I spent a recent weekend in Retford in a follow-up to November’s hugely enjoyable Retcon A. It’s barely two months since Retcon A. Is this going to be too much of a good thing? (Spoiler: no.)
Warning – some game spoilers ahead. Look away now!
Friday
Originally I planned to have a lazy start, walk the dog and potter down to Retford in due course to start my weekend on Friday afternoon. However, I realised that with effort, I could get to Retford in time for the 9 am game. So that’s what I did.
Incense and Insensibility (mildly spoilery)
Written by Nathan Richards and Richard Salmon. I played academic tutor Dr Charles Ward, a classicist with a distinctly Lovecraftian background. The detailed character sheet suggested a “classic” freeform with lots of plot to keep me busy.
The game was set at a ball at the Pemberly estate. The ball was interspersed with numerous dances – and if you wanted to do anything outside the ballroom (search the library, dig up Potter’s Field, carry out a satanic ritual), then you had to do it during a dance when you wouldn’t be noticed.
The dances: I liked the dances. You took your partner to the dancefloor and stood opposite them in rows. Then the couple at the head of the row said what was on their mind before casting out and walking to the bottom of the row (which moved up). Then the next couple said what was on their mind… It was a lovely chance to reveal your inner thoughts or secrets, letting the other players know what you were thinking without telling their characters. (It’s not the first time I’ve come across that – I remember Shakespeare’s Lost Play doing something similar with soliloquies.)
The constraint of doing anything outside the ball during a dance started as an interesting resource mechanic but became more challenging towards the end when players had lots to do outside the game. I like the constraint, but it needs thinking about.
Highlights:
- Talking with Kirstine and Ray, fellow chapel members. It’s a shame we couldn’t encourage young Miss Angelina (Clare) to join us.
- Major Hampton (Dave) had a lovely proposal – he would vote for me if I agreed to say I’d had an affair with his wife so he could divorce her. How could I refuse?
- Graham and I agreed to split the disputed inheritance 65/35 (in his favour) early on. I wanted it done and dusted so I could worry about other things. (And my case was dodgy at best.)
Suggestions
- The ending became rather frantic and turned into a (failed) widget hunt. I know that was a little frustrating for some. I think the end of the game needs thinking about.
- I did wonder if a few abilities would help. Among freeformers, abilities seem to have fallen out of favour (particularly for shorter games). But they have their place, and if it were me, I’d consider them.
Overall: Recommended – particularly a second run, when the kinks will have been ironed out.
A Sisterly Soiree (not at all spoilery)
Written by James Goodman, who GM-ed with Nick and Tony (playing a very intimidating Lady Catherine). I played Stephen Collins, a dragoon lieutenant. This light, structured larp is based on the works of Jane Austen and the Marrying Mr Darcy board game and is all about promotion and marriage.
So, two regency games in a row. Both with dances.
A Sisterly Soiree had lots of party game activities – unscrambling words, fox hunting (blindfold hunting finger puppets), judging tapestry and music. And lots of dances. Between the dances, the men went and did men things (war and politics), and the women did whatever they did (I wasn’t there).
Highlights
- The dances and activities were lots of fun. They were good ways to mix with all the other players.
- Thanks to a lucky series of dice rolls, I was promoted from a lowly lieutenant to field marshall!
- I married Miss Heidi Bonnet, only revealing that I was gay at the end of the game. (Discovering my sexuality was a random thing that happened during the game – it wasn’t part of my original character sheet.)
Suggestions
- I think we wrong-footed James when we all lined up for the first dance. We were expecting a called dance, and he gamely gave us one. The game had three or four dances, and he called them all. If it were me, I would use the same (called) dance each time. The players will slowly learn the dance, making it easy for everyone. (The actual dance moves aren’t important, after all.) Maybe we should have a standard Regency freeform dance?
Overall: Highly recommended, especially if you don’t mind simple activities and games in your freeform.
The Roswell Incident (slightly spoilery)
This was the first face-to-face run of my 1947 Roswell alien game. I first hosted it online about a year ago. I made some tweaks – such as adding abilities. (And at least I didn’t have to worry about a power cut.)
The game took about two hours to play, which was about the same as the online game. It was a very different run, though, and all the aliens were revealed. That’s partly because it was face-to-face rather than online, partly because freeformers are generous and like to share, partly because this episode felt self-contained (rather than episode 1 of a campaign), and partly thanks to the abilities. It went well, and I was pleased.
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| Sheriff Jackson, Professor Kraushaar, Mayor Weinrib and junkyard owner Karns |
Highlights
- All the players were fabulous, but I particularly enjoyed Hanbury’s over-the-top Major Marcel.
Suggestions
- I have lots of typos and corrections to work through.
- I think an optional flying saucer rescue option might be useful. It wouldn’t have been needed for this game, but it might be fun to include next time.
Overall: I was happy with how The Roswell Incident went. I will rerun it and work it up for Freeform Games.
Saturday
After an atrocious night’s sleep, my energy flagged towards the end of Saturday. Mrs H told me (when I got home) that I always have a terrible first night at Retford. How come I haven’t realised?
Fiasco (unspoilerable)
I played a wonderful five-player game of Fiasco with Heidi, Graham, David and Joanne. I wasn’t sure whether I should pitch it or not, but I’m glad I did and as a few people talked to me afterwards about how they almost signed up for it (and that they have the game but have never got it to the table), I probably will again.
This was the first face-to-face game of Fiasco I’ve played. The others have all been online with my regular gaming group between longer campaigns. It was also my first five-player game of Fiasco, and it ran much smoother with five than with three or four.
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| It's a Fiasco! |
Hope Springs Eternal (not very spoilery)
Written by Nickey Barnard, Sue Jolly, Helen Jones, Tym Norris and Traci Whitehead at Peaky, many years ago. Set in the 1952 Hope Brothers department store, Hope Springs Eternal is inspired (to an extent) by the BBC sitcom Are You Being Served? So camp BBC sitcom and a dash of horror. I played apprentice Tim Porter – and I think I played Tim when I played it the first time.
Hope Springs Eternal is a classic Peaky game – lots of stereotypes to play off, lots of dark or embarrassing or guilty secrets, a mystery, lots of things missing, some silliness and a twist in the tale. I had a great time.
Highlights
- Interacting with the department heads, trying to figure out which department I should be apprenticed into next
- A “dust” item card, which I found in an old locker. It pleased me deeply to find an item card for dust. Completely useless, of course, but lovely.
- David taking me under his wing and giving me swigs from his hipflask.
Overall: Recommended.
Marlowe 2020 (not very spoilery)
Written by Kirt Dankmyer and Jon Lemich, Marlowe 2020 reconfigures Shakespeare’s tragedies for a cyberpunk future. I have no idea what that means, and my initial reaction to Dr Puzzo, my character was, “huh?” It’s a short character sheet with little sense of why I’m present or what the game is about.
Marlowe 2020 was never going to be my best game at Retford, for several reasons:
- Marlowe 2020 wasn’t my first choice. I signed up to play a different game, but that didn’t run, so I switched.
- I was tired. It was my third game of the day (my sixth of the weekend), and I had had an abysmal night.
- It was late. We started at 8 pm, and as most games had run for two or three hours, I expected that would happen this time. So my heart sank when the GMs said they expected the game to take about four hours…
So while I probably didn’t go into Marlowe 2020 with a healthy mindset, I’m not sure it was my kind of game in the first place. Warning signs:
- My character, Dr Puzzo, felt like a bit part. I was playing the apothecary from Romeo and Juliet. My job was to sell poison and patch people up. (In short, I was the healing rules.) I had a fragment of plot about an android underground, but it required me to develop it fully. While I don’t mind collaborative, improvisational games (see Fiasco above), I find it hard to do in a large larp with a semi-detailed background (even when I’m not half-asleep). A half-in, half-out approach doesn’t work for me – although it seems to work fine for others.
- Dr Puzzo was a loner and I don’t enjoy playing loners. While I knew of a few characters, I wasn’t part of a group, and other than my healing skills, I had nothing to offer.
The other thing that should have lifted my game was the violence. There’s a doctor in the game for a reason. Shakespearean tragedies are supposed to have a healthy body count. This time, however, the reasonableness of today’s freeformers overcame Marlowe 2020’s rivalries and jealousies. So, in this run, at least, a doctor wasn’t necessary. I did one detox and healed one poisoning (the same character, oddly).
The GMs saw I was struggling (they were also surprised at the lack of bodies) and offered me one of the spare characters, but I was too tired to consider another character.
Even though this was my least favourite game of the weekend, it wasn’t without highlights.
- The marshall (Nathan) warning me about paying my taxes. Very intimidating. And then helping him try and figure out who was targetting him with a weird cyberweapon.
- Selling poison to an android (Elina) and then curing her victim (David) a minute later.
- Dave’s wonderful Italian hand gestures.
- Roderick’s roleplaying at being awkward around humans. I (and others) thought he might be an android who didn’t know he was an android.
Suggestions
The first suggestions are for me:
- Programme some breaks for myself. And remember that I always sleep badly on my first night at a freeform convention.
- Figure out how to spot these games, so I don’t sign up for them. They’re not my cup of tea!
Sunday
On Sunday morning at breakfast, I complained about the owlish nature of freeformers and their inevitable late nights to Clare and Kirstine. I’m not sure they sympathised. (I’m a lark, alas.) But, at least I slept this time.
All Flesh is Grass
Sunday morning saw me running the second part of my magnificent/epic/doomed (delete according to taste) series of first-contact larps. As with Roswell, I first ran All Flesh is Grass online last year.
As Roswell had gone well, I was slightly nervous about All Flesh is Grass. The two games are very different – Roswell is more of a traditional freeform. All Flesh is Grass has only one plot and ends with a significant decision that needs to be made at the end. Luckily, I need not have worried – the game went well.
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| The room for All Flesh is Grass, before the players arrived. |
Some thoughts: As well as the inevitable typos and glitches that the players found, I had a few thoughts.
- I hadn’t changed All Flesh is Grass from the original run, and I need to make the characters more flexible to allow for a different result in Roswell. I like running two parts of the game at a convention, but I need to prepare better for the second game. I have some ideas about that.
- The room is divided into two parts – inside the barrier (Millville) and outside the barrier (the rest of the world). I divided the room so the Millville side had no exits. I hoped that added to the psychological sense of being trapped.
- Clare had a great idea to start the out-of-towners outside the room so they could bond for a moment. So that’s what I did.
Highlights
- Malk’s senator commanding the space at the start of the game.
- Elyssia’s “To whom am I speaking?” every time she answered the telephone.
- Richard and Jenny’s lovely scene where Jenny berated Richard for not telling her he had been reading to the phones.
- Hanbury’s wonderful military codenames; the only one I remember now is Operation Gobstopper.
Overall: All Flesh is Grass went well. There are a few improvements I can make, which I will address for next time. (There will be a next time, but I don’t know when.)
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