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Tentacles of the North – Recap
At Kublacon 2007, Good Omens Productions held their first ever LARP, Tentacles of the North, a Call of Cthulhu Dark Ages viking tale. One of our players was tasked with creating an epic poem recounting the events that unfolded that even and did she deliver! Here’s a recap of the night, enjoy!
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THREE ARE THE SHIPS IN FROM THE WILD WAVES
THREE ARE THE CAPTAINS WHO PRESENTS BRING
THREE ARE THE STORIES TOLD IN THIS HALL
WINTER WHITE HORSE, ICY MARE, FIRST SPOKEN
IN THE LAND OF THE IRISH
WON GOLD AND GLORY
FIERCE ASGRIM PULLED BY THE STRENGTH OF ARM
SWEET LIFE, HANGING IN THE STRANGED CHIEFTEN
NEXT THE TALE OF A SHIP “WORLD SERPENT”
SOUTH TH ENGLES-LAND
SAILED FOR PLUNDER
INTO THE TEMPLE OF THE TENTACLED ONE-GOD
THE FROG-MEN, SLIT-BELLIED, DIED BEFORE THEM
LAST THE SHIP CAME, WAVE WOLF, STORY BEARING,
MIGHTY STORMS CRASH, WILD WEATHER, SEA LIGHTENING
DRIVEN TO SHELTER IN THE MAW OF AN ISLAND,
FROM A MIGHTY CAVE SERPENT A BRACELET THEY BROUGHT.
THREE MEN SPOKE – THREE STORIES – THREE PRESENTS
BUT IN FROM THE DARKNESS, UNBIDDED, A FOURTH
DARK WAS HIS STORY, ILL FORTUNE IN VINLAND
GREAT THE GOLD STOLEN – FAR GREATER THE PRICE
WORSHIPPED THE STRANGE GOD,
THE SKRAELLINGS, MAD-TEMPERED, CALLED OUT TO THEIR ALLIES
FIERCE WERE THOSE GREY MEN.
UP FROM THE OCEAN, COLD FINGERED THEY CLIMBED HER
THE SEA-BITCH, SORE WOUNDED, SOUGHT PEACE OF DEEPWATERS
MAD ULF BRINGS THESE TIDINGS.
ALL OTHERS WERE TAKEN.
NOT LONG WERE THESE STORIES TO RING IN OUR RAFTERS
ERE DARK DESTINY RAIN DOWN UPON US
STONES TO OUR DOORS, WARRIORS TAKEN,
DARK STORMS TO MASK THE FACE OF OUR ENEMY.
HROLF THE KING COLLAPSED IN WEAKNESS
SIGRID, HUSCARL, DRAWN TO MADNESS
TOOK THE PLUNDER, SKRAELLING’S IDOL.
GRABBED IT CLOSE AND FLED TO DARKNESS.
CAME THE BEAST OUT OF THE DARKNESS
SLICK WITH CLAWS, IT’S STENCH WAS FOUL
BACK AGAIN THE HUSSCARL RISES
FROM THE DEATH-WOUND HEMING WALKS
FIERCE AND MIGHTY ROSE THE NORSEMEN
FOUGHT FOR PRINCESS, HEARTH AND HALL
SLEW THE MONSTER DARK WITH ICHOR
SLEW AGAIN OUR DEAD COMPANIONS
MORNING RISES OVER ICELAND
BLOOD-RED SUN O’R ALL THE CARNAGE
BRINGS THE LIGHT TO END MY TALE.
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Here are a few pics from the night.
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#2 written by Chadmeister 3 years ago
Thanks for the feedback. I’m sorry the LARP didn’t meet your expectations but I’d like to point out a few things.
The first problem you describe doesn’t seem to be a pacing issue but problem with the player not involving themselves in the plot. First and foremost, it was a LARP that relied on players interacting with each other. Someone sitting background doing their nails sounds like they weren’t invested into the game. The GMs tried to keep a watch on the pacing and when we saw a lull, that was our cue to advance the plot someway (i.e. handouts, the king dieing, monsters banging on the door).
I will say that only two roles were predetermined (Ulf the Mad and King Hroulf) for a variety of reasons. For the other roles, preferential treatment was given for those who showed up in some sort of costume more then anything else. They showed an initial investment to the game which shows a lot. For example, the girl who played the daughter of King Hroulf wasn’t known by any of the GMs but we picked because she came in costume and by the end of the night she had a pretty pivotal role.
I will agree the fight at the end went rather poorly. Unfortunately, the Cthulhu Live! rules set didn’t work well for the encounter especially when dealing with a band of well-armed vikings! LARP combat with a group is probably one of the hardest thing to balance…either they go way to long with the group losing interest becuase it’s dragging out or the combat goes to short and feels anti-climactic.
As for who was to be determined for King, if I remembered correctly, the group as a whole finally settled on making the the King’s daughter the Queen. Some people trying to pick their buddies but the end results seemed to worked out well.
Your valuable feedback along with other have given us several ideas including areas that need to be improve if we were to run another LARP at a convention. As you noticed, GO isn’t running a LARP at Kublacon this year as it’s a very time and energy intensive project to do but we will definitely be doing again sometime in the future.
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Sorry I didn’t give feedback right away, but I didn’t even know about your little website until today.
My girlfriend, a friend and I played in this event. It lacked pacing, for the girls started doing their nails instead of getting nervous about the creature outside the door or the possibility of a traitor.
In addition, about half of all the characters were assigned to the games clique of people. These were the important roles, so then the other half of the people who signed up had marginal roles. If the game is set up correctly, then LARP’ers off the street should be able to play the important/complicated roles. And, if you want people to really get involved in your games, you want the strangers to play the important roles.
In the big end fight, not everyone who wanted to try and hit the creature got a chance to do so. The creature went down without a moan, and only one person died and one went insane earlier.
It is a shame of a CoC game where such a small portion of the population (10%) are adversely effected.
And of course in deciding who the new king would be, everyone voted for their buddy, instead of anyone deserving.
In the end, it was a typical GOP experience. I’d been hoping things had changed over the years. Keep trying!!