Doug Millington-Smith (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
magicaddict) wrote2006-10-02 10:28 am
magicaddict) wrote2006-10-02 10:28 am
Swansea, Blood Brothers, First Larp Of The Season...
...and finally realising why everyone wants to be Mickey.
The weekend was hectic, and I didn't get to see much of Emma - a blow which was marginally softened by several things.
Arriving in Swansea on Friday afternoon after a flawlessly punctual journey and being presented with a beer before I'd put my bag down in Chris' house was one of them. Getting so hideously drunk that evening in various clubs that I was past even telling people I was drunk was another. Getting home and having the presence of mind to drink four pints of water before bed was another. Chilling out all day on Saturday while Chris dealt with having had not enough sleep to clear up the hangover was another. Finally getting to watch Blood Brothers after hearing the ravings and having had the sound track for five years was probably the biggest.
For those who aren't in the know, Blood Brothers is a musical set against the rather unusual backdrop of sixties Liverpool and tells the story of two twins split up at birth and raised separately. Unfortunately, they keep seeming to run into each other. Even more unfortunately, they aren't aware they're related. The story follows them from young childhood through to marriage and subsequent (un)employment, and ends in one of the few truly non-happy endings in musical theatre.
While people utterly rave about it, I was never as impressed as with some others, and while it remained that way when I watched it, I can see why they did. The power and energy on stage, and the quality of acting required to portray everything from a child through to a fully grown adult, is worthy of praise, and praise people did, with a five minute spontaneous standing ovation. It's something special for a cast to be able to finish all the bows they want to do, and still have plenty of time to be able to applaud the audience and get off stage before the goodwill is gone, and leave the audience feeling great while they leave. Not even the most torrential rainstorm I've ever seen managed to annoy - damn good evening.
And so, to the larp. A thunderstorm broke. It probably never will while I play Nimbus again. Oh well.
The new season started with an IC rush-job where we had to investigate the dissappearance of some druids. Mike got to experience precisely how annoying it is to be in the military and be summarily ignored by those who aren't. I got to try to summarily ignore the orders of the military and ended up trying to find reasons to pay attention. Normally there was just enough coherency in Nimbus to realise that disappearing off when he had no power remaining to attack large parties of goblins when he might get both himself and everyone else killed was a bad thing, and ended up wrapped around his holy symbol screaming in pain trying to ignore his calling. Fuck it. Woe betide anyone who tries to give Nimbus an order on a clear day. I've watched enough people completely ignore what the commanders tell them. I want to try that.
Overall, I don't think the character worked entirely in the way I'd hoped. People were a lot more interested in keeping him safe than I thought, and two of the characters seem to have tried to form some sort of link with him already. This was never the intention, and precisely what I wanted to avoid. While it is good to inspire someone else to interact with you, I designed Nimbus so he would have no bearing whatsoever on other people, because he didn't talk to them. The last thing I wanted is people feeling they have to take time out of their own roleplay to deal with me - I'll be roasted by the usual suspects at every available opportunity.
Maybe when I have more standing available to be cloudy and all but invulnerable, people won't feel so drawn to follow where I go. Nimbus will find his own way back. He's always been good at it.
The weekend was hectic, and I didn't get to see much of Emma - a blow which was marginally softened by several things.
Arriving in Swansea on Friday afternoon after a flawlessly punctual journey and being presented with a beer before I'd put my bag down in Chris' house was one of them. Getting so hideously drunk that evening in various clubs that I was past even telling people I was drunk was another. Getting home and having the presence of mind to drink four pints of water before bed was another. Chilling out all day on Saturday while Chris dealt with having had not enough sleep to clear up the hangover was another. Finally getting to watch Blood Brothers after hearing the ravings and having had the sound track for five years was probably the biggest.
For those who aren't in the know, Blood Brothers is a musical set against the rather unusual backdrop of sixties Liverpool and tells the story of two twins split up at birth and raised separately. Unfortunately, they keep seeming to run into each other. Even more unfortunately, they aren't aware they're related. The story follows them from young childhood through to marriage and subsequent (un)employment, and ends in one of the few truly non-happy endings in musical theatre.
While people utterly rave about it, I was never as impressed as with some others, and while it remained that way when I watched it, I can see why they did. The power and energy on stage, and the quality of acting required to portray everything from a child through to a fully grown adult, is worthy of praise, and praise people did, with a five minute spontaneous standing ovation. It's something special for a cast to be able to finish all the bows they want to do, and still have plenty of time to be able to applaud the audience and get off stage before the goodwill is gone, and leave the audience feeling great while they leave. Not even the most torrential rainstorm I've ever seen managed to annoy - damn good evening.
And so, to the larp. A thunderstorm broke. It probably never will while I play Nimbus again. Oh well.
The new season started with an IC rush-job where we had to investigate the dissappearance of some druids. Mike got to experience precisely how annoying it is to be in the military and be summarily ignored by those who aren't. I got to try to summarily ignore the orders of the military and ended up trying to find reasons to pay attention. Normally there was just enough coherency in Nimbus to realise that disappearing off when he had no power remaining to attack large parties of goblins when he might get both himself and everyone else killed was a bad thing, and ended up wrapped around his holy symbol screaming in pain trying to ignore his calling. Fuck it. Woe betide anyone who tries to give Nimbus an order on a clear day. I've watched enough people completely ignore what the commanders tell them. I want to try that.
Overall, I don't think the character worked entirely in the way I'd hoped. People were a lot more interested in keeping him safe than I thought, and two of the characters seem to have tried to form some sort of link with him already. This was never the intention, and precisely what I wanted to avoid. While it is good to inspire someone else to interact with you, I designed Nimbus so he would have no bearing whatsoever on other people, because he didn't talk to them. The last thing I wanted is people feeling they have to take time out of their own roleplay to deal with me - I'll be roasted by the usual suspects at every available opportunity.
Maybe when I have more standing available to be cloudy and all but invulnerable, people won't feel so drawn to follow where I go. Nimbus will find his own way back. He's always been good at it.