Narvi's Overview of 2010 Renewal
See my overview/introduction to Curious Pastimes here: http://rpggeek.com/thread/573302/curiouser-and-curiouser
Renewal
Renewal is the flagship event for Curious Pastimes. It occurs on the August bank holiday every year, and is the climax of the years plot.
Bias/involvement
Ok – so this is written 6 weeks after the event, but I thought it might be interesting to folks.
Obviously this is my personal take on the event, there will be several hundred others and this means that a large amount of what happened will simply not be on here.
Also I would have been responsible for writing some of the plot encounters and having input into certain aspects of the game over all. This may skew my interpretation of things.
There are one or two very very cool things that happened that I will only allude to, or gloss over; these are not common knowledge and I don’t want to devalue the work or roleplay of the players involved by simply broadcasting it on this forum.
The Site
This was our second visit to Tolmers (a Scout camp in Hertfordshire) – we also used the site for last years renewal. The site is a good size, the woods and fields we use for the battle haven’t become familiar yet.
The weather
It rained a bit. Mainly in the run up to the event, over Saturday night and during the battle (which meant the red I use to colour my hair for this character ran, giving me awesome “battle injury blood” down my face.) The site got a bit muddy in the areas that saw the most traffic.
Take down was thankfully dry.
The Story so far…
The campaign has been running at 4 events a year for… about 15 years now. So this covers only the most recent of events…
The factions have again gathered for the grand renewal of magic – the annual ceremony designed to maintain the balance of the world. The last few years this has not been successful and before that it had not been performed for years… will this year be any different? Those who know say that these failures threaten everything that is – but many find that hard to comprehend…
In a stunning and unexpected display of simply refusing to give up, Jarfin, the Norscan traitor has captured Odinsheim (the capitol) and claims that he is the True Lord wolf (despite repeated defeats and narrow escapes over the last year). He even had the gall to issue the invitation to the Renewal in his own name…
The other factions have gathered, as yet uncertain or undeclared with regard to their involvement in the internal politics of Norsca.
The Wolves
I am second in command of the Wolves faction. We are ruled by Lord Wolf, Bothvar. At this event there were pretty much 100 of us all told, which is our best showing for a couple of years.
The faction concept is Norse/Viking with a fantasy edge. This manifests in a few non humans – ogres, trolls, beastmen primarily. There are a few dwarves (although this is recent, and they are not yet fully accepted. Years ago they would have been killed on sight). One or two elves as well. Mostly we are human. No orcs and no goblins.
This gives us a wealth of material to work with of course. The starting point is the Pantheon of Norse Gods – Odin, Thor, Loki and others. From time to time these gods actually manifest, and we interact with their servants and agents all the time.
Norse Culture is also much more interesting than many people would credit, with a surprising amount of equality and egalitarianism built in despite its feudal nature. There is a definite philosophy and outlook as well. There has been a concerted effort to try to build this up year on year.
In character (IC) and Out-of-Character (OOC)
Scattered through the text below you will find these 2 terms.
Any thing prefaced IC is based on my characters perceptions of the game or describes the in game actions and motivations of that character.
Any thing prefaced OOC refers to knowledge or actions that are out of character. I’ve included these to demonstrate how you have to keep these two things distinct at all times and because my position in the game means that my OOC knowledge will conceivably shed some light on what happens for those interested or unfamiliar.
Kick off
The Renewal Opened with A welcome speech given by Jarfin.
(OOC at this point the wolves faction was monstering – we’d set it up this way for 2 reasons – 1) if we’d been in character the whole things would simply have turned into a battle as we tried our hardest to destroy Jarfin and all his men. This in turn would have required him and his minions to be immensely powerful in order to survive and provide the objectives required for the battles. There was a contingency plan in place should the other factions choose to do this (as players are perfectly free to do these things). 2) The best faction to play a Norscan warband, with appropriate kit and attitude is the one that already does that day in day out!)
Friday – In character
I arrived in camp and immediately looked for my… friend… Myld. (as she is pregnant she didn’t join the monster crew) She was nowhere to be seen. (OOC I was a little surprised as I had seen her moments before by the camps gate – but as that was OOC knowledge I couldn’t act on it). I ambled round for the obligatory welcomes from old friends and introductions to new ones (some of the new characters I have known for years OOC of course). The mood was up beat, and the camp looked great.
(OOC: We are lucky in the wolves that we have a decent core of 40 odd players who turn up to every single event. This gives a good deal of stability and continuity, and means we have a good atmosphere pretty much all the time; in particular our players are quite happy just being “the wolves” and can keep themselves occupied and entertained with minimal input from us. Of course we try to keep things as busy and involved as we can – but we can survive the occasional lulls very well).
Kidnap!
Myld Appeared at my elbow… and told me she had just been kidnapped by Jarfins men, who had tortured her and pressed her for information, but that she had managed to talk her way out of the situation by claiming she supported Jarfin and would like to spy for him! Her captors had been unconvinced, but she was able to produce a letter sent by her family saying that supplies were not getting through and they were starving. She said she blamed Bothvar for this! Her quick thinking saved her life and they let her go
(OOC: this was a piece of plot that we had written that ran very successfully. The player managed to talk their way out of it in spectacular fashion! The letter from her family had been one we’d introduced the previous event to provide clues as to which nobles were back home were allied with Jarfin and helping his campaign to discredit Bothvar.)
Lord general / Poor disguise,
As Lord Wolf wasn’t around I stuck to camp, providing leadership, greeting dignitories and nobles and generally living the good life. Eventually a messenger arrives from the Hei ravni (who are amongst our closest allies) and suggests I might want to meet a friend of their leader… I realize that they are talking about Lord Wolf (it turns out that this is the second or third messenger trying to convey this message – but things were so cryptic previously that our guards and diplomats missed the point and kept them away from me).
So it is that I take a group of guards over to collect our Lord General. He is wearing a “Groucho Marx” disguise. As he’s been there a while he’s also a little tipsy. This si going to make for a good evening as it turns out!
(OOC: so it makes no sense for him to be wearing a “Groucho marx” nose/glasses. I don’t care. It raised a smile and pokes fun at the hobby as well (after all we are all basically in fancy dress))
A social evening
The remainder of the evening passed in socialising for the most part. We have a new command tent and it fits a good crowd of people inside. There was laughter and drinking and stories and boasting – all the things you want from your average Viking mead hall.
(OOC – there was plenty of other stuff going on, outside the command tent, but as faction command I try to stay away from it, and this evening it wasn’t of the type that had players running to inform us what was happening or to ask instructions. Also this year we havee been pushing the chain of command idea, to empower players who have been given rank. So hopefully things were being dealt with further down the chain)
The Thyng
At midnight, every night we hold our Thyng to Odin (its pronounced “ting” or “thing” and means a gathering or council). The whole faction gathers round the camp fire. Thyng is opened by our priests and ritualists calling on the gods to hear our words. Usually thyng is a time when anyone may tell stories or tales of the days events, that the faction and the gods may wish to hear. This will often be tales of glory, heroism, stupity or what have you. It is also a chance for the nobles of the faction to address their people…
This night Bothvar, a fair way into his cups, decided to explain why it was that we would be fighting Jarfin, and just how much he wanted him dead. And he shouted and he yelled and he got our blood up. One of the new comers, concerned perhaps bothvars choice of language implying that he would throw away all our lives for victory asked why he should follow Bothavr in this. Lord wolf drew himself up to his full height and said “If I was to say, now, that we were to march to glorious deaths who would come with me?” pretty much everyone gathered there roared that they would follow him. “Does that answer your question?” Bothvar asked. “It does my lord” said the cowed but impressed newcomer.
As he Bothvar reached the end of his rant I quickly stepped in and ended the Thyng, leaving our priests to close the ceremony. No one could follow that rant without cheapening the whole event – so I thought it best to spare them the embarrassment!
(OOC : Thyng came about as the result of some plot we ran 5 years ago. It was originally meant to be a stop-gap measure, but even once the problem was resolved and there was no plot requirement for it the players liked it so much that they insisted we continue the tradition. It is one of the strongest parts of our faction identity. It does need some policing to makes sure it doesn’t become trivial or long winded, but when its working well its awesome).
After Thyng we returned to our celebrations….
Saturday
A falling out with the Steppe.
My Lord, in fact most of us in the wolves, hold a low opinion of the Steppe alliance. And of course he’s been under a lot of strain recently. So when one of them came and asked “what are we doing here” he lost his temper and threw them out of camp. I said to him, slyly, “For a moment, my lord I thought you were going to march over there and give them a piece of your mind.” Seed planted. Five minutes later we marched across, Bothvar intending to explain in no uncertain terms what he expected from the Steppe.
Upon arrival we were ignored, then left in the rain, then told to go into the Khans tent to address him, when we asked him to come to us. Finally we were told that the Khan “was taking a p*ss” but would be with us shortly. This was one snub to far for Bothvar and he exploded. He cursed the Steppe at the top of his voice, called them and their leader useless cowards and said they’d more of a hinderance than a help so he didn’t need them fighting alongside him at all! And off we stormed!
It made me laugh.
(OOC – Our issues with the Steppe Alliance, are of course all in character. Although this was excellent roleplay, it did cause a slight OOC problem; the battles work best when the sides are reasonably balanced. And that meant that the Steppe had to fight on the same day as us. But we’d just said that we didn’t want them. This was one of those occasions where as staff/NPCs we had to suck it up and find a way to justify an IC apology in order to ensure the game worked. Equally the Steppe had to accept this without too many quibbles or their players would miss the scrap!)
A chance to go to the bar.
I also managed to get to the Tavern for a bit on Saturday. So I had a front row seat when a group of Jarfins followers started insulting Bothvar. I didn’t have to do a thing – a runner was off to camp in no time, and a large group of warriors arrived shortly after to explain the error of their ways, using axes to reinforce the point.
(OOC – the tavern is in character – the staff take part in the game, the tent is lovingly dressed and the atmosphere is always excellent. The Landlord will often perform a variety of in character songs for favoured patrons.)
Thors hammer competition
The Wolves hold Mjolnir – the hammer of the god Thor. This is perhaps the mightiest weapon in the world (In the game its effect is that it can harm everything, usually knocking it to the ground and more often than not killing it outright!). This is a mighty weapon, to be borne by the greatest of champions, And even then a mortal can only hope to bear it for a short time. So each year, at Renewal, there is a competition to determine who is worthy to wield the hammer for the coming year. This is a straight fighting knock out competition. All competitors are paired up, the winner of each pair going through to the next round.
(OOC part of the reason we do this to ensure that the power gets shared around and give everyone a chance to strive for it).
I was able to find a dupe to gamble with (in previous years Corlack of the Black wolves had surprising good luck – but he died) – and won a fair few gold on the outcome of the bouts.
(OOC The hammer was won by a new player (he may have roleplayed elsewhere, but I’ve not seen him at CP before. I don’t think anyway). We’re hoping he has more luck than the last bearer – who lost the hammer the day after he won it, and died shortly after he managed to regain it!)
Renewal of magic
On Saturday night the White Wolf ritual team performed the renewal of Magic. This ancient rite maintains the balance of the world. Since its revival a few years ago it has not been successfully performed. Before that had not even been attempted for years.
The Ritualists called on representatives from all the factions to speak in the circle, explaining how their beliefs conformed to the great cycle that the ritual looked to renew. Sacrifices of blood were made by the Lords General.
Everyone walked out of the ritual circle, so it clearly wasn’t a catastrophic failure, but it will take some time before we know if it was a success.
You’ll never get me in a ritual circle. To dangerous and too unpredictable for me. I’m not going to risk my own neck like that.
(OOC – we had really hoped to Have Jarfin turn up and disrupt this ritual – but the ref that plays him was horribly all from Saturday morning ‘til the end of the event. This meant that there were several plot encounters that had to be cut. Obviously this is a shame as it limited the impact that the conclusion of this 2 year plot line had. Lucky we still had plenty of other encounters planned, and very little else had to get cut for any reason)
Sunday
WAR!
We mustered ready to take the battle to Jarfin, our scouts having sought out the location of his encampment. We appointed unit commanders, gathered together our weapons and tools of war, sought resources from our allies who were not taking the field that day. Our most important leaders had the spell “Regeneration” cast upon them – this would allow them to ignore one fatal wound. I had two such spells cast upon me. It would turn out that I would need them.
From the start it was a tough battle. But as our foes were Norscan, our country men, this didn’t surprise us. Early on I found myself on the front line, as the shield wall fell around me. I was forced to halt the enemy advance by expending all of my most powerful offensive magics in one go, buying time for healers and reinforcements to arrive. Something I have never had to do before.
Another memorable moment was when one of their heroes challenged me to a duel. He had a spear and was fast with it, but I was, just his better… before I could prove this an enraged Ogre leapt out and finished him. I was livid and bawled out the ogre for besmirching my honour. The enemy demanded I heal their champion… and in an uncharacteristic moment I did just that. We continued our duel – but now he was fresh and I already wounded. I fell and he claimed the glory. The first of my regeneration spells saved me form death. The hero and his allies all died in our next charge.
Jarfin.
We pressed on, and once clear of the woods and across the summer fields (My last Regeneration saved me in a desperate little melee on our right flank) we came across Jarfin at the top of the hill. Bothvar stepped forward to dispatch the traitor once and for all. It was a bitter fight – and clear that Jarfin was aided by some dark powers. Perhaps we should have known then.
Bothvar won through in the end, and Jarfins bodyguard were smashed in our triumphant charge. But the battle was not over. For beyond Jarfins last stand atop the hill a ritual was being performed in one of the circles of power he had captured.
Unpleasant surprise
We pushed forward, ritualists came forward to try to break into the circle, and whilst the warriors waited, unable to assist in this battle, a new foe appeared.
Shambling out of the trees came a horde of undead, hundreds of them. Grimly the armies turned to face them. As the battle lines closed the ritual reached its culmination…
All of a sudden a huge, terrifying Wolf like creature appeared right beside me! Summoned no doubt as a result of the ritual. Despite my rank and importance even I ran screaming.
(OOC – it was a really good full body costume, of a black werewolf type creature. The call “Terror rank 10” was made. Only Lords General and players with the Fearless ability can stand in the face of that. Which isn’t me. Therefore 30 seconds of running in the opposite direction are required. It probably saved my character!)
My avenue of escape? Straight between the closing battle lines. I took a number of blows from each side as I passed through. I broke free, battered but still standing (Thankful I had just used the last of my magic to heal myself and repair my armour). I turned to see where the monster was and another wave of the enemy crashed over me. I fell, mortally wounded.
(OOC – the enemy advanced over me. I thought I was a goner. This situation is the one that kills characters (and one of the reasons why we always try to keep our line pushing forward). I was counting my out my 120, but very quickly wolves found me hauled m up and healed me).
I ran stumbling, with a small band of wolves. Black wolves and Grendals I think. The battle had veered away from us – which was the reason they had so quickly reached me. So we fled down hill, parallel to the advancing undead horde. The situation looked desperate to me. Allied forces fled, scattered before a wall of the foe. Everytime a group tried to rally and turned to stem the tide… they were washed away, like sand castles. It was clear that things were dire.
(OOC – it was a bizarre moment, and one of those really immersive ones where I was properly shell-shocked and confused. Despite this there was a little corner of my mind still OOC and rational. I remember thinking “this is a rout. I’ve never seen a rout at LARP before. Its really intense!” Even then I was estimating 50% casualties)
We’d gone a hundred yards or more before we’d gained any breathing space. That hundred yards was littered with the bodies of comrades and I could see no way of turning the tide. We’d met up with what wads left of the shield wall, and someone was trying to get some order and discipline back. They were calling for all shields. I turned and relyed this to some Vipers behind us. Their commander – who I know only in passing said that their shield wall was in tatters. I pointed out we just needed shields to reinforce our own wall. He tried to rally some of his troops in our direction… but they were too shaken. I order our wall to pull back as well. Any stand would be our last.
I found Lord Wolf then, I don’t think he’d been caught in the thick of it, but he also looked a little shocked by events. I could tell he wanted to turn this round, but I did my job and gave him the straight truth. “It’s a rout, m’Lord. There is nothing we can do for the fallen, We need to get off this field, in good order if we can.”
He is a proud man, Lord Wolf, and it didn’t sit well with him. As the allied forces retreated he insisted on staying at the rear. I pointed out to him that was dangerous “the faction need you my lord. They’ll need you strong.”
We thought we’d lost the bearer of the hammer, and the Hammer itself, again. We cursed, but just before we fled the field there was a great cheer as he, and two others burst through the enemy lines and raced back to us.
Reaching Camp I ordered a recounting of the fallen from each of the groups. It became apparent that 40 odd had returned, 30 odd hadn’t and around 10 were unaccounted. Dark days. Over the next hour there was some news and most of those unaccounted returned. Most impressive was the dwarf who dragged himself all the way from the field, through the woods, to the rear of our camp, as he was too seriously injured to walk. When we heard his cries for help and went to fetch him he was greeted as a hero.
(OOC - Its been a while since we suffered a loss on this scale. It is a pain in character more than anything else; our players are pretty loyal and not too many of them will go and try something elsewhere (we might event get a few in from other factions). But it leaves us with empty rank slots (we have a fixed number we can use) and a large number of “new” characters who haven’t done anything to deserve a promotion. It means we’ll have to keep a careful eye on things and quickly promote those who look promising.)
The Althynge
Following the battle on Sunday we held the althynge – this is the great council of norsca, held every renewal – where every man is equal and may speak his mind. Grudges and arguments can be set out for adjudication by the nobles or magistrates.
Given the kicking we had just taken – in particular the loss of many high rankming nobles – including our third in command, one of our Jarls (joint 4th in command) Our high Ghodi (High Priest) and several others – the state of the faction needed to be addressed. The survivors needed to see that things were not as dire as they feared.
By all accounts it was a very positive and unifying gathering. Agreements were reached and some posts were filled by general acclaim. I was only able to see the end of it, but it was gratifying to see the serious faces of my fellow wolves, determined not to be bowed by our situation.
(OOC – It was a real shame that I had to miss this, but there were several plot related things I need to chase up, including preparing some props or details that had been missed in the run up to the event and briefing the crew who were about to deliver some very important plot into the game)
Elven Princes
Three elven princes, who have been building diplomatic relations with the wolves for a year or so, visited us this day. However their visit was cut short when their companion appeared to have a seizure – whilst uttering strange, and dire sounding pronouncments. The princes quickly hurried away, whilst we tried to make sense of what had happened
(OOC – and here is one of the problems with plot; this was missed by many players as they were caught up in other conversations important to their characters. So no one really knows what got said or what happened!)
Midnight Thyng
There were many stories are heroism and bravery told here. And many lost friends were honoured. But we are the wolves and so we steered clear of misery. Our dead, those who died in glorious battle at least, go to Valhalla. There, in Odins hall, they feast and fight until the end of days, when they will march with the Gods to fight the Giants at Ragnarok. This is something that virtually all warriors strive for – and so we must be glad when our shield brothers and sisters achieve it (I of course intend a different fate for myself; I will, I trust live a long life and when I die its Nifleheim for me. For I will be a general in that other army. We none of us can escape our fates).
(OOC: Usually post battle Thyngs are really emotional intense experiences. This
one was great, but didn’t quite meet expectations because so many of the
characters that died were the ones who had the best stories to tell about the
other characters that died)
Monday – (this whole entry is OOC)
OOC – If we are monstering the monday battle it can often limit the rest
of the day – there are only a couple of hours of roleplay before we have
to muster and go OOC to prepare for the battle. Afterwards people tend to start
take-down, looking to get off site and home at a reasonable time. None of this
stops the battle from being awesome of course.
As is usual I was refereeing the battle. I was assigned to one of the playing factions, along with a couple of other refs. We did the standard checks – who in the faction has skills, abilities, items or what not that will make them stand out and require an extra ref eye (either to make sure they are playing it right, or to reassure their opponents that yes, that did just happen) – this will be characters who can take considerably more damage than most, or who can deal it out in an spectacular way. I was also asked to watch a particular group as there had been some concerns raised about them in battles (and to be fair it was they who asked for the scrutiny).
The battle itself followed the same route as the previous day. I stuck with the faction I had been assigned – and the particular group – as much as possible. My job here is to makes sure that everyone is playing fair and enforce rules where required. In recent years I’m very happy to say the standard of play has generally been excellent. I also have to keep an eye on the health and safety aspects – occasionally herding players away from treacherous group or forbidding combat in certain areas.
Things went pretty well. The only thing I didn’t see was any armour repair. I mentioned this to the faction refs to get them to encourage it IC. This didn’t improve the situation so towards the end I resorted to picking out individuals, counting the hits they took and then running in and telling them to drop. This improved play. I also had a run in with a player who didn’t have their Character card accessible or on display. This is a small laminated card that serves as a character sheet. It also contains your real name and details of any medical conditions that the Paramedics might need to know if anything bad happens. As a result it is mandatory that you wear this in a visible and accessible location. This is clearly stated in the rules and event guide. I had to send the player off the field. Its understandable that he wasn’t happy.
A Giant!
Again CP had provided an awesome prop – a giant costume that stood 10 maybe 12 foot tall. I was ref’ing the other end of the line so only saw it from a distance, but that was excellent. (the encounter had to be cut short, because the suit was exhausting and heavy to wear).
A late finish
By the time the players decided to withdraw from the field we had run late. It was half four in the afternoon. Once we got back to camp we had a final muster and then called time out. Everyone pitched in and we got all the communal tents down and packed pretty quick, which was nice.
Other cool things
Diplomacy with Oath Breakers
When Jarfin first issued his invite to the other factions the Al Gaia publicly stated that they wouldn’t get involved, and would hear out Jarfin. This further heightened a tension that had been brewing for years, since the Al Gaia reneged on their obligations under a treaty. We had declared one of theirs an oath breaker as a result. Things were further compounded when the Al Gaia were then involved in the death of Lord jhereg – their former allies under that treaty – and still ours!
It transpired however that the leader of the Al Gaia had come to Bothvar in secret and suggested that Jarfin would believe a rift between our factions was real, and might be tempted to give away secrets if the enmity was played up.
I’ll admit I was surprised at Lord Wolfs cunning in agreeing to this, he is usually a straight forward man!
However the Al Gaians proved themselves useful to us, and asked that we declare that their man was not an Oath breaker. In a conversation with Lord Wolf and one of our Jarls I pushed the view that we could give the man a second chance, but could not retract the statement that he was an oath breaker – it being to serious a crime to wipe clean.
Diplomatic language left the Al Gaians feeling that they had won, whilst we still hold the same view as we ever did. This lead to the leader of the Al Gaians thanking me, as he had been told I was the one who “made it possible”. These were the first civil words he’d uttered to me in years. And now he feels slightly indebted. I see that as a win.
(OOC – one of the things I like most about LARP is having my mates as my enemies. It is incredibly satisfying to bad mouth and score points off people you like!)
Players making my game!
My Character is the “the Chosen of Loki” – Loki being the norse trickster god (that is a very simplified interpretation). As an NPC I do spend a lot of my time facilitating everyone else’s game – either OOC running around making sure that various organizational and admin things have been done, or briefing encounters to make sure they run just as designed) - or IC encouraging players to go off and pursue a given line of thought or action. I love doing this, but have to accept that “the game” is bigger than “my game”… so when some players came and asked me to talk about my take on religion and the worship of my god… basically enabling my game… it was not only very touching, but also a lot of fun.
Overall
I hope this has given something of an insight into the world of LARP. This little “session” report really only scratches the surface of what happens at an event.
Personally I had an excellent time. Best event for a couple of years I’d say.