Dunedin by Night

[Anna K]

So far, the few people I've talked to have never even heard of boffer larp. It's quite possible there might be some with arsenals of fantastic stuff, and I will definitely to try to find those people if they exist. I can probably make a couple of swords from foam, pvc and duct tape though - won't be pretty, but at least functional.

Ryan's right, this is exactly what nzLARPS was invented for. We're able to help you out with things like gear and funds, it'd be so awesome to see larping start up again in Dunedin. We can courier you down some weapons, if need be

In addition to Camelot, we have some other scripts on hand to run as well. The Final Voyage of the Mary Celeste is good for anything between 13 and 18 people, and is buckets of fun. Breakout Day is a very easy, low-costume, low-set dressing requirements game that can be played by between 30 and 43 people. We've got other scripts kicking around as well, to suit numbers. Definitely let us know how your scouting mission at Dunedin by Night goes!

[No Rectangulars]

Ryan's right, this is exactly what nzLARPS was invented for. We're able to help you out with things like gear and funds, it'd be so awesome to see larping start up again in Dunedin. We can courier you down some weapons, if need be

Wow, really? That would be so awesome! People down here seem to be sick of paper, scissors, rock but have no other alternative. I think if they get to try out some really good weapons, it'll make all the difference The larping community seems to have about 20-25 people. The GM's goal for DBN was to get 20 people on the first game, and retain about 15 as regular players. Something like Camelot, or any other chimera-style game can probably run no prob if there's a good turnout.
Scouting is tomorrow night

[Ryan Paddy]

People down here seem to be sick of paper, scissors, rock but have no other alternative. I think if they get to try out some really good weapons, it'll make all the difference

For sure. Playing with foam swords is a universal kind of fun - when I showed my family the Ex-Caliber weapons when I first got them in, they all had a go and were just about falling over laughing. This is true with home-made weapons too, but the latex weapons do make an extra impression that helps people get over any concerns.

Hopefully the Camelot materials I sent you make sense - probably helps that you've played it.

I reckon Camelot is quite suitable for widening the scope of people who've only played WoD, because it's all about intrigue, resources, and relationships so the play style will be familiar. That familiarity should ease the introduction of the new features of genre, costume, set-dressing, and physical combat.

[No Rectangulars]

So - I went along to Dunedin By Night yesterday. There was a group of about 20-25 people there, ranging from 17 to mid-thirties. Fairly typical as far as roleplayers go - I recognised the telltale signs in some of them as I passed them in the street, even.
Some people made a real effort with costuming, others less.
As I suspected, there's no boffer larp down here, and some people hadn't even heard of it before. There really only seems to be the one vampire larp. Other larps have been run before (including a Discworld larp, apparently!), but all theatrestyle. The uni roleplaying group (OURS) holds informal weekend conventions every now and then, where larps are sometimes run on the friday or saturday night.
I talked about Camelot to various people, and they seemed interested. Most people suggested running it at a convention, and seemed less open to the idea of running it as a standalone event on a weekend in a park. I didn't get much time to talk about before the larp started though, so I will hop on to their forums and try and gauge interest. The numbers are definitely there, I just need to get everyone enthusiastic.
I also joined the medieval guild at Otago - there might be some crossover there, and hopefully I can ask them for help with props, set dressing. costuming etc.

[Ryan Paddy]

Cool, interesting info.

I talked about Camelot to various people, and they seemed interested. Most people suggested running it at a convention, and seemed less open to the idea of running it as a standalone event on a weekend in a park.

I reckon you can't always just go by what people say, people tend to suggest what they're already familiar with. A bunch of people in Auckland thought that Chimera should be run as part of Battlecry, but that didn't make it a good idea. If the Dunedin conventions are indoors, then that won't be as nice a setting for Camelot. You'd also be competing for players which is harder work when you're doing something novel. On the other hand, I'd advise against running it in a public park, some private land without passers-by would be better. It's not "a weekend", it's only about 4 hours, so it can be run on a Sat or Sun afternoon and leave both evenings free.

[No Rectangulars]

Yeah, I wasn't too sure about running it in a park either, but I can't see any way around it except to do it inside. There's a lack of large backyards in the city, and hiring a place might wind up being quite costly. I don't mean to shoot down people's ideas and be negative, this is more thinking aloud (or in type). Having only just met most of the larpers two days ago, I'm still not sure what kind of collective resources there are.
The forum for dunedin gaming is at www.nexusgames.co.nz, so I'm going to see what I can do. Feel free to join in!

[Ryan Paddy]

I wonder if you could book a spot in the gardens at Lanarch Castle one evening?

http://www.larnachcastle.co.nz/index.pasp

Given that you're near to New Zealand's only "castle", it seems like an opportunity at least worth giving a try. Would be cool to be somewhere with the castle visible in the background, even if it was in the distance. They have 14 hectares of land.

If the booking fee was under $240, then just charging all the players $10 would cover it.