LARP

post concerning Live Action RolePlay

The Goldeneyed Nexus that Danced The Night Away with a Firestarter

 

Another blog. I hear you think; OH MY WORD?! So Soon?! LIES! LIES I TELLS YA!
But no, it is a blog. not a lie(although there may or may not be a lie hidden in this here text somewhere.

So, LARP. (Always a nice subject to start of with)
I have recently decided to cut down on LARP a bit, I lost a bit of my enthusiasm for it.
That combined with a few other things lead to me not going to the coming KoD. Of course, seeing the universe loves me the way it does, it turned out (and pretty much right after the decision being made) that this may be the last KoD.
After a lot of thought after that(and rechecking a few things) I still won’t go, albeit more of the other things rather then wanting to. As for spoilers; I will reveal a thing or two in my next blog(seeing the event still has to take place, and saying a few of those things will be spoiling some of the fun of my readers who still go there).

As for D&D(or rather Tabletop RPG as I should call them); A few new developments.
First off is that the story of Harak and his minions companions is taking off, with us suddenly having to arrange things we haven’t had the need before. Which is really a nice change, and a challenge(for a slightly Excel nerd as I am developing into(thanks all those lists I make at work)).
This resulted in a nice semi-automated book-gobbler. A bit of background on this: In the world we play there are libraries, those have books(duh) which are autogenerated by the DM which gives us a few things to learn asides our level progression. He(and we) found that it was really neat. The only problem with the lists is that they are neatly delivered as a text block, where we like a neat spreadsheet with the data(and some of it at that) nicely sorted and filterable.
That is where the book-gobbler comes in, it converts the text blocks into excel rows with the information we want. If anyone is interested I could do a small explanation on how it works and such.

Beside Harak in D&D 4th Edition I am soon starting with 2 other characters:
Druss, an Aasimar Cleric in the Pathfinder setting.
Goric I Goronthal, (he’s back!) a Dwarven Wizard in the D&D 5th Edition.

Druss(I forgot his lastname) will be a new challenge for me as I have never played a cleric(I am disregarding that one stint, that character is dead to me) and never played Pathfinder(although I do have some experience in D&D 3.5). So I am nervously excited for this one. It will also be a mostly unknown party for me(well, I know the folks, but I have never played Tabletop RPGs with them) save for 1. We will be twin brothers that set out into the world for reason X, so here goes!

Goric is back after being stalled in a new form.
This time he will be a more Urban Dwarf(DM approved subvariant of dwarf, which sacrifices some wisdom for some intelligence(and slightly breaks with tradition)) which gets a +1 to Intelligence and Wisdom instead of a +2 to Wisdom.
The world this time will be the World Capital City of Nexus, a city of the size that baffles the mind, pretty much a country of it’s own. With all it’s associated problems. And that is pretty much all I know of that, so far(the DM is still writing)

And now, music!
I picked some nice music(if I say so myself) for you all to listen to:
Dance the Night Away – The Mavericks

Goldeneye – Tina Turner

Firestarter – Torre Florim

The Nexus – Amaranthe

The island where I can’t sleep without that girl I met before

 

I think I did me a new record. Well over 1,5 years.
Oh well, congratulations to anyone that stuck around for this long. No really, I mean it.

I don’t really know why I don’t update this much, must be something about me I suppose, that or just not a lot to write about(or simple forgetfulness).

Anyways, let’s finish up some things I talked about earlier.
First off, Booyah. My character there(Tahn) is long dead. He never made the next event, but then, I suppose that is what happens when you piss off some high and mighty boss like person.
What happened is that Tahn was ‘summoned'(involuntarily) to the father of some runt the group he supposedly led killed. Turned out he was an Emperor of sorts, oops. So far nothing wrong. He was ‘tasked’ with killing a guy Tahn already heavily disliked, so far still nothing too bad.
By doing this he would ‘join’ his party and gain some powers, didn’t want that but eh. The kicker comes when he was forced to kneel. Duerghars DO NOT KNEEL unless out of respect, and he was forced by the Emperor’s Mistress, bad move.
So, I did what every sensible Duerghar would do, I asked for an audience with the person I was supposed to kill, letting him know I was tasked to do so.
It ended up as Parkinglot Plot(Also see: Khaladani), which is to say very epic. The next day I was singled out, the attackers where after me I think, the chanting of my name might have given it away. I believe I forgot to mention that one of the rewards was being made the Supreme General of the Emperor’s forces.
And so died Tahn of House Porfier, seventh son of Reof, Seventh son of Eler, Son of Ovyr, Son of Dair, Son of Tol. He even got to say goodbye to his wife, whom he remembered by now. His last words being ‘Goodbye my Love, my wife’

Second off: KoD.
My character there, now named Amund Geber, still lives, miraculously, and is focusing more and more on magic research. Not much to say on that department.(mostly cause of spoilers about things 😉 )

Third: Games!
So recently Fallout 4 was released, and I’ll let my steam hours talk for me:
Fallout 4
Don’t think I have to go on about how awesome this game is and what it let’s you do with wandering around a post-apocalyptic world building settlements and choosing your own look, now with the option of playing a voiced female protagonist!

Beside that I still play a game of Battlefield 4 every now and then, and some Ark: Survival Evolved. Both of which are very enjoyable

Und now, musica Meastro!
Isla Bonita – Twilight Guardians, nice metal cover:

I can’t sleep without you – Golden Earring, nice raw voice;

I never met a girl like you before – Edwyn Collins, classic:

Pumpin’ Irony – Blues Saraceno, for when you feel like being a Bad Ass:

The Wanderer – Dion, totally not chosen because it is the title track of Fallout 4, no siree!

I am seeing sloppy canons

 

So yeah…no news for a long time… oh well.

To start off with the biggest thing that happened lately:
My girlfriend and me decided to end the relationship. This due to a number of reasons that led us to both, seperately, come to the conclusion this would be for the best.
I feel very mixed about this, on one end it is a relief for there were strugglings and whatnot, but at the same time I still feel a lot of sadness.
Now for the quirky part(for most outsiders), we decided to still live together as room(house)mates and be awesome at that.

That being said, things are still struggling, again as well with the outside world. Which was what happened last weekend.
Last weekend there was Booyah. Where we play husband and wife. Or rather, used to play. Thanks to a little help from the GMs we ‘solved’ that. We both would get fed a potion where we would all but completely forget whom the other was and what they meant to us, how we filled that in was up to us. We both took a slightly different approach, I remembered her for the recent past more vividly then the past further away(eg. What happened 50 years ago was all me by myself, but everything recent, like the decisions made in the counsil I remember her being there, but all emotional connection was gone, along with a good picture of her in my head), with that I started to wonder why I did certain things, or why I was mad. This because I couldn’t remember her, and therefore the connected reasoning attached to that.
So then the game itself, it was good, fun but a little awkward at times. I had moments of lesser activity, mostly because I was numbed at times. Because seeing your ex, however dear she still is, can hurt when you have no distraction, especially when she looks attractive as she did at times. And that makes a man think, think about things he want and things he wants to shunt away from but can’t.
In the end that led me to a decision, one I hopefully won’t come to regret in coming times, but that, only time will tell the answer.

That being that, in the coming times I will work with Marco and Petra on designing items for our smith part of our characters. Makes things more in depth and more logical how to do them, and more particular the difference between Duerghar and Dragovenian smiths.
All there is left for me is to find out what to do with my character, now that an important part and brakes are suddenly gone I have to revise a good part of his motivations along with goals. I know he will become more stubborn and less friendly to other races(exception being them) as his race demands, seeing how all the experiences with his non-Duerghar wife ceased to exist. This will bring about some interesting things.

As for far-fetched plans, I have a few with him. Some are secret, others a whole lot less.
To start off with, there is this notion that we should be able to incorporate Duerghar in rituals(they can’t now, not without making the ritual fail automatically).
Then there is the most ambitious project of making a zeppelin! or flying airship, haven’t decided which one to go for. For now we have determined a few critical steps which have to be sorted out before anything is viable to begin with. Aside of all the resources we need propulsion and lift. We have a few ideas of how we can accomplish things, but nothing concrete.

Now, music:
Watsky! – Sloppy Seconds:

Johann Pachelbel – Canon (Played by George Winston)

Ed Sheeran – I See Fire

The beginning of a new Heroic Age

 

So, many months later I decided that(with a friendly, but stern, reminder by my girlfriend) my page/blog/whatever could do with an update.
Without further ado, here is the next blog about my life(or parts of it anyway):

…

 

…Actually, I’m not sure where to begin exactly… so I’ll guess I’ll start with what the title says… DnD(yes, yes, I know it does not say so… just read on will you?)

As mentioned in my previous post I was invited into a DnD Part-eh! and our main plot thingy to get to know the setting was a Paladin of Shor(For Shor! (Go ahead, shoot me with new wordplays on this one, I have had 4 trolls dealing with this, so I dare you!)) Borvir. We have rounded up this party a couple of weeks back. After months of playing we ended up with Heroic characters(and not in the sense of DnD but in the world as well) that turned back more to their root and their true nature. *insert old man’s cracking voice* Now listen here.. young whippersnapper, back in them days we Jellbrädians were the biggest, baddest and strongest warriors this cradle of civilization has ever seen, but now all you youngsters are weaklings! PAH! How we ever are still called the best warriors is beyond me… My if I ever *rummaging sounds and heavy things that fall down, then a new face appears* Sorry for interupting this explanation, but we figured the old man had explained all he needed to. *end of scene* And thus we returned a little back towards that, turns out, my ancestors there loved swinging a particularly big hammer around, one on which I managed to lay my hands upon. and it was AWESOME! Then we tickled a big beasty, managed to fly away on him and then we continued to the end battle of the campaign. Much awaited and dreaded for we finally battle this Lord of the Night. It was fun, but my paladin was not too helpful in this particular battle, I did not do enough damage to really damage him, my weapon turned out to having a pretty big downside(stupid warriors not making their highest saving throw) but I did save folks, and overall it was a very fun encounter albeit with a slight taste of not making the fullest out of my puppet.
So, for finishing that campaign and for the fact that my Jellbrädian Paladin of Shor, Borvir Pedersson, I now break my usual format and present you these two songs that befit both him and the Jellbrädians of old(really, this last one you should have had playing while reading the text…tsssk)

Rhapsody of Fire – Holy Thunderforce:

And the song-you-should-have-been-listening-too-the-whole-while-but-probably-didn’t:
Miracle of Sound – Sovngarde Song:

As I have said, I broke my usual layout to salute the brave Jellbrädians with their victory, that many more may follow! For Shor!!
Ahem… We also played some other campaigns along the way, from one-offs about rebellious sadists to full-blown campaigns like our Akktan puppets who now own a castle… yes, a castle. and it is the most awesomest castle EVER. it’s a fact!
And in there, we rule the surrounding country as Viscount Markus von Trisk and his ilk. So far we have found out who we were, killed someone important(or so we ‘d like to believe) and found new strength to face our foes and dispatch them with ease. Now we have the challenging task of making sure our foo…erm…people are safe and our county prospering under our rule. But I am sure we will pull that off, or my name is not Von trisk!

Other then the DnD things I have bought a house, still hanging with Didi as my girlfriend, visited LARPs and I even…wait, what do you mean I bought a house?
Not sure what you do with a house other then renting or buying it, but I bought my own home. All I have to do now is to sign some forms(and adhere to all the rules unfortunately) and then do the fixing up and moving in part. But this is all fuck scary if you ask me, luckily, my girl is there to support me <3 ^^

As for LARP, next week(or rather, end of this one) I will be attending Booyah’s (first?) wedding event as Tahn Dulazuun with my wife Merida. We will see how far this Duerghar fares under all the things Bram will throw at me(because I know the bitch will do that 😀 )

 

Now for music:
Miracle of Sound – halfman’s song:

Brave – Song of Mor’Du:

Ruslana – Wild Dances(Ukrainian FM Version):

Daft Punk ft. Pharell Williams – Get lucky:

Norah Jones & Dolly Parton – Creepin’ In:

My Chemical Romance – Mama:

(It’s Dutch, but enjoy the tunes) Rob de Nijs – Jan Klaassen de Trompetter:

Now for a very special thing: I am posting a cover for a song, not the original, and that’s because I am so in love with her voice!(and I so hope Didi can master this song in Japanese some day <3 <3) original can be found here. Mind that the original posted is a LIVE recording, versus a studio recorded album version in the following video:
Kate Covington(AKA Erutan) – Itsumo Nando Demo:

Enjoy the stills from that must see movie!

About magical colourshifters and eight-legged horses

 

Today I will talk about LARP. More specifically, the Khaladani group I am with.
And I will do this because of ONE reason, they are so incredibly and utterly awesome that I found myself wanting to chatter about them, all of them, new and old. Silent on the background and those in the spotlights on the fore.

For those not knowing, the Khaladani is a race of magically gifted humanoids(very close resemblance) whom live on their home-world of Khaladan. They are divided into 4 sub-races, each one having a specific colour and an anti-colour. These four colours are Silver, Black, Green and Red. Green opposes Red and Silver opposes Black , it goes the other way around as well.

A Silver focusses on Serenity, Retaliation and Healing.
A Red focusses on Battle, Honour, Courage and the Red Haze.
A Black focusses on Hate, Destruction and Dominance.
A Green  focusses on Knowledge, Wisdom, Curiosity and an Iron Will.

These racial traits or focusses are not mandatory, everyone is an individual, but it is encouraged to have these traits coming back in one way or another in your character.
Mixes of these colours do happen, often between the non-opposing colours, but sometimes(very rarely) it happens between the opposing colours.
In our group we have one true mix, me. I am a mix between Red and Green, which makes me unique amongst ‘my people’.

You see, EVERY Khaladani possesses magic, for our world is a magical one. And not one where Magic can do all, but one where it is used in everyday life, but with modesty. So think raising buildings, adjusting small objects, making life easier and fighting. But not defying the general rules of physics and such(although, you can use it to, say, jump a tad bit further)
And it is in this world that my character is seemingly without magic, he cannot use it, although he can(with concentration) detect it. This little fact creates some play and I intend to expand on it, but this is a rather tedious thing, for not everything can be done in the event/setting where we go to.

Furthermore we have a counsel, consisting of 2 people(well, 3, but it’s complicated). And then we have one or more advisers with us, a Silver Lady(read queen like persona, really frecking awesome!) along with a Silver Guard. 2 or more diplomats(whom can co-incidentally kick some serious ass if need be, both verbally AND physically). And the Silver Lady is in this equation the most interesting. You see, in LARPs everyone and their mother wants to be a noble, because you are generally found important(or so they tend to think). The latter not being as found as important is usually due to the fact that most of these ‘nobles’ don’t have a following as they would have in real life. Well, with 15 to 20 people(as of moment of writing) we do fit that bill. It’s very fun to see that one of the guards goes ahead to actually announce her coming to a place. Very fun to see. This also creates the effect that she is genuinely looked up too by most folks, this is also supported by her flawless white outfit and scary/awesome visage(silver wig, silver coloured skin and silver coloured eyes). That, and anyone actually stupid enough to touch her dies a long and painful death, either by her hand or by our group’s.

Back to our world, the world itself is 5 times bigger then earth(resulting in a total surface area over 25 times that of earth!) and contains lots of water, it looks out to 3 visible suns and 1 not so visible one. Seven sacred moons and a lot of magic.
Most of our critters are of the mythical kind(think Dragons(extinct), Hydra’s and eight-legged horses(which we dubbed Fu’Jin)) but are not seen by any outworlder. Due to a recent war our people are rather wary of outworlders, in fact, they are  so wary of them, they built a special quarter(or city, if you like) around the portal to accommodate them. An outsider leaving the assigned compound is declared a fugitive and will be shot on sight(shot with a fireball that is). For a better explanation of how this would work, we based it on Dejima in ancient Japan, we pulled a Sakoku basically. With the exception of us leaving.

Coming weekend we have a(nother) meeting with the group, I can’t wait! The group has grown considerably and there are quite a few faces I haven’t met at all yet. There are also plans to talk about a variety of things and get our act a bit more tightly than the last time.

 

Now for the usual closing!
Music!

Let’s start of with a nice little song(don’t mind the video, it’s the only copy I could find…)
Marley’s Ghost – Sugar Trade

Next up, an oldie; Billy Joel – Goodnight Saigon

now for something completely different; Yoshida Brothers – Storm (T.M. Remix)

another one by Yoshida Brothers, Fuyu no Sakura. Very melancholic, but beautiful.

and another, cause they are awesome; Yoshida Brothers – Yuunagi(Evening Calm)