing dungeon. Fairgoers started to trickle in at about 5:00 and a few cautious but interested people came up to our booth to ask about what we were. A few of them were cajoled into learning how to fight. Over the next half hour or so it grew to a steady stream of people that were trained on how to use a single short while their friends and families watched and took pictures. It was certainly a productive situation but I began to wonder if the dungeon was set up for naught.

Training some of the band that would be playing later (Kathy Fey).

Lots of training going on.

Then we had a group that was ready to challenge our dungeon experience. We had come up with some very simple character classes that they could choose from in order to draw them into the experience. They could choose a fighter and call armor. They could choose a healer to heal limbs and combat raise dead. Or they could choose a sorcerer and throw a couple magic missiles.

The dungeon experience was pretty simple and overall about a ten minute endeavor. First the adventurers had to take on a tribe of goblins that was guarding the door to the dungeon. Once they dispatched those greenskin foes, the door had to be unlocked by solving an ‘untangle the knot’ puzzle. After the door was opened they entered the necromancer’s domain who would continue to animate a pair of skeletons again and again until the adventurers managed to slay first the undead then her. As they retrieved her staff from her corpse they realized that it was actually a magic dragon-slaying spear! And now it was time for them to enter the dragon’s lair. Confronting the monster was difficult. They had to first disable its movement by chopping off all of its limbs. Only then could they strike it in the head enough times to finally stun it. And then they all had to grasp the magic dragon-slaying spear and thrust it together into the dragon’s head, killing it with the power of friendship! As the dragon died they found the treasure chest that it was guarding and in looting it found the treasure, bead necklaces they quickly wore as a symbol of their triumph and gold coins with a QR code emblazoned on them that would direct them to RealmsNET.

Battling against the goblin tribe.

Unlocking the door while solving the puzzle.

Facing down the necromancer and her skeletons.

Into the dragon's lair.

Stab! Stab with the power of friendship!

Treasure!

As I finished running that first group through the dungeon I was happy that they had such a fun experience and thrilled to see their smiles. I wondered how many more groups we would get to come through. As I walked back to the dungeon entrance I was informed there was another group ready to go. And then another. And then another. From that first group until the very end of the fair the dungeon crew did not get a single momentary break. I estimate there must have been at least 15 parties of adventurers in total. Holy moly.

Meanwhile, in the few glimpses I would get outside between the dungeon walls, I saw the rest of our area was just as abuzz with activity. People were asking questions and taking flyers at our table. People were being taught to fight in groups of two or three or even more. Everyone was having a great time.

The training continues.

More people training and visiting our table.

I lost track of how many times one of our participants told me how much fun they had or how great of an experience it was. I directed all of them back to our table to make sure they grabbed a flyer telling them more about Realms and letting them know it's an experience they can have regularly if they want to. One mom asked if we could do this at her kids’ birthday party.

Before I conclude I want to recognize everyone that came together to make this endeavor succeed. Our crew was small but mighty, and everyone worked very hard with very little downtime. Ryan Welch, James and Emily Murphy, Kathy Fey, Keith Cronyn, Sean and Karen Veale, Dani and Ben Lacasse, Max McCalla, Emma Sherman, and Jamie Bancroft. Also thank you to Chimeron and Blackwood for loaning us so many of the props we needed to get through the experience, Steven Sanford for letting us borrow the dungeon walls, and especially to SMAS for all the single shorts that they loaned us.

In the final analysis, it's hard to neatly gauge our success at this endeavor, largely because there are so many metrics by which success can be evaluated. Was our goal to provide entertainment to the many throngs of mundanes at the festival? Was it to introduce people to the concept of what a LARP is? Was it to spread the name of the Realms and inspire people to try it out, hoping that some few of them might someday come to an event and become a part of our community? I think it was probably all of these at least to some extent. And I will say from my perspective it certainly felt like we could be proud of what we accomplished.

Overall the Pepperell committee was extremely happy with our participation in the event. We’ve been invited back to Pepperell’s Fall Festival on October 3rd to do something similar or slightly different in bringing LARPing to the masses. I’m told by the organizer, Sandy, that the Fall event is many times larger than the summer one, which was only in its second year. And I imagine for as long as we want to be a part of them our invitation to participate in those Pepperell events will be ongoing. I hope we will continue to take them up on those invitations, at least in the near future, and see what comes of it. And as this initiative picks up steam, maybe even expand into other towns and other festivals if we can summon the time and manpower to do so.

Hopefully our Opening the Gate this time was the start of something big and hopefully you are inspired to help be a part of it next time.

In service,

Jason Rosa

Knights Commander, Knights of the Realms

(more pictures follow)

Taking on the goblin menace. 

The hit feature film: How to Slay your Dragon.

Gotta start your monster slaying young. Very young.

This puzzle is easier than 4th grade math. Right?

Obviously no LARP is complete without informative literature.

Only slightly less chaotic than your standard Realms event.

A typical allotment of dragon horde. Note the QR code gold coin.

A very necromantic date. 

The family that slays together, stays together,

Belts of the Eternal Flame

Editor's Note: On April 9th, 2015, the final article in this original series wrapped up. The series was meant to not only let the community learn a little bit about the signina on each knights belt, but the knights themselves. The series wrapped up with then, knight commander Dav Hayden's article, it is only fitting that we kick off the revival of this series with the current Knight Commander, Ryan Welch. We encourage you to read all the past articles outlined in this article. 

Ryan "King Orion" Welch

1. What year were you awarded your white belt?

2022

2. Who administered "the punch" and-- be honest!!--did it hurt?
My brother Saka punched me. It did hurt, but I think he went a little easy on me at the time.

3. Whose belt did you wear until you got your own, and how was this significant for you?

I was knighted with Mathies's belt, which at the time surprised me because I expected to be wearing the belt belonging to a different Matt B. When I asked him about it, Mathies told me that he volunteered his belt because he say a lot of his younger self in me. We had an amazing conversation about that, and I still think back on it often.

4. Please describe your own belt's heraldry.
The heraldry on my belt is a green field split by three bends (blue, white, then blue again) with a Crowned Rowan Branch in black as a charge above the bends, and two black concentric diamonds as a charge below.

5. Why did you choose that heraldry to represent you?

 The green green-blue-white-blue-green of my heraldry are a combination of my home nation (the Azure Guard, blue-white-blue) and the nation I started (the Cerulean Company, green-blue-green). Normally these are displayed as pales, but on my belt they are bends because that seems to be traditional among Chimeronian KoEF.

The crowned rowan branch stands for the Avatars of Chimeron. This charge is used for many things in our Kingdom, though usually in white or silver. Black often associated with the Avatars, which is why it is used here. Nonetheless it is reasonable to read this charge as a representation of many aspects of my relationship with Chimeron.

The two concentric diamonds is the Beast rune for Time, which in the way of this language can also also be interpreted as Cycles. This comes from a ritual I attended while I was Alexander Cecil's mentorship. This ritual called for elements which included the past, the present, and the future. In my boldness (perhaps too bold, perhaps just bold enough) I stood in the position for future, as that seemed most fitting for the relationship between a knight and his squire. The magic of that ritual left a, shall I say, Beastly impression on me, and through that the rune became for me a symbol of the cycles of mentorship, the passing of knowledge from one generation to the next. Perhaps it is worth noting that of all the milestones I represent in my personal heraldry, my adoption of Cycles is predated only by my induction into the Azure Guard. 

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6. Who did the artwork on your belt?

I made the design and Pat Bobell painted it onto my belt.

7. What do you remember most about your knighting?

It was a miracle that I was able to attend the event at all. I had just completed my third and final round of chemotherapy only a week prior, which is an ordeal beyond description. Despite all my determination to attend Black and White, we had no idea if I would have the strength to make it through the day. Crystal and my sister kept a close watch on me, to see if I was fading so that they could take me home before I truly crashed. And this was the truth, but not the whole of it. Through a great order of good fortune I sustained myself through the entire event and was suitably surprised to be called up during court. However, I learned afterwards that if things had gone differently and I needed to make an early exit, the entire order--with the blessing of the day's staff--were prepared to leap on a signal from Crystal and stop the entire event in its tracks so that they could conduct my knighting. This demonstration of love from my community shocked me more than the belt itself, and is by far one of the kindest, most touching, most meaningful things that has happened to me. It has inspired me to spend the rest of my lifetime carrying such kindness, not as debt to be repaid but as a legacy and and an emotional heirloom to be passed on to those who succeed me.

8. What does being a KoEF mean to you?

On a personal level, my belt is a celebration of my dedication to both myself and my community in equal measure. My time in the Realms has had a significant positive influence on my growth as a person. Being a Knight of the Eternal Flame means that I channel this influence back into the community by helping others on their own journeys of self-development while continuing my own.

Battle Cry

Unto the Realms, 

Years ago, the Knights of the Eternal Flames wrote articles for the View from Valehaven called “Unsung Heroes”. In these articles, an individual Knight would choose to recognize someone within our community that inspired them or somehow stood out for something they may have done or continue to do. We as Knights have decided that we are once again going to return to the tradition of writing these articles. The first article in this series will be written by Sir Tao, James Murphy. 

- Matt Butler 

Sir Mathies Knight Commander, Knights of Eternal Flame

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sawyer "Jericho" Judkins

A while back I saw a group of new people sitting at a feast. I sat down, talked to them for a while, learned they were from Vermont. I had to ask how they ended up here and it was because of one person. He had attended some practices in MA, but when he went to Vermont for college he started a group.

At the last Green and Gold, a group drove down from Vermont that filled out the green side nicely. I was definitely on the gold side while my daughter was on the Green side so I was keeping a close eye on what they were doing. But this story has more to do with early Sunday morning. We were there early, because well, gold side don’t sleep late, and ran into this group from Vermont, doing a bear pit. It was pretty obvious who the leader was, and who the best fighter was. What I really noticed was that he was talking to everyone after he beat them.

So I went into recruiting mode, talking to him and his group about joining Blackwood. But he made one of his few bad decisions and went another direction (which I totally do not think was a bad decision).

And he kept showing up, bringing a few different people, some of the same people.

But the thing that I heard about, and directly benefited from, was: he went to gaming convention, had a booth/table, and literally handed out “Realms business cards.” At the Feast of Blackwood event two of these people showed up. They never would have if not for Sawyer.

Now Sawyer also got married last year, and still made events.

We have often seen the “newbie curve” - the newbie makes a few events a year; then a lot of events; to one or two events, and done. Sawyer is well past that.

 
When I gave Sawyer a fireball, it was for recognition of what he has accomplished so far and that I like how he plays the game.

Sir Tao Ya Kang
Knight of the Eternal Flame

What You Missed: KoEF Questing 2015: Nighthawk's Jamboree (photos)

An artist's rendition of Nighthawk at his celebratory jamboree

Tossing a ball to knock over cups, just one of the many fine games at Nighthawk's celebratory jamboree

What is a jamboree without hoop rolling?

And of course, Nighthawk was a gracious host, providing ample delicious refreshments for his guests.

The heroes of the Realms fight their way to Hollow World, hoping to bring aid to the people whose lives they shaped.

The way forward involves fighting over a dangerous pitfall.

 The elder explains to the heroes how the tribes United to worship the gods that are created by the god makers of the Realms

 Drawing armor and weapon combos for Tywin's challenge 

Fighting in the challenge of Tywin to earn his blessing

A troll worshiper of Caleal (of Ashenmark) gets into an argument with Gau Dring

 Finding a comfortable seat during the Proving Ground challenges

 Attempting the challenge of The Captain

A group attempts to defeat the challenge of time and freedom, solving puzzles to escape the room they are locked in.

 Navigating the challenge of Caleal of Ashenmark to receive his blessing

Hungry Hungry Heroes

The heroes were tasked with gathering the colored orbs while bring rolled around.

 Frozen in place, turned into statues of gold

The shrine of Tywin, God of Battle and Luck, sitting atop the Mountain of the Prophets

 The shrine of Caleal (of Ashenmark), God of Dexterity and Speed

 The shrine of Memoral, God of Magic and Intutition

The shrine of The Captain, God of Morality and Command

 The Unnamer, the forgotten God, seeks to stop the heroes from escaping the Gloaming.

 The prophets, restored to their positions on the mountain, thank the heroes of the Realms who saved them.

[Editor's note: all photos by View staff]

What You Missed - KoEF Questing: Nighthawk's Jamboree

by Mikey "Janus" Donnelly

A troll, a goblin, and a kobold walked into Nighthawk’s Jamboree.  This wasn’t the start of a joke, but the start of an adventure.  They were from another world, a world where last year we created their gods, and saved their plane from death.  Of course, for the denizens of that world, millennia had passed, and the adventurer’s of the realms were simply known as the “God Makers.”  The goblin, kobold, and troll had ventured forth to find us, as the prophets of the 6 gods we made had gone missing.  Now, Grebinar found this odd...as we had created seven gods.  So, we went forth to find out what happened on the other world, and help recover their prophets.

We traveled through a tunnel system as two separate groups, trying our best not to fall to our doom (not that a few people didn’t fall) fighting against some sort of mole people who guarded the passage between our worlds.  

We arrived to warring tribes, who all blamed the other tribes for the loss of the prophets.  We stopped the fighting, and found the prophet of the seventh god, who could only speak in whispers, as they was the power his god had left, as his name was made forgotten by a being called the Unnamer.  After conversing, we were brought to the shrines of the gods, and were brought up to speed on the past thousand years, how everyone found a god to follow, and formed tribes around it.  The gods would speak too loud for anyone to hear, so each god had a prophet, one who could properly hear the gods...until they vanished.  At this point, the 7th prophet stepped forward, with a loud booming voice, speaking on the behalf of his god.  He claimed that he took the prophets so that there would be no choice but to give him a new name and regain him the followers that were lost to him after being unnamed.  He hid the prophets in the the Gloming (the place where last year we had created the gods,) where we would need to god’s blessing to enter.  That was how the unnamed god ensured his shrine would be rebuilt, and that he would be given a name, since he was one of the gods whose blessing was needed.

We went to the broking grounds, and individuals overcame various challenges that matched the gods domains.  I helped Grebinar show leadership for The Captain, and I told a fortune to earn the blessing of Memoral.  Others did various other challenges, including singing, fighting, and feats of strength.  After we all earned favor, we renamed the 7th god, not to it’s original name, but to Trollinar The Grand Wizard In The Sky.  We also helped build up his shrine.  With that done, we advanced to the The Gloming.  Well...at least most people did.  Me, Faelinn, Amyss, and one other who’s name escapes me at the moment arrived in another place where we had to figure out how to escape by overcoming various puzzles.  We didn’t quite succeed, but we did well enough to earn potential, which we needed for later.

After we failed, we found ourselves amongst our friends while others were teleported out to attempt the trials we had faced.  We found we were advancing through an area that turned and had a wide variety of challenges, which when defeated would grant potential.  We had to translate a story to put a being to sleep.  We had to figure out how to navigate a large country, going from place to place.  We had to defeat various strong monsters, some of whom reflecting attacks and magic back, and others we aren’t quite sure how we defeated, just that we did overcome the challenge.  One who danced and turned people to gold, a giant game of Hungry Hungry Hippos,  and another who forced people to face fears.  We also were occasionally coming across prophets who would hand us two runes when we freed them.

Finally, we got to the last of the prophets, the prophet of Memoral, goddess of magic and intuition.  She informed us that the runes can be used to power our escape with potential, but we would need to defend when we left until the gate closed or anything could escape.  So, we covered the runes, and opened the door, and beings from all over the Gloming attempted to escape.  The fight was hard, but we did our best to defend.  We crafted new runes spells to help defend ourselves, and harm the enemy.  While we were forming one of the last ones, our line fell, and fighting erupted all around us.  Things were escaping...including the Unnamer.  It was fighting us, and forcing people to...forget things I think.  Eventually, it escaped, and the gate closed.  At this point, we were thanked for our deeds, and we traveled home.

 

 

Belts of the Eternal Flame - One Last Thing

Who Are the Knights of the Eternal Flame?

 By Mike "Sir Panther" Palumbo

The KoEF recently adopted a mission statement:

An organization comprised of Knights that believe in the continued betterment of the Realms community, and recognizing individuals that embody this.

But who are these knights and what does this mean? The Knights of the Eternal Flame is an OOC/IC order started when the creator of the realms identified some outstanding role models who helped him create the game world we play in. It has withstood the rise and fall of empires, the ebb and flow of the ever-changing rule systems, and the secession and subsequent reunification with the Knight of the Realms.

If the EHC is about the rules of the realms, the KoEF is about its soul. The KoEF was founded to be a collection of role models. Every other realms organization falls in line with its commonalities. Event Holders are game masters. Nations are about a shtick, style, or philosophy. Guilds are about a school of practice. Only the KoEF collect the best of them all and puts them in the same room despite their differences. Hell, it celebrates their differences. Nowhere else in the realms is there a more diverse and varied group of leaders, with a simple common goal: Be the best role-model.

Keeping true to our one tenet, to thine own self be true, we've amassed people who bring their A-game to the realms in ways that are hard to quantify. We have people who are outstanding at certain character types, bringing richness and style to our game world. We have knights who have been groundbreakers in female combat and weapon making, serving as role-models for all women in our game. There are great questers and great fighters; people who throw events, and people who take whatever time they have and devote it to marshalling and NPCing. We have people who revolutionized our quality of fighting and elevated the tournament structure such that old retired fighters want to come and compete again. And we have people here who have brought mentoring and recruiting to a level we haven't seen since the days of Queen Meg. And when we recognize these people, and award them this belt, newer players see that and they know: this is the path. It's not a clear one, it never has been, but it's clear to us when we see it in them. It's about bringing your best to the table.

That's what KoEF is.

So whether a knight recently earned their belt and looks forward to a future of great contributions, or they earned it years ago with great contributions that brought us to this moment, their impact has forever changed the realms for the better. The flame is carried and passed on, and burns eternally bright.

Belts of the Eternal Flame

[Editor's Note: this piece marks the last of the Belts of the Eternal Flame series, so we thought it would only be fitting to end with Dave, who is the current Knight Commander of the order. We at the View would like to take a moment to sincerely thank the Knights of the Eternal Flame for both their support of and participation in the series. As the series has run throughout the weeks, we hope that the community as a whole has been able to learn a bit more not only about the insignia on the belts, but also about the knights themselves as people and players, in addition to getting a more personal look the order itself. We hope you have enjoyed the series. A special thank-you also goes out to Jesse "Mestoph" Gifford, for taking many of the belt pictures that made up a crucial part of the series.]

Dave "Sir Vawn" Hayden

1. What year were you awarded your white belt?

It was 2010, at North/South.

2. Who administered "the punch" and-- be honest!!--did it hurt?
Kelly Bonci/Dame Twenaria. I honestly don’t remember if it hurt, I was still a little shocked. She definitely did not hold back though, and I had a very respectable bruise shortly thereafter.

3. Whose belt did you wear until you got your own, and how was this significant for you?

Sir Blade’s. It meant a lot to me because Tom is someone who I respect a great deal. 

4. Please describe your own belt's heraldry.
A simple path leads from the bottom to a white tower on a hill, surrounded by a dark blue sky. The blue then fades into a birch bark pattern on the top. 

5. Why did you choose that heraldry to represent you?

The path, which was inspired by The Realms heraldry, represents the journey that I believe both life and my time in the Realms are – an effort to continually become a better person and do what I can to make the world a better place. 

The tower symbolizes the utopian ideal of “the bright city on the hill”, a place like Camelot which embodies the very best of what we have to offer. A place where virtue and honor and truth and valor motivate people’s decisions and actions.

The tower also, along with the dark blue sky, represents Eagle’s Rook, which before I ever entered the game was designed to be the Realms equivalent of that better place. 

The birch pattern represents the Coupants. The Coupants were part of Janna’s Insectafae plot which ran in the early-to-mid 2000s. That plot was very significant to Vawn’s character development and the ramifications from it help to define how I play him even to this day.
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6. Who did the artwork on your belt?

Katie Giasson was kind enough to transform my abstract ideas into a work of art. 

7. What do you remember most about your knighting?

What I remember most is being completely surprised. I know Kelly and Janna and Blade spoke, though I could not tell you what they said other than I remember it being complimentary. I was pretty tired from fighting all day, so I wasn’t thinking too much about who they could be talking about as people tend to do. I think someone had to nudge me after my name was called; I was still trying to process it even as I was walking up.   

8. What does being a KoEF mean to you?

It is unquestionably an honor to be made a Knight of the Eternal Flame – it’s a validation of how you’ve conducted yourself and what you have contributed to the community. But it’s also an obligation to continue to live up to those same ideals that got you knighted in the first place.  

Photo by Jesse Gifford