Hello everyone!
It's been awhile since the last newsletter, but I'll try to make this short and sweet. There's a lot of good news!  :)

Topics:
GLOBAL NEWS
U.S. PROGRAMS
LARP ALLIANCE ONLINE
NEW & UPCOMING EVENTS (Global)
...

GLOBAL NEWS

LARPSpace.com :
A growing online community that aims to unite players with one another and with event promoters, provide support, special opportunities, and make LARP information more accessible to everyone.  All are welcome - LARPers, Cosplayers, Historical-Reenactors, Thespians, and others.
If you haven't yet stopped by, please do so and create an account - http://www.larpspace.com
Check out the New FAQ & Help page link in the new top-right menu for Account help.
If you would like to Advertise your event, store, or talent on LARPSpace.com, contact us.

LARP In the Big Media :
The upcoming LARP-related movie by Universal Studios "Role Models" (November release date) is on the watch-list (Rated R).  Iron Liege provided the weapons and shields for the stars and extras.  LARP Alliance assisted with providing real LARPers as extras for the casting calls.  We will be doing heavy promotion alongside this movie and are looking for reliable, well-spoken, and well-costumed LARPers, costumers, weapon-builders, promoters, and more to assist us directly.  Contact us if you are interested.

LARP Con (U.S. West Coast) :
We are currently putting together a west coast LARP convention.  More info soon!  If you would like to do a demo, have a booth, share any other ideas or contributions, please contact us.  We would like to have many LARPers in the world represented.

LARP Album :
This is a slow start as we're working with new equipment, but this project is still in the works.  If you are interested in getting your song, comedy skit, poetry, soundtrack, weird sound or tale on the album, "The Gallivanter's Rhapsody", please contact us.
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U.S. PROGRAMS

LARP Quests :
LARP Alliance has created this new branch that we hope will be successful and bring in funds to cover our monthly costs for our sites and programs.  We are now running short line-course themed "general-public-friendly" LARP games that are aimed to connect with those who want to know what LARP is, correct misconceptions of the hobby, and to show folks how fun LARP can be. 
We are prepping to run the first of these ventures, "Monster Adventure!" every night during the week of Halloween (LARP Haunted House). Join us!
http://www.larpquest.com
Our next venture is set for the winter season, where folks get to help Santa and the elves!  We will be advertising this new quest soon!

LARP Alliance Programs :
Currently we have many programs in action and more planned for the near future.  For details, please visit our website - http://www.larpalliance.net
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LARP ALLIANCE ONLINE

Our LARP Alliance Online Groups :
We have a number of online locations where you can find up-to-date info on our gatherings, parties, events, and LARP Game calendars. 

LARP Alliance on Meetup - http://larp.meetup.com/129 (event calendar)
Yahoo - http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/larpalliance (discussion and alerts)
Myspace - http://groups.myspace.com/larpalliance (discussion and alerts)

LARPAlliance.net : To contribute to any section on the website, please contact us.
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NEW & UPCOMING EVENTS

Tribal LA BellyDance convention - Sept 27-28, Glendale, CA - http://www.tribal-la.com
SCA Great Western War XI - Oct 8-13, Taft, CA - http://www.caid-gww.org/index.php
Intercon Mid Atlantic 2008 - Nov 14-17, Rehoboth Beach, DE - http://ima.larpaweb.net/
CONSequences Gaming Convention - Nov 20-23, Dorset, UK - http://www.ishtari.co.uk/consequences/
NEW UK LARP - "Stargate LRP" - More info at: http://www.stargatelrp.com/
More events at LARPAlliance.net - "Directory" - http://www.elfheads.com/larpalliance/directory.html
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Till next!  Merry travels and good health!
Adrianne Grady
LARP Alliance - http://www.larpalliance.net
LARP Space - http://www.larpspace.com

Before I miss the opportunity, I wanted to give a very quick recap of September's Realm's of Conflict LARP game.

Summary:  F'ing great!!!

This was by far the best month I've had there since the demon-portal-battle frickin' awesome season a year ago.  Not that ROC hasn't roc'd since, but so many AU/ROC veteran friends came back this game and worked together magically to pull off a lot of really enjoyable moments.

There were a good number of NPCs and everyone really listened well to plot.  We accomplished quite alot with a strong team. 

Rick and I got the chance to do every fight (barbarians, rogues, undead, etc) and had a great time!  We really had a lot of fun and got a good workout in.

While Rick napped, I got to get into a special mod where I played one of  a handful of "constructs" who were set up to do an improv play, for the locals' amusement.  There were three Juliettes and one Romeo...  Ok!  Now begin!.... WTF are we doing?  I don't know but this is gonna be funny."

The play was preceded by a few movie-style previews and a commercial.  The previews we constructed quickly as we waited for our audience to arrive were the following: 

1.  Dungeon Siege: The Endless Corridor (movie) - "There's no way out, No Treasure, No Women.  The Horror!  .....Can you escape?" (which basically consisted of myself and Sarah acting as the dungeon walls while our friend attempted to escape and instead went crazy - all mimed to the narrator's voice)

2.  The Mana Patch (Commercial) - "Are you feeling down, Is your Mana waning, Finding it hard to get it up?  Well here's the new Mana Patch! ......Side effects include hemorrhoids, diarrhea, vomiting, rashes...." (which basically consisted of the three of us again, acting out the energy of the mana patch and myself getting excited over my friend's new mana patch and finding him suddenly attractive until the side-effects are named.)

3. Zombie Hero (movie) - "He saved the world and died...and became a zombie.  Then he tried to just lead a normal life as a farmer, but then the world was in trouble again, so he gave up farming to save the world again, as a zombie, to defeat the attacking zombies...again..." (which consisted of Sarah and I as a disapproving zombies, and our friend as the hero zombie)

So then the play commences...

Sam (one of our players who was previously hidden in the crowd so as not to draw attention yet to his attire), was Juliette #2 and he played a very "busty and raggedy-blue-haired woman" in the monty python style.  I was Juliette #3 and Sarah (plot member) was Juliette (the original).  The play consisted of the Juliette's competing to win over Romeo (played by our friend). 

There was a baby in question... and there was a dance competition, arm wrestling, and lots of Sam rolling down the hill into the dark forest behind our "stage".  The players were asked to judge the dance competition and mind-speak their choices (an odd version of Star Search or American Idol).  Very funny stuff.  The narrator and our friend also pulled one of the VIPs in the audience into the play to perform the brief role of Romeo's father, which was done brilliantly.

At the very end, I forgot who ended up getting Romeo.  It might have been my character, but it's hard to say cause suddenly all the Juliette's were grabbing their weapons and fighting eachother.  And Sammy rolled down the hill again I think.  And then we were taking our bows.

And then suddenly we were attacking the audience (which I realized, only at that moment, had been the whole purpose of the play and plan  - aimed on kidnapping this one particular construct-like PC called "Blue Bell").  I just went with it.  Just like the whole improv play that we made up as we went along.  Lots of fun. :D

I am working very hard to keep all of our websites updated and programs promoted (including promoting events and individuals' endeavors).  If you can contribute in anyway, please do.  Our monthly costs our over $300.  Donations go toward website and promo costs and anything over that goes towards our community assistance programs.  By clicking on the donation button on the LARPSpace.com main site page, you can also see more info on where your donations go (additional info at larpalliance.net).  There are other big programs we're working on currently which I will be posting info up on very soon.  Please help me out if you can!  We want to break even at the least.  This is a non-profit organization.  We don't aim to live off of this, but we need to be able to keep it up and make it grow.  Additional funds come in through from purchasing LARP Alliance T-shirts and products.  But to be honest, we have only received a couple of small donations - though much appreciated.  The total donations so far are $30.

If you continue to appreciate our efforts, please keep coming back and giving a contribution when you can.

Our last roadtrip to bring 20+ NPCs to a NorCal LARP event cost us $850+ to do and we only were able to cover some of that.  We also donate weapons to needy players and big events that can use high quality promo items to boost their attendance.  Additionally, we have our own supply of weapons and costumes that need touchups and replacing which we loan out for fighter practices and games. 

So we're always in the hole and working extra hard at our jobs and sidejobs to support this in hopes that it wil eventually pay off and support itself with the help of the community.  We are looking into insurance right now that we could offer to events that run under the LARP Alliance name.  We are getting our non-profit status made official.  We are creating a new program called LARP Quests which offers small line course adventures to the public to bring in new people using familiar, creative, and fun environments.  There are numerous other LARP promo events we hold to make more people aware, educated, and feel supported.

We also look to be able to set up a travel group soon to go to a Euro LARP game or convention.  Likewise, we also look to be able to set up a travel group from another country to be able to come out to the US to play with us.

You support and contributions (monitary, suggestions, physical assistance) is very much appreciated more than you know and we want to be able to give back more than we receive as always!

Thank you for joining us at LARP Space and we hope to see you soon!

Merry travels and good health,

Adrianne Grady

LARP Alliance

We're getting back to the Featured Banner with a new LARP to feature and a new LARPer of the Month.  (Family, work, and illness have consumed much time the past few months, so we haven't had a chance to update the front page featured banner in awhile.)

Check out the new LARP Space Group "LARP Theory and Design" created by Thorgrim. It's a great place to start in on some in-depth conversations and explore a range of topics. Perfect for game owners, those who want to run a game, and those LARPers who want to understand LARP systems better.

We're also currently revamping the LARP Alliance site again ( http://www.larpalliance.net ). Adding, Subtracting, etc. We have a forum that we will be adding to the links. And a number of additional LARP Events to add to the directory. New projects, charities, and more!

I am putting together the next LARP Alliance email Newsletter as well.

Fixing a few kinks in the LARP Space site system.

More as it progresses!

We're in the works on the Firefly Shindig (at noted in the newsletter we're still setting the date for March or April). If you have an idea as to a good day/night/time, let us know. We're trying to schedule it around various LARP events. 
We got yer brown coats, blue gloves, dinosaurs, fruity oaty bars, and more coming atcha'! Perfect party for the U-Day survivor or "new cargo" to find his/her home in the belly of the Firefly. This is also in prep for the upcoming NEW Firefly - Serenity - Big Damn Heroes LARP. If you're interested in having fun, meeting new people, laughing, watching lots of Firefly and talking about the upcoming game, this event is for you. Costumes highly encouraged! More info coming soon! Shiny!

Contact the LARP Alliance via email - xatrian@yahoo.com
We'll also check posts made here as well regarding this party/event.