The Smoke 2019
Jan. 7th, 2019 10:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sesquipedalityI'm back from my annual trip to The Smoke (https://the-smoke.org/), a weekend freeforming convention in London, and the best place I know to experience a wide variety of European/Nordic style games in the UK. Nordic LARP is not hugely to my taste. I generally prefer it if the writer of the game creates coherent characters, setting and story, and then gives me the freedom and time to interpret and explore that. Having said that, I think I'm warming more to Nordic Style collaborative larps. While they often feel more like vignettes than stories, I'd say that one can perhaps gain a more focused and meaningful experience by exploring themes personal to you rather than to the author of the game.
So my weekend was:
1) I keep some coffee warm for you. This was a game about the end of a friendship group, which I initially wasn't looking forward too that much, but I found it actually worked quite well. Characters were based on two song lyrics chosen by the players. I wasn't familiar with either of mine, but they basically lead to a character who was uncertain of their role or place, and who thwarted their own ambitions. It was set in a university, and we all made mistakes and ended with my character apologising for her failings as she left the univesity due to being kicked out for not working. I felt like perhaps she had more story, but the experience felt complete as a slice of life.
2) Strangers. I ran this game, having played it two years ago at the Smoke, and having found it really interesting and different. It's an abstract larp with no talking, and characters expressing themselves by movement to music and gesture. The setting simulates in an abstract way the experience of moving from one culture to another. The workshopping prior to the game is essential in building up the routines that form the two "cultures" in the game. I was happy with how it ran, alhtough I felt my own difficulties with silence meant that I perhaps didn't give people as much time to get into things as was ideal. Feedback was positive, and it seemed to provoke the same kinds of thoughts that I had had after the run I played. I'm encouraged, and will probably try to do another run at Consequences.
3) Voices. This was a small and personal larp which was fairly abstract in nature. I was playing a disembodied voice being heard by another player, which was surprisingly challenging. I drew heavily on my own anxious thoughts in creating that character, and was very concerned that I didn't push things too far. I think it lead to one of the most intense larping experienes with another player that I've experienced. I felt the game perhaps didn't have a clear enough sense of the distinction between schitzophrenia and multiple personalities, but it did seem to me to be respectful of the theme of mental illness (although I can't really speak for the other couples as I was pretty focussed on my own player).
4) Finally, I played Trojan Women. This was an extemely heavy game, again quite abstract in nature, about the aftermath of the Siege of Troy. I was careful not to indiccate preference when the "casting" was happening, and was disappointed to find that I was cast as Helen, who is a character I wouldn't necessarily have chosen for myself. Particularly as I was hoping for Cassandra, who I have always identified strongly with in the stories, and who did not appear to be in the game. It turned out that there was a mid game twist (probably not too surprising if you know the myths) after which I re-entered play as Cassandra, and I couldn't have been happier (although the game was bloody miserable in the best sort of way). I played two outsiders. As Helen, I had to wear a mask the entire time to signify my cultural seperation from the other women, which felt incredibly alienating. As Cassandra my role was to tell the blunt truth as I saw it, and her strangeness kept her at a distance still. The game had mechanics for destroying societal values as tragedy struck again and again, and for grieving publically together, and I found the whole thing very moving, although, perhaps due to being an outsider, I found the whole thing more difficult to engage with emotionally than I might have hoped. This was definitely my game of the weekend though.
So my weekend was:
1) I keep some coffee warm for you. This was a game about the end of a friendship group, which I initially wasn't looking forward too that much, but I found it actually worked quite well. Characters were based on two song lyrics chosen by the players. I wasn't familiar with either of mine, but they basically lead to a character who was uncertain of their role or place, and who thwarted their own ambitions. It was set in a university, and we all made mistakes and ended with my character apologising for her failings as she left the univesity due to being kicked out for not working. I felt like perhaps she had more story, but the experience felt complete as a slice of life.
2) Strangers. I ran this game, having played it two years ago at the Smoke, and having found it really interesting and different. It's an abstract larp with no talking, and characters expressing themselves by movement to music and gesture. The setting simulates in an abstract way the experience of moving from one culture to another. The workshopping prior to the game is essential in building up the routines that form the two "cultures" in the game. I was happy with how it ran, alhtough I felt my own difficulties with silence meant that I perhaps didn't give people as much time to get into things as was ideal. Feedback was positive, and it seemed to provoke the same kinds of thoughts that I had had after the run I played. I'm encouraged, and will probably try to do another run at Consequences.
3) Voices. This was a small and personal larp which was fairly abstract in nature. I was playing a disembodied voice being heard by another player, which was surprisingly challenging. I drew heavily on my own anxious thoughts in creating that character, and was very concerned that I didn't push things too far. I think it lead to one of the most intense larping experienes with another player that I've experienced. I felt the game perhaps didn't have a clear enough sense of the distinction between schitzophrenia and multiple personalities, but it did seem to me to be respectful of the theme of mental illness (although I can't really speak for the other couples as I was pretty focussed on my own player).
4) Finally, I played Trojan Women. This was an extemely heavy game, again quite abstract in nature, about the aftermath of the Siege of Troy. I was careful not to indiccate preference when the "casting" was happening, and was disappointed to find that I was cast as Helen, who is a character I wouldn't necessarily have chosen for myself. Particularly as I was hoping for Cassandra, who I have always identified strongly with in the stories, and who did not appear to be in the game. It turned out that there was a mid game twist (probably not too surprising if you know the myths) after which I re-entered play as Cassandra, and I couldn't have been happier (although the game was bloody miserable in the best sort of way). I played two outsiders. As Helen, I had to wear a mask the entire time to signify my cultural seperation from the other women, which felt incredibly alienating. As Cassandra my role was to tell the blunt truth as I saw it, and her strangeness kept her at a distance still. The game had mechanics for destroying societal values as tragedy struck again and again, and for grieving publically together, and I found the whole thing very moving, although, perhaps due to being an outsider, I found the whole thing more difficult to engage with emotionally than I might have hoped. This was definitely my game of the weekend though.
