Samir (The Radioactive-Kitten Juggler)'s Battletech LARP of Infamy
So, I'm talking to the LintKing and telling him I'm putting together this series, and he's all interested in which games I'm referring to (which is fair - he was in most of them) and I say, "I need to mention The LARP." Because, it's been like a dozen years plus, and it is still mostly, "The LARP." Sometimes if it's out of context (or we could be talking about the Justicar1) I say, "You know, with Santiago," which isn't how I think of it (I think of the Captain and her anti-mech techniques [like the mine that she wore around her neck]) but this many years later there are still people who know us because of "The LARP."
Now, what's funny about this is that I had been playing for weeks and weeks as "Santiago" AKA "The Computer Guy." For weeks and weeks, and I knew very little about what was going on, in-character. (No one ever trusted Santiago. They put him in a bunk they had made in the airlock, figuring it was easier to buy new bedding. Santiago only got one actual threat about being spaced, even if the rest of the crew knew about the set-up... but he deserved it by suggesting karaoke as a diversion.) Heck, out-of-character I still wasn't sure how we were ridding the universe of some shapeshifting nasties. In-character Santiago's biggest contribution was probably that he (by reasons of morale, he figured) fended off a mechwarrior with a stick. It wasn't even a very large stick. (It was, however, a ridiculously good roll.)
The LARP was held off in a two-story warehouse that someone said was the base for Dream Park in Boulder (back when that stuff was viable.) The bottom floor had the reception area, and the top floor had a wooden bar, all sorts of odd seating, and some extra odd-shaped rooms. There might have been a third floor (I kind of remember a dark staircase area) but I never made it there, if it wasn't blocked off. (Remember, "Location" is one of my main LARP set-up rules, because using your location wisely helps with immersion.)
As well as having fabulous in-character discussions (Santiago claimed to be the creator of "Minesweeper 3000," a virtual reality "Asteroids" game crossed with the "Minesweeper" premise - math AND flight simulator!) there were several (for lack of a better term) "minigames" within the situation.
As a player, I knew we were trying to see who had been "turned," in this case, becoming one of the enemy. I was tasked with determining if the LintKing's PC had been, and of course, I was told he hadn't.2 Apparently (having discussed this years later with him) they had a resource-capturing game (I'm not sure if it was done via trumping others cards or not, but cards were used) amongst the NPCs as well as their trying to figure out what we were up to... and at least two other paranoia-inducing games, including the occasional psychic event. (I remember my husband doing a dramatic swoon when all Hearts were announced to pass out temporarily. Mostly, I remember my husband looking fabulous in a purple satin ballgown.)
I can't tell you how much I absorbed about running LARPs from this, but every one I've been a part of has taught me something, and this one is still pretty infamous, hence its inclusion.3
1 Because that was one of my crazy throne-war LARPs that had its own legends.
2 I am almost NEVER the werewolf, either, despite what my sister Chuck says. She always tags me as the werewolf. I am usually a Mason, if we're playing with them.
3 And the disclusion...exclusion, that's it... of the one where my mom's best friend explained, "I never knew how much sex you guys get in games. That was like an orgy!" where I'm kind of glad I dropped out early (from pain, alas) if it was getting to be more a White Wolf Play Party.