How did you first learn about Realms?
A combination of boredom, the need for a shared hobby for the three of us who live in the same house, and Chris' (Alexander) most recent YouTube kick being about LARPing lead us to search the net for local groups. We decided Realms sounded good, and I pretty much immediately fell in love with the idea of alchemy. We tried to drag along Victoria's (Calypso) 'sister' and her boyfriend, but that fel through, and Chris' friend Alisha (Eva?, Alexander's half-sister I think) ended up joining us. And somehow, I'm the leader of this pile of oddballs. Calypso, Alex, and Eva have even sworn to me recently! (Although part of me thinks it was mostly for convenience’s sake since we all carpool.)
How many events have you been to?
Not many, really. We did the small tourney Grimloch hosted a couple of weeks before Folkstone on a whim, though I don't think it hit legal, and I mostly sat with the very grumpy little one since we didn't have a sitter. Folkstone weekend was EPIC, Feast of Neden was ok, and B&W was a lot fun. Opera House 2 was great, too. Seriously looking forward to Cecil's Uncle's Yule Madhouse or whatever they're calling it, as it sounds like a blast.
Have you ever LARP'ed before? If so tell us about it.
About four years ago, I almost joined up with Future Imperfect, a Sci-Fi larp that I think is RI based. The parent company dropped it, for no reason I ever learned, the week before the event I'd taken time off for. I want to say Kevin Girard, who was the one trying to get me into it, actually picked up the pieces and is running the
place now, and I still lurk on their FB community. Cool guy, but I moved northward and we fell out of touch.
What is your character like? Where are they from? What is their race? What is important to them?
My character, Desiree, is basically my core personality without a lot of my social awkward filters, twisted to fit fantasy. Kind, helpful, fun, a bit snarky, very loyal to chosen family, and maybe a bit too interested in creature comforts. I built her as a way to let go, so it's not terribly hard to get 'into character' because it's more about
getting out of my shyness. Because really, if I totally F things over as Desiree she can simply disappear, and I can start over. It's actually starting to help me be myself more out in the mundane world too. Small steps, though.
As for her backstory and such, she is the perfectly human daughter of a small village healer and a woodsman/grumpy drunk of a father, both deceased of mundane causes. Her mother trained her as an herbal healer and mundane wise woman for the village, which is why her alchemy potions are herbal based now that she has access to magical ingredients. Her husband was basically her master's test: they fell in love as she nursed him back to health from near death and they wed shortly after.
She became an adventurer to avenge the nasty murder/scalping of her husband (no magicals in town to save him), although she had to delay her departure by a few years to finish training her apprentice so as to not leave her home without a healer of some sort. Problem is, she doesn't know a whole lot about where exactly her husband came from before he showed up in her life half dead, and the trail is long cold on the group that killed him. She does have a ring, what appears to be his family coat of arms even if he never talked about it, but it's not much help.
What do you remember about your first event?
Honestly, I count Folkstone Weekend as my first event. The feast was...overwhelming. A lot of people, a lot of noise, some great food, and a very confusing night quest on the beach were I followed around the nice lady with cat ears and chain maille. The most standout points of the weekend, though, were bribing the alphabet bag of holding puzzle with homemade jerky Saturday morning, the epic battle on the field where I basically just hauled a constant line of corpses to Gray and Garharz, and then after the kerfuffle with the Black Star Guild at the keep where poor Bones was in a bad way and I declared Snack Quest and we all hung out, ate all the food I'd been hauling around all weekend, and I got to know people and the Realms better.
What things have helped to make you feel welcome in game?
First off, Angela and Jason Gray, and Jesse Gifford were awesome to us bunch of unconnected newbies, coming over to our house (in the lead up to the major event they were throwing) and sitting down with us over dinner to talk about anything and everything we could ask about the realms. And it was a long drive for them.
At folkstone, Becky Barton and her chimeron cabin friends were hilarious and helpful after hours around the campfire. Gerard Chartier was a good campfire buddy, too, and was nice enough to let me trail after him like a lost puppy for a lot of the weekend without getting annoyed. Yip was fun, too, just don't follow her example of licking the lightning ball.
Everyone active in the Realms FB group has been great, too.
What parts of the game do you find most challenging?
Hit calls are hard for me: not the taking of hits but rather calling them. I tend to not call out loud, just stop using the arm/leg. It's not too bad, because I don't do armor, but still. I also mostly call 'ow' in a rather deadpan voice instead of 'dead' and the very nice npc players tend to get worried about anyone saying 'ow' in any tone of
voice. Actual pain, rare as it is, evokes swearing. Active battle is not my thing, but I knew this going in.
Names are also pretty tough. I've never had an easy time with name-face memory, but the consistent costumes help an awful lot to counter the fact that most folks have at least two different names.
Do you have any game related goals (as either a player or a character)?
...Right, so, go big or go home, yeah? I hope to found a country (probably named Eden or something similar), run mostly epic feast events, and have my own land to fit the part. ‘Part 1: followers’ is already underway. I guess with three sworn to me I'm a Lady now, according to some of the info on realmsnet.
Part of my OOC life goal is owning a big honking piece of well-kept forest, and building a business there. Now that I've seen how awesome LARP is, and heard how much of a pain getting event sites can be sometimes (see rumor of Folkstone being asked not to come back to the scout camp because of some ladder-on-picnic-table shenanigans) it was very easy to tweak my master plan: Cut trails pretty much as soon as I own land, and use for day quests. Prioritize the kitchens and rental space and smack an old school tavern template on it, go for feasts.Add some space for tenting and maybe a few cabins along with the necessaries. Poof, (hopefully) epic larp location, with super-larp-friendly owners.
What advice would you give other new players?
Relax, ask questions, listen to the monologue-ing, watch what's going on, and offer to help.
Relax! Seriously. A lot of folks that larps attract have anxiety problems, or at least a high level of that awful social awkward. Don't be afraid to stick your foot in your mouth, or accidently ask a noble for plebian help. As long as you're not a total butthead OOC, there's nothing to worry about. If you make enemies and you really didn't mean to, you can pick up a different character: it's like changing your hairstyle.
If you're alright with a sword, find a spot in the line that's got a gap and pair up with someone who knows what's going on. Follow their lead, play support for them even if it amounts to jumping in front of hits. You'll learn with practice and experience, and soon you'll be the one a newbie is following around. Also, ask for sparring and tips
when the 'thinky types' are the ones busy. It happens sometimes, and the heavy fighters tend to get a bit restless.
If you're afraid of getting in the way in a fight, flutter at the back of the lines and haul corpses to the healers. None of the good fighters really want to risk breaking the line, and the heavy healers have set up circles that keep them from getting dead themselves. And when there's no one left alive to fight, we all lose. By the time
you're in good shape from all the running, you'll have learned a few spells. Also: Heal Limb or Repair Armor/Item are good choices if you're going to be part of the corpse line, as it keeps some of the fighters from needing to be carried away.
If there's a puzzle going on, take a look and see if it's something you're good at. Even if it's not, give it a try. You might see something the regulars missed.
What have you enjoyed most about the game so far?
You hear it from everyone, but the community. Especially how helpful the folks 'in power' have been. The Folkstone crew was great, a baron allied with chimeron was really accommodating when I was good and
confused at one point, and King Cecil at B&W actually let me move my shop downstairs when everyone else packed it up for court.
Anything else you'd like to take the opportunity to put into print?
If you've read this whole huge wall of text: Thanks.
Also, that business I was talking about earlier? Think Old Sturbridge Village for modern self sufficiency, using ancient forest cultivation techniques and modern technology. If anyone wants more info on my mundane business plans, hit me up on Facebook: post to the realms community looking for me or send me a message. I could use all the help I can get, and that includes the boost of knowing someone's interested in my apparent insanity.