LARP: Ship's Kats - Captain's log

The first of many Live Action Role Play (LARP) narrative reviews. This game, held in the Epsom WWII bunkers during Jan 2009, was based on the Alien/ Bladerunner/ Event Horizon universes - which the larpers have taken to calling 'High Frontier'.

I led a team of four other women who were superhuman 'Replicants' with an agenda not entirely in keeping with that of the main party.

Misconceptions

I get annoyed at commonly held misconceptions, and I mean really quite pissed off, more than I realistically should. Unfortunately I’ve chosen to specialise in two fields where misconceptions abound – Egyptian history and religion – AND I’m slightly OCD. Great move, anyone would think I was a glutton for punishment.

Live Action Role Play

By rights Larping probably shouldn’t be as much fun as it is. ‘Role play’ after all conjures up images of socially awkward people sitting around a table rolling dice. Now don’t get me wrong, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with tabletop gaming, it’s developed a hell of a lot in the 20-odd years since I played, and everyone has different hobbies. But it still has a reputation, a bit of a stigma, and the term ‘live action’ doesn’t really gel with that perception. Likewise, the use of laser tag toys as the combat platform somehow lessens it, makes it sound like a kid’s game.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Battlestar's Greatest Hits, and Misses

I love Battlestar Galactica, it jumped to being one of my favourite sci-fi shows almost immediately, amongst such lofty companions as Doctor Who and Firefly, but when friends tell me the reasons they don’t like it I find it very hard to argue. So what makes it so good even while parts of it are so bad…?

Geeks: 'This is who we are'

Five points to anyone who gets the above reference, which I’m sure will be a few of you as I’m assuming that you – like me – are a geek.

The face of geekdom is changing, whether we want it to or not, and I for one applaud the transformation. The time was that liking Star Trek, Doctor Who, or Star Wars would define who you were to the rest of society. I used to say “I like sci-fi, but I’m not a Trekkie,” as if that were some invisible line in my head that if I crossed I’d be bundled in with society’s image of a geek. And we all know what that is, it’s not very flattering so I don’t need to describe it. But now I proudly call myself a geek and have committed myself to watching all these great shows that I’d missed out on in the past.

This time society’s different.

Geekery in London

And the Creator looked down upon the world and saw that it was good, and he said, ‘Let the geeks flourish upon the earth and let them gather in a place called London, for there shall be made all things good and holy for them to partake. And it was so.’

I have it on the best authority that the above was pretty much how it happened. Don’t believe me? Come along to London and find out.