This post is bought to you by a tired and broken person, really broken. My legs actually don’t want to work anymore. I even swapped into chain so the weight of my plate didn’t kill me! Yes i know i should have stretched, but i forgot how intense the battles were.
So where the hell do you start writing about renewal? A game so huge you probably wont have seen another persons game and i can promise you that you missed most of the things going on. Do you talk about the the rituals? All the bloody buildings in the woods or the amazing battles? One of the great things about CP is it is a mature system with a ref team that not only cares, but hit the ground running and a professional support team with a great sense of humor.
The Merc camp where i have my LARP holiday was awsome and is looking nice and healthy again as it seems all the broken old larpers have decided it’s a good place to hide so no one can find them. That and the newest ‘Not a Faction’ the Akesh have added some much needed numbers and colour to the camp.
You really have to start with what you did and hope you can get the scale of the event across. The thing is Renwal and CP have always been my holiday system. The system which i intend to go and sit in a field and do nothing, do a bit of role play, have a few drinks, catch up with mates and get a couple of battles. So hopefully that will put things in context when i say my Friday night was spent in an awesome skirmish to the moon, trying to hire a selection of ‘gardeners’ for some ‘weeding’ and being possessed as part of players doing research into Elementalism. That and the occasional walk along the ‘path of death’ that is the toilet run. Yeah sit around and do nothing, why does that never happen? Well CP that’s why! Everything, be it Plot or player led sucks you in and before you know it your bloody well balls deep in game. Part of that is that most players aren’t precious about their little kingdoms and will involve other people in their ‘stuff’
Saturday was taken up with bullying undergraduates in the College, meetings, more elementalism followed with a couple of hours food prep with the amazing Harriot to get ready for the college ball. The college banquet was amazing, the music was great, the food was awesome balls and the excessive use of telekinesis turning beer to water and magntise (said ‘Damn your eyes’) by the naughty table added to the atmosphere. The fact that everyone then dropped ooc to do the washing up shows how CP works (go go winters vigil). Much thanks to the people who served ic as well, you were stars!
Sunday morning was battle number one. The main things that leap out were the casualties, awesome monsters, genuine fear and the fact that Krissie still managed to lead the other half astray (she also has a legendary bane impression).
However i will tell you about the skirmish that followed that the Mercs monstered for. It stood out because the monsters and players were both really awesome. i’m pretty sure we gave them a good fight, they sure as hell bought a good one. The rest of Sunday was taken up with ‘gardening’, meetings, gathering resources and intel for the Monday battle. Other than that there was the amazing Ritual of Renewal. IC a few of us may have been aghast at some moments, but OOC it was a real credit to CP’s flagship event. Although the ritual circle does remind me of the moment when a certain vampire got grumpy about people running into the circle and repeatedly strengthed someones face and then chomped down on his neck stump. This Vampire watcher again is a very clever, do the factions that hate undead kill it and deal with the fact the circles will probably screw their rituals or do they compromise? All of a sudden the ritual admin becomes interesting plot. It’s the little details that matter.
So Mondays battle? what can you say about storming a fort? The monsters were awsome, it was really intense and safe. There are very few places where i would willing close my eyes and trust someone i hardly know to make sure i’m safe, but a cp battle field is one of them. The fort was amazing, it looked like a fort, it was made of wood and had doors, when you then put a monster crew of a few hundred in it it, all of a sudden you have a scary looking thing. Ever though that storming a breach would be fun? No it really isn’t! Well it’s fun OOC, IC it’s really scary!
Almost got killed guarding someone keeping a gribbly on the floor, its strange when you lay on the floor counting knowing that your smiling because your death mattered. Seriously i was laying there thinking ‘at least i’m going out a big damn hero and not dying because the shield wall moved. All in all the battle was amazing.
So was there any bad? Well there was the invasion of wasps and Saturdays weather. There were a couple of arrow related moments, me having to be reminded to rp something (‘casue everyone gets to be a bit crap) and a couple of things that were mechanically sound, but batshit crazy ic (there is a new meme running around about nakedness). Oh and i never got to spend time slounging with the Akesh (sorry Ping..again). However all in all it was an amazing event.
The thing i always take away from from CP is that were ever i’m LARPing after i want to up my game and make the game better for my interactions with it. Right now to prep for Empire E4, and doing renewal before hand will definitely up my game and remind me that as a senator i need to make sure everything i do makes the game better for everyone.
So thank you game team, event, faction refs, all the players and the Jeff. Love you all.
Gamer 