Lately in the Beyond the Veil games run by Andrew Rowe, I've taken my NPC Dryad and turned her into a full PC. 

"Mother" or Taltha Greensworn, is a TON of fun to play.

Mangled Common, misconceptions and confused terms, a less than prudish view of 'mating' and fierce protectiveness for nature and small things.

Playing a non-human forest spirit is an interesting challenge because you have to try to let go of normal player mechanics and keep yourself ignorant and force yourself to take a totally different viewpoint.

It was a lot of fun.

Mother's a true neutral party (She speaks for the Trees!) and most of the Playerbase loves and respects her.

Good times, good times. I look forward to bringing her out to other events.

Campaign's Thanksgiving Weekend event went INCREDIBLY WELL!

We had several new people and quite a few 'Veteran' players returning for this day game in the snow followed by an evening Inn event in the cabin home of Cassidy.

The Friday evening kicked off with a happy few of us hanging out at Cass's place, chatting long into the night. Many stories of past events were told.

I woke and went to the site early the next morning only to find that the Thanksgiving storms had deposited several feet of snow onto my playing area. OH NOES.  I slipped and fell several times on black ice while even trying to investigate the areas.

The mountains were beautiful, it was not at all cold, and yet we had 2-3 feet of snow to deal with in some places.  Oy.  The pine trees and rock bunches were all covered so beautifully. It was like Northrend in WoW. Just breathtaking.

We ended up selecting a trail which began in the parking lot. We set the PCs not too far away to wait and ambush the NPCs, as was the original plan.  They were close enough to make the walk from the parkinglot an easy one yet they could not see cars or pavement from their location.

The plot was simple. Since her last adventure in what *used* to be Lindora, Lady Rosalinda Orchester has been fighting for the Lindoran Resistance. She spearheads hit and run skirmishers specializing in assassinations and procurement.  Calling herself the "Yellow Rose of Quivera" (Because it sounds more romantic and looks good on paper) Rose hires more mercenaries to help her retrieve food stuffs as the last of the undead withdraw northward towards the capitol of what is now called Urth.

That was it. Kill undead. Take their loots. Plain and simple. Throughout the day the caravans of undead trudged through and were beat down. It then got tricky. The Urth priests started to realize the caravans weren't showing up at the northern rondevous so they sent scouts. Undead scouts who moved like lightning... and got back to report the attacks.

The caravans came more heavily guarded, with bodies from every nearby country. Witch-Hunters, soldiers, and priests all were trundled through in corpse form. The PCs soon lost their guide, as Rose vanished in the snow to 'scout out the farm'. She never returned.

Amongst the last to leave the farm was a taller figure in Witch Hunter armor, bearing the body of a dead elven knight. They retrieved the body but soon realized the one carrying him was still alive if very weak and under control.  They took him back to the Inn to rest and to warm their cold and wet feet.

Thus ended the day game. It was about dusk then and starting to get dark.
We packed up and drove over to Cass's place which had been transformed into a perfect Inn. All her modern furniture was moved outside (where it was used anyhow though in the dark) and inside was period light, tables, chairs, benches, cups, bowls.... everything to make it look like a cozy country Inn.

Rose soon showed up, distraught. She had pulled off an assassination attempt while on the Farm but lost her precious necklace she's worn for 20 years. Afraid of sympathetic magic, she freaked out most of the night.  When she saw their rescued prisoner, she freaked again. He was one of the Lindoran WitchHunter Generals and had been missing for 2 months. 

Soon all was well and the adventurers rested, joined by a few lonely travellers who sought warmth and companionship.  Since it was the Lindoran Joining Festival, the Regents paid for the famous Wyndham Players to put on a new play "The Mace King." Being a story of the infamous war between dwarves and orcs.

It was horrible. The adventuers were groaning, wincing, and drinking heavily. It was amazingly bad in all the right ways one would want. Rose commissioned them to write a play for her sister as both a 'Sorry I ruined your life' and a 'I want to get exiled for GOOD' gift. 

We ate lots of food, drank lots of good drink, and killed more zombies. Then we all went to bed.

We awoke and cleaned the house.  Another GM then announced "When you all wake, you find you're snowed in. WITH THE WYNDHAMS." The Witchhunter General then announced "We're going to get out of here no matter what! One fireball spell at a time!"

Soooo in the spring of next year, there will be a followup to my game. Snowed in for 3 months with the actors. Gods be with us... we'll all be mad by then!

Wow. A Campaign event.

Of course, it's being run by me so...

What is Campaign? Campaign is one of the older LARP games established in California. Using a very flexible, easy to learn system, Campaign has played a variety of games from Western to Cyberpunk to Highlander to StarWars.  Campaign's main focus is the high fantasy world of Xaria. 

Campaign is invite-only, I'm sorry to add. Due to the high cost of each production (paid out of pocket by the GM at no charge to the players) we have to limit attendance.  Also due to the fact that this is more a group of friends entertaining other friends, we need to be certain that new players and attendees can be trusted and will be the right kind of person for a high RP low growth game such as this one.

That said, though, if you are interested in attending our next event Saturday November 29th (Thanksgiving Weekend) "Meanwhile, at the Inn of Two Blades," in Campo Alto, California (Off the 5, north of LA about 1.5 hours) please contact me. We are always looking for new friends to join us.  Typically you'll be asked to work NPC duty your first event or so to see how you like it, the people, and the way it's played. It's FREE, did I mention?

Campaign is soft-touch cinematic style combat with boffer weapons, with verbal and spell-ball cast magics.  Character creation (class based) can take no more than 5 minutes and any existing weapons or armor are welcome. Campaign is a heavy RP medium combat game with a non-linear structure.  Emphesis is placed on visuals, such as period encampments, flashy costumes, and elaborate magical casting.  (If you don't have these things, you're still welcome, no worries!)

This event will be non-standard.  Half the day will be a mountain adventure with monsters, missions, and mayhem.  After sunset we will be staying at a friend's rustic cabin nearby having dinner and destruction--- I mean, dessert in character. Sleeping over is welcome, just bring a sleeping bag.  Standard events involve camping out, Saturday morning to Sunday afternoons. 

I hope to see some new faces there. Please let me know if you're interested in joining us.

So I finished 80% of the dress (underskirt never got done) and broke the needle on my sewing machine.  My husband, who does not sew, does not understand that my sewing machine is pedestrian.  I had to say, "It's like doing what you do, but using Black and Decker tools. They're fine for little things, but not for real work."   I think he understood that.

Sang a LOT at this game. It's awesome that 'Song/Music' is a viable mechanic.  Holding someone off with Sonic Repel to keep them off the staircase was great. 

Later I may post the lyrics to the songs I wrote for the event on the LE website. I'm particularly proud of Olaf and Raven's love song since I didn't think I could pull it off as high as I did. 

The Ballad of Miniver's Mansion is 7 pages long in my spellbook. Oy.

I hurt all over, as usual. A shame I made so little cash this game. Ah well. Being a minstrel doesn't pay the bills...

So how many of you think I can finish Coralynn's new dress by Friday night?

Robin and I watched Stargate: Continuum last night.

It gave us ideas for a game, or a small storyline.

Hehehehe.

If you want something done, you need to do it yourself.

So I'm going to be running a game in November 1st and 2nd which will be part day game fight/missions in Lindora (poor poor carved like a turkey Lindora) and evening Inn game back at the Inn of Two Blades... which is kind of appropriate since the 2 Blades was the game where the current Lindora storyline sort of kicked off.

Lindora and Halguard had ratified a treaty and the ambassador and his wife who had the final documents were murdered in their room there. Their daughter, the treaty baby Sola, was kidnapped.  The lodgers at the inn had to run out into the snow (yes snow) and rescue the baby from the Dakkorians under Monster King Ankh's banner.

Since then, Dakkor has split into a civil war. One of the more powerful houses, Urth, has broken away from the majority to form their own nation in northern Lindora, using powerful undead as their armies. 

Now Lindora is pretty much overrun. The nothertn part with undead and the southern part with monsters, humans, and the invading undead. 

Meanwhile, Halgudar is under attack by Rynith -- again. But only now Rynith has their OWN powerful undead army led by a famed death-knight.

So Halgudar and Lindora are pretty much screwed.

Here's where the story picks up. A noblewoman of a foreign country got caught up in the mess when it all began. Being sick of politics, she now leads underground resistance forces for a country that isn't even her own. Why? It amuses her and gives her something fun to do...

Said noble will be recruiting mercenaries to help her with a few hit and run and retrieval missions before going back to the Inn to rest and plan their next attack.

And there it is. My next Campaign event, to be held both on the Mountain and at Cassidy Cording's less than 2 miles away cabin.

If anyone would like an invite, please PM me and we'll discuss it. Campaign is invitation only because it's No-Charge, Heavy RP, and basically a bunch of friends putting on events for other friends.  That means you're liable for yourself.  It's not a game for power-gamers, munchkins, or people looking for non-stop combat.  There is also the Inn portion, which is role play heavy with a possibility of combat.

Mountain - You will get in a fight.

Inn - You can avoid a fight if one breaks out. The inn is perfect for just RPing, hanging out, drinking, and having a good time in character. You can opt to go just to the Inn and not the Mountain.

I ramble, I know. But, la. There it is.

Hahaha, I seem to end up being a major antagonist when I NPC.  Not, mind you, the VILLAIN. The antagonist.  I'm not evil, I'm not a Boss, I'm just someone full of animosity and dislike for the PCs who's usually fairly important enough not to kill off. (Mostly)

I'm not sure why I keep getting cast as this (AND I DON"T MIND, HONESTLY!) but I wonder.  Is it because my PCs are typically friendly, helpful, and so darn nice? Even if they're a touch sarcastic, most of them are 'good' people who get along and try to make peace.

Am I good at being a snooty, manipulative, disagreeable bitch? I'm open to replies. :)

And? I had SO MUCH FUN this weekend. Stupid smelly mortals in their little mud-huts.

I added a few more cosplay and event pictures to my gallery, notably some of my wedding pictures.

Did you have LARP at your wedding? We did, and we had a blast. The priest grabbed his vestments and the boffer shovel and started turning Undead. The best man was packing a red rubber bullet gun, and the ring-bearer and the flower girls found the weapons bag and started brawling on the dance-floor while the rest of us boogied to Dead Man's Party by Oingo Boingo.

Ok, so that didn't go as planned!

We had to change halls, got kicked out of the second floor, and ended the game with a nigh epic PVP battle which forced PCs and NPCs to pick sides...  None of which was anticipated!

The GM tells me 'Come up with random encounters' so I grab a white cloak, a bag, and some plastic bones and start playing a poltergeist.  Sometimes I take damage, othertimes I just ignore it. 

Then I come back around and act completely different and clean up the bones.

Then I go back to throwing them. They eventually figured out there were differences in the ghosts... and to help them the poltergeist got a pair of nasty red claw-hands and started cackling as it threw things.  I chased one girl around the hallways and then we started playing cat and mouse. It was FUN.

The epic PVP happened while Robin and I were cleaning; my cousin Izabela runs in saying "I need my swords, there's a fight." So I peek out and sure enough, battle. I see they're trying to kill one of the other NPCs... one that MY NPC works for. So I throw her shirt and hat on and join the fray, defending him and trying to talk sense into people.

The fight moves through the parking lot back towards the buildings and into the planters, where someone got ganked. My NPC chose to side with the other NPCs because they were from her own world and some of them were high ranked, others were members of her Guild.  A few of the Pcs joined us for various reasons, and the game ended with us getting the rest of the PCs to leave for their own world and us licking our wounds.

Where will this go? Will my reoccuring NPC Jess be able to rejoin the PCs again? Will they trust her? Will she trust them? Who knows! Only time will tell.