Star Trek: Tethys - USS Croatia run review

Many of you probably remember the first run of Star Trek: Tethys, early last December - here's both a description of the run and the full larp scenario. Yesterday, I ran it again - this time in Star Trek fan club USS Croatia, together with my sister-in-law. Despite a rather sudden announcement, this run went very smoothly - and gives a lot to be excited about.

Seven players were interested in playing - which meant one more than the game was written for. The seventh character was quickly improvised as "the counselor", monitoring the mental well-being of the crew. Players were a mix of regular clubmembers and more experienced role-players. A lot of them were wearing uniforms - one even got her uniform made on such a short notice. There were a few props around that were used - namely, a plush tribble and a cell phone with Star Trek sound effects that acted as a tricorder that the group managed to get working... In their version of the twist ending, what happened was not a reality - and characters were a subject of a Vulcan mind experiment.

Using the Ball of Yarn method to define character relations before the larp started

The run went well, and the players liked it. Afterwards we discussed larp for a while more, including some stuff like design elements, why were they included and how would some other elements work. The interest in a Star Trek larp was great, and in fact - having had a taste of larping now - USS Croatia is planning to start a series of Star Trek larps in the near future, expanding the larping scene. This is excellent news.

Players discussing their situation

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The 15 rules of larp

The following 15 rules (warning: strong language) were written some years ago in Great Britain, and have been pretty much generally accepted on the British larp scene. Especially popular is rule 7 - widely known by its number and commonly considered to be the most imortant rule of all (and I agree). Even the biggest British larp forum has taken Rule7 as its name. The rules have been originally created by the Drunken Monkeys and edited by Rick Wynne who added some extra stuff in the explanations to make them more understandable to international audience (it still contains some British larp lingo though), more work-safe and to throw in his two cents. (copy of the original wording is available here ) 1. Don’t play a mighty warrior; play a warrior and be mighty. Don’t label your character. As soon as you say that you are the best swordsman in the land someone will come along and kick your ass. Just get into the mindset of the person and role-play it out. 2. No one cares about you...

LARPs: The Series interview

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Interview with Michael A Ventrella, Alliance larp

I've covered non-Croatian stuff on this blog before. Drachenfest, Mythodea, news from the regional larp scene (Serbia, Hungary, Slovenia), Nordic larp theories, Petra's interview with Claus Raasted, etc. Today we're having an interview with Michael A Ventrella, who's one of the people who basically invented American larp (which is not SCA or a battlegame group). Personally, I'm fascinated by just hearing all the different viewpoints and experiences. Anyways, there are really few people who've either been into larp as long as Michael or worked as hard making larp happen. An experienced role-player and GM and one of the founders of NERO, Michael is the owner of Alliance larp (formerly NERO Alliance), probably the largest group which split from NERO and one of the most significant USA larps. He's got lots of information and tips to share, so here it goes. 1. Thank you for your time! Could you tell us a bit about yourself and Alliance larp? I was one ...

Diary of a Croatian larper

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