Happy Memorial Day

 

Happy Memorial Day from the View staff. We'll be back with our regular content tomorrow.

Home Questing: Task 29 Results!

 by Christopher "Janus" Donnelly

Hi all, and welcome to the judging of the penultimate task of Home Questing.  This week, we asked you to draw a self portrait without looking at the paper, and that the funniest would win.  So, let’s see how people are with their eyes closed.

First, from Belle (the racoon) is this:

Second, Cressida took a different approach.  She put on some music and chose colored pencils at random every time she switched features until she ran out of pencils, resulting in this:

And finally, from Janus is this drawing (which is only marginally worse than with his eyes open):

So, for help on this, I asked Indana, who happened to be over helping with dinner.  Take it away Indana!

First place (5 points) is Cressida, because I laughed out loud. Lets just say that I found their eyes on the portrait resembled a different … anatomical … body part. 

Second place (4 points) is Janus because he is an elephant, and that’s great. 

Third place (3 points) is Belle. A very solid entrant. 

Thank you Indana.  Now, for my point of view:

First, as it always happens, Janus is disqualified for using a second sight of some sort.

In 2nd place is Belle (4 points).  It’s actually a really good drawing...possibly better than I could do myself, and while cute, isn’t that funny.

In 1st place is Cressida  (5 points).  The colors add to it, but as I look closer and closer it gets funnier and funnier.  There are two mouths offset from each other.  There might be two eyebrows...or I don’t know what those arches are.  There is either an earring on a cheek, or a rosy cheek on the ear.  It’s perfect!

So, after a point for participation, that brings our totals for the week to:

Cressida: 11 points

Belle: 8 points.

See you next week for our thrilling conclusion.

Five Questions about Getting Back

Though we can't exactly predict at this point when we will sit beside one another around the late night campfire, raise goblets together as we feast, or cross swords on the field of war, one thing is for certain, all of us are looking forward to the day where we can safely and responsibly play Realms together again. In anticipation of the hope that better days are ahead, we asked you some questions about getting back to playing Realms. 

Answers by Cal "Syruss" Marsden and Ben "Pilpus" Lacasse

In your time away from Realms, what have you been spending your hobby-time on instead of going to or preparing for events?

Cal: Prop building. Dungeons and Dragons Realms Campaign using The Folkstone Slider premise to explore different worlds with my Neden boys. I switch from Foam crafting swords to foam crafting game boards and buildings.

A Neden Questing Party - Photo by Cal

Ben: With Realms off the table over the last few years feeding my nerd side became much more difficult, as Realms was such a huge creative outlet in so many different ways!  Competitively, I've been playing a lot of World of Warcraft with my Realms friends to keep me connected.  Creatively, I started painting/prepping a Warhammer: Age of Sigmar army (Seraphon) and that's been a huge endeavor as well.  And without the goal posting of Knighthoods and assisting other community members I honestly felt a little starved of meaning/purpose, so spiritually I got to take some much needed me-time to evaluate and improve my life.  I've been promoted at work twice, lost 80 lbs and got married to the love of my life!

Ben and Danielle at their Wedding - Photo by Lizzy Marie

Accepting as fact that there are lots of things that we have all missed, what have you missed the most about being at Realms Events?

Cal: I really enjoy the physical aspect of eventing. From camping to fires, to the long walks during a quest or the fast movements of war tourneys. If I am being honest with myself I really miss Marshaling Queen of Hearts and seeing the epicness of our combat on full display. But above all, I miss throwing Neden's feast/Can drive and I look forward to when we can do that safely again.

Feast of Neden

Ben: I miss too many things to list, but the chief thing that I find myself longing for are my friends.  I never thought that my wedding would be without a full realms Groomsmen party, or that there'd be a whole year where I've only gotten to wave at my closest friends through a window.  There's few things on this earth that I wouldn't trade to be having a beer at the Nashua studio with my best friends planning Blackwood Tournaments.

Are there are plots or specific events or anything that you are particularly looking forward to for after the Realms gets going again?

Cal: I have always been a fan of Chimeron's open world events. But frankly, I will be excited for the first one that comes our way.

Ben: I was so hyped for last August's Demonic Invasion event and beyond bummed it had to be set back another year.  Rubarb has one of my favorite event holding styles and routinely delivers some of the most fun experiences every time he's at the helm of a plot.  As for NPCing though, I can't wait for That which Escapes Us, Ashenmark and New Blackwood plot as well!  Having a year to event prep/brainstorm has been great but I just want to put it all on the field!

Shameless Plug for Demonic Invasion (photo by Michelle Marie LaPlant)

Have you concocted any grand plans of any kind for once we can get back to Realms? Events you are planning or things you are going to do with your character? Any secret projects you've been working on that you want to give us a hint about?

Cal: I have a few new weapons that need to hit the field. I have been thinking of new stuff to add to the Neden museum and auction table, again very much looking forward to throwing our feast again. But hitting the questing trail with friends and putting smirks on faces is at the top of Syurss's list.

Neden's Fabulous Auction Table (photo by Cal)

Ben: That Which Escapes Us will be back in full swing come next summer, but as soon as realms reopens in any capacity, we have the BGAs from our last event ready to start the hype train rolling again!!  As for hints to what could be coming down the pipeline here are some properties we've drawn inspiration from with our most recent endeavors: Louis and Clark, Heart of Darkness, Alice in Wonderland, Tremors, Starship Troopers, and Return of the King!

Anything else you'd like to say to the Realms about this past year we've spent apart from each other or in anticipation of us seeing one another again?

Cal: I am very thankful for the closeness I have with my countrymen. We managed to stay in contact and got together safely as frequently as was possible. But even with the added distraction of donning garb once a month it did not quite scratch the itch that is being at LARP. While I love my crew I love the populous of the Realms as a whole and I missed all of you. This game has provided me with all my favorite memories, all my best friends, and the people I call family. It was like missing something internal in my life. I can only hope we are back together safely soon. I can not wait to see you all on the field.

photo by Robyn C. Nielsen

Ben: To the Realms at large- I'm so excited to have you all back in my life physically some time soon! 

The year without Realmsy hugs has been long and arduous but a brighter day dawns in the East ❤

photo by Dustin Mack

Spell-o-Gram 1

The following is a cryptogram. Like most cryptograms you are tasked to figure out the very basic cypher in order to solve the puzzle. Unlike most cryptograms the clue you are trying to solve is a spell description from the Omnibus. Try to figure out what spell it is! If it doesn't load correctly for you Click Here.

Morning Coffee Break

 Got your morning cup of coffee and a few minutes? Great! We're trying out a new feature at the View - we're going to be asking a series of questions and we want to know your answers! The question is posted below. So while you sip your morning beverage of choice, ruminate on this one:

What is the coolest or most amazing thing that you ever saw happen on a quest?

Head on back to Facebook and let us know in the comments!

Meme Monday

 by the Meme Team

Flashback Friday - Some Spring Events

It's the time of year where we would normally be dusting off our gear and shaking off the winter. We can't do that right now, of course, but let's remember some moments from Spring Events past. All photos by Jason Rosa.

You, You, Fight to the Death (April 2010)

You, You, Fight to the Death (April 2010)

Impromptu (March 2008)

Impromptu (March 2008)

Impromptu (March 2008)

Grimloch Grill and Games (June 2009)

Grimloch Grill and Games (June 2009)

Grimloch Grill and Games (June 2009)

King Cecil's Coronation (April 2011)

King Cecil's Coronation (April 2011)

King Cecil's Coronation (April 2011)

The View Retrospective - Interview with Kelly

Scan by Jeremy Grayson. Originally published in The View From Valehaven, 2nd Ed, Volume 3, Issue 6. July 2006.

Propping Up My Memory - Part 2

by James "Tao" Murphy

Another memory, that I do not remember. I went to feast I was not invited to, and I got a sword? From hell? But when it started, I was hungry and broke, as usual. 

I was not sure the feast was for everybody, but no one asked me for an invitation at the door. Some attendees had such fine cloths, and weapons. I did not belong here. But there was Sakizuke, and the promise of Hassun, with more food course to come. I was very hungry, so the small portions did not fill me up. Maybe I might be able to take extra food from some of the later course to bring home. Not that there was anyone waiting for me. I was as alone, as I was hungry. Fall was here, winter a few months away, my future was not looking promising. 

I found a seat in the back, there were some games and such with dominos and cards, but you needed Koku to play them. As I had none, I just watched. I noticed that while many people looked like they were having fun, it was the person behind the table that kept getting the money. They paid off some people but not everybody. Hmm, I wonder what it would take to start that kind of business. 

After the Takiawase someone said something about weirdness happing outside. I grabbed my shoes by the door and joined everyone else outside. We discovered that our world had changed. There was a path that seemed to lead off into darkness. We could not tell if we were inside or outside. This did not seem to surprise some of the people who joked about what things were in store. Many of the guests stated they were expecting something like this from the way the host had acted. He said he had no idea, but I did not believe him. 

Samurai were taking to the front and starting down the path. I kept to the back. I was not sure why we would not just go back inside, but when I turned the feast hall was gone. I did not want to be alone, so I followed the crowd. I hoped we would be back in time for the Yakimono. 

After a short walk we entered some kind of natural throne room. Sitting on a clean white throne was a large Oni. Several of the Samurai tried to attack him but no Katana, Ono, or even the lightning bolt the U-izado threw would affect him. He said he had taken us, and if we wanted to get back to the feast, we would need to work for him for a short time. He also said he would reward us if we were successful with a very special Mizumono. Many people did not trust the Oni but seeing as we had no choice we agreed. 

He needed decorations for his new throne. It needed puss, and poop, and worms, and other disgusting things to properly look like his throne. He knew where we could find some lessor Oni who were made of these things. He told us to journey to where they are, kill them, and bring back so much of each. 10 piles of demon poop, 8 baby demon spiders, many buckets of demon dirt, were just a few of the things. 

I started to grow nervous. I had no weapons, no armor, no spells. I had left my Yumi behind as I did not believe it proper to bring to a feast. And it being a poor one at that I was barely able to hunt with it. I hoped I could just stay out of the way and not die. 

We entered an area and suddenly there were Poop and worm Oni. They did not talk or yell or even make any sounds. They just started coming at us ready to attack. One of the Samurai up front stepped up and sliced one of them almost clean through. It was a vicious kill. This was not surprising as he was the strongest of us. But then the samurai stopped moving. His blade still in the Oni as if frozen. Others soon leaped to the fight. But as each killed an Oni, they also stopped moving. Most of the Samurai were now frozen. And many of the ones who were left were not as proficient with their weapons. 

We barely won the round. I mostly tried to hide out of the way. When it was clear I noticed the first Samurai was now covered in poop. All that had killed an Oni were covered in either poop or worms. We were able to scrape off what we needed but it was not a pleasant experience for any of us. 

At about this time one of the samurai noticed I had no weapons and had not been able to help with the fight. He offered me his Wakizashi, but it was just to long for me. He then offered me his Chisa-Katana. This was more my size, a bit longer than my skinning knife, but I could work with this. 

As we still needed more and different things for the Oni, we continued onward. The next group we fought were puss oni and dirt oni. Once again as soon as the Samurai, or anyone really, killed an Oni they froze in place. This time I did have to get involved with the combat. Two of the Samurai went down before they could kill so it fell to us less experienced people to kill them.  

One of the puss oni was engaged with a weaker samurai. I was able to get around behind it and stabbed it with the chisa-katana. I froze, I could see, I could hear, but I could not move a muscle. After a short time, all the rest of the oni were down, but I was now covered in puss. We were able to scrap it off and carry it with us, but the smell was unable to be imagined.  

The samurai who had loaned me his weapon saw my fighting and congratulated me on being successful with the weapon. He had been frozen where he could watch me in the fight and was pleased the weapon was useful to me. It said it normal just went in his belt as a backup. Looking me over, he asked me to accept it as a gift. I had to refuse. He insisted that I take it as it had worked in my hands. Again, I had to decline, while I would be happy to use it until we got back, it was after all his weapon. He said that I would be doing him a favor if I accepted it. He was thinking of replacing it soon and he would just be throwing it out when that happened. On his third request to take it, I agreed. It was a fine weapon; I was glad to have it. But now that I think about it, maybe the smell and the puss was the reason he did not want it back. 

Our healers were able to revive our fallen. The Smiths went to work on the armor. Soon we were ready to continue. We only had to go through two more rounds of fighting the various minor oni before we had all the things that were needed. It was quite a site heading back, all of us that point covered in something, puss, dirt, dirty sponges, something. While just had my simple cloths, some of the people had dressed in very fine things. To see them stained and ruined was something of a crime. 

We returned to the throne room where the oni stood up and revealed that his chair was hollow. He asked us in turn to fill the bowl of the chair with all the different things we had gathered, the poop, the dirt, the puss, the dirty sponges, even the worms and spiders. 

Once it was full, he turned to us and started laughing. Before our eyes he changed into a Nihon No Ryu. He unleased his magic and the throne was changed into a fantastic Mizumono celebrating the fall with elements that looked something like a graveyard. When he was asked how he did it he said it was but a trifle. 

As we left the Throne room my clothes were suddenly free of the puss. They were actually quite a bit cleaner than they usually were and small tears had disappeared. As we walked back the host of the feast asked us how we liked his little joke. He had invited the Ryu to play his little game. But also, we killed many oni that would not bother others. Fun was had, good had happened. I just felt used. 

Memory fades again, I know I kept the weapon. I made friends that day. But the rest is flushed away. 

 *************************

Players have to fill up a toilet with chocolate pudding and other trifle ingredients. 

Brand new toilets can be as cheap as 90 dollars. It’s a bit much for a single prop. 

Most of the scene is set in a Hell. Many different types of demons. Poop demons (choc pudding), dirt demons (cookie crumbs) ,  puss demons (whipped cream), demons of the worm (gummy worms) , demon spiders (gummy spiders) . Dirty sponge demon (hunk of cake, probably a vanilla or a pound cake). 

Each combat round will have a mix of different types of demons. Stats to be determined day of depending on party strength. 

Special call will be a freeze effect. (if you are told to freeze you should stop what you are doing and freeze in place) you can hear and see, but not move. 

There will be at most 1:3 to 1:4 NPC to PC ratio in these fights. When I NPC dies it calls a freeze on the player who killed it. The freeze will last until all the other demons are dead or the party has been wiped.  The party should win each round, but not for free. NPC’s should do what they can to win one fight but to losse the next. If they wipe, then the remaining demons withdraw. If no one can get back up, the first demon will pop in and do some kind of group raise. They are a good dragon after all.  

Players think they are stuck in a hell. They encounter a demon (who is really a good dragon) who is sitting on a throne the chair is actually a toilet but is disguised enough that the players should not be able to tell that. They complain that the throne is to clean. It needs dirt and puss and such to properly decorate it. (the npc will be sitting on the cover). The demon says they must kill a bunch of minor demons and collect the trifle ingredients except calling them disgusting names. Gives then how much of each thing they need to collect. (10 bits of demon poop, 8 bits of demon dirt, etc). they give directions to where these types of demons hang out  

Players must fight waves of demons usually only two or maybe three different types as a time. As each demon is killed, they Freeze whoever killed them. When all the demons are dead. Everyone releases. But the first person to kill one of the types (do our best to marshal) gets a special cut scene. They are presented with the ingredients in its raw form. No dishes no bags. (pudding, or gummy, or whipped cream) they must put out their hands. After the first time the demons will give up tokens of “puss” or “baby spiders” or “dirt”. The person who gets the cut scene can eat or throw away the pudding/whipped cream/etc we have to make sure we have at least one extra of each thing the party needs so that it will not be necessary. Once they party has gone through enough waves to be fun and not repetitive. Its back to the throne room.  

Once the party has everything they need. They can return to the demon, who will then reveal the “throne” to be a toilet. A table is then revealed to have all the ingredients. Pudding, cake, gummy stuff, etc. the party must then build a trifle that they can carry back to the feast as dessert. The demon was actually a good being the host had made a deal with. 

Meme Monday

 by the Meme Team

Home Questing: The Thirtieth Task!!!!!

 by Janus "Christopher" Donnelly

The form to submit your best reinterpretation of a previous task:  https://forms.gle/ZKVXgQaUnA8WeFJS7

If you would prefer to send something to me directly rather than uploading to youtube or some other video hosting site, please email it to techiemikey@gmail.com.

Here are all the view articles for previous tasks: http://viewfromvalehaven.blogspot.com/search/label/Home%20Questing

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Transcript:

Hi all, Janus here and welcome to Home Questing, the Thirtieth Task!  This week is going to be our last week, so in the spirit of that, I am asking you to reinterpret a previous task.  The best reinterpretation wins.  You have until next Friday at noon, and your time starts now.

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Rumors for May 1021

[Blackavar]

Smoke continues to rise in the lands of Blackavar as the Knights of the Sable Dragon extend their campaign to reclaim their ancestral homeland. 

There are reports from the supply chains that Blackavar Keep is in sight.

Core Elements of Eventholding: Foreshadowing

 Eventholding is a complex art, with many moving parts, and trying to capture them all in one article is daunting. Today I’m going to talk about foreshadowing and writing. 

Foreshadowing is a term used to describe how an author can show their audience what’s going to happen later on within the story. It’s how they tip their hand. It can be an important tool, because it allows the author to put in plot twists, and for those twists to seem like they have a place within the story. 

How much a reader likes the twist in a plot could be correlated to how much they can see the threads of that twist coming. If there is no evidence for the plot twist coming, it will likely upset your audience. If it doesn’t fit the narrative of the common stories we all know, if it just is so wildly unlikely to happen, your audience just won’t like it. On the other hand, if you’ve been tipping your hand too much, and they can see it coming at every turn, then they probably will be bored by the twist as well. You really need to find that balance, where they can’t see it coming, but once it happens, they look back and say “Oh, it was there all along, how did I miss that?”

And that’s really what foreshadowing is meant to be used for. The “it was there all along” moments. 

So how can we incorporate that into our event holding, and writing for our events?  The most common way I can think of that people foreshadow in events is through references to popular media. I can’t tell you how often I’ve been at an event and been going through a quest, and had someone realize that they were doing the plot of some show, comic, book, or anime, that they loved.

Tipping your hat to your influences, as a method of foreshadowing, can do a lot of the leg work for you. It will let the players that catch your reference know which direction you’re intending to go with your plot, and maybe even the mechanics of your encounter. For example I feel like every time we come across a door with runes around it someone says “Speak friend and enter.”

I do want to say though, that if you tip your hand too hard it can have the opposite effect, in that rather than understanding your tone and intentions, your players will just feel like you’re breaking their immersion by being too on the nose. 

Here, let me give an example of what foreshadowing with pop culture references  might look like, and you can decide if I go too far: 

It’s Monster Island 7, you were conned into a lovely cruise vacation getaway that also had the promise of adventure: going out to a forbidden part of the sea because it was full of monsters. It happens to adventurers. You know it does. Your ship has wrecked. You’ve been fighting the waves for hours, mysteriously casting your raise deads on the corpses of your friends bobbing to the surface, when a ship that mysteriously looks exactly like the one that sank, rolls on up to you. You’re rescued and safe. Ish. 

As it turns out it’s a pirate ship, and Captain Euron, a man with purple skin, white hair, and a black hula skirt, confesses that he’s in love with the Red Queen of a nearby island. He and his crew have been posing as a sea monster to stave off suitors. He promises he’ll transport you and the party to the island safely if you promise to be silent about the sea monster part, and can arrange for him to get a date with the Queen by sunrise.

Did I tip my hand too much? What was I referencing? How do you think that story should end? Let me know in the comments!

Before I end, I’d like to add a commentary on an important concept of foreshadowing. Chekhov's Gun, is the idea that if there is a gun on the wall in the first act of a story, it should be used to kill someone by the third act of the story. Applying this concept to LARP can be challenging because on the one hand, you want to give your player’s an immersive reality, and sometimes, in the real world, a cup is just a cup. However, thinking about Chekhov’s Gun when you’re decorating your dungeons, coaching your NPCs on what they should be relating to the players, and creating mechanics for your quest, can really change your perspective on what you’re writing. It speaks to relevance, and red herrings within a quest, if you want your players to get distracted by red herrings, throw in things that have no purpose but seem like they do. Personally, I don’t like this approach, it makes a clever PC feel cheated for getting distracted by something you put into the story. Red herrings happen completely on their own, you don’t need to plan for them. Rather, focus on linking up the things that matter within your quest, connect the pieces, and let your friends feel like geniuses for seeing it coming from the very first clue, that’s what foreshadowing is for. 

I look forward to being able to see you on the field, 

Keith “Saegan” Cronyn

Propping Up My Memories Part 1

By Sir Tao Ya Kang (James Murphy)

My memories have been different over the last year or three. Sometimes I must use magic to retain what I think I did, sometimes not even that works. But I get these flashes of memory, things that I did? Places I went? I am not sure, they feel like memories, but why have I forgotten them?

We are in the dark, but five parallel lines glow pale white in the dark along the ground. My bow is in my hand. The bag of arrows at my side, I know them by feel, I know which will destroy armor, which will kill with just a scratch. I have marked them each with my light spell. Sometimes it’s difficult to recover them in the dark. I don’t use them often in the dark, but the danger seems to be all around us.

The front-line moves, I would not want to be them. All the armor, the gear the long weapons, that is not how a hunter fights. Making all that noise, just makes yourself a target. We quickly find a barrier with some kind of puzzle. I am not good at them, so I fade back a bit, always better not to be a target up front.

I hope to make some money on this quest, the crops have not been good for several years, and the rent and taxes are due. It feels like the farm, this land, this country is cursed. I don’t remember if we were hired for this, or just stumbled into doing something. Either or both are possible; but I must find a way to get paid.

We are moving along the lines, a lone note that sounds like it comes from the mouth of hell, full of brass and sound. While I could hear it easily. It sounds likes it comes from far away.

Suddenly non-human shapes in black start to attack us. Without being able to recover arrows I pull my katana, it does not have the reach of the fighters in the front, but it would do. Sometimes I can land a lucky shot. I make sure its sharp whipping the blade with my cloth.

We are trapped within the lines, but the shapes are not. They attack us all up and down the lines from both sides. The fighters can’t be everywhere several of the party go down before we even knew what was happening. I gravitated mostly to the middle, but my left side had a fighter, so I moved a bit to the right. This put me directly on one of the lines. At first, I thought I was hiding as the shapes stopped attacking me. But soon others noted that they were not attacked if they were on the same line. Soon everyone was standing on the same line. Once everyone was either dead or on that line the shapes disappeared.

               With some break from combat, I hoped that someone in the front was working on the puzzle. while we were waiting a few of the pluckier adventures experiment with what happens when they leave the line. Fortunately the shapes do not re-appear. We breath a sigh of relief. After someone in the front solves it the barrier goes down we start pushing forward again.

               The lines continue into the darkness, some in the front move forward and find another barrier, another puzzle. once again from the darkness a single solitary note, a little closer this time. Even with how the first note triggered the shapes to attack we were surprised when they materialized out of the darkness. I quickly went to the same line, and once again they did not attack me. We have got this we just need to stay on this line. Once again someone solves the puzzle the barrier goes down. We move on.

               Now we are all on that line, we are ready, a note sounds, a little closer? But? its, different? The shapes appear and start attacking us. That line is no longer our protection. we dodge back and forth, and I find that I am not attacked if I am on second line from the left this time. but while I was figuring this out there took a blow to the back. Fortunately, my cloak protected me.

               In the next section, the same line was safe again. This might be the pattern; Two to the right, then two to the left. But the next section it was not the safe place. With a flurry of activity everybody tried different things, it was quickly figured out that those in the space all the way to the left were not getting attacked. Once we knew which lane to be in the shapes disappeared.

               Now we had it, and we did several rounds of; solve the puzzle, enter the new area, spread out, wait for the note, find the line of safety. Sometimes it’s the gaps between, sometimes it’s the lines. As we understand the secret, we get better. They make sure that each line and space is covered by someone who can take the hit. I am volunteered due to my magical cloak. I don’t like this; this is a job for hero’s, not a hunter trying to make some money.

               We finally get to what can only be the final puzzle, it’s a board with 5 lines, we also find these round dots that look like they fit either on the lines or in the spaces between. Someone finally gets the idea of matching up the different segments that we went through in order.

“The first note was a G, two from the right, and again the same.”

“Then we went two to the left so that would be a D.”

               I am glad someone knows something about how music is written. I can play my tin whistle, and if I hear a song, I might be able to recreate it, but have no idea of why they keep talking about face, and why kids deserve fudge.  

               Once the puzzle is solved, we enter a large area. In the center is a large person with lots of armor. They also have the weirdest weapon in their hands. It reflects goldish in the dim light. Finally! maybe some treasure! But as the party approaches, they quickly drop the goldish thing and pull out a real weapon and shield. The goldish thing is on some kind of tether so it does not fall far. They yell something about only the song of the stars can defeat them and start attacking.

               Once they pulled the shield, I felt like I lost an opportunity, I should have just shot them while they were unprepared. I have done it before, I will do it again. The front-line surges forward and beats the thing down. I quickly move in to try to search the goldish thing from them. Disappointment, its not gold, but some kind of brass musical instrument. I should have known. While the creature is down, I notice a large sack on its back, but I do not have the opportunity to examine it as I noticed they were counting, and it looked like their wounds and armor were healing.

               “A one, and a two, and a three and a four.”

               They repeated this a few times and get back up. While many of the braver people started to attack them to no effect, they reached into the bag and pulled out a bigger version of the musical instrument. And with a mighty breath sounded a long note. This close the sounds was almost overwhelming. The dark shapes were back, they attacked from all directions. As we were working on pushing them back, we still could not affect the big guy.

               Once the shapes had all been silenced, the big guy once again they yelled something about only small twinkling stars could defeat him and started attacking us again. It seamed a harder fight this time. But once again he was brought down by shear numbers.

               “And a one, and a two, and a three, and a four.”

               While I was able to search the first instrument off the bad guy, the second could not be released from his person. And when he got up and blew the deep note again, the shapes were again back for blood. Each time it seemed like he was harder to take down, but stayed down a little longer each time.

               “And a one, and a two, and a three, and a four.”

               Finally, someone had the thought of playing the song that had been created with the lines and dots. Unfortunately, no one knew how this instrument worked. Someone remembered me and my tin whistle and told me to play the song.

               I did not play well, this instrument had more buttons and valves then I knew what to do with. But I managed it, it was a simple song. Da da de de, ta ta, da and it continued for a bit more.

               It finally died its last. The music had scored the killing blow. It all faded, the shapes, the guy, the instruments. No treasure. I would have to find other ways of making some money.

 

 

5 parallel ropes along the ground leading from point a to point b

Out of sight of the party for now, a person plays a long note on a saxophone. The players must be on the line/space of the note being played. NPCs will attack anyone not on the note. They will call no effect to anyone who is on the proper note. Hits/armor to be determined day of.

Get 1000 feet of the cheapest white rope we can find divided into 10 100 foot sections. Every 100 feet have a puzzle while the NPCs move the ropes from the last section to the next section.  Make the puzzles be clues to the song, Twinkle Twinkle little star, the sax player is playing one note at a time. 14 sections are needed to get through the first 4 bars of the song.

The final puzzle will be blank music score that the party must put notes on, repeat the sequence that was played.

The sax player will be the final boss. Lots of armor, sword and board. Will start the encounter with the tenor sax in their hands. Will drop it (tether it so it does not drop to the ground)  Once the NPCis down they will start counting. “and a 1 and a 2 and a 3 and a 4. When they get up they will blow a single note on the sax and the NPCs will start attacking the party again. Once the tenor sax is searched off of them, they will have a base sax in a bag on there back. This sax will not be able to be searched off of them, and they will use that to sound the note that wakes up the NPCs. each time they will take a little longer to get up, but have another point of armor. So more rest but harder to take down. They will keep getting up until the song is played on the saxophone while they are down. It does not have to be good, just recognizable. Someone in the party has to try to play the tenor sax. Probably need Pat to be the NPC here, though it might be a little funnier if he was playing but transformed.

Meme Monday

by the Meme Team

 

Home Questing Task 28: Results!

 by Christopher "Janus" Donnelly

Hi all, and welcome to Home Questing.  I wanted something upbeat and wholesome this week, so I asked you to submit something you are proud of.  And I really enjoyed seeing what people were proud of.

The first submission was this award from Belle Vivid:

The second submission I received are these creations from Cressida: 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/CmKeiygF25rCRzQr5

Our third great submission from DelHemar is this recognition he received: “my weekly d&d table just finished an almost 2 year campaign,  and when I asked what they were interested in next,  they unanimously agreed they wanted to go back to an experimental system I had developed and run 6 or so years ago. When they started talking about the previous game,  telling our new player who wasn't around to experience our first run in that system about it,  it made me really proud that 4-5 years after that game ended they still remember it so fondly. And they would rather play a new game in my system rather than in d&d.”

Our penultimate submission from Kovaks is one of self improvement: “My Improvements to my mental health over the past 10 years”

And last, but not least is Janus’ physical health, which as he put it “I have successfully exercised every day so far this year, and have traveled by foot a total of 545 miles this year so far.”

Everyone who submitted gets full points this week (10 points plus one point for participation), so I will just post the scores so far:

• Cressida - 258
• DelHemar - 247.5
• Laika en'Naur - 48
• Kovaks - 37
• Saka - 32
• Aeston, Areni, and Gwen - 26.5
• Iawen - 20
• Belle Vivid - 20
• Bart - 19
• Orion - 13
• Keras - 13
• Tuilli - 11
• Vawn - 10
• Syruss - 10
• Jerrick Jerrickson - 10
• Luc-Dubois Coupant - 9
• Osa - 8
• Axel - 7
• Rita - 7
• Kwido - 6
• J'reth - 5
• Nalydros - 5
• Rosetta - 5
• Sagart Hawkshade - 5
• Tarun Ul-Sikar - 5
• Thayet - 5
• Vanduke - 4
• King Alexander Cecil - 2.5
• Jace - 2
• Kara Nithisdottir - 1.5
• Thoril - 1.5

See you next week!

The Cry of Midgard Week 7

 And now, our adventure continues inside the strange house we stumbled into!

Create and vote for what to do next on Facebook!

Morning Coffee Break

Got your morning cup of coffee and a few minutes? Great! We're trying out a new feature at the View - we're going to be asking a series of questions and we want to know your answers! The question is posted below. So while you sip your morning beverage of choice, ruminate on this one:

What would you say inspired the creation of your character the most (work of fiction, game, etc)?

Head on back to Facebook and let us know in the comments!

Core Elements of Eventholding: The Gardener and the Architect

 Event holding is a complex art. It has a lot of moving parts, and capturing all of them in a single article would be pretty daunting. So I would rather break it down into smaller chunks and parse it out a little better. Today I’m going to talk a little bit about writing. 

I’ve spent a good amount of the time of my eventholding career writing plot for Blackwood events. Invariably standing in front of the whiteboard at the Blackwood crafting studio, muttering to myself as I try to untangle my thoughts in a way that would be functional for the rest of the team. When really, I’m just trying to outline the course of the event for them. 

So for me, my instinct says I should be writing like an architect for events. Architects, or planners, plotters, or outliners; are people that lay out the course of the event in detailed outlines before getting into the gritty details of what’s happening. Some people fall into this category very comfortably. They can outline with finite detail, and allow themselves to map out an event, and it makes sense for them. 

Personally, I have a harder time with architecture, as I said.

The reason that it can be a challenge for me is because I am more comfortable writing in a way that might be described as “gardening” or “pantsing”. Gardening, coined by George R. R. Martin, refers to a writer who writes the bulk of their work as they go. Letting it sort of blossom into the piece that it’s meant to be, and then painstakingly editing it after. 

The problem with that idea is that you cannot edit after a LARP event. Not in a way that feels good for a story for anyone anyway. People lived the experience you provided for them, and changing it after the fact generally doesn’t feel good. Another problem is that to execute a gardening style of eventholding within the Realms, is that you’d basically be winging it from encounter to encounter. 

Which is why when I stand in front of the whiteboard, I might just be  there muttering to myself. To me it feels inorganic. I want to garden. The organic, or gardening portion of the event comes from the player’s actions themselves. A novelist controls the actions of their characters, an event holder has to compensate for that lack of control with more planning, in order to achieve the same level of storytelling. 

I think that this is actually a spectrum, and people can probably lean in either direction and be effective. At the same time I think it might be helpful to take a second to recognize the benefits of both, so that if you come across a gardener or architect in the eventholding wilds, you can work with them to your mutual benefit, rather than your ultimate frustration. 

Gardeners, they have a reactionary style towards storytelling. They are really great at taking the pieces they have in front of them, and working them together and making a story mesh. I would say a gardener would be good, with no advance notice, taking a first event newbie’s backstory and sliding it seamlessly into the plot. 

How do you help a gardener with their eventholding? Check in with them frequently. Tell them about the parts of the plot they didn’t have eyes on. Tell them what you think the players need more of, or what  to adjust to make the event more fun. A gardener leans into the real time changes more easily. 

What are the dangers of leaning too far into gardening? If you’re lazy it might be tempting to consider yourself a gardener. To just sort of leave massive holes in your plot and make it up as you go along. That’s not writing. That’s the lack of writing. Even someone that leans completely in the direction of gardening should have some islands of plot where they know where the adventure is going. Some background kernels of information that gives their characters rich intentions and personalities. For me, I often know what the goals of my NPCs are, so I can adjust their course as  player actions change what some of those goals look like. To have no intent, no background, no overarching idea, no goals at all is to be a true improviser, and results may vary but are more likely to have poor results. 

Architects are the other side. They plan everything out. They know what they want the entrance to a room of a dungeon to look like. They have detailed stats for their monsters and puzzles. They have prop lists. You know, all the things that make you feel organized. An architect is really good at making every player’s role have a purpose mechanically within the game. 

How can you help an architect with their eventholding? Read their plan. Ask the questions you need to in advance, to help them clarify their plan. Keep things neat and organized. And resolve the surprises that come up in a way that keeps things flowing within the context of the plan, independently where possible. 

What are the dangers of leaning into architecture too far? Well if you plan everything out, you might feel inclined to rigidly expect things to play out in a certain way. It can be very natural to have an expectation for how an encounter should end, and when someone does something to alter that, that might be pretty frustrating. Architects might come off as too controlling, and almost sort of forget that LARPing in its very nature is a communal storytelling exercise. It’s collaborative. If there is no collaboration, then you’re not really holding a larp any more. 

Recognizing what kind of writer you are is important. You can lean into your strengths, while also incorporating the strengths of other writers around you to shore up your weaknesses. 

So what kind of writer are you? Are you a gardener? An architect? Or somewhere in between?

I look forward to your answers,

and when I can see you on the field,

Keith “Saegan” Cronyn 

Meme Mondays

 by the Meme Team