MORDAVIA Live Action Role Playing - Events

*Dale Thompson* Player of Gilles De Rais Well, well, well... from the point of view of a player, I'd have to say WELL DONE to all those involved in organising this great event. I approached this game with the intent of having fun and just getting involved in all I could, and boy it paid off. I ended up saving the sheriff, getting deputised, and being caught up in a plot involving assassination, treachery and plotting against the king, all in the first NIGHT! As a vampire, I felt I was (prolly justifiably) viewed with suspicion by the rest of the PCs, But I hope I proved myself. Notable moments for me were robbing the robber on the road, finding and infiltrating the evil band of assassins that wiped out my friends, only to be picked to assassinate the baron for them (now THAT'S deep cover!), valiantly holding a door to the inn against the hordes of undead, only to be "righteous"ed out of it, by a friendly priest, who profusely apologised, as he slammed the door behind me! I really did enjoy the weekend.... a big THANKS to everyone. Now, the bad. Apart from the horrible weather, the only problem I came across basically came down to a slight lack of communication, from GM's to NPC's, NPC's to GM's, and players to, well, everyone :) Not a big problem, it was still the best LARP I've ever been on, and I've been on a few. Now the whole hitting too hard-combat training thing. Perhaps in the weeks leading up to the next event, someone should organise a get-together, for a boffer-combat workshop? You could introduce the characters to each other, and just get a feel for the weapons. Once again, I'd like to thank everyone involved for the great weekend, I had a ball, and can't wait for the next one! Dale Thanks Dale, it was great to see you new players having such a good time and getting so involved straight off the bat. Also thanks for providing us with strong back stories for your characters, with a good hook, so we could get you involved in the game world easily. Nice costumes, too!

*Nicholaas Gedye* Player of Hingen Hi guys. Feed back time. First off, I had an excellent time. Loads of fun. Keep it up. Now for my thoughts on the game and game play. There have already been comments on pulling of blows. It is hard in the heat of the battle to remain cool and totally in control but I was hit several times hard enough to bruise. I also was hit hard in the head which given an inch higher I would have had a black eye. Perhaps the NPCs need to spend a day or so training together to get a better feel for the padded weapons. Hard hits can also discourage new players. I found the plot had some cool twists and turns. The assassination attempt on the Duke and stealing of the staff was a brilliant moment and was an excellent example of PCs working together to an end. More of that kind of thing would make a good game fantastic. There was plenty of story and quests for the vampires and religious groups. I did feel that the fairies didn't seem to have much of a quest or mission of their own. It is hard to include all the different groups in the plot but it dose make all players feel that they have an important part to play. It also seamed that a most of the quests ended with a fight. Perhaps a few more puzzle type quests. Not all players are physical some are thinkers. Having played a few games in the UK the one thing I felt was lacking was the "get to know you" quest. This is a simple quest where all party members skills are used. An icebreaker quest. It allows all the members to introduce themselves and get into character. In the DnD world this would be a bit like the famous "you have answered an add in the local tavern and find yourself in a room with an elf, a thick set man,...' This also allows new players to get a feel for the others abilities and the LRP thing works. My first game in the UK I was drugged with a "you love and must hug all your party drug". This made me feel part of the group and was the difference between having a great time and me being shy. There are many other minor improvements that could be made in plot, costume, makeup, and effects but most of these come down to money. Again guys I HAD A GOOD TIME Keep going and do not be discouraged Nich aka Hingen Ompa Ompa Ompa Cheers Nich, glad you enjoyed it. Point taken again on pulling blows and head shots. The assassination attempt on the Duke was cool, I agree, but I have to point out that the way it turned out was entirely the choosing of the players. We as GMs had no idea it was going to go that way, and that was part of what made it so very cool. So I agree that more of that would be great, but the onus lies somewhat on the players to make it happen. We'll do our best to continue to provide a suitable environment for that sort of dynamic gameplay. We provided an awful lot of varied plot and missions, but most of it was not directed at any particular group of players. As I pointed out in the player briefing, players have to grab the plot with both hands, get involved, and make it yours. Certain groups (the vampires particularly) did this better than others. Inevitably some groups missed out, but on the whole that was a result of them taking a safe approach and not getting too involved in the plot. Now I feel like I'm getting defensive! Well, while I'm on that track I might add that the several large bits of problem solving in the game were vigorously ignored by the players until they had their noses rubbed in them. The players that recognised the problem solving and made an effort to get involved found it rewarding. The problem solving tended to be plot related rather than the "puzzle" variety, which is the way we intended things, as puzzles usually seem quite artificial. Thanks for all your suggestions, and see you around!

*Thor Bergquist* Player of Vosferantu (deceased) Where do I start? First night filled the party with absolute horror and confusion, everyone was always doing something and at the same time many were creating bonds amongst one another. It was well done, as you could do whatever you heart desired, chase bandits into the darkness of the woods and claim treasures while risking your neck, or drink in the tavern and share tales of far off worlds. As this was the 2nd LARP both players and game masters were more experienced and things ran a lot smoother this time around. Costumes were done extremely well, striking terror into the hearts of all the characters and really giving the feeling of being face to face with a bloodthirsty orc or villainous vampire. The game this time was a lot more dangerous, many players died but although their characters were lost they were still filled with joy and excitement as they then become gruelling monsters and were now part of an entirely different side of the game. As said before the PC party was split into many sub-divisions and this gave an awesome effect, there was distrust amongst the party and even the odd traitor, this gave the feeling that you were never safe and always had to watch your back. The only bad thing about this game was the NPCs were more careless, I myself was hit in the head 5 or 6 times and I know many of my friends were as well, occasionally both sides were hitting the opposition quite hard, and in some circumstances too hard, but mostly everyone was so into it that it didn't limit the fun whatsoever. All in all an excellent game and the GMs are getting better with experience, I look forward to next game and will definitely attend it. Cheers, Vosferantu (Thor) Thanks for the kudos, Thor. You're quite right about the problem with careless fighting. The only excuse I can offer is that we had a large number of new NPCs and players that need to learn to hit more softly. We will try to train both sides in fighting carefully before the next game. I'm sure the character deaths are going to be contentious too. We tried to make it clear both in the rules and in our briefing that having your character die is not unlikely in Mordavia. Our games are fast-paced supernatural action adventures, characters can become powerful quickly but can die just as quickly. There are a number of very good (and somewhat obvious) reasons for this, and we don't feel the need to explain them to every player who is upset at their character's death. We would like players to go into the game with the understanding their character may well not survive to the end, and deal with it (as you have).