Poked by the "Plot Stick" (and an Out-of-Character Plea)

So...as those of you who were at the last Empire game (July 2015) or have read my last post will know, Lunetta's game got...interesting. Since the game, I have faced a lot of conflict and quandaries regarding the decisions that were made during the game, both my myself and by my character (this distinction is important) and thought that a post about such situations might do me some good!

"They Fit Just Like an Old Glove..."

Slightly later than intended, but here is my half-Resurgence, half-general gaming post.

After the Resurgence game on Sunday, I was trying to find the best way to write about it; whether I was going to write a letter or a stream of consciousness or a conversation or...something...

And actually, all I could think about was "Awh, it was so easy to get back into character...even after all these months...", which got me thinking.

Update!

Hello everyone, Josée here!

If you're wondering why the site has been somewhat quiet over the past few months, there are several different reasons, but the first and the main one is that the LARP season has sort of ended, and won't pick up again until early April. Resurgence is still running, but (reason #2), I live seven hours away during the term time due to my...interesting...level of geography skill (Universities aren't usually chosen for their extreme distance from home.)

However!!!

I am back home and I know of one Resurgence game occurring while I'm here. So...

Get ready for a Resurgence post tomorrow evening!

Josée
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The End of an Era - Shades

Hello everyone, Josée here.

I haven't been updating this blog recently as...to be honest...my gaming season has pretty much come to an end until April (when there will be lots of froth about one priestess' wedding!) so things have quietened down a lot. However...something has been eating at me for the past day or so, and I thought, "well, it's gaming related..." and so thought I would post it here.

A Reflection

Hello everyone,

Josée here.

I don't usually post publically about things like this, because there are certain aspects of my life I tend to want to keep private from the internet...but...I don't know. I feel like now is as good a time as any to write a piece here about some stuff that...made me who I am today...and lead me to be the gamer I am. So I apologise in advance if this post rambles, because I am writing down exactly what enters my head...as it enters.

Here, I should probably announce that there is minor description of sexual assault on a minor in this post. Consider this something of a trigger warning.

"How Characters Were Germinated" : Lunetta [Part Two]

Since posting up my original "How Characters Were Germinated" post, I have had several people ask me "So...if you were in a nation you didn't want to play, why didn't you change nation?" and I thought - while I have explained this to some people in person, I might as well follow it up properly in writing.

Anyone who has read Lunetta's earlier pieces will know that in my first Empire game, Matthias and Reynard (played by my then-partner and a mutual friend) died in battle. To be completely honest, once I as a new LARPer had come to terms with my IC (and OC) support network being pulled from under my feet, I probably should have changed nation. I didn't, due to a number of different things.

"How Characters Were Germinated" : Lunetta [AKA "How Josée Became a LARPer"]

Unusual blog post, this one, as I have to thank a friend of mine for the idea. (And for the quote I have stolen for the title of this post!) On facebook, I saw a post (I hope she won't mind me partially quoting it!):

This is a behind-the-scenes question I always love asking fellow larpers, so: if it doesn't give secrets and spoilers away, who were your mythical, pop cultural, and trope-y starting points when you built your Empire characters? Somewhere I have a stickynote on my computer which I add to occasionally. It has people and quotes which were or later became inspiration points for my character.

I thought this was a really interesting post, but actually I couldn't add anything of worth to it. So I thought I would write a little on how Lunetta came to be, and if people seem interested, I might write a little bit about some of the other characters I have, and what brought them about.

Josée does Skyrim: Of Werewolves and Marriage (and Leaflets. Lots of Leaflets.)

[Part 1 of ???]

Okay, so those of you who have read this blog before (or who have taken a peek now because of that) will know that this is a bit of a jump from what I usually put up here. However, it is me, it is gaming, and it is going to be different to anyone else’s Skyrim stuff because that’s the joy of Skyrim being as big as it is: while the quests are the same for everyone, the order in which you meet them (if at all) is always going to be different. I should warn you now that spoilers will abound so please ignore this post if you intend to play Skyrim, or have begun to already. If you read on, it is completely and unequivocally at your own risk!

This particular post boasts spoilers for (not necessarily a conclusive list, as it is hard to know what is a spoiler and what isn’t in some cases…):
The Companions Questline

The Dark Brotherhood Questline (minor)

Mara’s Quests

Now that’s done, I present to you:

Josée does Skyrim: Of Werewolves and Marriage (and Leaflets. Lots of Leaflets.)

I first began to play Skyrim on my housemate’s Xbox while winding down as the University year drew to a close. I then struggled (for reasons unbeknownst to me) with the Steam version as it seemed far more difficult even when I dropped the difficulty to the lowest, and then two on my (not-so-shiny-but-still-playing-games) secondhand 360 I bought from my brother. One of those was on a non-live account, so was deleted just so I didn't keep accidentally logging into it and wondering why I was playing a level 10 Argonian rather than a level 2 Imperial, and now I have a shiny Xbox Live account with an (no longer level 2) Imperial player character.

A New Type of Gaming for Josée...

Hello everyone!

I, as you've seen, usually cover my tabletop, live-gaming and LARP gaming here. Well...today I have decided (due to spamming all my Facebook friends for the majority of this evening) to start chronicling my Skyrim journeys too. Mainly because I found myself simultaneously laughing out loud and facepalming at the strangeness of some of what was happening in my questing this evening, and the fact I was still enjoying myself.

I don't know how long these posts will be or how often they will go up. I'll write, and write and write and then decide "This is too long, I'm going to split it!" or "This is okay, this can go up!" and see how it goes.

All I will say is, there will, of course be spoilers, so skip the posts if you wish (I will try to signpost potential spoilers the best I can, and give each section a clear heading, but you read at your own peril, I am afraid!) and I cannot guarantee the words I use will be grammatically correct (I enjoy making words up to suit my needs) or that there will be no adult humour or language. Sorry.

Enjoy, and please do feed back to me what you think. I write and then post (no proofreaders here, I'm afraid (I'm proud and hope my grasp of the English language is decent enough to not require one.)) and so never have a clue as to what people might think when they read the things I post. I enjoy getting feedback, and would love to know what brought you to my blog and what you think of what I write.

Josée

Resurgence LARP

Hi everyone!

Having looked at Blogger's useful statistics screen, I've noticed I've got quite a range of visitors from a range of countries! So hello to everyone, especially those overseas! I hope everything I'm writing makes sense!

I know I haven't posted for a while, and this is due to returning home as the University year ended, and having been away from the internet for a week on my annual holiday with my family...and trying a new LARP system out! Since I live away from my home city for most of the year, I don't often get to join in systems or games back home; so this summer is going be a change for me.

"Resurgence" is a homespun system by a local LARPer, and (this is going to be a very basic overview because I've only played in two games!) is a fantasy/modern setting. The premise is: there are people in the world who can see things that no "normal" person can. (So far, my character has come across spirits, "demons" (as she calls them), angels/paladins and djinn.) The characters have been "picked up" by a team who claim (note this word; as there are a few characters who may/may not believe this) to be trying to limit the negative impact these beings are having on the world. This often requires the characters to either go and kill the beings, go and talk to the beings, go and make deals with the beings (which has meant a few...interesting deals have been created...) or all of the above in small amounts. To normal people, the characters...look like LARPers; carrying fake weapons or odd bits of pipe and stuff, and anything odd they see is rationalised as "That giant thing attacking me must have been a very large wolf" or "OOOOH, awesome special effects!" etc.

I, personally, have had great fun in the first two games I've played. My character (backstory will follow) has already seen small amounts of character development, and because the player group has been between 4-8 people, I've played with two different sets of different types of character. Also, because the group is so small, it is run in two parts; with half the group playing and half the group NPCing for the morning, and then swapping over for the afternoon. Think of it like swapping ends at half time on a football pitch (I hate football...the World Cup must have subconsciously seeped into my psyche...). My favourite NPCs I've played so far have been an imp focussed on trading for the player's "shinies" (anything that glitters/glistens/shines) and a normal woman called Sally who got caught up in a wendigo attack.

Anyway, I think I've fawned over the game for long enough! Coming up soon will be my character (Ali)'s backstory and a couple of fluff pieces, written in regard to the most recent game.

Enjoy!

Josée
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If Yesterday Should Speak

[Josée's Note: Okay, a little quicker than I had intended. This is a 4,800 word fanfic involving two characters and an NPC from my "London By Night" Vampire: the Requiem game. Helena is a Ventrue NPC who was treated badly by her sire and former domitor, Deveraux. She was rescued by two PCs (Merris and Czaka), and has become Merris' partner, and an adoptive mother to his also-embraced daughter, Lucy (who is a knife obsessed 14-year-old). Merris is an ex-smuggler who left his wife and newborn daughter to keep them out of harm's way. He found his way to London and has since been embraced into the Gangrel clan and has become Seneschal of London. Czaka was a Polish art forger, embraced by the Mekhet. She met an unfortunate end in a botched 'rescue' attempt after Merris was found to have erased parts of his memory to aid an enemy of the Fief. Prince Emily, I should note, IS the same Emily as listed in other froth on this blog, but this is an alternate universe version who shares a similar, but not the same, background.]

Song List:

Human – Christina Perri

Cups – Anna Kendrick

Say Something – Kurt Schneider

Let Me Go – Avril Lavigne

Hope/Xavier’s Theme – John Ottman [This when moving the urn is HORRIBLY bittersweet]

Perfect (Acoustic) – P!nk

Who Knew (Acoustic) – P!nk [This fits so well near the end]

Bridge Over Troubled Water – Hayley Westenra

If Yesterday Should Speak

Dedicated to Ryan (Merris) and Jak (Czaka).

About Me

Hello everyone!

My name is Josée and I have been a roleplayer (forum-based, tabletop, parlour LARP and LARP) since the age of 13. I began on Harry Potter forum roleplay sites, and moved through to Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 edition tabletop, Live Vampire: The Requiem, tabletop World of Darkness and Fiasco to, most recently, Empire LARP.

I am now 21, studying for a degree in Special Educational Needs, and I have come to realise that I have probably written enough background and canon for the characters I have had over the years to complete my dissertation three or four times over. While most people are probably not interested in the imaginary tales of imaginary people from very specific settings, I feel like it is only right to begin logging as many pieces of my roleplaying history as I am possibly able to, given that over the years changes in computer/lack of backing up data have probably lost me huge amounts of imaginative work and character story that in years to come I will come to remember fondly and not actually remember fully enough to appreciate.

If you do read through any of what follows, I hope you enjoy; or empathise, perhaps, with the less positive stories and pieces from some of my characters' more harrowing times.

Thank you for visiting and taking an interest in the things that let me escape reality and join a new world every so often.

Josée
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