Skip to main content

Camarilla Agram 8 review



Camarilla Agram 8, played last weekend, was the last major event of the year of our Vampire larp Camarilla Agram (well, besides the Sabbat Agram special event on Dec 13th - Camarilla Agram 9 will be played on January 10).

Let's be honest - last few major events we have lost the visual edge. At our first event, we brought in a make-up artist and made fangs for our players. At Camarilla Agram 1-3 we were in a small apartment, which was decorated much better every time we were playing. Since Camarilla Agram 4, we moved to the new environment - KKZ. While it was much larger and roomier than our previous location, it was never decorated as much or so densely. And while our costume quality went up, somewhere along the way we have lost the makeup. And the music. And the lighting...



Camarilla Agram 8 reversed all those thrends, and with a vengeance. We had skilled people doing makeup - especially visible for Nosferatu players. There was good quality fake blood. All players chipped in to bring candles and extra moody props. Music was better than ever. And as a result, we achieved the best Vampire atmosphere that we ever had.

Check out the video on top (entrance and security check) for a better view of some costumes, and the video below for how it actually was on the event itself during gameplay:


The Council that brought Prince Darius to power

The social situation was rather interesting. Zagreb was Prince-less, and it was the time for a new one to take position. But there was no real gap in power, as the old Seneschal was holding the reins strongly. He ended up becoming the new Prince, having the full support of the Primogen Council.

Apart from the politics, protocol and power shifts involved in setting a new prince and regular Camarilla bickery, there was a diplomatic visit from the nearby Anarchs, a (very strange) emissary from the Sabbat, a visiting plague carrier, and several other new characters who found themselves highly engaging.


Since my character is currently a Keeper of Elysium (there's a wiki for meta info about our characters), that means local security detail was up to me in-character (apart from being one of the organizers OOC). I did my best to involve others whom I placed as security personnel, gave them tasks, hierarchy, and other things during gameplay (e.g. this one is suspicious, keep an eye on him and report to me later etc). Players reported this was fun for them, and they felt engaged :)

Other reactions to the event were also quite positive. To the role-play, but mostly to the atmosphere which topped previous events. I guess it's a good lesson in just how much props, lighting and music can affect the general mood and experience of a larp.

A lesson best taken to heart.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The 15 rules of larp

The following 15 rules (warning: strong language) were written some years ago in Great Britain, and have been pretty much generally accepted on the British larp scene. Especially popular is rule 7 - widely known by its number and commonly considered to be the most imortant rule of all (and I agree). Even the biggest British larp forum has taken Rule7 as its name. The rules have been originally created by the Drunken Monkeys and edited by Rick Wynne who added some extra stuff in the explanations to make them more understandable to international audience (it still contains some British larp lingo though), more work-safe and to throw in his two cents. (copy of the original wording is available here ) 1. Don’t play a mighty warrior; play a warrior and be mighty. Don’t label your character. As soon as you say that you are the best swordsman in the land someone will come along and kick your ass. Just get into the mindset of the person and role-play it out. 2. No one cares about you
6 comments
Read more

Mind's Eye Theatre: Werewolf The Apocalypse rulebook review

Available on DriveThruRPG Just under three years ago I wrote a review for  Mind’s Eye Theatre: Vampire the Masquerade rulebook . It was the first book published by By Nights Studio, and a year later I reviewed one of its supplements - Storyteller Secrets . Now, after a long period of work, after the success of their kickstarter campaign, By Night Studios finally released the full version of the new larp rules for Werewolf the Apocalypse setting. This was preceded by various alpha, beta, gamma, delta and omega slices - each containing a different playtest version of the rules, slowly released from September last year until July this year. First impressions were that the artwork is very cool, and that the book is HUGE. Numbering at 762 pages, that's over 200 pages more than Vampire the Masquerade. But before I start going in-depth, I'd like to mention that this blog's readers come from various backgrounds - and I'll adjust my review accordingly. I assume I'
Post a Comment
Read more

Larps in EU

Today Croatia has acceeded into the European Union as its 28th state. EU has loads of diverse and different larp scenes and cultures in them. Some of them are local, some are national, some encompass all speakers of a certain language, some are regional, and some are world-famous. Here's a short window into a couple of EU larps and larp scenes, carefully selected and profiled by the criteria of "those I actually visited myself" and "those who bothered to answer my survey on facebook on a short notice", with a dash of "this is like elementary culture you should know". So this is not a full list - not even close - and not even the fully representative one, despite it being the largest post on this blog ever. Even keeping track of the Croatian scene is quite a job and there are still many language barriers around. But hopefully you'll find plenty of new and interesting material here. If you want your larp represented - whether it's battle
Post a Comment
Read more