How can I wear the harness of toil, and sweat at the daily round?
While in my soul forever the drums of Pictdom sound?
Robert E Howard

It’s been a mixed last few days. Brutal heat, bad sleep and the news that Ravenswood LARP have cancelled their 2026 event. I don’t blame them, the reasons were more than sensible, but I’m still a little sad about it. Still, that’s something to look forward to in 2027, which is nice. Looking at the LARP Calendar has shown mostly battle games, and that’s not dramatic enough for me. At some point I’ll make it to a Concord and continue to foolishly hold out hope that Path of the Warden will return, but there’s precious little else out there that works for me. Still, I’ve managed to find one!

Spurred on by wifely approval and the fact that two of the 3 factions had sold out their ticket allocations, I’m going to Lost Settlers mid next year! The two sold out factions are the Barborillas, inspired by 17th Century Germany and Spain, and the Orthos, who have a British redcoat vibe. Now, I’ll miss the chance to dress flamboyantly, or Sharpely, but the faction I’ve joined (who still have tickets available!) are the Broch’Tir, who are inspired by ancient Celts, Gauls and the Picts. In short, that’s my jam, as the Skindred song goes. The chance to play with black powder weapons (albeit represented by band guns, rather than cap firing weapons) is one I’ll miss, but the chance to get my Celtic barbarian on? OH HELL YES.

Now, it’s still in the early stages. I’ve been excitedly bouncing around character ideas, looking at what kit I have that’s suitable and works for a Victorian winter. There’s also the matter of sticking to the game’s cultural brief, which sadly means modern kilts are out. Though if I’m reading it correctly (and I really hope I am), the old school great kilt is allowable to a certain degree. And at that point dear reader, I may have let out a burst of joy that even BRIAN BLESSED might have considered a bit loud. I’ve not found a suitable tartan or fabric yet, and I’ll need to get cheat pleats installed, but I’ve wanted to own one for years, and this is as good a time as any.

The two main ideas I’m tossing around are as following:
1: Big Game Hunter. Quiet, sneaky bastard, but reliable and a provider for his tribe.
2: Old Warrior. Cheerful, enthusiastic, and desperately ignoring the fact that he’s getting old.
I do have a loose third concept, but it’s more an additional idea. See, the players have been exceptionally well organised and set up a Google Sheet that has character details, and only a couple of them have taken any sort of medical skill, and from past experience at Path of the Warden, a healer is always useful. Now, from what I’ve read of the rules, combat is rather lethal – armour doesn’t add to it for starters, merely cuts down the stages of healing. Yep, none of this healed in seconds by magic nonsense at this game, no. There’s also a solid warning to bring suitable kit for a new character should the worst happen. I’m reminded of a story from a friend who had a character at a Concord event last about 12 hours, but those 12 hours were glorious.

Side note: the threat of death also happens to be something I enjoy in a LARP.

I’m leaning towards the second option, or an unholy combination of the two, mostly owing to wanting to be A: useful and B: social. It’s an important lesson to remember in LARP (along with remembering to eat and wear comfortable shoes), that while the likes of Batman and Wolverine may be fun on the page, playing an anti-social loner can turn out to be not very much fun. I’ve also inquired if any other players in my nation are interested in some IC romance during the event, but it’s early days. There’s plenty of time to sort out romantic entanglements before hand. Besides, I don’t even have a character confirmed yet!

As for inspirational material, it’s no surprise my first thought was Robert E Howard’s tales of Bran Mak Morn, the Last King of the Picts. Despite Bran appearing in few stories compared to Conan or Solomon Kane, Worms of the Earth and Kings of the Night are bona-dife Howard classics. Other reading is some Osprey books on the Picts, and I’m pretty sure I have a couple on the Roman invasion of Britain kicking about. On that note, the films Centurion and The Eagle are due for a re-watch (Or in the latter case, a first one) and I dug out my copies of season 1 and 2 of Britannia. Fingers crossed I make it more than 3 episodes in this time. Still, there’s David Morrisey and Ian McDiarmid chewing the scenery with merry abandon, which helps. There’s also the 2004 King Arthur, the Doctor Who episode The Eaters of Light (written by Rona Munro, who also wrote Survival, the last story to air in the classic series) and the 2007 film The Last Legion which I sold a friend on watching by saying it had Colin Firth in Roman armour. (That’s not a lie to be clear, but I’m not sure it salvages the film itself)

It also means I have the chance to possibly buy a new sword or axe, not to mention taking my long bow into (fake) battle again. It’s been far too long since I’ve shot it. There’s the gorgeous leather cuirass I bought at a medieval fair a couple years back I’ve hardly worn and while it would require taking the Instrument skill (A tough choice, given there’s only 5 skill slots), the temptation to buy the largest blowing horn I can find has noisily reared it’s head again. Sure, I’d likely need to walk a kilometre or two into a nearby National Park to practise with it, but I’d rather spare my neighbours that horror. Still, could be worse – I could be singing.

So yeah. I’m in that early stage of a new game excitement. It feels wonderful to have things in the calendar that aren’t my brain doctor appointments. I’m kicking around ideas for Pheno next year and still have the occasional thought of making another attempt at working on another LARP event. Either way, it’s lovely to have things to look forward to. May you as well.