We’re now one month from the UK LRP awards. (Coincidentally held at the same time and place as the UK LARP awards, with the same winners because that way Ian does all the work for us). Nominations will are open until the 15th of February.
As part of Mandala Studios I trade at LARPcon. It’s two days of talking about LRP, looking at what other people are doing and selling and then we heckle Ian while he attempts to hold an awards ceremony.
I believe it’s an important weekend. Not because the awards identify the best bits of UK LRP (…they don’t) but because it gives us a chance to chat OOC with LRP as the focus without the crazy busy of running/playing events and getting a site sorted and tidied. The event helps build communities. LRPers tend to exist in their own little circle; they have their own rules, their own idea of how things are done – and there is a tendency to stick to that.
Running events that push boundaries isn’t necessary, but it is interesting and it’s healthy for the hobby. It does require access to a pool of people who are interested in the event you’re trying to run and have the necessary skills. To run Contact we’re going to need people with construction skills, people who can program and people who can build networks. We’re also going to need people to build props, to create costumes, to manage food provision, manage the crew, and people who can create the event. If we can’t find the right experts then we can’t run the event we’re trying to run. Finding the right people is often about talking about it in the right places and for your LRP creation conversations LRP con and the LRP awards tends to find people interested in LRP.
I enjoy discussing LRP, and why we do the things we do. I believe it leads to better events and better events are good. The discussions we have when working at the workshop or when we’re at events like LRP con are far better quality than the ones we achieve when bored online. I’d love to go to some of the international event like Knutepunkt, but haven’t managed to fit it in yet.
I enjoy events that try new things. I want to run really immersive events where the players feel part of the world they’re in. I want to run games that make people think and make people act in ways that aren’t predictable, and I want to try new and interesting things to see how people respond. Chances to see what other people are doing and talk to them about it aren’t common. We ran a really successful series of sci fi games that a lot of people rated highly, and people outside our social circle often never even heard of them. If people don’t know we’re running those games they can’t learn from them, they can’t teach us things that’ll improve them and they can’t help us run the next one.
Talking about UK LRP and what we’re doing is one of the most positive things we can do for our hobby. If you want to run better game and play better games you need to talk to know how to get there.
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