I’m an unabashed geek.
I admit it.
While rummaging around the internets (heh), I discovered a local game store running a “Tavern Night” (no alcohol served). Um… what’s that about?
It turns out there’s a fantasy boffer-lite LARP group using the place. It’s a location to do some light roleplaying between their main sessions.
Hmmmm.
I’m going to back up a moment.
- Boffer = people who get together to beat on each other with foam or other padded (i.e. safe) weapons and pretend to wound each other.
- -lite = because what they mainly want to do (and succeed at) is dress up in all sorts of cool fantasy costumes and run around politicking / impressing each other with neat characters and stories.
- LARP = Live Action Roleplaying, which in this case means a camping trip every other month to the Renaissance Pleasure Fair campground to gather together in force and have a weekend-full of fun.
So this tavern game is their chance to gather together in costume when not camping. A night catching up / chatting. Folks, like me, who are not part of that game can join for a nominal fee, as long as we play something normal.
Like townsfolk or the typical people you’d find in a fantasy bar.
Me and my group? Well…
We went as pirates.
Did I say pirates? That’s ridiculous. We went as law-abiding sailors, perfectly legit, right?
The way we set it up was this: we had a basic plot (I was the quartermaster; we also had the seamstress, the captain’s daughter and a cabin boy). When interacting with each other, it would always be a game of “Yes, and”. In essence you had to agree with what your fellow player said, but you could expand on it.
That’s how we went from talking about another inn we’d visited earlier that used lobster shells for lantern shades to an attack on our ship. By a giant blue lobster (which sheared off our mast) that made, in the end, a delicious meal.
It was a fine evening that ended up with me belting out “Loch Lommond” with the head of the bard’s college. And the crew helping a couple out with their new status as undead (or undying) and us promising to return.
Next time, I think we’ll show up with a dozen or so folks and really scare folks.