|
|
|
|
Sinfath II: Pictures
This weekend I attended a Live-Action-Roleplay organized by the Order of the Sinfath.
My pictures can be found on Picasa.Labels: Fun, LARP, pictures
|
|
Riedhburg XVIII - Rights and Servants (Rechte und Knechte)
Last weekend was the follow up to 2 Weddings and a Funeral, the first peasant LARP featuring the four families from Tannenbüren:- Kellermeisters are well known for their wine, liquor and other alcohol production.
- Roggensingers focus on farming
- Waidmanns forte is hunting and tending to the woods
- Webers are the richest family in town and are mostly merchants and cloth dealers.
A lot has happened since that eventful Thanksgiving Feast. A war has started between Riedbhburg and neighbouring Falkenburg and many of Tannenbüren's sons were drafted and lost. Another casualty was Arnold Roggensinger, the previous steward of Tannenbüren. Now, as it is custom, it was time for Tannenbüren to elect someone else. This of course warranted another big meeting at the Roggensinger's house.
But politics wasn't the only thing on the agenda. The Bachelor society of Tannenbüren planned to celebrate their reunion with (illegal) gambling and parties. The women on the other hand were scheming to plan advantageous marriages for their unwed daughters and sons. This of course didn't please the Bachelor's at all ;).
After some long internal debates the final applicants for the position as steward, were announced and were asked to present their Agenda:- Gotfried Kellermeister (myself) wanted to strengthen the village by focusing on traditional values and bridging old grudges. His motto “Yes we can” (or as it was in Swiss-German “Ja mir chönd” was well received, mostly by Kellermeister family members, but in the end his experience in dealing with the last crisis was also a beneficial factor.
- Urs Waidmann wanted to abolish the old traditions and introduce shared wealth and possessions. I don't have to mention twice, that once his true agenda was revealed, he stood little chance ;)
- Gerhard Weber mainly wanted to strengthen his own position in the village.
- Waldemar Waidmann was all for hard work to overcome difficulties, however, he seemed to depend too much on his mother Annerös.
At the end of the day I was elected with a fair margin in front of Waldemar Waidmann.
People were also very active on the marriage front and so we could celebrate four marriages, bonding the families Kellermeister and Waidmann as well as Weber and Waidmann.
Although the Weber's turned out to be the sore looser when Agnes Waidmann eloped with their farm servant!
Early the next morning Baron Hannibal arrived to give his blessing to the election. Unfortunately, he was in the mood for painting and thus the village first had to pose for an idyllic farm picture.
The End - for now ;)
It was a terrific event with lots of laughter, intrigues food and of course alcohol ;). All pictures can be found in my webalbum.Labels: Fun, LARP, pictures, Switzerland
|
|
Wunderbaum LARP
Finally back in Switzerland I could resume one of my favorite hobbies: LARP-ing ^^. I signed up as an NPC (non-player character) at my first LARP in 17 months, since I wasn't sure whether I'd have enough time to prepare a new character in time. As an NPC I was assigned to the Border Patrol. They had observed strange people in the woods and have suffered severe losses recently, thus our captain sent a cry for help which was answered by 45 adventurers and various other characters.
Soon after everyone arrived, a dark magician entered the scene trying to scare the players away from his land. Subsequently, we at the border post suffered severely for this and we were attacked multiple times and the four guards were regularly outnumbered.
I suffered a bad leg wound in one of the attacks.
To make things worse, we were hit by a course which subsequently drained our powers until we no longer could wear any armor or wield two-handed weapons. Fortunately, we were able to uncover hints for a cure and by the end of the day, the players could destroy the curse and restore our strength.
At night everyone was vastly relieved and thus celebrations were in order all around. I joined the Landsknecht at their tavern.
The Landsknecht convincing a Guest to part with his mead!
But the celebrations were too early, and the evil magician made his presence known the next morning, which led to an epic, although rather short, battle in which the magician was vanquished.
Despite a short spell of bad weather, it was raining for most of Saturday, we did have lots of fun and I enjoyed meeting many old friends and making some new ones!
The Border Patrol in its entirety
More pictures can be found in my gallery.Labels: LARP, pictures
|
|
Treacle Mine Road Saga: The Pictures
My pictures of the Treacle Mine Road Saga VI can be found in my gallery.
The day after the play I spent wandering around Vienna. I visited Schloss Schönbrunn and the inner city. Pictures of this excursion can also be found in my gallery.Labels: city trip, discworld, LARP, pictures
|
|
Treacle Mine Road Saga VI
The Treacle Mine Road is a famous thoroughfare in Ankh-Morpork and provided the location for the 6. Discworld-themed LARP in Austria.
I first heard of this LARP during the Middle Earth Festival last June, when one of the musicians saw my Rinecewind costume and asked me to join them. As a long-time Discworld fan I couldn't let this opportunity slip by me and so I undertook the long journey to Austria in the night train.
The LARP lasted from Thursday, 5pm till Saturday, well past midnight and was one of the longest cons I had ever attended.
True to its origins, the play had many confusing plots and offered tons of hilarious scenes, which makes it quite impossible to write a complete and accurate report about what happened, so here are the main plot and the highlights.
The temple of Small Gods was in danger of collapsing and so all priests were relocated to the Treacle Mine district where they busily tried to convert the inhabitants to their religion. Some of the most important Gods present were:
- Almarupp, the God of the holes in the Cheese
- Entah, the God of Spaces (especially in books, the holy bible of Entah only contained Spaces)
- Ricula, the Goddess of clean breath and vanquisher of Keuch, God of coughing
- Kluni, the God of Coffee and staying awake after midnight
- Mogel, the God of Cheat Sheets
- Yikes, the Goddess of crawling critters
- Nasn, the Goddess of curiosity
- Freckln, the Godess of freckls
- and many more
(I haven't listed the name of the priests, because they all contain play on words which only work in German).
All went well until the priests started to die like flies. Most of them died of natural causes, but suspicions heightened, when riddles in the Ankh-Morpork Times revealed clues to the murders. The City Watch then received the task to catch the killer immediately, which put them in front of a lot of problems.
Highlights of the Weekend were the show "Who wants to be an Ankh-Morpork Millionaire", the exorcism of a friendly demon kept prisoner in a girl with tourette syndrome, Ponder Stibbons, the appearance of Rincewind the Wizzard, the Marathon of priests with one participant, the Holy Water Far Spitting contest, the discussion how fish can cough (they make 'blubb'), the pleasant evenings in the Bone and many more.
I played the Priest of Ricula and had great fun distributing holy 'Hustien' (Ricola pastilles) and interacting with the other characters.
It was a fantastic experience and I wouldn't want to have missed it. As usual, I took a ton of (cool) pictures, which I hope to publish soon.Labels: discworld, LARP
|
|
Riedhburg XV
Over this weekend the 15th Riedhburg play took place. It's title was "Mit Schirm, Charme und Kanone"; this is a play on words on the German title of the 60s tv series called The Avengers.
The background for this play was an upcoming market in Flussau with traders coming from all over Riedhburg and even foreign countries. On their way to Flussau some of the travelers stopped at Lord Mayor Schinkenlicht's house.
There were several storylines present and as an NPC (None Player Character) I learned about most of them.
a) Remnants of Kunibolds Gerechte Bande (Kunibolds Righteous Gang) were nearby and trying to find assistance to free their leader.
b) A group of powerful wizards were situated close-by and they tried to blackmail the guests for food and other useful items. (I played on of the wizards)
c) Frederick the Veteran had a canon safely tucked away in the neighborhood and was willing to use it if the country was in danger. To use his canon, however, he first needed to get hold of shooting powder.
d) Traders from Hornstein arrived who were hoping to recruit people to help stop the civil war waging in their home country.
e) A government spy was present trying to discover citizens participating in illegal actions.
f) and much more...
All in all we had a very busy weekend and a lot of fun.
As usual pictures can be found in my gallery.Labels: LARP, pictures
|
|
Vogelfrei Larp 1 - The journey begins
The first LARP of RSV Wasserschloss took place this weekend. The play was meant to introduce newbies to the wonderful world of Live Action Roleplays and so the Oriosen, my LARP group, were asked to step in as experienced LARPers and help the others along in case they needed any pointers.
The story is quickly told. We were part of a caravan on its way to the next big city to restock its supplies. Since the caravan leader received an urgent letter from a friend, we undertook a small detour. On this journey we had to face crazy hermits, a corrupt tollbooth, a group of bandits and finally an evil necromancer who wanted an artifact we were transporting. After the necromancer's defeat we all retreated to our camp and celebrated our success with a big party, unfortunately Saint Peter had other plans and a heavy downpour made us return to our tents prematurely. In all the hubbub of the final battle and the return to the camp I completely lost track of the artifact, lets hope it's in the right hands...
The pictures can be found here.Labels: LARP, Switzerland
|
|
Sinfath Larp 1 - The Engagement
Lord Victor invited us to his engagement party and so Rina, Moya and Rakar traveled to the Schattenbachtal (Shadowcreekvalley). However, since the valley is well hidden we were in need of a guide to find our way. Fortunately, Lord Alfons and a guide were waiting for us to lead the way.
But then disaster struck. We were waylaid by a Zombie, who turned out to be Lord Heinrich, and a necromancer. They accused Lord Alfons of stealing another's estates and quickly slayed him. We made a hasty retreat and were lucky enough to encounter a house, where we were offered a shelter.
However, the shelter wasn't as save as we hoped as we were visited by Bandits as well as hordes of zombies. And our benefactor, Lord Sigmund, seemed to know more about the Undead than he led us to believe.
Looking for clues to lay the Undead to rest we ventured deep into the forest, turned our lodging inside out and talked with both the necromancer and Lord Heinrich. And so we discovered the shocking truth: Sigmund raised Lord Heinrich from the dead to get rid of Lord Alfons and claim his lands. A trial found him guilty and so he was locked in the cellar until his deportation to the imperators courts.
In the meanwhile we discovered rituals that would neutralize the necromancer and destroy the Undead once and for all. And even though many were skeptical we succeeded and after a final and spectacular battle put an end to the Undead menace.
Pictures can be found here.Labels: LARP, pictures
|
|
Riedhburg XIV: Two Weddings and a Funeral
The families of Tannenbüren met last weekend to celebrate Thanksgiving. I was the patriarch of the Kellermeisters, the family famous for its wine-making skills. The feast, however, started with a tragedy Alois, the eldest member of the family, died seconds before he could tell us where he had hidden the Ikon of our parish, which we could treasure for the last year.
Fortunately it turned up the next day in the presence of curious people of the forest, and they traded the Ikon for other goods.
After Helga and Heini, two more members of our family arrived we could finally hold the funeral ceremony for our dear old Alois.
But the day was meant to be a happy one and in addition to Thanksgiving we could also celebrate the wedding of our own Gustaf Kellermeister and Zille Waidmann, strengthening the bonds between these two old families. The wedding ceremony was integrated into the Thanksgiving service giving us the chance to rejoice twice.
The second marriage on the other hand came quite surprising. Nils Roggensinger was wed to Heidi Weber. Nils was so pleased about this that the Webers first had to catch him. In the end he was tied up and brought in front of the priest to make the wedding legal. ^^
The evening continued with a fantastic banquet, where every wish was met and no one stayed hungry.
But to top it all, the heads of the four families as well as the priest were then to sit judge for the big cake competition. The negotiations were tough, but in the end the best and only real cake, the one from Hanni Kellermeister, deservedly won the competition.
Pictures of this great LARP can be found here!Labels: LARP, pictures
|
|
Pictures from R.A.R.P.
This weekend I played in a RARP (Real Action Role-Playing Game). The play was more driven through interaction by the players than by pre-aranged story from the organization.
The pictures as well as some comments can be found here.Labels: LARP, pictures
|
|
Bech Con 2
I just returned from a four-day fantasy LARP. It was a very battle-intensive game and our stabs at diplomacy to solve the conflict peacefully failed completely. Nevertheless it was a great experience, especially because of the end-fight where about 200 players, 100 on each side, were fighting. Even though we lost the battle, it was only by a small margin and we were surprised ourselves for how long we managed to hold the superior enemy (due to players who were just way too powerful) at bay.
I had the opportunity to take some pictures, for obvious reasons not during the end-fight ;), and they can be found in my gallery.Labels: LARP, pictures
|
|
The magical portal 2: The silver mask
Last weekend was the occasion of the long-awaited sequel to the LARP "The magical portal". During this con I played Rakar Kaîrun, a merchant and a member of the Oriosen. Here a short "in-time" summary of the events.
"I travelled together with Moya our healer. By the time we arrived at the tavern we were slightly worried that Bronwyn and Jaeshra didn't meet us in the arranged place… we just could hope that nothing happened to them. We were surprised by the amount of people present; obviously we weren't the only ones who were asked for help. After an excellent dinner Lady Myria addressed us explaining the problems of the valley. For some time now cattle has been disappearing and she didn't have enough men to look for the root of this.
It didn't take long until we found a possible reason for the disappearances. Lizard like beings approached the house and were mercilessly killed by the mercenaries. Apart from these skirmishes the evening remained calm. Sleep, however, wasn't so easy to come by. Just as Moya and I climbed into bed we received news that other Oriosen had arrived and were badly wounded. It was Bronwyn and Jaeshra. They had been fleeing from the lizards for several days and had been wounded just as they were about to reach safe shelter. Fortunately there were enough healers present and they were soon on the mend.
On Saturday morning we joined forces with Lord Victor and his Sinfathi to search for special elements which could help remove the threat. The first expedition was fruitful and five elements were found. On our return Jae and the Sinfathi assembled the elements and discovered that another two or three were missing. The continuation of the search was hindered by the appearance of an Earth Elemental, followed by a visit from an evil Black Mage, who claimed to own the valley and wanted revenge for his killed friends, the lizards. A shaky truce could be arranged, giving us more time to look for the missing elements.
Throughout the day we were kept busy with locating the last two elements, visits from the Water and Air Elementals, as well as skirmishes with the lizards. Everyone was extremely grateful for the healers; some fighters were constantly commuting between the front line and the sick bay. A ritual protected the house and its inhabitants from the Black Mage and the lizards throughout the night. However, we weren't aware, that the spell vanished as soon as dawn came and so we were abruptly awakened by charging lizards. The seasoned warriors were sleeping with their weapons close at hand and so the attack could be averted with minimal losses.
All morning the lizards kept attacking the house and it took a while until Shakti and I could escape through a window, sneak around the lizards in front of the house and eliminate them from the back. Now we had at least some space to defend ourselves and weren’t confined to the house.
After a while the lizards stopped attacking and we were surprised by a visit of the elves. They brought an altar, which later was used to hold the ritual with the completed elements. We received four stones which could be used either to protect us from evil or to destroy the Black Mage; the priests weren't too sure on that point.
As the tension grew almost unbearable a woman from the town came to us and told us of the evil hordes that had gathered behind the hill and which had taken a hostage. So we marched united to either destroy the evil wizard or die trying.
The final battle was extremely tough. We formed a circle for better protection near the river, but the lizards ceaselessly kept attacking. Seeing that the stones didn't offer protection we chose plan two and the four chosen ones (Jaeshra one of them) charged up to the Mage and enclosed him in a circle. Bronwyn and I were close at hand to protect Jae, but as if we were protected from the gods, no one in this group was harmed. And so we managed to vanquish the Black Mage and free the valley from this menace. The remaining lizards fled through the magical gate, which closed behind them.
And so we returned home in the knowledge of having made new friends and rescued innocent people from a dark threat."
My pictures can be found on my homepage.
More galleries can be found here.Labels: LARP, pictures
|
|
LARP: A house full of heroes
The setting for this fantasy LARP was the Tavern to the Rusty Storm Lantern. There various people met on their ways from here to there ;). However, dark things happened, that brought everyone closer together.
This was the first LARP where I played an NPC (Non-Player Character). As an NPC I received several roles and briefing from the Organizers.
First I was a member of the Cult of the Black Glove. A group of ordinary citizens who practice strange rituals and try to resurrect people from the dead (at least they'd like to, it hasn't worked so far).
The local cemetery was the location for tonight's ritual which, to everyone's surprise, worked. Unfortunately, the person raised from the dead wasn't our friend Petermann, but an evil necromancer. She quickly attacked, killing most members of the cult and turning them into zombies.
During the evening and the next day, the zombies attacked the tavern, whilst the heroes tried to piece together a treasure map and find the treasure, which according to rumors contained a mighty weapon which would defeat the undead hordes.
At long last the treasure was retrieved. To everyone's dismay, it only consisted of different trinkets of varying value. One of the pieces turned out to be a magic lamp, which the merchant from Tikon successfully activated, summoning a Djin (played by me) who gave him three powerful items: A green glass ball of infinite wisdom, a nail of sturdiness and a rope of eternal hope. The merchant wasn't happy though, and after some haggling traded these items back for the Mighty Scimitar of Demon-Slaying. With this weapon the Merchant from Tikon successfully defeated the evil necromancer and her zombies, thus saving the evening.
I had great fun, even though I was always changing costumes as well as applying and removing makeup to play the different roles.
Pictures can be found at the usual location ;).Labels: LARP, pictures
|
|
Camorra X - Swiss Guantanamo
The 10th and final Camorra LARP was supposed to end the series with a unique setting: A prison. A bit of back-story: After an amazing effort of the European police departments many of the important heads active in the Camorra could be caught and were sent to prison. To the famous Prigione Fossa di Leoni to await their trial.
I played the role of Dshingis Bob, a master thief who lost his nose during torture. My sources told me that the person responsible, Olga Stalin, was sitting in Fossa di Leoni, reason enough for me to check it out. Further I gathered, that Don Vitrini, thief of the famous red cardinal was an inmate as well, this should be an interesting discussion.
Looking around I failed to spot Don Vitrini but soon found out that he was found dead, hanged in his cell... Fortunately I had the information where to find the red cardinal. After simulating a bout of madness I was put into solitary confinement and could successfully retrieve it. It was a beautiful but big stone. Fortunately there was enough space in my shoes. That's were the diamond stayed for almost four hours.
People were inspecting my hat, but no one searched inside the boots.
In the meantime I had a nice chat with Walther von Winther who wanted Olga Stalin dead as well. I tried to organize a couple of killers (von Winther had sufficient funds) to ensure her demise.
My last task was to get out of jail free. That's why I wanted to contact Pasquale Prizzi, a very influential man inside the prison. A letter from his dear friend Don Fiorello should guarantee my safe exit, or so I thought at the time...
After dodging two intrusion attempts by von Winther and his crony, I finally had to yield the red cardinal to Pater Rinaldo Rüttli, who was very blunt about my prospects to live should I decide to keep the diamond. Wanting to live and being sure of an early exit out of the prison, I gave in twenty minutes before the game ended.
But that was not the only disappointment. Prizzi tried to bribe all the guards to vote me as the most cooperative prisoner, resulting in me getting out of jail free. However, Heinz Bünzli the first officer of the guards canceled the voting and chose his own favorite... But I wasn't the only casualty, two of the guards were sentenced to death because of their involvement of the death of Don Johnson, Erwin Eisengott, the director of the prison, was arrested as well because of his being a puppet of Pasquale Prizzi. However, those three attempted an escape, the success of which will be resolved later.
Well, at least I still have my masterkey to get out of all the cells and the code card for the other cells. Maybe there still is a way out for me...
A couple of pictures can be found in my gallery.Labels: LARP, pictures
|
|
KAWUM
After a long time I participated at another LARP. It was another game hosted by Riedhburg, focusing around the 29th KAWUM (Kongress für Alchemie, Wissenschaft und Medizin; Congress for Alchemy, Science and Medicine). I played a sage and astronomer from Mongolia named Kublai Kaspar Bat-Tsetseg, together with my associate, the astronomer Ali ab'a (he forgot the rest of his name), we are following a star to a newborn king. Tragically Ali broke our star, so we went to this congress in hope that an alchemist could correct this mishap.
The thirty-odd players were an extremely diverse group, we had the master of the alchemists guild with his left and right hands, two real alchemists, several charlatans, some doctors, a patent office, an excellent kitchen staff, a hobbit and many more. There even were uninvited guests such as a wild wolf.
One of my favourite scenes was during a secret meeting in the cellar. Everyone came with an eyemask to disguise their true identity. However, the disguised master of the guild was a little confused and talked about all the wrong things...
In the our star healed itself, helped by the power of the full moon and we were able to continue our journey.
All in all a fantastic weekend with way too many fascinating stories to relate here. As always, there are pictures on my homepage. The results from the interaction of the players with the patent office can be seen here.Labels: LARP
|
|
Costume Shopping
Last Saturday the City Theater of St. Gallen sold old and used costumes and accessories. A perfect opportunity to find a couple of pieces for the next LARPs.
Not all the things on the picture are my purchases :)Labels: LARP
|
|
|
