I saw a limo at Wal-Mart yesterday
Aug. 6th, 2004 06:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mythicfoxYeah, the subject line's just a random observation. I don't know why there was a limo at Wal-Mart, but there it was in the parking lot.
Well, this past weekend was something that the LARP does on the last weekend of a month (even though Night Lair was on August 1st-- hey, I'm not the one running the game). It's the second time they've done it. It's known as the Uber-LARP. The last game of a month at Night Lair, they have an entire night where no tests are thrown and no rules questions can be asked of the ST's. Challenges are handled through Trait comparisons and how detailed your descriptions are. It's meant to encourage role-playing, and on top of that instead of giving out experience point awards from 1-3 points, Uber-LARP nights can provide 1-5.
For the Garou, the evening started off with a small moot. Sean, as foreshadowing for the plot he's been running, NPC'ed an Uktena Ragabash to do some talking at the moot that was going to lead up to it (partially because the moot needed a Fool). Things didn't get that far, though... I told the tale of all that happened last week, and the alpha of the pack (and, at the time, the highest-rank Garou in attendance), Lucky Steve, nailed me with some nasty renown hits for running off, associating with Pentex, that sort of thing[1]. They also demanded to know what companies Ken had donated his payment to so they could avoid the organizations that were now inevitably Wyrm-tainted (of course, it didn't help much that Sean had told me before the game started that Pentex was actually going to buy one of the nature-preservation companies that Ken had donated money to). But I mentioned in and out of character that I felt the choices Ken made would be vindicated with time, if he had to do it over again he would, etc. The whole bit.
It was also during the moot that we were introduced to Andy's new character, 'Hacks-The-Wyrm,' a Glass Walker Ahroun of the Dies Ultimae camp. He and another one of the newer characters formed their own two-person pack under Clashing-Boom-Boom. I personally don't expect the character to have much of a lifespan. Sure, he'll be useful, being a combat twink, but he'll be dead soon. I can almost guarantee it. He put a lot of pressure on Ken to consider switching packs, since Clashing-Boom-Boom is a traditional Glass Walker totem and Rat isn't.
Eventually, Sean's character insisted on meeting Ruiz, the kid that Ken brought back with him from Mexico (the alleged Kinfolk). A brief scuffle broke out between him and Lucky Steve and Steve ordered him away from the moot. Shortly afterwards, there was a disturbance... the Gauntlet in the area suddenly weakened, and we could see a huge swarm of bat-spirits heading towards the house where we'd been living. We traveled there to find Sean's NPC breaking into the house and grabbing Ruiz.
While we were trying to work out what was going on, exactly, a pack of BSD's showed up and kidnapped the two of them. It was from here that the game went all to hell. We were led back to the Mountainlair, where the Gauntlet was almost non-existent because of the bat-spirits swarming about. Two packs of BSD's were fighting over Ruiz, but we learned something: mass combat where there isn't a clear system of tests and initiative is a pain in the ass (to the point where it isn't really worth the effort). It was partially because of this that despite the importance ot the story that we get Ruiz and get the hell out of there, almost every one of the PC's got the hell out of combat as soon as possible.
Things got sorted out somehow... all I know is that Ruiz (being NPC'ed by Nick) was beaten into a bloody pulp and rendered unconscious. The whole mess damn near made Sean's head explode, trying to keep everything on-track. Another NPC he'd thrown in was what really threw a wrench in the whole scene. This other NPC, claiming that he was chosen by Gaia for a great destiny and that Ruiz was some usurper. Part of the problem was that to Sense Wyrm, Ruiz registers as if he was BSD Kinfolk. Whomever the NPC was, he didn't register as Tainted at all. Thus, the changing breeds that were on the scene elected to execute Ruiz.
To be honest, I think Sean expected way too much of the players. You have a bunch of shapeshifters (and a Kinfolk Mage) that already don't trust a guy. Said guy registers as Wyrm-Tainted. Someone without any Wyrm-Taint says to kill them. Even if everyone else knew what was going on, OOC-wise, letting Ruiz live would have been metagaming, pure and simple.
Sean had to pull what was effectively some scene-railroading out of his ass to get things back on track without getting everyone killed. It didn't help that he'd previously set up that if Ruiz was killed, the Bat Incarna (who was part of the swarm of Bat-spirits going nuts in the area) would manifest and start unleashing Hell on Earth. Since he'd assumed that Ruiz wouldn't be executed on the spot, Sean hadn't taken into account that Bat would essentially kill every PC present.
He took advantage of the fact that the game's most powerful Mage (that isn't run by an ST) was present and was able to restore Ruiz to life. The Bastet that killed Ruiz was, instead of being killed by Bat, made Bat's avatar of sorts. Bat told him everything he needed to know about what was happening, what Ruiz really was (a Camazotz Kinfolk chosen to be the possible restoration of the entire Changing Breed), and that sort of thing.
While this was going on, Ruiz's full powers manifested and he experienced his First Change. He became a Crinos-form (or the equivalent) Were-bat and started fighting the other NPC, who also transformed similarly. Bat whisked them away someplace while we were left to deal with the consequences.
The Bastet explained what had happened and that we needed to go to Mexico. We needed to reclaim an artifact from the vampires in Mexico City and use it to help Ruiz perform a ritual to restore the Camazotz. What doesn't help much is that the mortal population of Mexico City has been more or less wiped out by Sabbat vampires and Black Spiral Dancers warring openly in the streets (Sean taking advantage of the fact that this is officially a Time of Judgement Chronicle to throw in some stuff like that).
Trust me, the whole session was far more confusing than I make it sound.
Also, Ken was promoted to Alpha of the pack. Why? Simple-- between character deaths and character retirements, there are now only two members of our pack; myself and Lucky Steve. Lucky Steve, a Bone Gnawer Theurge, has no desire to be the Alpha and would rather be the Ritemaster. So Ken has the job.
I am so fucked. I don't know what it is about me, but I'm just not good at playing assertive characters-- let alone assertive characters with authority of some sort. *sigh* I'll manage, though, I think.
Also, Sean enjoyed playing his Uktena Ragabash NPC that he's decided to make the character a full PC and play him normally. He's making the character a metis who takes physical damage when he changes forms (sure, he'll just regenerate it, but if he has to shift to Homid in a hurry and then he takes some serious damage immediately afterwards then it'll definitely be a problem).
Anyhow, that's about it for my LARPing this past weekend. I'm going to have to get off my ass and keep from having to do these at the last minute.
In somewhat-related news, I have the feeling that Freddie Zachs (my character at ToD) isn't going to be around much longer. Krimson's going to be having a showdown with the new Bishop there, Natalie, at this weekend's game and if her latest in-character post is any indication she plans to taking down anyone who's a threat to her. I'm sure that one way or the other, everyone's going to learn that Freddie's number-one motivation is survival. If Freddie has to choose for himself or Krimson to get killed, he'll choose Krimson. If the Camarilla takes over Morgantown again (they had it once before, and when the Sabbat took over the Prince managed to go into hiding and is now Bishop Lamonte) and Freddie has to make the choice of defection or destruction, he'll pick defection. You get the idea.
Anyhow, catch you folks later.
[1]-- This is despite the fact that he would have gone along himself if he hadn't been rendered unconscious while challenging Jeremiah for leadership of the pack. But he couldn't let his circumstances bias the way he was judging Ken.
Well, this past weekend was something that the LARP does on the last weekend of a month (even though Night Lair was on August 1st-- hey, I'm not the one running the game). It's the second time they've done it. It's known as the Uber-LARP. The last game of a month at Night Lair, they have an entire night where no tests are thrown and no rules questions can be asked of the ST's. Challenges are handled through Trait comparisons and how detailed your descriptions are. It's meant to encourage role-playing, and on top of that instead of giving out experience point awards from 1-3 points, Uber-LARP nights can provide 1-5.
For the Garou, the evening started off with a small moot. Sean, as foreshadowing for the plot he's been running, NPC'ed an Uktena Ragabash to do some talking at the moot that was going to lead up to it (partially because the moot needed a Fool). Things didn't get that far, though... I told the tale of all that happened last week, and the alpha of the pack (and, at the time, the highest-rank Garou in attendance), Lucky Steve, nailed me with some nasty renown hits for running off, associating with Pentex, that sort of thing[1]. They also demanded to know what companies Ken had donated his payment to so they could avoid the organizations that were now inevitably Wyrm-tainted (of course, it didn't help much that Sean had told me before the game started that Pentex was actually going to buy one of the nature-preservation companies that Ken had donated money to). But I mentioned in and out of character that I felt the choices Ken made would be vindicated with time, if he had to do it over again he would, etc. The whole bit.
It was also during the moot that we were introduced to Andy's new character, 'Hacks-The-Wyrm,' a Glass Walker Ahroun of the Dies Ultimae camp. He and another one of the newer characters formed their own two-person pack under Clashing-Boom-Boom. I personally don't expect the character to have much of a lifespan. Sure, he'll be useful, being a combat twink, but he'll be dead soon. I can almost guarantee it. He put a lot of pressure on Ken to consider switching packs, since Clashing-Boom-Boom is a traditional Glass Walker totem and Rat isn't.
Eventually, Sean's character insisted on meeting Ruiz, the kid that Ken brought back with him from Mexico (the alleged Kinfolk). A brief scuffle broke out between him and Lucky Steve and Steve ordered him away from the moot. Shortly afterwards, there was a disturbance... the Gauntlet in the area suddenly weakened, and we could see a huge swarm of bat-spirits heading towards the house where we'd been living. We traveled there to find Sean's NPC breaking into the house and grabbing Ruiz.
While we were trying to work out what was going on, exactly, a pack of BSD's showed up and kidnapped the two of them. It was from here that the game went all to hell. We were led back to the Mountainlair, where the Gauntlet was almost non-existent because of the bat-spirits swarming about. Two packs of BSD's were fighting over Ruiz, but we learned something: mass combat where there isn't a clear system of tests and initiative is a pain in the ass (to the point where it isn't really worth the effort). It was partially because of this that despite the importance ot the story that we get Ruiz and get the hell out of there, almost every one of the PC's got the hell out of combat as soon as possible.
Things got sorted out somehow... all I know is that Ruiz (being NPC'ed by Nick) was beaten into a bloody pulp and rendered unconscious. The whole mess damn near made Sean's head explode, trying to keep everything on-track. Another NPC he'd thrown in was what really threw a wrench in the whole scene. This other NPC, claiming that he was chosen by Gaia for a great destiny and that Ruiz was some usurper. Part of the problem was that to Sense Wyrm, Ruiz registers as if he was BSD Kinfolk. Whomever the NPC was, he didn't register as Tainted at all. Thus, the changing breeds that were on the scene elected to execute Ruiz.
To be honest, I think Sean expected way too much of the players. You have a bunch of shapeshifters (and a Kinfolk Mage) that already don't trust a guy. Said guy registers as Wyrm-Tainted. Someone without any Wyrm-Taint says to kill them. Even if everyone else knew what was going on, OOC-wise, letting Ruiz live would have been metagaming, pure and simple.
Sean had to pull what was effectively some scene-railroading out of his ass to get things back on track without getting everyone killed. It didn't help that he'd previously set up that if Ruiz was killed, the Bat Incarna (who was part of the swarm of Bat-spirits going nuts in the area) would manifest and start unleashing Hell on Earth. Since he'd assumed that Ruiz wouldn't be executed on the spot, Sean hadn't taken into account that Bat would essentially kill every PC present.
He took advantage of the fact that the game's most powerful Mage (that isn't run by an ST) was present and was able to restore Ruiz to life. The Bastet that killed Ruiz was, instead of being killed by Bat, made Bat's avatar of sorts. Bat told him everything he needed to know about what was happening, what Ruiz really was (a Camazotz Kinfolk chosen to be the possible restoration of the entire Changing Breed), and that sort of thing.
While this was going on, Ruiz's full powers manifested and he experienced his First Change. He became a Crinos-form (or the equivalent) Were-bat and started fighting the other NPC, who also transformed similarly. Bat whisked them away someplace while we were left to deal with the consequences.
The Bastet explained what had happened and that we needed to go to Mexico. We needed to reclaim an artifact from the vampires in Mexico City and use it to help Ruiz perform a ritual to restore the Camazotz. What doesn't help much is that the mortal population of Mexico City has been more or less wiped out by Sabbat vampires and Black Spiral Dancers warring openly in the streets (Sean taking advantage of the fact that this is officially a Time of Judgement Chronicle to throw in some stuff like that).
Trust me, the whole session was far more confusing than I make it sound.
Also, Ken was promoted to Alpha of the pack. Why? Simple-- between character deaths and character retirements, there are now only two members of our pack; myself and Lucky Steve. Lucky Steve, a Bone Gnawer Theurge, has no desire to be the Alpha and would rather be the Ritemaster. So Ken has the job.
I am so fucked. I don't know what it is about me, but I'm just not good at playing assertive characters-- let alone assertive characters with authority of some sort. *sigh* I'll manage, though, I think.
Also, Sean enjoyed playing his Uktena Ragabash NPC that he's decided to make the character a full PC and play him normally. He's making the character a metis who takes physical damage when he changes forms (sure, he'll just regenerate it, but if he has to shift to Homid in a hurry and then he takes some serious damage immediately afterwards then it'll definitely be a problem).
Anyhow, that's about it for my LARPing this past weekend. I'm going to have to get off my ass and keep from having to do these at the last minute.
In somewhat-related news, I have the feeling that Freddie Zachs (my character at ToD) isn't going to be around much longer. Krimson's going to be having a showdown with the new Bishop there, Natalie, at this weekend's game and if her latest in-character post is any indication she plans to taking down anyone who's a threat to her. I'm sure that one way or the other, everyone's going to learn that Freddie's number-one motivation is survival. If Freddie has to choose for himself or Krimson to get killed, he'll choose Krimson. If the Camarilla takes over Morgantown again (they had it once before, and when the Sabbat took over the Prince managed to go into hiding and is now Bishop Lamonte) and Freddie has to make the choice of defection or destruction, he'll pick defection. You get the idea.
Anyhow, catch you folks later.
[1]-- This is despite the fact that he would have gone along himself if he hadn't been rendered unconscious while challenging Jeremiah for leadership of the pack. But he couldn't let his circumstances bias the way he was judging Ken.
