Right, so from the reaction the game idea got in the pub last night, it looks like post apocalyptic is the way to go. Whether that’s due to there being demand for that sort of event, or dropbears I’m not sure, but I’m not going to dispute it.Don’t have a name yet, with the most prominent ideas being FALLOUT:STRAYA and RECOVERY.

The ideas started flowing, some better than others. Cults based around TV shows (Or casinos, with the prayer sign mining pulling the handle), people who wear wearing bluetooth being mutated and now are able to communicate via hive mind or the Holy Wars between the followers of Farnesy and Barnesy. An underground mutant fighting ring (“The drop bear we captured last week against the platypus in the local river”). The perk to resist fear effects called Brown Underpants. A beer based economy or task resolution method, simulated by playing Beer Pong or catch with larger and more unweildy gloves. Mind you, I’m still cackling about the idea of sending a group into the wilds, playing the sounds of angry koalas through hidden speakers, and then –  A HORDE OF CREW IN BLOODSTAINED KOALA COSTUMES, CLAWS BARED FOR BATTLE charging from the woods. Yep, I like the sound of that. And we haven’t gotten to the spiders or platypus yet…

First thought: what time is it, AKA, how long has it been since the world fell? I’m torn between it was 3 days ago and now the containment facilities (Built in secret at Macquarie Uni in the 70’s by ASIO and the CIA) have been opened. There was discussion of tribalism between students and faculties, what with everyone blaming the science students (“What, it was only a little Gamma radiation, what could go wrong?”)

or things went to hell a few years ago. Say, it started to crack in the mid 90’s. Enough time to local wildlife to have mutated, but the survivors still have some functioning tech (Possibly even WiFi in the really advanced areas) but enough time that history has fragmented. I’m more inclined to the second (As it’s a little more Mad Max, but am open to running the odd ‘just as the bombs fell’ one-shot in future), but I’m a little fixated upon having crude cyber tech – think the tech level of Warhammer 40,000 Orks.

WEAPONS: Gun are rare, and ammo is rarer. People who can repair them or manufacture new ones are hoarded. You get shot, you’re in serious trouble. Bows have made a comeback, with people realizing you can reuse ammo. Melee weapons won’t tickle, but seeing a firearm pulled means things have gone south real quick. I’d like an element of danger, but I also don’t want PC’s dropping like flies. The threat of death is good, but not a TPK every game.

INSPIRATION:

The Mad Max series – do you have to ask?

Tank Girl – a film, despite it’s numerous flaws, that I adore for a piece of it’s soundtrack. Well, and Malcolm McDowell. Plus what’s not to love about a film with Ice-T as a mutant kangaroo?

The Mutants Down Under and Rifts: Australia sourcebooks. FUN FACT: A mate of mine knows/knew the author of Rifts: Australia, who was very firm about stating the giant kangaroos weren’t his fault.

More to follow…

So, instead of letting me sleep last night, brain started coming up with ideas. Somedays I’d love it if it would turn off and let me sleep, but I’ve had some of my best (and worst) ideas in the early hours.

So, the world has ended. Maybe the bombs fell, maybe a virus, maybe it was President Trump. No-one remembers. What is known is that civilisation has fallen. Bands of raiders, scavengers and worse roam the wastes between enclaves, searching for anything they can find, be that food, tech or worse. A small group of survivors have recently made their way to what was a settlement, hoping to rest, recover and maybe establish a small enclave of civilisation, or at least civilisation as they know it. Pretty much your standard post apocayptic template – I’m hoping enough time rolling around the brain will produce something with a bit more flavour.

I’m not a rules lawyer, or even much of a fan of crunchy systems (As those who’ve played my con games can attest to). I’m also not a fan of class based systems in LARP, so having skill tress that players can pick from is the idea at the moment. Initial idea splatter begins:

SOLDIER: Killing is your business, and business is good. Guns are lovely, but ammo is sparse. After all, knives don’t run out of ammo…

TECHNICIAN: Blackthumbs, they’re the folks who keep everything running. Specialties include mechanical, electrical and cyber. (Tempted to call them ‘teshnishans’ – points to anyone who gets the reference.)

SCIENTIST: Regular Doctorin’, along with science both regular and mad. Cause if you can chemically boost someone’s adrenaline levels or replace half of them with steel, why not? Sure, there may be drawbacks (Rust for starters…), but that’s the price of progress.

SCROUNGER: Pickpocket, spiv, person who finds things that fell of the back of trucks.Useful but untrustworthy. Can MacGyver stuff together at the risk of it exploding in your face.

PRESERVER: Something like Bards, they try to preserve and reconstruct the old world. I love the idea of building myths upon incorrect facts, mostly inspired by the scene in Reign of Fire where they’re telling The Empire Strikes Back like Shakespeare.

As for monsters, you’ve got the standard issue raiders, mutants and what not. Possibly some zombies. But if you set the thing in Australia, then you get MOTHERFUCKING DROPBEARS. Because an angry koala isn’t terrifying enough, make them man sized and give them a taste for flesh. If that’s not brown trousers time, then I don’t know what is. Oddly this isn’t the first time I’ve looked up something along those lines – I spent some time looking for Emu costumes for a prospective Nerf event based around the Great Emu War. That got put on the backburner owing to the fact that the Emu’s just don’t give a fuck about small arms fire. If you gave them access to said small arms they’d MURDER THE ENTIRE WORLD. As for an Emu/Cassowary alliance, well that could conquer the galaxy…

More to follow, assuming brain doesn’t fly off on another tangent.

So, I recently posted a number of game ideas and (foolishly) said that I’d have one done by the end of the year. It’s a bit of deadline and motivational tool rolled into one. True, I’m also involved with writing a con game for Sydcon, helping crew the upcoming Zedtown and plotting another couple of Nerf based events, but what’s another project?

Firstly, I’m going to need help. If there’s anyone interested in helping whatever form, please drop me a comment.

The next issue is what to run entirely. (I’m trying to stick to more practical ideas here, as opposed to my dream of a live game where Manowar and Iron Maiden album covers fight.) Is this a one off, will it be the start of a campaign, or a one-shot. I’m looking at it to be a backdoor pilot – one event and if it goes well there’ll be more. That was among many, many questions my beloved and far better organised wife put to me when I recently announced the idea.

So, what to run? I’m leaning any from fantasy, as the local LARP scene is dominted by that genre, though not completely as Malifaux and Warhammer 40,000 based games are running. Running something in another genre would mean I’m not stepping on their toes, at least not until we try to schedule the thing. Modern era means less worry about costuming as well. On the other hand, I’ve a couple of Conan ideas I’d love to run at some point (The shipwrecked pirates and tavern of scum games) – the tavern one seems the easier option to get going, as I’d want to get few games under the belt before attempting something on the scale of Hyborian Tales. Running Hrothgar’s Hall (A small 8-12 player game based on Beowulf) is a possibility (Maybe even at an upcoming con, once the live combat is stripped out) and one of my housemates just volunteered to help me write something post apocalyptic. I’m keen on that – I did start writing a post magical apocalypse game a few months ago, but felt I was just re-writing Dark Sun and dropped it.

Anyhow, the game currently fixed in the brain might be loosely inspired by a recently released film…

One group of  PC’s are paranormal investigators, the newest franchisee’s of Ghostbusters International. Other PC’s are reps from head office, journalists, regular investigators, people keen on debunking them, fans etc. (Along with some randomly determined cultists.) That other idea was it’s the inagural Paranormicon, the convention for paranormal investigators and monster hunters. (For those saying it’s a crossover too far, the Ghostbusters have interacted with the Mythos before.) I’m more inclined to make people generate their own characters rather than using the canon ones in more than a cameo. That’s mostly due to wanting to do them right/well, which is mainly the reason I’ve not run anything with Grand Admiral Thrawn or in the Babylon 5 setting. I did play in a B5 game *cough* years ago that was basically the ep And Now For a Word, so it can be done, but my love of that show means I’d want to something worthy of how I feel about it, and I’m really not that confident. It would give me a chance to do my Mollari impression though…

Tracking back somewhat, Beloved and Talented Wife suggested a horror game, which I’m not opposed to. Granted, it’s not my areas of expertise, as my tabletop events tend to be high action B-movies, but I can see the appeal and am reasonably certain I can make it work within my skill set. So, a group of investigators arrive at a location, and horrible things happen. Soon after, the second group arrives, only to find the remains/cowering in fear remnants of the first group etc. Shenanigans, bloodshed and a desperate fight to survive ensues.

Having attented a friends wedding at Mt Kiera Scout Camp last year, I might have spent most of my time there thinking about how great a venue it would be. Yes, it’s a long ways to get to (So you’d want to stage an overnighter at minimum) Sure, you couldn’t stage a monster attack along the long winding trail to the ampitheatre, but you could certainly set the scene. As for the ampitheatre, it’s somewhat wrong of me that my first thought was how fantastic it would be for a ceremony to summon Cthulhu. There’s a spot closer to the campground itself that looked fantastic for a dark ceremony and had enough room to fight around. Also, there’s a pool and a firepit.:) About the only thing it lacks (As far as I know) is a waterfront space for Deep Ones to emerge from.

PROPS: Then is starts to get expensive. True, there’s a decent number of Ghostbusters toys out at the moment, but outfitting a squad still get’s expensive. Then there’s traps, PKE meters etc. Ideally (At least to me) you’d want something that fires a projectile or makes a noise to give the crew something to react to.

Moving on: the post apocalyptic idea. There’s several of those running in Oz, namely After the Fall in Victoria and The Dead Zone in WA, the Jugger Leagues running here and the webseries Scavengers of the Scarlet Wastes.My point is, there seems to be an audience for it. It allows for a variety of costuming, Nerf weapon based combat and scenery chewing, some of my favorite things. 🙂

I guess the first thing to think about is what sort of event – are the players the last vestiges of civilisation hanging on, is it neutral territory, or have they split into factions (Raiders, Preservers etc)? The Mad Max and Fallout series are a strong influence, naturally, but I’d like to try to put my own spin on it, though given my style that’ll be cheap jokes and terrible accents. I’ll have to think on that.

More to follow…

So, I’ve been having ideas over the last couple of years and figured I’d detail them, both in the hope that I’ll actually get started, and to possibly spark other people’s creativity.

Deadlands – It’s a western, but with magic and all manner of horrible gribblies. I had some notes about a riverboat cruise combined with a poker tournament (Yes, I’ve seen Maverick), but factor in intrigue between the rail companies, poker players (And those trying to steal the pot) and several gunfighters on a trip and there’s an idea which should make it past the after party. Some system would be needed for magic, but as for combat, if you can hit the other person with a Nerf dart, then you’ve wounded them. Plain and simple.

Ghost Hunters International – 1 goup of players is the investigators, the other are a mix of the local experts and the ghosts.You could take that further in a Cthulhu mythos direction, or the PC’s could be trainees of Ghostbusters International. There’s certainly interest in that given the new movie, though I’d set it in the new movie universe, just to annoy any whining man-babies. You wouldn’t be restricted to Ghostbusters, you could have the client, journalists and reps from head office checking how the trainees are doing etc.

Star Trek – The idea’s not mine on this one, but I’m part of the planning crew. Two ships (Federation and Klingon?) have been damaged/stuck somewhere, but can communicate through viewscreens (Ipads connected though wifi). The plan was a make it a con game.

Shadowrun – Along with Fallout, I love the universe , though haven’t spent much time in it. Either way, something post apocalyptic would be a nice change. I’d also be open to a retro-future style Cyberpunk 2020 style game. Or perhaps some sort of cross between The Running Man and Escape from New York?

Conan – I did some prep work on this a couple of years ago. The idea was a 1-shot set in a tavern in Arenjun, city of thieves. Someone has stolen an important thing and come to make the exchange. Others want the thing, or to stop others from getting the thing. Mercenaries looking for work, fences looking to make the exchange etc. Either way, put a load of people who aren’t trust worthy in any way, add in a pile of coin and an expensive magic thing and stir.

Adventurer School – This one snowballed somewhat. What began as Adventurer College: 10 Year Reunion: The Freeform morphed into a series of games where we see the characters start Adventurer School, then games based around the first day of high school, formal and college. Maybe another LARP that’s their athletics carnival?

Star Wars – a planned (2-3 sessions) game set in the Old Republic era. Probably set on Nar Shadda to allow for agents of both sides (Jedi and Sith) to appear. Perhaps some sort of negotiations at opening, but I haven’t had a plot for this one, just the idea.

So yes. At some point I should actually put something together, as opposed to the one I’ve actually said I’ll run, which is as follows:
Star Wars: A Small Disturbance in the Force.The PC’s are a group of Jedi trainees in the Old Republic era, but the twist is they’re all the smaller races – Jawas, Chadra-Fan, Squibs etc. Oh, and one Wookiee. True, they aren’t small, but you try telling Massive Q no… 🙂

So Zedtown is a few days (At the time of writing) anticipation is high, though their social media currently seems flooded by people making “Is my blaster OK” jokes after this post.

Loosely inspited by the group at UK game Zombie LARP who turned up as Morris Dancers, a housemate and I were kicking around costume ideas. The standard approach of tactical gear was out, as there’s plenty of other groups doing that.Labcoat clad corporate scientists was an idea, but we settled on dressing old west, mostly due to a shared love of the works of Clint Eastwood and Sergio Leone. A drizabone thanks to Ebay and a holster from Artisan Leather Crafts and I’m ready to go.

It took a while to narrow down that idea though – some of the others on the list are as follows:
Archers – everyone use Nerf bows or crossbows and cosplays as famous archers. One of my housemates has claimed Green Arrow and I’ve called dibs on Hawkeye. Hey, I like purple.

Arnold – Schwarzenegger characters, complete with either abs drawn on in texta or foam mucles suits. I’d expect a large number of T-800’s but me? Dutch Schaefer. Because zombies bleed, and if it bleeds, we can kill it. 🙂 Hopefully I’d also be able to make to when the escape chopper arrives… Normally I’d go as Conan (I’m about as close to REH’s Conan as Schwarzenegger was, though I’ ll defend the first movie till the cows come home), but since melee combat is banned by the system*, there’s not much point.

There was an afterthought to that one, of going as 80’s action movie characters or the Expendables, but that’s more military than I prefer. I’ve got nothing against the guys who wear tac gear and carry around more foam (darts) than a mattress factory, but that style of play isn’t for me. Still, going as John McClane with a dart blaster taped to my back isn’t a bad idea.

Flash Gordon –  Given how often ‘I love you’ in my house is followed by “But we only have 14 hours to save the Earth!” this seems  a natural idea. My wife is very enthusiastic, more so to see me dressed as Prince Vultan than to play. I’ve already got the beard, though I’ll need to carry a loud hailer to come close to matching BRIAN BLESSED for volume. And we’d need someone called Gordon to frequently check in on. Granted, running in that kit wouldn’t exactly be practical, but that get’s you Zombie Vultan.

3 days to go. I should probably watch Commando and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly again in preperation…

*I’m fine with that by the way. As much as I’ve love to bring a longsword along with me, it’s nor worth the risk. 500+ excitable people, few of which would have any sort of training and that’s more potential for injuries than I’d be OK with. Besides, spending the game in a block of pikemen and musketeers would just be dull. Efficient, but dull.

Out on the endless ocean
We tear along the gales
With rum inside our bellies warm
And freedom in our sails

A wayward bunch of scoundrels
Assassins, thieves and slaves
The rich and blue bloods fear us when
We hunt upon the waves

Beneath the Black Flag – Miracle of Sound

 So, thanks to a discovery recently, I’ve had a thought about running a pirate LARP. Mostly owing to Ian Sturrock, a British game writer, whose bio mentioned he’d run a game called Cutlass Island (described as a cross between It’s a Knockout and Pirates of the Caribbean), which has to be one of the greatest ideas known to mankind. Sliced bread? BAH!

 So, the ship has been sunk (By storm, battle, or kraken) and the survivors struggle to shore, dragging what weapons and supplies they can, and must now decide what to do. That was the basic idea, closely followed by the possibility of running it on a beach somewhere for that extra bit of atmosphere. Finding a good location is a start, preferably free of civilians and with a fire pit or two nearby, though having gamed on public beaches before it’s not an insurmountable hurdle. (I’m still curious to know what that fisherman must have thought of the group of heavily armed crusaders walking down to the beach during the first St Wolfgang’s Vampire Hunters.)

Do they elect a new captain, break into petty recriminations or just get roaring drunk? Are there survivors from other ships, leading into an uneasy alliance for survival? Or are the others plotting to wait till they sleep and cut their throats? Paranoia’s always a fun tool in a GM’s arsenal, with the occasional glimpse of something through the trees, or sentry’s being picked off unawares. (During St Wolfgang’s we didn’t spot the first vampire till near midnight, which only made the wait more maddening) Players don’t necessarily have to play pirates or sailors, they could be merchants, travellers, apprentice sorcerers or any sort of character with a reasonable excuse to be at sea.

Could there be food and fresh water inland? It’s possible. There could also be mysterious natives from an aeon’s old civilisation, escaped slaves desperate to escape or degenerate cannibals. There could be survivors of other wrecks desperate to escape or other horrifying monsters. It could even be the legendary island of the scantily clad nymphomaniacs where the rivers flow with wine, but you aren’t that lucky are you? Does someone have a map (Maybe even one not written on human skin), heard rumours in a tavern or have you delved into the iron-bound books of Vathelos the Blind in search of hints of what grisly fate awaits you here? Or is it just wrong place, wrong time?

I’m not interested in debating rule’s systems at the moment. All I do know is I’d prefer to keep things as rules light as possible, which brings to mind the ruleset used for Hyborian Tales. Perhaps an adaption of Barbarians of Lemuria (A system I adore), the career stytem fits well. Weapons would be LARP safe, possibly with Nerf bows and crossbows mixed in. Alternatively, it could come down to card draws or rock paper scissors for combat, but I really enjoy live combat, so that’s not my preferred approach. Could be put to a vote of prospective players. Moving along…

 As for what setting, well, that’s another matter. I don’t know Seventh Sea (Though I really should) or Mage: The Sorcerer’s Crusade, which at the moment leaves A: the real world, or at least a modified version of such (Possibly adding voodoo and other sorcery, such as from Green Ronin’s Skull and Bones campaign setting) or B: Conan. Real world is easily identifiable (And easier to costume), but runs the risk of descending into cliché.  I can’t throw stones at that, as most of my previous games were powered by them, but I’d like to have more than people yell “Arrr” at each other for several hours. A bit more historical murderous savages, rather than the sanitised movie version. (This would mean warning players beforehand and having spare crew roles for dead PC’s as well)

 Then, Conan. It’s a setting I adore, being a huge fan of the original stories and where no shortage of piratical shenanigans can be had (In his time Conan sailed with all 4 of the Hyborian Age’s major pirate bands), along with oceans over flowing with lost islands stuffed full of monsters and loot that’s worth the ransom of kings. There’s an eternal enmity between the Barachan Pirates and the Zingaran Freebooters, while the Red Brotherhood of the Vilayet Sea plunder the Turanian galleys, striking back at those that held them as slaves. The last major pirate group of the setting is the Black Corsairs of the Southern Islands, from whom Belit, the Queen of the Black Coast emerged to sweep the coast with fire and sword.  I’d be most likely to set a game on the western oceans, which also leaves open the Picts (The Picts of the Conan saga were more like American Indians rather than the proto-Scots of Howards Bran Mak Morn tales) and if we go really far North, the Vanir (Read Vikings). Either way, the chance of hell or plunder is a good one.

There were some seventy of them, a wild horde made up of men from many nations: Kothians, Zamorians, Brythunians, Corinthians, Shemites. Their features reflected the wildness of their natures. Many bore the scars of the lash or the branding-iron. There were cropped ears, slit noses, gaping eye-sockets, stumps of wrists—marks of the hangman as well as scars of battle. Most of them were half naked, but the garments they wore were fine; gold-braided jackets, satin girdles, silken breeches, tattered, stained with tar and blood, vied with pieces of silver- chased armour. Jewels glittered in nose-rings and earrings, and in the hilts of their daggers.

Robert E Howard – Iron Shadows on the Moon

The main method of advancement among crews is simple and to the point – have the support of enough of the crew, then kill the captain in a fair fight and you’re sweet.  But, how can you can be sure of their support? Have you led them to enough loot, or are they drunk enough? Or are you just going to have them all killed ‘accidentally’ and thuse leave yourself with a larger share of the loot?

I guess the only other thing to work out at the moment is what they’re going to do outside that – what’s the final goal for the adventure? Survive? Make it through the night, or to another ship? Or find the horrific monstrosity guarding the treasure at the heart of the island and kill it? Or a combination of all three? *ponders*