What I did at Kapcon. Last year's is here.
My Saturday started bright and early with mad packing of stuff I might need and then collecting Hix from the train station. We were both pretty psyched and it was great to get there and see all those people who I know from previous Kapcons and catch up.
My first round was a game of I know, Right? run by Zac. I was feeling kinda weird being allowed to play in the game I created, but Zac made it clear he wasn't concerned as well. He gave me the target character to play, which was pretty cool actually, because it gave me licence to be completely underhanded and desperate in my scheming to get to the top of the heap.
Carla played the Queen Bee and she really was excellent at it, using her monetary resources to keep us onside and making up little things like pinky-linking with her BFF (Nasia) and not with any of the rest of us. I really enjoyed this game, and was extremely impressed with Nick B who played Valerie the art-wank student and was essentially my partner in overthrowing the clique. Oh yeah, I ended the game as Queen Bee. So Good.
Some quotes:
Zac as Jen Claude, the wankiest art student evah: I'm setting up a twelve person string quartet.
Nasia as Sakura: Do I look like I hang out with boys?
Her Dad: Oh, no boys would take any interest in you, you didn't inherit your mother's looks.
Val, about a constantly bicep flexing jock: It's just repulsive the way he parades is body like that! *then checks out jock's ass*
Sakura has got new pink highlights: Do you like it?
Carla as Amythest: Ah! It's.....different.
Val, in the principal's office: It's just the teacher! he hates me!
Principal: yes! He made you smoke the cannibas
Val: what's cannibas?
Amy's mum: which one is Valerie? Is that the Beatnik girl? Yes, your Father and I have discussed her.
Brad the jock: I was just pumping some iron and thinking of you
Amy: We totally have to get you a dress that matches his-
Val: biceps?
Kelly's mum leaves her some terrible clothes including a tshirt that says "I am a plain, boring person"
Amy: I think it's time for an insinkerator accident with your hat.
Kelly: I tried to throw it away once, but it came back.
For round two I ran a session of Best Friends. My group had Ian H, Fraser, Kieran, Naomi, Cordelia and Giffy in it. Awesome group, who sat girls on one side, boys on the other without even meaning to.
I have a fantastic photo of my group for this..but first. We were sitting and discussing what kind of game to play, and having some trouble agreeing on a style. Then Giffy suggested the Star Wars universe, and everyone was into that.
The group of Best Friends was made up of (in the player order I used above) an ewok with 5 cool and no other skills, a Jedi jawa with a nice spread of traits, a tough wookiee, a rich human Jedi apprentice, a smart human rogue and a pretty twi'lek who was training to be a Companion.
At first I had some difficulty working the conflicts in, but it sorted itself out once the players got the hang of the rules and we were all in the swing of it. Here's the timeline for the game:
Characters in bar - disturbance in the force - stormtrooper shoot out - characters run to bolthole - spa - ewok makeover - call the Jedi boys - Jedi council - space ship to Hoth.
Everything came to a head on the spaceship. The ewok became jealous of the others' complimenting the wookiee's fur and went psycho, which brought everyone else's issues to a head.
I didn't get many quotes from this game because I was mostly trying to keep the plot (such as it was) on track, but I did get this one, for which Cordelia won a prize:
The jawa and the rogue hug in a touching moment of friendship
Cordelia: I almost don't mind the fact that her head is in my crotch
Fraser: I do.
Third session I played an amazing game of Donna's called Wonderquest. It was set in a world just like ours, except a dimensional portal had opened up a way into a traditional fantasy world, and after the initial concerns Earth started organising tour groups through Raeth, although no technology was allowed to travel to Reath and no magical items were allowed back.
Four of us played tourists and two played native Reath tour guides. I played Simon, a total fantasy geek who works in IT and was hoping his latent magical powers would awaken during the tour.
Ruth had a lot of fun playing Tiffany, a spoiled model, used to a luxurious lifestyle that simply wasn't available in Reath. Most of the jokes came from her :)
Tiffany: Does the hotel have a gym?
Zaklin, the wizard guide: There's a john?
Tiffany: can we buy souveniers?
Zaklin: oh YES
Tiffany - after being told that orcs have a bonfire around our accomodation for the night: Is there a party with the orcs?
Carlton (her husband): Are they having a cook-out?
The Flight of the Hindenburg (larp)
I was getting steadily more excited about the larp all day Saturday and I wondered why I ever thought I wouldn't enjoy it. I really liked my outfit with my shortened trenchcoat and it was so much fun seeing everyone dressed up.
The game itself was quite frenetic for me. I played Polly Perkins, a "Meddling Investigative Reporter", and Gwyneth Paltrow's character from Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.
My goals were: Help Elliot Ness find Al Capone's missing ledger and therefore bring him down and get an awesome story.
Get some leads for stories.
Spread rumours that Sky Captain is a Braggart and a cheat (even though I still secretly loved him).
I have to say the hardest by far was helping Elliot Ness. The leads I had hit a brick wall and it turned out that the guy who had it wasn't interested in talking to people like me, or Ness, or Evey White (Al Capone's girl who had been feeding me information).
I still had heaps of fun though. It was good that although I didn't have an offsider like I normally do, I could interview anyone I wanted to and be as bolshy and rude as I liked because I was a reporter.
Highlights: Arguing loudly with Sky Captain (Nick P) as soon as he walked in the door.
Snarky exchanges with Sky Captain that over the course of the evening became information sharing. Sky Captain telling me repeatedly to stay out of trouble just as I went to find it and then finally leaving the Hindenberg with him ten minutes before an explosion on board.
Interviewing movie stars such as Clark Gable, Orson Welles, Errol Flynn, Greta Garbo and Bette Davis.
Chloe Clarke (Donna G) and my professional rivalry. I rushed forward to get a photo of a collapsed Albert Einstein, she rushed forward to tell me off, sparking an argument so loud and catty that a Presidential candidate had to pull us apart. At the end of the night when Ultraman appeared Chloe stonewalled me, blocking my way through and ruining my photos of him. Brilliant.
Being offered a huge sum of money to give Al Capone his ledger back when I had no idea where it was.
The way that after the first hour, presumably because I had been talking to so mnay people, everyone started trusting me with secrets and offering me information. I had so many stories!
I also helped a couple of people achieve their character goals, purely because I'd talked to so many people. When Biggles mentioned needing a backer for a business venture I immediately introduced him to William Randolph Hurst, to great mutual benefit. I also helped a mobster get his goal of a photo with Greta Garbo (I took it) and lent him pen and paper for an autograph.
The photos all look great as well. You can see them here courtesy of Zac.
Here's me.