Interview: Andrej, Mladen and Fran, 2012's OzOI

The elections in Ognjeni Mač are over, and the new OzOI (Ognjeni Mač's plot team) has been elected. Consisting of Petar Janković, Ines Josić and Tijana Migić, you can read about their ideas in the interview we had recently.

However, today we're talking with the 2012's OzOI, whose term is now done. Andrej Mihajlović, Mladen Miletić and Fran Putar took the Ognjeni Mač larps through 2012., they compiled the rules changes in the Ognjeni Mač Rulebook 2.1 (which just came out and will be valid for this year's Ognjeni Mač larps - in Croatian only!) and today they're talking about themselves, their past, their ideas, future plans and reflections on their work 2012. Read on!

Mladen (leftmost) and Fran (rightmost) as Sun Warriors on Jaska 10

1. Can you tell us something about yourself?

Andrej: My name is Andrej Mihajlović, I am 23 years old and I am a student at Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing. I play p’n’p RPGs, computer and board games, watch movies, read books… in short everything you would expect from a typical larper :).

Mladen: I am 21, currently taking a 1 year break from college and working in a chinese restaurant. Never married and no kids :P

Fran: My name is Fran Putar, im a student.


2. How long have you been larping? Which was your first larp ever?

Andrej: I have been larping for over 6 years now. My first larp was Krvomeđe in March of 2006. My first event that lasted more than one day was Ljetni Tabor the same year.

Mladen: Around 6 years. My first larp was Maksimir 1.

Fran: I'm larping since 2008. My first larp event was Maksimir, and then Jaska 3.


3. Have you had previous experience in running larps prior to entering OzOI? Or other RPGs? What did you run?

Andrej: I have co-organized Jaska 2 in the summer of 2008 with Vanja Lazić. Besides that I have been the Champion of Amtgard chapter Krvomeđe for a year and that included running battlegames on Krvomeđe events. I have also run a Maksimir or two, and I had some experience game mastering pen ‘n’ paper RPGs over the years.

Mladen: Only some smaller battlegames, but never a story larp, I had some minor experience in running DnD sessions.

Fran: No, this was my first time.

Andrej's character is talking to Matilda on The Wedding of Sowa and Matilda

4. Apart from Ognjeni Mač larps, which other larps have you visited?

Andrej: I have visited almost all of the amtgard-based larps in Croatia – Rajski Vrhovi, Majčin Gaj, Utvrda Svjetlosti, Krvomeđe, Istočna Anarhija feast, but I have yet to visit Sunčev Potočić feast.
As for the non-amtgard events, I have visited the first Terra Nova event, but that is about it. I plan on visiting other events in the future, especially larps in Serbia.

Mladen: Rajski Vrhovi, Majčin Gaj, Utvrda Svjetlosti, Terra Nova intro feast.

Fran: I visited Rajski Vrhovi and Terra Nova feast.


5. Which was your favorite larp ever?

Andrej: Well, this is a hard one. For a long time it was my first large event – Ljetni Tabor 2006, but at this moment I would have to say Jaska 10, but if I were to exclude events I was organizing I would say Jaska 6.

Mladen: My favourite larp ever was Jaska 6. Not because of the story, but because of the atmosphere created between the players/characters.

Fran: Jaska 4.


6. Could you name some larps which have particularly inspired you?

Andrej: No, I could not :). But seriously, each event inspires you in some way. After a while you see the pattern organizers follow, and only things that can inspire you are details and innovations. For example, Ozoi of 2011 influenced our way of organizing by utilizing non instanced locations scattered all over; Rajski Vrhovi 2011 had a complex dungeon, etc.

Mladen: Jaska 1 and Jaska 2.

Fran: Jaska 4, Jaska 5 and Rajski Vrhovi.

Mladen (playing Matilda's father) with Anika on The Wedding of Sowa and Matilda

7. What did you like and what didn't you like about 2011's OzOI's (your predecessors') way of organizing larps?

Andrej: I liked the fact they were very organized – scheduled events, availability both during larps and in their free time, specific locations with their own adventures etc. I really disliked the session plays they ran between larps, and the intensity of some of their larps.

Mladen: I liked their humoristic approach to many situations, I didn't like the game tempo which was too intensive for most of the players.

Fran: I liked action, fighting and npc-s, and I didn't like the story for Jaska....


8. What was the most important thing you changed?

Andrej: We listened to players all through the 2011, and tried to find a way to make everybody happy. I think we accomplished that, by organizing more balanced events and by tweaking the rules.

Mladen: We lowered the game intensity a lot, it was less stresfull for the players.

Fran: We changed approach to the game... we put random places in game that players could explore....


9. What accomplishments from your term in 2012 are you most proud of?

Andrej: Crolarp, definitely Crolarp. We had a thousand and one problem organizing this event, from finding the right location, to last minute withdrawal of organizers from Osijek, but still we were able to pull it off, and quite successfully if I may add.

Mladen: Changing several core rules and being part of the organizing team of the first Croatian national Larp.

Fran: Crolarp.

Crolarp group shot

10. Do you sometimes wish that you did some things different? If so, what?

Andrej: Well, we could have done some things differently, but I am quite content with the way we’ve run things.

Mladen: No.

Fran: No, I'm perfectly happy with my choices about the game.


11. What was your favorite moment from running games in 2012?

Andrej: There was a series of roleplay intensive events between me and a couple of players I was torturing both on a physical and mental level. But then again, I was playing my favorite NPC at that time so… :)

Mladen: Jaska 10, three NPCs played by our Ozoi team called Hinko, Dinko and Vinko. They were three drunken bards that appeared really early in the morning while everyone was asleep and made huge noise in other players camps and waking them up violently.

Fran: End of Crolarp because we knew that we managed to pull it off...


12. What was the most important thing you learned?

Andrej: They say patience is a virtue, and if so then I am a very virtuous man :). But really, all you need to organize a successful larp is time and patience, everything else comes second to that.

Mladen: That some things cannot be changed no matter what you do.

Fran: I learned that other orgs' help is precious...

Fran playing a "Grandma" character on Crolarp...

13. What sort of games do you expect from this year's OzOI?

Andrej: I expect them to follow in our example, but with their own touch. Events not as intense as our predecessors ran, we experimented with blurring the line between PCs and NPCs and I expect they will improve and expand on that. Storywise I have no idea, I just hope they don’t write some complicated story that would be great in p’n’p RPGs but too great a task to run on larps.

Mladen: Anything is fine!

Fran: Good ones...


14. Do you ever plan to re-run for OzOI? Why?

Andrej: I might, but only with specific people and only if there are no better choices. Now that my term is over I want to play and relax. Being OzOI is quite demanding on your time and very exhausting. We’ll see what the future brings.

Mladen: No. Being part of OzOI takes too much personal time and I dont think I will have enough time again.

Fran: I don't think so....