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One of our newer, enthusiastic players from Salem shares her story.

For those who don’t already know - I’m actually a huge nerd for LARPing, ever since Danny wrangled me into playing D&D with his buddies when we first started dating two years ago. 

We always played our campaigns with a bit of a twist: Instead of leaving everything to chance at the roll of a die, our DM would have us duke out our in-game battles with real boffers in the yard.  

Now that Danny’s off travelling the country, I’ve filled the void by joining a local Amtgard holding in Salem. The short explanation: Every Saturday, I dress up in all-leather garb, grab a foam sword and shield, then go beat up nerds in a public city park. Recently, the shield I’ve been borrowing from a friend is wearing out, so I decided to make one of my own, to suit my persona, “Roar”, who was raised by wolverines and has zero concept of basic human social skills. It still needs a few touch-ups, but I’m pretty pleased with it, since more than half of theses materials are brand new mediums for me. The body of the shield is a packing product called plank foam; the ‘skin’ overlay is a thin craft foam, and it’s all hit with a layer of plasti-dip before being painted. I need to do some touch-ups with the gold around the edge before doing the final layer of clear plasti-dip overlay, then it’s ready for battle!

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Laurel’s recap

New Monarch here. This is posted by permission of the original poster from Facebook. Pacwar.

I am completely exhausted.  Where to start with my recap....

Pacwar 2013 was my first ever Amtgard event and as such holds a very special place in my heart.  I met a lot of people, so many people I cannot remember all of them.  That said I do have several special memories that I treasure from that weekend.

I have been a avid player in flurb LARPs since 1995 and finally decided that I wanted to be a better fighter.  This led me to come out and try Amtgard.  I did not realize that being physically talented was not the same as being a skilled fighter.  Man was I dumb.  As I have gotten older I have put on weight and felt myself getting slower with both shot speed and reactions.  I was not ready to give up being a big pond fish in my local LARPs.  Cross-gaming was becoming more and more common.  I started to meet people from Amtgard and I found a language that I never knew I needed.

Amtgarders have words for for all things fighting.  I finally found people that could help me express and talk about my love of swinging stick and whackenings.  I have met tremendous individuals that I am proud to call family.

Tevas was the first guy I met that made consider fighting better.  He plays Alliance LARP with me, but sadly lives and plays down at the San Fransisco chapter.

Jacob (Barney) though was a local to PNW who I met at Shadow Accord and is really who convinced me to hit an Amtgard field and become a better fighter.  He did not know it as I did not talk to him a whole lot, but he was always nice.  I found out that he had found Amtgard late in life and it was the biggest nudge that I needed to take the leap and hit a park where I really did not know anyone.  Him being up in Seattle area and I down in Portland.

 I had been playing less than 2 months when Pacwar rolled around and I finally had two swords and a shield that were all legal for this new game that I was becoming invested in.    I finally get the chance to fight Jacob.  I could tell that when he showed at the event he was surprised to see me.  I remember asking to have a couple fights with him and his reaction after we were done.  He wander off and said to a mutual friend of ours "Wow, Cymryc can fight!"  Prior to this moment I am sure that he considered me a flurby larper.  

I met Odin at this event and remember a brief altercation with him on the field during a battle game.  I was trying to talk to his team healer and he decide I was to close for comfort and drove me off protecting said healer.  Later ditching we were on a flank and he tells me to roll hard and stick with him.  As that round ends I still remember him saying   "Wow, you stuck with me."

Here I am still playing and these people and more the members of the fighting company that I became an Initiate of.  Later several of them would welcome me into the ranks of the belted family when I accepted a Man-at-Arms belt from Odin.   Saturday morning they welcomed me once more as a full member and Brother of the Templars.

Friday night I spent time with my Knight, Sir Dogboy (Matt) and received words of encouragement about my fighting and that the work I put into being better is noticed and to keep up the good work.

I spent a lot of time hanging out, fighting, and drinking with friends and family.  I love you all and feel that my life is better with you in it.  This weekend was amazing.

Laurel Obsidyn

P.S.  I choose Laurel as my persona name to remind me constantly why I am here. To continue to move forward, strive for improvement, to not stop, not be complacent, and stop resting on my...... You guessed it laurels.

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So like I just said...

Yesterday, I crowned a new monarch. We haven’t decided what we’re going to do with this blog, but, whatever happens with it, it will probably involve going from a daily post queue to occasional bursts of photos and announcements after events. Maintaining the activity level on it that I did during my reign was fun but it was also a ton of work, way too much work for either someone who is trying to make time for more non-Amtgard related things now (me) or for someone who doesn’t enjoy hanging out on tumblr even on a casual level (him).

It’s been amazing getting the chance to connect with other players across the country and seeing what they get out of the game, and to be seen by bloggers from other games or even outside LARP.

Feel free to stop by my personal blog ( http://ch40s0w1.tumblr.com/ ). It’s mostly just reblogs of cute animal photos, though, not original content. 

VIVAT AMTGARD

VIVAT THE KINGDOM OF THE DARK VALLEY OF THE BLACK SPIRE

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At Pacwar, we had the pleasure of honoring the following individuals.

Dee Metria was awarded the title of Lady. Sir Garth was awarded the title of Count. Count Gustav Anderson was awarded the title Walker in the Middle. Duke Kalzar Soulless was awarded a 6th Order of the Lion. Radegast was awarded the Order of the Jovious. Torg was awarded the Order of the Mask. Sir Vaune Shadowglave was awarded a 7th Order of the Rose.

Congratulations to all of them!

We also crowned Baron Pungkow as the next King of Blackspire. The kingdom should look forward to an exciting and prosperous Winter Reign from him and his new Regent (Bean), Champion (Duke Kalzar Soulless), and Guildmaster of Reeves (Lord Osonious).

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Hearing The Call to Adventure when you’re over 40.

There’s a seriously delightful conversation in one of the LARP fb groups about adventuring over 40. Many of us aren’t 20 anymore, and it seems silly to have our characters not be our own age (or close to it). But they’re still starting characters (as it’s a new campaign), which implies they chose this path recently.

That thread is mostly joking around, but I kind of love the idea of hearing The Call when you’re not a teenager, and starting your in-game adventuring life later as some kind of mid-life crisis, religious epiphany, empty nest reaction, etc. Which got me to some ficlets, and here’s the result.

—

“Well, your mother always wanted to be an adventurer - she was a hell of an archer when we were your age - but we got pregnant, and your grandmother needed some help, so we put that life off for a while. But now that you’re off at university, it seems like a good time to pick up the bow again, and go fight evil.“ 

—

“There was just something missing, y'know? I mean, I liked being a toymaker, but one day I realized - I really wanted to put on some plate mail, and go fight demons. So here I am, livin’ the dream.“ 

— 

“Sometimes, relationships don’t work out. She got the business, I get to start the life of adventure I’ve always wanted. Did you know I minored in alchemy? It’s good to get back into it again.”

—

“Your Aunt Maribel and I had always talked about doing this, when we were girls, but it just never seemed like the right time. But now that Uncle Haro has passed…Mari just wants to get out there and do it. I can’t let her go alone, can I? Someone has to watch her flank on the line, and remind her to keep her shield up.“

—

“What can I say? Sometimes you fall in love with a mage. When you do, you grab your hammer and you go where he goes. Someone has to keep cute Dukes from flirting with him. Back off, gentry! He’s all mine.” “Kevin, you’re being ridiculous. I’m not going to fall in love with some Duke.” “Whatever. I’m not taking any chances. It took me this long to find you, and I’m not letting you go without me.”

—

“I’m your Dad. If you’re going to go and fight evil, I’m going with you, ‘cause I support your choices.”

—

“Er…Mom’s heading off to check out some evil gate she heard about. Someone needs to go with her, ok? I squired for her last time, but I just can’t right now. It’s your turn. Make sure she does her exercises, ok? Her back is going to be horrid if she doesn’t.“ “Fine. I’ll handle the evil gate with Mom. But the next time she heads into the swamps to fight some lizard thing, you’re doing it. I freaking hate swamps.”

—

“His husband left him for an elf. He’s got some anger issues that he’s working through, ok? Better that he work through it on some bad guys.”

—

“What was that?” “Undead again.” “Oh, for the love of..look. They’re a freaking plague, and it’s getting worse. If we don’t want to keep dealing with this, we’re just going to have to go to the source.” “But….the carrots…!” “Hang the damned carrots. I’ll hire that nice boy down the street to take care of our field while we’re gone. Clean yourself up and grab your holy symbol. We’re not putting up with this for one more week.”

—

“Well, I always wanted to see the world. I got a small inheritance recently, and thought, why the heck not? No time like the present, right?”

—

“If that Sorcerer thinks he can just waltz in here and take over this town, he’s got another think coming!” “Doris, calm down. We’ll write to the King, and…” “I WILL NOT CALM DOWN. Sally, I swear, you drive me nuts sometimes.” “I’m just saying - there’s diplomatic solutions to this.” “The hell with diplomatic solutions! I WILL END HIM. ” “Fiiiiiine. Do it your way. End him with fire.” “Thank you!” *smooches* “Love you. Back when I’m back. He has NO IDEA who is coming for him.”

—

“What can I say? Adventuring pays the bills. I have a family to support, and turnip farming doesn’t make money like it used to.”

—

“Hey Phineas - for guys’ night, I have a thought. Rather than just going down to the pub like we usually do…I found a gate. No idea where it leads. Let’s go check it out. Could be fun, right?” “A gate?” “Yeah!” “This is a terrible idea. I’m in.”

—

“Um….well, this is awkward. You know that Goddess who spoke to me last spring?” “Oh yeah! Your whole conversion thing. Nice to see you found faith. It’s been good for you, I think.” “Well, she has something she wants me to take care of.” “What, like…a message delivered or something?” “Noooooooo?” “Seriously? You’re a florist. What does she want you to do?” “Well, now when I sing, things blow up. That’s good, right?” “This can’t end well.”

—

“We left for THREE WEEKS, and Barbarians razed our village. I swear, do I have to do everything myself? I JUST RE-DID THE ROOF, YOU JERKS.”

—

“He doesn’t think our family is good enough for him? I’ll show him who is good enough for him! My little girl is going to live in a castle, even if I have to conquer it myself!” “I’m sure he didn’t mean it that way.” “We’ll see what he has to say when I walk into Summertide with a demon’s head on a spike! Who’s good enough now, you two-bit merchant?!?”

—

“Your Aunt recently found out that Throgg the Destroyer is that brat she couldn’t stand at the Academy. She’s not taking it well, so we’re going to be off on a trip for a while…”

—

“So….funny story. You know that favor I owe the Countess? From like 20 years ago? She finally called it in. She remembered that I’m really good with Ancient Runes, and apparently there’s something she needs checked out.”

—

“I thought you said this adventuring thing was just a hobby, Brianna. Something we did on the weekends.” “Well, but…y'know…I really like it. I think I could be good at it. I’m getting better with the spear, you know?” “I don’t even know you anymore!” “Can’t you just be supportive?” “Well, but where does it end? First hobgoblins, now orcs…what’s next?” “I heard about this cursed tomb…” “Absolutely not. I draw the line at tombs. NO TOMBS.”

—

“I told you not to date that vampire. Didn’t I tell you? I told you!” “Let me live, Sergio.” “Let me unlive, you mean.” “Ok, that’s just rude.”

—

“Oh, sure - one good healing spell, and you think you can conquer the world.” “I can! I have the knees of a teenager again!”

—

“Grandpa, you’re embarrassing me.” “What, I can’t visit my grandson while he’s adventuring?” “Well, I love having you here, and everyone knows you’re a good healer, but…” “I’ll be fine. I like it here. I think I’ll stay.”

—

“C'mon, let’s do it. We’ve always wanted to.” “But…we don’t know what we’re doing.” “We do! We’ve each read The Book, what….15 times? I know you basically have it committed to memory.” “I don’t think ‘To Catch a Rogue Lord’ was really meant as an instruction manual.” “C'mon…how hard can it be? You’ve seen the adventurers who come through here.” “Excellent point. I’ll get my herbs.”

—

“Honey? There’s a kid at the door. He says you’re the Chosen One.” “Arrrrgh. We talked about this! Come back later!” “He says the stars are aligned?” “Not doing it! Tell him to go away.” “Oh, and the seal broke. The seal broke, Stephen. It sounds important.” “But…” “I’ll pack you a lunch.”

“Call Sharon. She and her stupid birthmark are coming with me.” “I thought you said that translation of the prophecy was incorrect? Something about a miss-translation of verb.” “…well, at least if we fail, I won’t have to listen to Karl talking at Guild Meetings about how he was right.”

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Suggestions for introducing players from plot-heavy games (WoD, Dragonlance stuff) to more emergent (OSRish?) RPG gamestyles? Asking for a friend, of course.

This is a transition I struggle with from time to time as well.

I love old school play with D&D and similar games, but I’m so used to running big plot-heavy set-piece games, and those seem to be the kinds of games my players enjoy, so here’s the best advice I can offer. It might be a little rambling, so be prepared:

1) Give this booklet a read. It’s by Matthew J. Finch and is about old school mentalities vs new school mentalities. It’s primarily about Swords and Wizardry (a really good OSR game), but it’s applicable to a lot of games. Maybe send it to your players to read as well(?), as it might spur some interest into this style of game. 

2) Emphasize scrappier play. My favourite experience with D&D ever was a megadungeon game run by Natalie Bennett. Her ‘Sewers of San Draso’ game was very old school, even though we were using D&D Fifth Edition. In it, we played characters who resided in a city above a sewer system (dungeon), and we were tracking multiple quests inside that dungeon. Each quest paid a certain amount of gold:

Kill gator men. 10gp per gatorman head. 

Map the sewer system. 10gp for every room mapped.

Recover an ancient artifact. 100gp if recovered. 

That might not seem like much, but this is an adventure where we tracked both lodging and lifestyle expenses, and we had to continually pay hirelings, who in turn helped keep us alive in battle. In-game days passed between sessions, so we were always in need of cash. This added a greater motivation to forge our own paths, recover treasure, and complete quests safely: it meant the difference between living and dying when not adventuring. It was very slice of life. 

This added an extra wrinkle of resource management to the game, which felt tense and fun; a VERY different kind of fun than what a more plot heavy game might provide.  

Similarly, another great old school game I play in is Chris F’s on Google+, who runs Adventurer Conquerer King. He balances out a lack of clear plot in his games with story and character development that happens either during play or while the party is away from town. 

In his game, there’s a meta plot to the adventure concerning a cult that’s taken hold of the town outside the dungeon we’re exploring. Every time we’re away, the cult gets up to more activity, and we as a group are left with choices on how to deal with them. Each choice affects how the town perceives us. 

On top of this, our hirelings are fun and interesting characters that the party has become invested in. They create another layer of motivation to quest and adventure: to see these side characters grow and level up alongside us. Their stories have almost become the main story of the campaign, and we (the players) are helping tell them.

3) Balance scrappy play with flavourful items and details. My favourite example of emergent story and world building that’s often satisfying to a plot-heavy game fan is Dark Souls/Bloodborne. So much of the world and story of that game is revealed in item description and environments.

Remember that just because you’re running a game where stories emerge through play (rather than exposition or NPC’s), doesn’t mean you can’t include story elsewhere. 

Give your players something to sink their teeth into with peculiar items and weapons dropped by enemies. Include a lot of trinkets in play that players can collect, each one providing a hint or maybe even an adventure hook that leads them deeper into a dungeon or wilderness area. Use paintings, frescoes, and mosaics in dungeons to tell stories of past cultures, whose treasures may still be nearby. 

You can do a tremendous amount of storytelling without actually relying on plot, and for plot-hungry players this can be a good way to make them more comfortable with your game. With enough storied trinkets and clues, they might begin to guess at or invent a plot to your game. You can take those guesses and build on them in secret. 

If you’re not used to doling out story/plot this way, I highly recommend picking up Vornheim: The Complete City Kit. It is jam packed with items, encounters, locations, and characters designed to provide story hooks in an emergent way. I swear by this book, as it has substantially boosted the amount of old school play in my new school games. 

I hope this helps. Hoping your friend’s players follow the funky flow. 

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Battlegame footage of Archon Kalzar Soulless playing Archer in the Barony of Silver Moon. Courtesy of Sploob.

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Some photos from Weaponmaster, courtesy of Mystic Seas holding Champion, Troubles. The gentlemen in the below photo are new players out at Silvermoon who have become a fixture at kingdom events: Sploob, Garth and Gunga.

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I know I just posted an ALU panel recently but you should watch this one too (also from Clan), if you are into Amtgard government. Korderellin, treasurer for the Amtgard International BOD, goes into some detail about why the typical holding vs kingdom level financial structure most kingdoms use may actually be a bad idea that needs rethinking.

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Battle Tendency is like 1000x better than all of the show’s other arcs put together.

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With 5/7 parks up to date we've brought our weekly number to over 70 and within a hair's breadth of both the magical 75 and GP's (the second smallest kingdom, ignoring BL) number. I remember us being at half GP's number when I was first elected.

Seeing these numbers on this screen I feel like I actually accomplished something.

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Weaponmaster Results

Congratulations to Sir Vaune Shadowglave, who is now the Weaponmaster for the Kingdom of Black Spire.

2nd place goes to Sir Derek Roth and 3rd place goes to Joker Time. The bracket by bracket placement was:

SINGLE SWORD 1st - Joker Time 2nd - Sir Vaune Shadowglave 3rd - Twixter

DOUBLE WEAPON 1st - Sir Derek Roth 2nd - Sir Vaune Shadowglave 3rd - Joker Time

SHIELD AND MELEE 1st - Sir Derek Roth 2nd - Sir Vaune Shadowglave 3rd - Twixter

OPEN WEAPON 1st - Sir Vaune Shadowglave 2nd - Sir Derek Roth 3rd - Twixter

Thank you to Baronet Al Azif, Sir Brynjar, Kitfox, and Lord Oso Bearington for reeving. Also thank you to our visitors from Northern Lights and the Viridian Outlands for making the trek down here to bring us your skill and ambition.

As far the elections go, all ballots have been collected by the B.O.D. president who will be turning them over to Prime Minister Laurel Obsidyn sometime this weekend. We should have results announced within the next two or three days.

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We talk about Ancient Romans like they were basically all the same, but the civilization lasted almost 1000 years. That’s like saying people in 2016 and 1016 are basically the same.

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Sometimes Nakadai doesn’t show up in my photos because he’s skipping Amtgard to literally work as a model.

Jude the low-content wolfdog ambassador got to do a photoshoot today with model Nick Kornafel for Pack West Wolfdog Rescue. The buckskin leather top is one I made myself, which will be available for sale at a later time. If you live in the Pacific Northwest and want to book a similar photoshoot for cosplay, graduation pictures, ect., please click here for more info! 

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Your Fave Is Problematic: Cole

Can read minds.

Doesn’t bring up that Blackwall isn’t a Warden.

Doesn’t bring up that Solas is a freaking god.

DOES talk about my sex-life in front of the whole group.

Thanks Cole.

So helpful.

You’re a pal.

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Another ALU panel on knighthood. A very well worn subject by now but this version is interesting to me because of not just one but three of the panelists:

Eques Tye Dye - Who I’ve cited as my example of an ideal knight, in the sense of, the best you can expect out of the institution of knighthood

King Sho Obsidyn - Not a member of Blackspire, but the King of Northern Lights, our northern neighbor, and as far as I know the only Pacific NW Amtgarder to speak on an ALU panel so far.

Count Glen - Who I asked Goldcrest to put on the panel specifically because I wanted to see a NON KNIGHT’S perspective on the topic on one these things, and, they both obliged me. :D

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The Circle of Monarchs at the 2016 Gathering of the Clans. Blackspire is front row, third from the right.