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kingandyMmm, SF LRP.
The journey down was largely uneventful. I made a few wrong turns (mostly misinterpreting the directions - or rather, following the wrong sign. I was looking for junction 8, and there was a sign saying "Junction 8", but for some reason it was listing the junction of the road that it went onto and not the road we were on) but we made reasonably good time - arriving before Scott and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
psion_x, who set off before us (from more or less the same place). Traffic around Birmingham was awful, but then it always is.
The event itself was great. As a new player I was a little disoriented at first, and spent a bit of time worrying about how many hits I had (or rather, what happened when they ran out) and how to use my skills. But after a bit I realised that I didn't need to know anything about combat since the Cybel (space marine types) were taking care of security, and I spotted how other people were using their skills - taking the ref aside and whispering in his ear for a few moments. If I hadn't already known who the refs were this could have been a source of further confusion, as very few introductions were made and all the refs were playing NPCs. There was no introduction to the campaign setting, because you're supposed to know everything you need to know before you get on site, which is fair enough - they don't really advertise and there's no booking on the gate, so most of the players will know somebody else who goes and everybody will have got in touch with the organisers before the event. In fact the refs write out individual character briefs describing what you know about the weekend and what your likely goals are, based on the background you sent in.
Costume was of a generally high quality, with one or two exceptions - most notably the caterer, who hid the fact that he was a genuine NPC (and a cause of many mishaps over the weekend) by sporting a Buffy the Vampire Slayer T-shirt. Even when guarding meeting rooms, holding a pulse rifle. For the most part, though, people managed to avoid modern brand names and media references, and there's nothing wrong with a plain black T-shirt in a sci-fi setting as long as you accessorise. Mr Dave Lascelles was again wearing the T-shirt, shirt and hat combo that he sports in this picture, which still looked a bit "modern casual." It looks like that's his costume rather than him wandering around being a ref, as I had thought. It's kind of a poor show for the event organiser, really. He's supposed to be a doctor, he could at least splash out on a lab coat or something. He popped up as a Cybel bomb disposal expert at one point (We could really have done withsamharber there, being the only PC with any demo skills) and his costume for that throwaway character was much more impressive. Must try harder...
(oh, on the subject of that bomb disposal expert ... I only vaguely got the impression that masses of resources were available for the Cybel at a moment's notice because the Captain is Dave's RL SO. It did make perfect sense for the character, it is a military culture and it would be highly unlikely for them not to have a demolitions officer on board. Dave is the kind of ref who allows things based on whether it makes sense IC and how much it entertains him, without being overly reliant on rules for strictly allocated community resources or whatever, which works for me.)
I enjoyed roleplaying with everybody there (though some people have an unfortunate inability to remain in character when even remotely squiffy, naming no Jocelyns), which is good since character interaction was the focus of the event. Possibly this was since the Cybel were doing such a top-notch security job, but I got the impression there wasn't a great number of attacks. Enough to keep them from getting bored, not enough to actually impinge on the dinner party.
Overall: Great fun, and look forward to playing it again - if only to get more use out of the flight suit. I think I've spent more money on kit than I ever have for a single event.
Reminds me, must contact As If By Magic to see if they've still got that duster coat for Fading Suns...
Also, older today. Yay the eternal and inevitable passage of years!
The journey down was largely uneventful. I made a few wrong turns (mostly misinterpreting the directions - or rather, following the wrong sign. I was looking for junction 8, and there was a sign saying "Junction 8", but for some reason it was listing the junction of the road that it went onto and not the road we were on) but we made reasonably good time - arriving before Scott and
psion_x, who set off before us (from more or less the same place). Traffic around Birmingham was awful, but then it always is.The event itself was great. As a new player I was a little disoriented at first, and spent a bit of time worrying about how many hits I had (or rather, what happened when they ran out) and how to use my skills. But after a bit I realised that I didn't need to know anything about combat since the Cybel (space marine types) were taking care of security, and I spotted how other people were using their skills - taking the ref aside and whispering in his ear for a few moments. If I hadn't already known who the refs were this could have been a source of further confusion, as very few introductions were made and all the refs were playing NPCs. There was no introduction to the campaign setting, because you're supposed to know everything you need to know before you get on site, which is fair enough - they don't really advertise and there's no booking on the gate, so most of the players will know somebody else who goes and everybody will have got in touch with the organisers before the event. In fact the refs write out individual character briefs describing what you know about the weekend and what your likely goals are, based on the background you sent in.
Costume was of a generally high quality, with one or two exceptions - most notably the caterer, who hid the fact that he was a genuine NPC (and a cause of many mishaps over the weekend) by sporting a Buffy the Vampire Slayer T-shirt. Even when guarding meeting rooms, holding a pulse rifle. For the most part, though, people managed to avoid modern brand names and media references, and there's nothing wrong with a plain black T-shirt in a sci-fi setting as long as you accessorise. Mr Dave Lascelles was again wearing the T-shirt, shirt and hat combo that he sports in this picture, which still looked a bit "modern casual." It looks like that's his costume rather than him wandering around being a ref, as I had thought. It's kind of a poor show for the event organiser, really. He's supposed to be a doctor, he could at least splash out on a lab coat or something. He popped up as a Cybel bomb disposal expert at one point (We could really have done with
samharber there, being the only PC with any demo skills) and his costume for that throwaway character was much more impressive. Must try harder...(oh, on the subject of that bomb disposal expert ... I only vaguely got the impression that masses of resources were available for the Cybel at a moment's notice because the Captain is Dave's RL SO. It did make perfect sense for the character, it is a military culture and it would be highly unlikely for them not to have a demolitions officer on board. Dave is the kind of ref who allows things based on whether it makes sense IC and how much it entertains him, without being overly reliant on rules for strictly allocated community resources or whatever, which works for me.)
I enjoyed roleplaying with everybody there (though some people have an unfortunate inability to remain in character when even remotely squiffy, naming no Jocelyns), which is good since character interaction was the focus of the event. Possibly this was since the Cybel were doing such a top-notch security job, but I got the impression there wasn't a great number of attacks. Enough to keep them from getting bored, not enough to actually impinge on the dinner party.
Overall: Great fun, and look forward to playing it again - if only to get more use out of the flight suit. I think I've spent more money on kit than I ever have for a single event.
Reminds me, must contact As If By Magic to see if they've still got that duster coat for Fading Suns...
Also, older today. Yay the eternal and inevitable passage of years!
