Saffron Threads - Who am I, again?

I may have mentioned before that I'm a bit of an escapism addict. It's certainly part of the reason I enjoy tabletop RPGs and LARP, but it does have its downsides, namely keeping all those personalities straight and in-check.

I have a few past RPG characters that are not memorable, mostly from my early days of gaming or from a first attempt at a new system. I have two I'm very attached to but who don't get out to play because the games are on indefinite hiatus. Finally, I have two currently in play and am ready to roll up a third, all in different systems. I try to make the characters different from each other in a bid to make it easier for me to remember who I'm supposed to be being today: I don't always succeed, although I have yet to confuse anyone else in this way. I prefer to think that this is because I catch myself, rather than because I'm a rubbish roleplayer...

The first of the two on hiatus is a young, naive and somewhat flighty werewolf in a new World Of Darkness campaign, but with house-rules to the old WoD rules when the GM prefers them. She started out as a twenty-something living it up in London while working as a Parliamentary Researcher but after almost two years of play she's a scarily powerful werewolf with no paying job, sharing a ramshackle house with two mages, hanging out in the spirit world and a bar guarded by Wraiths and trying to avoid any responsibility in the decimated local pack. Oh and she has a wraith in her head: the only way she could escape the Deadlands as a werewolf after dying during her first Change was to agree to allow a wraith to guide her back. In return, he overtly and covertly pushes her to fulfil his own ends, and when he achieved them he will leave her. Allegedly...

The other hiatus character is for a post-apocalyptic free-form system run by Proud Lion's very own Ben called Cactus Land. This one was a rebellious adrenaline junkie, caring for almost nothing and no one. I have to admit, I loved this game. Because it was systemless, if there wasn't a reason in your backstory for you to be able to do something, you couldn't do it. End of. Backstory and character development is the key reason I roleplay, and the main reason I didn't get on with D&D v4 at all. As a social board game, it's good. As a roleplaying game, it sucked, and not in the good way. Back to Cactus Land: as an ex-Nascar driver and jillaroo, Lisa had many skills I do not, and her independence and nihilism meant there was no falling around persuading the party to cooperate! She still hasn't forgiven herself for almost escaping from a prison camp and hesitating when the rest of the party seemed to be in trouble, and then all being recaptured together. Really, who needs a spark of humanity with experiences like that?

Of my two current characters, Gudrun is a half-elf sorceress in a Norse setting of D&D v3.5. It's the first system I ever played but I've had mixed results on the roleplaying side of the game. I'm struggling to inhabit this character, and while there are things she will do, such as taking the dawn watch (because she follows Dellingr, father of Day and god of Dawn) and weaving in the evenings and walking with a staff (because that's what the Volva did), she doesn't have a unique personality for me. Yet...

I've mentioned Lady G before, my Curious Pastimes alchemist. She's a lovely roleplaying challenge because although she considers herself a lady "by accident of birth rather than character" she's unwilling to give up the status it brings or intentionally behave like a common peasant. So, I get to spend a weekend trying to avoid making a single smutty comment (something I have yet to achieve!) and influencing people by diplomacy rather than outright leadership, or shirking duties entirely – it's always Gin O'Clock for some players! I have a very clear sense of who she is and how she reacts, but even so, maintaining it unscripted for 16hours a day is another challenge. As a non-combatant alchemist, there's an awful lot roleplay involved in being her, so it's refreshing to take time out on a monster slot to just mindlessly hit things as the third gribbly from the left.

I'm trying out Maelstrom LARP later this year, which will see me attached to the pleasure cult, providing services in return for personal gain. And she will utterly detest nature, thus being a complete change from every other character I've played, and definitely involve me playing against my own preferences. Escapism, here I come...

This weekend, Saffron is running around being Lady G, then skipping off into the Mediterranean sunset for a well-deserved rest and cocktails on a beach, followed by some gentle sightseeing.

The Reluctant Geek - What’s that big shiny thing in the sky?

This week readers, things are going to be a little bit more surreal than usual. Imagine a David Lynch film, only with less nudity and girl on girl kissing. Probably.

Because rather than basements and bedsits and airless offices alive with the hum of a thousand computers, I have a different setting in mind for this session’s mandatory geeking out.

You may or may not have noticed that something a little bit odd has been happening lately. Maybe, when you try to play Fallout: New Vegas your vision is being obstructed by some kind of glare on the screen. Perhaps recent early evening D&D sessions have been interrupted by a high-pitched twittering sound (and it’s not even that annoying wannabe elf player who you hate). It’s possible even that your usual World of WarCrack buddies have started making excuses about how they don’t really have the time to come with you and kill that dragon/find that important object/pillage that particular village.

It’s ok though... there’s no real cause for alarm. What’s happening is something that happens quite often around this time. It’s the insidious creep of outside and summer and those crazy, nature loving freaks who don’t consider that the luminescent glow of your laptop screen is really going to deliver your requisite dose of vitamin D for the year.

Speaking as an aforementioned crazy, nature loving freak, I’m here to remind you that geekery and outside don’t have to be two mutually exclusive concepts. In the name of which cause, here are some of the best ways of combining your outer geek and inner hippy into one leet-speaking, kaftan wearing orgy of awesomeness.

Geocaching

As far as I understand it (and I’m willing to accept that there may be limitations here!) geocaching is basically a form of grown up treasure hunting with added tech. You can indulge your desire to play with shiny buttons and clever little wires, using GPS to help locate hidden containers and then romp all over the countryside tracking them down in real time. Fresh air, a massively niche hobby and the opportunity to come up with your very own code name. (Having located a box, you sign the logbook within with your unique ‘handle’). What’s not to like?! If you need the geek factor upping a little, you may be reassured to know that boxes found and sabotaged by the uninitiated are said to have been ‘muggled’. Just don’t forget to BYOP, and TFTH. (Acronyms are geeky, right?!)

Stargazing

It’s nearly summer. OK this is Britain, but chances are we still might have the odd gloriously sunny, cloudless day at some point. And if we do, it might just be followed by the occasional unobscuredly beautiful starry night. Stargazing has all of the essential qualities of geekery; ideally it requires equipment in the form of a telescope and superior enough knowledge to be able to use it and hopefully know what you’re looking at. But it also necessitates some communing with nature, gazing into the unknown and contemplating your place in the universe (Or particle physics, or that girl/boy you like, or tomorrow’s breakfast. Whatever works).

LARP

Whenever people produce or share those self-defeating pyramids of geekiness (honestly, if you’re creating/modifying/appreciating some kind of hierarchy of nerdery, chances are you’re at the bottom of it) LARP almost always occupies the lower layers. But despite this it’s one of the best ways of combining some wholesome outdoorsyness with your desire to be a wizard and go on quests. And anyone who thinks that geeky activities can’t be physically demanding just needs to watch a bevy of fat men run up a hill wearing chainmail. It’s pretty much an endurance sport under these circumstances! If you LARP you can spend all summer running around woods and fields, without ever once having to suggest anything so prosaic as a country walk or picnic, so it’s the no compromise option for the truly hardcore geek.

In the end, the reluctant part of my geekery quite often occurs because to be a geek is to be a stereotype and no-one likes to be put in a box. There is no reason why you can’t sit in the sunshine reading comics, or run a marathon dressed as a Klingon, or even hold your weekly RPG session in the garden. Not to mention the fact that some slash fic, ice cream and a park make for a truly inspired mix. Anyway, there’s always next winter for holing up with take away pizza and the world’s most addictive computer games…

This week Kate Townshend is channeling Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.

Saffron Threads - Hear Ye! Hear Ye! The LARP season approacheth!

Just as the withdrawal symptoms were getting unbearable, there are not one, but two, LARP events in April to look forward to.

This will be my third year playing my alter ego Lady G, a medieval alchemist, and I thought I'd share why spending weekends under canvas pretending to hit monsters with a latex sword is such good fun. No, really.

1. It's the ultimate in fresh air and exercise. Events start on Friday evening and run to Sunday or Monday afternoons, and the only permanent building you'll enter in that time is the toilet block... if the site doesn't rely on portaloos. You'll be soaking up vitamin D and running between camps sorting out plot, or running away from refs wielding The Plot Stick. Sometimes you'll be running for cover when the inevitable rain arrives, but other evenings you'll be sat around the campfire keeping warm until long after the stars come out. In the immortal words of the late High King of the Faction: "There is no such thing as inappropriate weather, only inappropriate clothing... I'm wearing inappropriate clothing!"
   



2. I can wear a corset with a warm skirt and sensible boots. I'm a bit obsessed with corsets, it has to be said (at last count I had 5 with another on order), but I usually team them with Silly Shoes, a pretty skirt and hoisery I ladder within half an hour of putting it on. This is why I only *play* a Lady, rather than being one!
   
   



3. There's always live music around the campfire and in the tavern. I always join in. Playing to a packed tavern and carrying the audience with the rhythm is an indescribable feeling! There's an eclectic mix of traditional folk, modern folk, filk and acoustic versions of alternative rock. "Nothing Else Matters" is haunting and beautiful when played like this and I'm working on a folkified version of "Holding Out For A Hero" since the lyrics require no adaptation at all. I'm hoping to debut it at the Bards Competition at the July event... but don't hold me to that.



4. There's no technology. Now, I'm sat on a train, typing this on a smartphone, listening to an iPod, having given up reading uni PDFs on my Kindle, so I'm no technical philistine! However, not being able to follow FB, Twitter, email, RSS or anything else for a weekend forces actual, in-depth person-to-person interaction (of the giggedty sort too, if that's your thing) and I thrive on that. Which leads me to...



5. Awesome characters. Some of the best LARPers I know are totally different in body language, voice, opinions and personality from their real selves. It's like a BOGOF of making friends. Separation between character and person is an interesting dichotomy and something I'll explore in a further post on RPG-induced-schizophrenia. For now, suffice to say there are characters which Lady G can't stand but players Saffron really likes, and vice versa.



6. I mentioned The Plot Stick earlier. Plot comes in two main forms: head-hurty plot and head-hurty plot. The first kind is where your head (or arm, hip, shin, back, or thigh) hurts from being hit by gribblies and having a darn good time hitting them back. The second kind is intellectual, where you are given a problem and need to use in-game knowledge you have, or can acquire in character, to stop Bad Stuff Happening. Never let it be said LARP is a single-dimensional pastime. Lady G much prefers the latter type of plot, rather than having to run around getting sweaty and waving a sword. Really, isn't that what we have Knights for? Saffron, on the other hand, will happily monster (play a disposable character for other players to fight) with much more gusto than skill. Did I mention the fresh air and exercise aspect yet?



7. Immersion. Oh wow, the immersion. The system I play is very hot on in-keeping costume and props (but not necessarily historically accurate: we have elves, magic and beastmen, so you can suspend your disbelief right there on that hook by the gate) and people regularly spend hundreds of pounds kitting out a character. It's a real mental gear change returning to the Real World. I'm an escapist at heart, and this Does It For Me.
   
   



8. Finally there's Spiced Mead, which is truly a nectar from the gods

(All photos are © Steve "Flasher" Mitchell. Used with permission.)

This week, Saffron is mostly worrying about uni exams, and fervently wishing she were somewhere else.

The Reluctant Geek - Have you heard the one about the Irish man, the Elf and the blogger? No, me neither.

It was Race Week in Cheltenham this week. Unless you’re a local, all this is liable to mean to you is horses, posh people and pictures of the Royals in fancy hats on the TV news. However, if you’re a Cheltonian, then those two innocent little words ‘Race Week’ are likely to strike fear into your heart. When you live in Cheltenham, Race Week means five hour traffic jams, witnessing public urination and a bunch of footloose and fancy-free drunkards rampaging through your home town for five days every year.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got nothing against drunks per se. When they’re not on your doorstep being loud and obnoxious, they can even be mildly entertaining. Which brings me, not so neatly, to the topic of this week’s missive of geekery: It’s time to talk about LARP. Which is to say Live Action Role Playing. Or dressing up and pretending to be a knight/lady/troll/goblin to make things absolutely explicit.

If you were forced to go to Sunday School/Church as a child, you’ll recognize this as the point where I shoehorn in the fact that something utterly unrelated is somehow a little bit like Jesus... or in this case how a bunch of shouty, gambling Irish men in flat caps are a little bit like a bunch of nerds sat around a field in fancy dress. Best to just go with it...

Like the Cheltenham Races, LARP is a hobby with a bad reputation. Be honest, unless you’re a LARPer yourself, you’re imagining fat men with beards dressed up like Legolas from Lord Of The Rings right now. And honestly, those stereotypes do exist. For many people, LARP is the zenith of geekiness, the passtime you seek out if World of Warcraft and collectible action figures are just too cool for you. I mean honestly, plain old garden variety table top roleplaying is bad enough, but the idea that you would want to do this in a costume? Madness!

Except, actually, it isn’t that mad. If you’re a regular visitor here, you may have picked up on the fact that I’m a bit of a fan of fancy dress. I’m also a bit of a fan of the "If you’re going to do something, then you may as well embrace it fully" philosophy. I hate Cheltenham Festival with a burning passion, but if someone held a gun to my head and forced me to attend then I’d be donning my flat cap and practicing my Irish accent with the best of them - it’s not casual racism if you’re doing it for fun! Equally, if I’m going to role play at all, then by choice I’m going to do it in an outfit, in the middle of a wood somewhere with a tavern and a fire and a bunch of people dressed up as ogres.

And as a hobby, LARP seems to attract people with a similar attitude. Far from a culture of life-limited, real world losers, the most visible string at LARP events I’ve been to is a hyper-masculine, testosterone-fueled hard-drinking one, where acceptable games involve throwing chairs at your friends and setting people on fire. This is largely done during the Out of Character portion of events, frequently in the wee small hours of the morning. It may not be particularly highbrow all the time, but it does imply a certain commitment to and passion for thrill seeking in the strangest of places.

Anyway, playing is good for you. Studies, apparently, say so. As adults it’s easy to be dismissive of activities like LARP as somehow the result of pathological Peter Pan complexes. But imaginative play is by no means only the domain of the under twelves and nor should it be. Creative, immersive escapism doesn’t mean you are dissatisfied with your real life. But it does mean that you have the intellectual resources to imagine different worlds and cultures and situations.

At any rate, given the choice between the race week pissheads and the ones in costume at LARP events, I’d choose the LARPers any day. They might be stapling each other to tables for a laugh the night before, but you can pretty much guarantee that they’ll be saving the world the morning after...

This week Kate is looking out her drinking horn.