It was a time of magic. A time of mystery. A time, in fact, of rubber swords and costumed tomfoolery. Simon Cooke donned his scabbard and joined the fracas... I'd often heard it said that live action roleplaying was a good laugh. At the very least you got to hit your friends with an assortment of latex weaponry, wander the streets scaring the local inhabitants, and if you were very lucky, you might actually do some proper in-character roleplaying as well. I'd never tried it, mind you - mainly because of a lack of good equipment and willing participants all in the same place at the right time. So when the news filtered through to the Arcane offices that there was a really big live roleplaying (or LRP) event happening in Derby - known as The Gathering, and reportedly the biggest event of its kind in the country, if not the world - I just had to go. Totally unprepared for what lay ahead (I hadn't even rolled my character, nor did I know what choices I had in the matter - I only found out I was going at the very last minute), I borrowed a tent from a friend, a Grim Reaper style robe from another, and popped to Tescos to buy what I'd been told were the essentials for the weekend - beer, beer, more beer, lots of Mars bars and a pot of Nutella. Feeling confident that this was all I'd need, I dragged myself to the train station and was on my way. Trainspotting
at Derby Central When I finally tracked down and talked with organiser Andy King I found out some rather interesting information. Apparently someone going to a rival event being held just down the road at Drumhill Park - called "Renewal" - had decided that it'd be a really funny jape to steal The Gathering's AA road signs so that people couldn't find their way to the site - presumably in the hope that they'd all go to Renewal instead. Whoever it was failed to even make a dent - rumours indicate that only about 400 people went to Renewal. Compare that to the more than 4000 people who came to The Gathering. The other big news was that the Met Office had released a Gale warning for that night, and it was set to go straight through the campsite. Oh joy. "I
could heal. I could mute people. In fact, I could do a Later that night, after Nathan and I spent three hours lost in the Derby ring-road system, searching for somewhere we could buy a torch from - leading to an incident with a petrol-station attendant offering plentiful advice on why the Colt 45 was useless as a weapon - the rain set in. And boy did it rain. When we got back to the camp, the in-roads had turned to a thick sludge, with Andy King and company ferrying people back and forth through the quagmire in a land-rover. Rather than let this worry us too much, we squidged through on foot to the beer tent. An Eventful
Night After getting Attilla the Nun's signature on my application to the Incanter's guild, and signing up for an hour's duty at the guild per day - having lost my character money over-night, I was forced into slave labour - I wandered the camp in search of people to fight and plots to join. The opening ceremony which soon followed was a great introduction to the events of the previous years, and soon I was getting into the swing of things. Shortly Richard arrived, looking surprisingly like Christopher Lambert in Highlander (his character being that of a hippy who'd taken too much acid in the 60's and had woken up in 1096 with the rest of us). Bizarre
Occurances Over the course of the next few days, I got involved in all manner of scrapes. Muggings were common-place - the roleplaying equivalent, of course - but fortunately I wasn't the recipient of any. Responsible for one, yes, but it didn't happen to me I was a juror for the trial of the Violet Mage - also known as the Violent Mage. We let him off - he was accused of the murder of a high-up leader, because he'd resurrected him at one point and decided not to carry on doing so, but we thought that he had the right to do so - but he got himself in contempt of court very shortly afterwards! I hung out with the Goblins and the Rancid Tusks most nights, who were a band of Gobbo's and Orks with the most amazing costumes I've seen. Shagnasty (of the Rancid Tusks) and Pukka (of the Goblins) were married, as were Rungo and SideSalad (who were both from the Goblins as far as I know), in a hilarious marriage ceremony performed by leader of the Vipers, King Gustav. The Battle Everybody lined up, allies against enemies, ready to begin dealing death. Two thousand people on one side, two thousand on the other. Copping out from the fighting to take photos (you think you'd find me in the middle of that? I may be mad, but I'm not stupid), I stood by the Alchemists and watched on as battle commenced. "It's
well worth getting involved, and I can recommend As if it had been pre-arranged by the kind of people who steal road-signs, at the very moment the fighting started the heavens opened up and rained down more heavily than it had throughout the entire weekend. Undeterred, people fought on in the pouring rain. The ground quickly turned to mud, and it was then that the first major casualty of the weekend happened. Pukka of the Goblins (Micki) was rushed off to hospital with a suspected spinal injury - but fortunately it didn't turn out to be serious and she was sent home later that day. I don't know who won the battle - and to be honest, I don't really think it matters. Everyone picked themselves out of the mud and dried themselves off, then started packing up to go home. Tents were unhooked and folded away, and I waved goodbye to my newfound friends. It was all in all one of the most fun things I've ever been lucky enough to do in my life. However, I'll leave you with this warning: be prepared for culture shock when it's all over. After four nights without much sleep, and being in character for nearly all that time, Nathan, Richard and I were definitely not prepared for what happened on the way back. It seems innocuous enough, but we stopped off at a service station. Walking in, we were confronted by flashing lights on arcade machines. Jean-Michel Jarre was being piped in through unseen speakers. Bright lights and strangely coloured pre-packaged commodities were being sold in shops nearby. All three of us just stood in the door-way, looked around in amazement and went "ooooooh". It took nearly two days to come down from it all, and I understand that this is quite common. But don't let that scare you off! So much happened over the five days I was there that I can't even hope to relate them all to you in such a short space. Needless to say though, that it's well worth getting involved in, and I can heartily recommend it to anyone as the experience of a life-time. Simon Cooke (simoncooke@earthlink.net) will definitely be at The Gathering next year. Not even gales, torrential rain, fire, acts of God nor unknown antagonists from rival events childishly stealing the signposts could keep him away A Veteran's Viewpoint The Gathering recently celebrated its 5th successful year, but as an event for experienced live roleplayers does it have what it takes to carry on going for another five? The system used by The Gathering and its smaller sister events, the Faction Moots, is easy to understand. Characters align themselves with one of the Factions and advance in Rank within them, gaining money and command. There are no character classes as such, making for very flexible character generation. Fighters can have magic, Scouts can be good at healing and Mages can carry a sword and lop people off at the knees - it all depends on how many points you spend when you first create your character. The combat system is slightly disappointing for experienced live roleplayers, as it doesn't take account of the fighting ability, strength or stamina of a particular character. In fact, in combat everyone will be dead after a few good hits, which makes having Healers mulling around essential. However this is a system for thousands of people, all of whom must be able to readily comprehend it, create their own characters at home, and perform actions without having a referee present for every fight. Another aspect to consider is the importance of good equipment. In Lorien Trust games, if there is no physical representation of an object, then there is no effect. This means that if you want to have the protection of chainmail armour, you have to wear chainmail armour. This can be expensive - and heavy - and can also restrict the types of characters which you can play. As for the actual gameplay, if you aren't of a high Rank, the 'official' plot will most likely pass you by completely. Unless you can worm your way into one of the guilds, you're left to go out and stir up trouble for yourself. Although this can be fun, it leaves little scope for character development, and can make you feel as if you're merely cannon fodder for the big battle. For me, the Battle is one of the best parts of the whole event. Realistically there is complete confusion, bad weather and lots of waiting around until the one great push which leaves the adrenaline surging - and usually in my case with me lying dead in the mud. Luckily there's usually enough magic floating around to keep your character from dying. It just hurts a lot. Is it worth it for the veteran live roleplayer? Well, I'll certainly be going again next year! Tamsyn Hutchinson (aka
Dralisha of the Vipers) |
BETTER
SAFE THAN SORRY The Lorien Trust take their weapons very seriously. There was a weapons check on entry to the event - to make sure that the weapons were in good nick, with no protruding edges (there's usually a fibre-glass rod in the middle of most weapons to give them some strength) and no hidden steel rods or fishing wire - some people take this all way too seriously. There was another check before the main battle - after all, three days of constant fighting can cause a lot of wear and tear. If a it wasn't in tip-top condition, you weren't allowed to use it. CHOOSE YOUR
WEAPON There were a plethora of market traders at The Gathering from which all manner of hack and slashery could be bought. Fat ones, thin ones, long ones, skinny ones all were available for anyone with a wallet which could cope. One of the most impressive I saw (apart from a breathtaking double headed axe with more pointy bits than a hedgehog after an accident in a pencil-sharpener factory) was a mage's staff with a working plasma ball on top. IN LORIEN
WE TRUST
Anyway, if you want to
get some more information on The Gathering, you could do
a lot worse than send an S.A.E. to those wonderful people
at the Lorien Trust, who you can find at: The Lorien
Trust, 68 High Street, Eaton Bray, Dunstable,
Bedfordshire, LU6 2DP. Alternatively, give them a ring on
01525 222884. Oh, and tell them that arcane
sent you
If you want to try
general Live-Action Role Playing, then you should be able
to find a group near you - if all else fails, go to your
local uni and have a look for the Roleplaying Society
noticeboard in the Union, or drop something into their
pigeon-hole. Like maybe a pigeon. |
Legal Notice and
Copyright:
This article first appeared in arcane
magazine in November 1996, published by Future Publishing. All of
the text, photographs and images included in this article are
Copyright © 1996, 1997 Simon Cooke. The rights of the author to
reassert copyright of the article and photographs after a period
of 6 months from Future Publishing, as per contract, have been
asserted. Unauthorised copying, distribution, publishing or
reproduction of this article in any form including both
electronic and paper media is prohibited without prior
arrangement with the author, Simon Cooke, who may be contacted by
email at simoncooke@earthlink.net. Fair use copyright terms are upheld, as are printing
of this article for personal use. All rights reserved.