Ask the Editors
Question:
What do you predict the Realms will be like five years from now? What will be the same and what will be drastically different?
I think we are seeing an upswing in immersion and questing culture right now, and I think there are some bright fresh minds gearing up to spearhead some new quests that will really drive the game into a new era, that will surely lead to some epic stories for the next generation to come.
I'm really excited about it actually, one of the things I've seen a lot more this year that I've missed in the past few years is an upswing in high quality ritual magic. As someone who’s been known to roam around as a magic marshal on quests it's kind of a bummer to skimp out on the ritual magic, so I'm hoping to see more of that.
Other than those things, I think we’ll largely be the same community.
--Keith “Saegan” Cronyn
I admit I am not very good at predicting trends. Here’s the thing: to me, our game tends to shift every 4 years. Sometimes we see an increase in the marshal aspect. Sometimes will will see a rise or fall of different elements, due to key people/ groups leaving, or the loss/ gain of event sites. And while there is change, I find the core game play has not changed all that much. Combat is faster. There is an upward trend for immersion currently. Magic is constantly being tweaked. I am currently concerned about our competition with other LARPS. I do not know how much the Realms can or will change. And that may be to our detriment. So I guess “we will see” is my best response.
--Steven “Therian” Matulewicz
This is an interesting question. Thinking back from my time as a newbie up to the present day, I feel that while there are many things in Realms that have stayed the same over the years, there are also many things that have changed. Faces come and go, new weapon and armor styles become popular, spells and the spell system itself undergo yearly tweaks and adjustments, attitudes towards different aspects of the game shift. Despite these things, it seems that the foundation of the game remains largely intact. I do believe that we will continue to see changes within the next five years and beyond similar to what we have seen in the last five years and before. Change ebbs and flows with time. We are now seeing an increased focus on role-playing, immersion, and being in-character at events and I expect this to continue and grow stronger in the future. The greater Realms community, part of what makes the game great, will continue to be as awesome and supportive as it is now, and hopefully continue to evolve and grow as new issues come up over the year. So while it’s hard to predict exactly what will happen and what will change in five years time, I think it’s safe to say that the Realms will both be similar to and different from the game we currently know today
-- Jen “Areni” DeNardis-Rosa
Ultimately, I believe that the Realms marches on through time, largely untouched. Obviously there are changes to weapons and mechanics and rules, and there are also shifts in priorities from fighting to questing to roleplaying. I believe we have also done a great job over the years of addressing social and cultural changes as they arise as well. Despite all of these changes, however, the Realms will always be recognizable as the game that it is and the community it has fostered. In a lot of ways, the Realms is like the Sandlot, we don’t replace people when they move on, but we keep going on, and their legacy and the things they have left behind make an indelible mark on who we are. It’s pretty cool really, that our LARP is living and breathing and evolving, but that its’ character, it’s essence, that’s never going to really change. It’s easy to imagine that things were better in the “good old days” but those fantasties really reflect the way that we remember the past, rather than the past itself. It’s hard to explain, but I am confident that this community and the Realms will be around in a recognizable form for many generations to come.
--Lani “Gwen” Jones