Considering the Past - Part III
It is coming up on 30 years since The Spectacular Barn City Banquet. It only seems like yesterday. It was quite the event because, essentially, it was a LARP (Live Action Roleplaying) game using a mixture of D&D rules and a bunch of house rules. We didn't even call it a LARP (not sure we even knew what that was back then). The idea behind the banquet was to finish my long standing Kartoumian Spheros campaign. And so I invited about 40 people - mostly the well-known Sydney RPG crowd at that time - to help play characters and guests for my players to interact with.
Below is the original typed invitation that went out to everybody. Some of it's all a bit cringeworthy when I look at it now (i.e. I'm playing Saratoga Chack - a "hero and demi-god" LOL).
And here I am dressed as "Saratoga Chack" at the event ... geez - don't I look both "heroic" and "godly"! ***Cringe***
I prepared a "Cast List" - much like one would a dramatic play, and sent every guest playing a character a synopsis of their character and how they might interact with others at the banquet. Remember, this were the days before How to Host a Murder parties or similar packaged events! Here's the cast list ...
Note that Lord Boone makes a return to this event (after a 3 year absence). I remember the poor fellow I got to play Boone - my players avoided him all night because they thought he would "imprison them in a nearby room" and they would miss out on something!
About 90 minutes into the event, and Archmage Balthazar was discovered dead in the toilet with his throat cut and pants down around his ankles. Murder! Nobody (except the dude playing Balthazar) knew this was coming. And so the rest of the banquet was quite a tense affair as Lord Boone resumed his duties and started questioning everyone with the help of my player characters.
Unfortunately, I no longer have the script to this event so I've forgotten who "did it" in the end - but whoever it was doesn't matter. What matters is that this was great fun and fitting as my last official gaming hurrah in Sydney.
Not after this, in early 1986, I packed all my belongings and set forth over the Blue Mountains to begin my teaching career in The West.
And, of course, I took all my gaming books and materials with me!
To be continued ...
Below is the original typed invitation that went out to everybody. Some of it's all a bit cringeworthy when I look at it now (i.e. I'm playing Saratoga Chack - a "hero and demi-god" LOL).
And here I am dressed as "Saratoga Chack" at the event ... geez - don't I look both "heroic" and "godly"! ***Cringe***
I prepared a "Cast List" - much like one would a dramatic play, and sent every guest playing a character a synopsis of their character and how they might interact with others at the banquet. Remember, this were the days before How to Host a Murder parties or similar packaged events! Here's the cast list ...
Note that Lord Boone makes a return to this event (after a 3 year absence). I remember the poor fellow I got to play Boone - my players avoided him all night because they thought he would "imprison them in a nearby room" and they would miss out on something!
About 90 minutes into the event, and Archmage Balthazar was discovered dead in the toilet with his throat cut and pants down around his ankles. Murder! Nobody (except the dude playing Balthazar) knew this was coming. And so the rest of the banquet was quite a tense affair as Lord Boone resumed his duties and started questioning everyone with the help of my player characters.
Unfortunately, I no longer have the script to this event so I've forgotten who "did it" in the end - but whoever it was doesn't matter. What matters is that this was great fun and fitting as my last official gaming hurrah in Sydney.
Not after this, in early 1986, I packed all my belongings and set forth over the Blue Mountains to begin my teaching career in The West.
And, of course, I took all my gaming books and materials with me!
To be continued ...
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