Boston Festival of Indie Games wants LARPs!

Via David Burbank on the Intercon X Facebook group:

Greetings, Intercon Folk!

This year I am filling the role of LARP Programming Manager for the Boston Festival of Indie Games. We have three slots to fill for Intercon style four-hour LARPs - and with the plethora of talent present in this group, I hope some of you will be interested in submitting your creations. This will be an opportunity to spread the love of LARP to a diverse audience, and hopefully grow the ranks of our discipline.

If you're interested please fill out the submission form below.

Many thanks in advance!

https://docs.google.com/a/be-epic.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dC1kMlRaVGhMLTdyTGh5dFl6aHQ2a1E6MQ#gid=0

It's not just LARPs, of course, but I think it's really cool that LARPs are being included.

The Boston Festival of Indie Games, incidentally, is happening on Saturday, September 14, 2013, from 10a to 10p at MIT's Stratton Student Center (84 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA). Registration is now open, and there's a Kickstarter up to help fund it. (The $25 backer reward is a pack of New England-made indie games -- video and tabletop -- which looks really cool.)

As the web site says:

The Boston Festival of Indie Games celebrates independent game development on New England and neighboring regions. Our goal is creating an inclusive environment for everybody who enjoys and appreciates games in whatever shape or form. The festival seeks to support and showcase the efforts of independent game developers in a free public event, encouraging attendees to participate and play games in different formats: video games, location-based games, tabletop games and live role-playing, amongst others. The games featured are innovative and refreshing, demonstrating both the budding and the established talent of game makers in the American northeast.
Produced under the non-profit auspices of Be Epic, a Boston-area live action games production group, the Boston Festival of Indie Games fosters a community of academic and independent developers creating games for the people.

The $85 backer reward is a "Collector's Edition Tabletop Bundle", which includes an indie RPG called "Our Last Best Hope"... It's an impressively diverse-looking event!

Nordic Larp in "Limbo" in New Jersey

Via Lizzie Stark:

Performance researcher Emma Waldron, media studies expert Aaron Trammell, and I are running the Nordic larp Limbo by Tor Kjetil Edland in Highland Park, NJ on Saturday June 8, 2013 from 2:45 to 8pm.

The game is about what happens after death, is mechanics light, contemplative, and perfect for anyone wanting to get a little flavor of Nordic larp. We emphatically welcome new larpers!

You can read more about the game — and sign up! — over on Emma Waldron’s site.

If you got your first taste of Nordic larp at Intercon and are itching for more, here's a place to find it.

"The Quest" on ABC casting event in NYC

The Quest, a reality TV show recruiting LARPers which we blogged about earlier, has announced a casting date in NYC. From the flier:

THE QUEST

Wednesday May 29th

7-9pm

Times Scare NYC

669 8th Ave
New York, NY 10036

From an Executive Producer of the award winning THE LORD OF THE RINGS Trilogy and the Emmy award winning creators of THE AMAZING RACE comes an epic and groundbreaking new competition show for a major network, the likes of which have never been seen on television!

MEET WITH THE CASTING DIRECTOR in person at our event for your chance to be on our show!

If you are planning on coming, please RSVP by emailing paulgordoncasting@gmail.com

Please make the subject: RSVP NY
Send us your Name, Age, Phone #, Current Location, a current photo, and tell us about your hobby/fascination (i.e. LARP, Game of Thrones, CosPlay, etc), and what makes you perfect for a show like this!

@provilestvcast
@paulgordoncasting

Facebook.com/ProfilesTelevision

Facebook.com/QuestShow

The Hollywood Reporter reports that the show has been picked up by ABC:

The new reality series, which has yet to receive a premiere date, pits 12 contestants against one another in a competition set in a fictional place called Everrealm. The live-action role-playing takes place in what the network describes as "a land of magic and malevolence, where mythical creatures lurk in the woods, agents of darkness stir in the shadows and mystical beings infiltrate the keep."

The Second New England Larp Coference (NELCO) Announced!

The NELCO site has been up for a little while, but it's still very much forming:

August 9-11, 2013
Chelmsford Radisson

The New England Larp Conference is a multi-tradition event focused on the craft of LARP. It will be a weekend of LARP discussions, panels, workshops, and build-your-own-games.

As opposed to gaming convention, the Conference will not be a weekend of playing and running games, but will instead be discussion and workshop based.

If you've attended the Intercon Pre-con, that is the inspiration for this event.

Have questions? Contact Dave.

Volunteer
Want to help out? Suggest a panel or workshop! Have some skill that you want to teach, or want someone to teach? We want to know! You can suggest an event by emailing us.

Please include:
Your contact information
Your panel or workshop idea
If you are interested in running the panel/talk/workshop, or if you want us to find someone to run it

If you're interested in running the event:
How long it should be (1-2 hours for panels, 4 or more for workshops, or whatever you think you need)
If you have any special requirements (Sewing machines, projector, etc)

Build Your Own Game
Over the course of the weekend, starting Saturday morning, we'll be running a Build Your Own Game workshop. Whether you've never written a game, or are an experienced author, it's a great time, and a great way to learn new techniques. Jeff Diewald has volunteered to coordinate this project, so feel free to contact him with any questions you may have about it. The game will run on Sunday, so we're looking for people interested in writing or playing the game. If we have enough people interested, we'll split into multiple teams, so please let us know ahead of time by signing up for the "Build Your Own Game Author" flavor of attendee

Registration is $20 for the weekend. More details here.

The BYOG is a great way to get started if you've never written a LARP before. Last year's BYOG, "The Barbecue", was well-reviewed and went on to run at Intercon this year.

Dragon masks! Scale-pattern bracers! Spiky dragon tails!

From the department of shameless friend promotion: Jesse's starting a leatherworking and chainmail business. He sells these laser-cut dragon-scale patterned leather bracers (tougher than troll-axes!) and dragon masks (more cunning than foxes!). (Coming soon to a LARP near you!)



He also takes commissions for these really awesome chainmail dragon tails (some of which have spikes!)





And a bunch of other cool stuff. (If you know me in person and have seen the bracelet I wear, that's one of his.)







Tell him I sent you!

Spend a Day with Occam's Razor!

Occam's Razor, a new paranormal-themed LARP in central Massachusetts, are holding a fundraiser (or "Fund Razor") on May 18th in Berlin, MA. From the Facebook event page:

Saturday, May 18, 2013
1:00pm until 10:00pm

69 Village Court, Berlin, Massachusetts.

Admission: $10

Come one, come all and start getting psyched up for Occam's Razor! We have a great day planned with 8 fun and informational panels (in 4 time slots) lead by your friends on LARPing topics such as Creating a Memorable Character Background, Hitting Your Target, and Foamsmithing, followed by a pot luck dinner, and modern masquerade with music, dancing, and socializing. Have a first look at some tech OR Staff has in store for players. Our silent auction and raffles may have the next prop you're looking for, or you might find it at one of our vendors' tables. Enjoy an afternoon seeing old friends, making new ones, and maybe learn a bit along the way!

Sign up for Raffle/Silent Auction! http://occamsrazorlarp.com/fundraiser/auction
(All donations earn CP at the same rate as donating directly to Occam's Razor.)

Sign up for Potluck! http://occamsrazorlarp.com/fundraiser/potluck

Pre-register: http://occamsrazorlarp.com/fundraiser/registration
(Pre-reg to earn .5 CP along with your attendance! RSVPing on Facebook is great, but pre-regging is required via the form above for this CP gain!)

(h/t @FairEscape on Twitter)