Almost forgot this came out: Free/Will

Almost forgot that I was part of the 2016 Golden Cobra anthology. It wasn't one of my best, but it definitely was a LARP that I liked coming up with.  Just sad that not that many ever tried playing it.

Summary:
We don’t know it, but ghostly parasites haunt and influence our actions. Despite all our beliefs of having free will, we are but slaves to the ghostly parasites that dominate our lives and dictate our actions. Each day, we muster enough mental strength to take control for a limited number of times. Making the most of that real choice is part of the game


Grab it here:
 http://www.goldencobra.org/pdf/golden_cobra_anthology_2016.pdf

Masquerade Grande : cWOD LARP

Before 2009
Masquerade Grande
cWOD LARP : Vampire the Masquerade

MASQUERADE GRANDE
He wore the gown.
The ebony gown that was his Sire's. No one liked her. No one in the room particularly even wanted to remember her. The Lady Jadviga Almanov of Bohemia was not one of the Kindred others would love to still see walking about. Her harsh tongue and cold heart were legendary by Toreador standards and quite frankly (though never admitted aloud), none in the room save the Toreador ever really cared for her passing.

Except to thank whosoever brought her death for making their own lives easier.

But SHE came back.

This was an awesome game, since it was one of the few games I ran which literally was held in public view.  The gaming area was cordoned off, as to avoid causing confusion with those who were not playing.  The game was held within a mall so it had a lot of exposure to people who were definitely not gamers.

My players were DJ Mojo Jojo, Isami, Tommy, Cliff with my then-office mate Joey (who never played an RPG before) playing the role of the Ghost who reveals to them the true reason the spirit of Jadviga Almanov of Bohemia returned.  Being an un-official LARP game, this game did not use the usual Mind's Eye Theater Live Action roleplaying game system.  Instead, depending on the clans of the players, I handed them each bunch of a small cards with the name of the Disciplines they had.  Each card could be "used" for an effect.  So one with Dominate, for example, can hand the card to another player, then say, "You will tell me who your sire is" and the other player get's forced to comply.  The system was crude, but it worked in keeping the game fun, that's for sure.

Purists will note that Jadviga is supposed to be Ventrue, but for this game I felt it would be awesome to have her as a Toreador instead. :-)  I guess only a Toreador would wear her gown to "remember her."   Of course, it was only later that the players realize the gown itself combined with this ring that she owned that was allowing her to manifest through her childe.  So they eventually strip the childe (me) of both the ring and the gown.

I still remember handling Joey the small note with her acting notes and asking her, "Are you sure this isn't too weird for you?"  She smiled and told me, "This is going to be fun!"

For the gown, I had to go to my uncle Ricky who was handling the theater group in Ateneo.  I asked him if I could borrow it and miraculously, the gown fit me (given I was what, a 5' 11" guy with a thirty six inch waistline by then?)    The old recovered site is here, but I decided to repost all the images in this page for easy viewing.  

Ah, LARP.

So much like theater.

So fun.

Yes, in our world, the Kindred drank Diet Coke.

Maynilad Dakong Takipsilim : cWOD LARP

10/2002 to 11/2002
Maynilad Dakong Takipsilim
cWOD LARP : Vampire the Masquerade Mind's Eye Theater



" Katawan mong madudurog,
uuuri't mabubulok,
siyang sinusunudsunud,
hinihimas, iniirog. "

I once had the opportunity to actually hold a series of LARP games that were considered official Camarilla sessions.  To be frank, I once felt this was a high point in my gaming hobby-career since it meant being part of something "officially international."  Now though I realize the high point is each time I see a player enjoy the game enough that they still remember it years later and compliment me for it.

We had three officers then:  Seth who handled Chapter coordinations, Me who handled the Storytelling (For Camarilla-Anarch sessions) and Gelo who was the Assistant Chapter Storyteller (and was Storyteller for Mage).  We had a modest number of members: Alvin, Joey, Tommy, Cliff, Sandor, Aldwin, Isami and Marco.

And we actually had an ongoing story-line which reached a second chapter.  The games lasted for two months, with numerous rumors of a Sabbat plot, of strangeness going on beneath the city, of political maneuverings and other story arcs that were deeply ingrained to old World of Darkness metaplot.  Admittedly, I love the character profile pages (and art) i made for them.

(Read more of this here.)

In the darkness of the shadows,

the Kindred plot and prey

and feast upon the blood 

of a thousand martyrs.

Alas, the group eventually broke off, after finding the official group to slow in approving story arcs and the like.  The freedom to just shape plots that make it more fun for your players is one of the big things that one loses in a game that's tied to an international level.  So yeah, we kinda decided we had enough and moved on.