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Heroic Knight
 
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Last Login: Yesterday @ 9:34 PM
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Premise of the event:
Royal descendants vie for the throne of England in a regency period tomb raid.
7 teams of 5 players entered the tomb of the deranged and necromantic King in order to plunder treasure, fulfill personal goals and to shoot lots of guns.
Each team comprised:
Royal Fop
Physician
Learned Professor
Tomb Raider
Royal Bodyguard
Each was provided with different skills, equipment, snippets of information and a personal agenda for the event.
Thrown into this mix were the inhabitants of the tomb:
Hordes of zombies with a variety of deadly abilities and a relentless attitude.
The devil, who merely wanted to talk you out of your soul.
The vampiric wife of the late King and mother to most of the Fops
A smattering of Lycanthropes
And a token oriental searching for news of his assassinated master.
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The weekend was staged at Fort Widley in Portsmouth, a site which houses an immense underground catacomb with curtain walls, dried moats and a parade ground to provide some open air changes of scenery.
The event was run by Neil Hughes of Boogieman games so there was an emphasis on high level set dressing, mind bogglingly good make-up, prosthetics and props and twist of relentless horror for good measure.
Neil was ably assisted by an excellent crew who were tireless in their efforts to make the weekend, either as yet another shambling zombie hoard, a detailed and developed NPC or just to provide a pair of hands to fetch, carry or continually dress the set.
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I came to the event with no preconceptions or bias other than having heard good things about Odssey, a system that Neil ran with Smitt last year. I didn’t know anyone, player or crew before attending so my Real Life agenda’s were:
Repay Neil’s trust in allowing an unknown quantity to turn up to what seemed to be a fairly close knit group event.
Try to interact with as many people as possible both IC and OOC, otherwise know as putting oneself about a bit!
Play a character who was both useful and trustworthy, whether we like it or not peoples perceptions of us are based on early impressions, if your playing a cock or a duplicitous back stabber and people don’t know better then they’ll probably assume that’s what you are like in RL as well.
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Positive and Negative points from the weekend.
I dislike including negative’s because people always tend to dwell on them or it looks like moaning but if I didn’t the review would look less objective and more like a froth!
No showers on site – For a lot of people I know this would constitute a big deal. I know I found it hard to get moving on Sunday morning without a jet of icy water to knock me off my feet. It was a small price to pay for an otherwise awesome site.
No catering – This is a personal thing, there was a long running debate on the pro’s and cons of catered vs. non catered on PAGGA a while back with no consensus either way. Some people like the opportunity to look after themselves, I would much prefer to pay another £30 or so to be provided with breakfast, supper and an everlasting river of tea. I concede that it really is an extra headache that event organizers can well do without.
Inevitable Faff – I’m a bit anal so if I’m told time in will be at 10-00 then I’ll probably be ready to go at 9-30. To then get told time in has moved to 11 and actually ends up somewhere closer to 11-15 then I’m starting to get twitchy. It always happens so I should just follow the lead of the majority and wait until the last possible minute to get myself together, can’t help feeling that that would contribute to a self fulfilling cycle.
Definite plus points:
The site – from an IC point of view was amazing, the location was on the south coast was probably easier for me to reach coming from the Channel Islands than a number of people who had long drives.
The Players – I was really impressed with everyone’s RP, kit and up for it attitude, it made the weekend a real pleasure, to say nothing of the general hospitality and camaraderie that people extended to me.
The Plot – Seemed to be as deep and complicated as you wanted it to be, there were a myriad of sub–plots and personal goals that would have kept everyone busy enough let alone the central premise, there was still plenty of scope to leave all that to others and just go with the flow.
The Props – Stunning, I have no idea how Neil (& Fergie who was also there from Thursday) and the crew managed to get quite so much stuff to and from the event, let alone have it all in place.
The Crew/Monsters – I can’t recall a single OOC comment, cliché or mannerism the whole weekend, despite facing more shambling zombie hoards than you could shake a stick at. Everyone I encountered helped to enrich the tense atmosphere and sense of realism, right down to a bit of French parlay with her Majesty.
Final Words:
Just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone, I was planning to name check those who I shared particular moments with but on re-reading it I was starting to foam at the mouth. So it’s just a simple and sincere thank you from Nick OOC and Hugh IC to everyone I interacted with and particularly to Neil for running the event, Team Evil/Sticky/Bitch for taking me to their hearts and also to the old school for their hospitality and loan of kit.
I’d highly recommend anyone to fight tooth and nail to get a place on one of Neil’s future events, either as player or crew, a professional and enriching lrp experience.
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Apprentice
Group: Basic Members
Last Login: Tuesday, August 05, 2008 5:47 PM
Posts: 19,
Visits: 147
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Who were you playing, Jenko? I was Alexander Kirkpatrick, the doctor with St. Albigensians.
I had a fair amount of fun at the event, and would agree with all of your points except the plot one - the 'Doctor' subplot (which was essentially to find out what the statue in the garden was and make a report on it to the Royal College of Physicians) seemed to disappear without a trace. I was sending reports back as regularly as I could, and heard nothing more about them, IC or OOC. And as the Doctor, I'd have preferred to have some combat ability - there wasn't a lot to do during the frequent fights, especially once I was out of bandages, and had no way of getting any more.
Having said that, those were minor quibbles, and far outweighed by the positive points - great location, fantastic crew, good effects.
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Heroic Knight
Group: Basic Members
Last Login: Yesterday @ 9:34 PM
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I was Hugh Doone, all round bluff cove and bodyguard to Princess Sophia, probably better know as the bloke in the green tent next to your pitch!
To be honest the sub plot for the bodyguards seemed to revolve (at least mine did) around protecting my royal and fighting the hoards, the first I failed at spectacularly, Sophia being the first Royal to bite the dust, so I spent the rest of the event pimping myself out to every other royal I could find and generally trying to progress getting the bronze and silver vaults open whilst increasing my tally of Homo Sapiens Mortis dispatched.
Bodyguards seemed to have the most potential to be permenantly busy if combat is your thing, but that was offset by having the highest mortality rate!
Jenko
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Champion
Group: Basic Members
Last Login: Wednesday, March 26, 2008 10:39 PM
Posts: 305,
Visits: 432
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| I had a great time, it made me jump a few times I have to admit, and watching Dick screaming every few minutes was worth the very cheap ticket price alone. The crew were amazing, the setup of the site, the props, makeup and set dressing was superb, how Neil did all that for such a cheap ticket I do not know.
I was Doctor Nicholas Gilbert with Fop James in case anyone was wondering.
I will also say I didnt really like being a doctor, everyone else having swords and guns, meant in situations where things went wrong all I could do was hide or get splatted. My knife got a little use when needed at least, but although being less capable in combat added to the fear aspect to a degree, I wouldnt play one next time. I know Dave said he didnt find the profs very interesting, but the event was so good it didnt really matter.
Oddly I didnt run out of ribbons because my group seemed to be good at knowing where the zombies werent, i.e. if there was noisy people we went the other way, once they found us though they kept coming, the undead gits  I liked the rules, the health/deathcount is a genius rule, in that you have 7 mins deathtime, and every minute you lose whilst "dying" you never get back. I spent the last evening of the game with 2 mins of deathtime left. Combined with the limp I got from this, meant I was often mistaken for a zombie myself, which was quite funny. Also staggering up the stairs to a pile of dying doctors just after having being healed myself was a highlight for me. Everyone telling me to hurry, we me slowly limping up the long staircase.
I also tended to find if healing was needed it was usually me that needed it (team running away or letting zombies get me) or it was terminal. We brought so much ammo we were usually ok and that meant my time as doctor left me with little to do. However the two amputations I did on poor Calico Ethel, were quite quite funny... The first her hand, distracting her proclaiming that I could never hit her with a mallet, to which she looked relieved, then reulsting in her not seeing the knock out blow with said mallet, it was quite quite funny.
I did write my report and finding out after it was pretty much spot on to the plot which was quite a nice feeling, although due to IC goings on we were left trapped in the catacombs by another team and couldnt buy supplies or hand in my report. I did like the fact that although there was great distrust the dungeon forced you to work together but also at times encouraged double crossing. very clever. Overall though a great weekend, good fun, we laughed a lot, we went argh and ran a lot, and and Id definitely do it again, although Id play something different perhaps. I miss smacking things and definitely want to shoot things 
--------------------------------------------If the Gods didnt want us to eat people, then why are they made out of meat?Grumf Kikuto - United Tribes of New BantustanSir Nathaniel Holt - The Fallen
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Knight
Group: Basic Members
Last Login: Tuesday, May 13, 2008 5:18 PM
Posts: 86,
Visits: 137
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Im glad that you enjoyed the event, The characters were designed to be specialists in areas so it mattered when you lost one, the danger came from the fact that they couldnt really defend themselves and were supposed to be protected lol
The plots were resolved OOC after the event on the Sunday briefing for those that missed it:
Roz: Would have been Queen
Ali: Would have owned the Palace (NPC)
Rob: Won Best report for doctors
Dave Won Best report for Lecturers
No one completed the Night Map and the Necklace of Mer-Cove was given to Densie (NPC)
Best Death: Ian
Most Amout of Treasure: Rob
Zombie Bingo: Stephen
I was unsure of filming at events until i saw the filming that martin had done for other events, i know that most filming is bad and cringe worthy and in the context of lrp i hate it. I was so impressed by martins work that i thought it was worth a shot so long as it was done in a IC way. I saw some of the framing that Martin was doing and was not disappointed.
I created a poll to ask people way in advance and no one objected so i went ahead with it.
What was filmed will not be made avaliable to the public domain but copies will be made avaliable for those that would want to cover costs.
The next one off event will be in 2008 and will be based around Criminal Masterminds in a highly unusual prison.
The Fallen : A Georgian fest style system (One main event and one evenings banquet) which has a emphasis on the living mixed up with the dead, Fops, Royals, Priests, Knights, Grave Robbers, Highway Men, Merchants, Pirates and Powerful Guilds and Universitys will start at the end of July 2007 and will be run by Emilt T, Chris T and Myself
www.neilhughes.co.uk
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Champion
Group: Basic Members
Last Login: Yesterday @ 11:59 PM
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Wish I had the time and petrol money. I have heard that Neil and crew run superb events and I had been offered a place that I couldn't fill.
I will come to the next event!
PD - High Chieftain Chatu, New Bantustan
Gnoll colony is recruiting!
(pm for details and about discount gnoll masks)
Gnoll Forum:
United Tribes of New Bantustan
PD Player Event:
The Chieftains Cavalcade 1659
A fine medley of games, banqueting, music and surprises for all friendly folk of the New World!
March 6th - 8th
Stockwood Iron Age Village LRP Site
(booking & Info at: http://www.gnolls.co.uk/event)
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Squire
Group: Basic Members
Last Login: Thursday, February 14, 2008 10:04 PM
Posts: 29,
Visits: 77
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Am gutted I had to work at the last minute and couldn't turn up, I'd been looking forward to it for ages. 
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Squire
Group: Basic Members
Last Login: Thursday, August 14, 2008 1:36 PM
Posts: 32,
Visits: 93
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Cenobite (7/31/2006)
Overall though a great weekend, good fun, we laughed a lot, we went argh and ran a lot, and and Id definitely do it again, although Id play something different perhaps. I miss smacking things and definitely want to shoot things By "argh", I think you mean "we screamed like girls and ran a lot!" - I think only one member of our group managed to get away without screaming! It was great fun!
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http://amber-missy.livejournal.com/
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