Introductions

Gunnar

Gunnar

Virtuous
Hey gang,
So let's get this started!

Who are you?
Where are you from?
What do you play?
How long have you been playing?
What was your hook (what made you go, ZOMG LARP IS AMAZING) ?

My name is Ali. I'm originally from NJ, but I've moved around a bunch over the years, with my present place of residence being Seattle WA. My primary is a sarr fighter, and I've been playing off and on for 16 years, but solidly for 10.

My Hook moment was at my first event:

At 16, I was out on the loop of the old HQ site in Tannersville with Scarn and Storm.

I was a 15 build elf earth templar, one sword, two spells (It was a long time ago.).

Suddenly, we hear four howls from in front of us. The adrenaline hits; I ready my sword, I take a deep breath.

And then we hear 6 howls behind us.

Storm immediately jumps into the woods, and I still swear I can feel Scarn's hand on my belt and the back of my tunic as he threw me into the bushes and jumped in after. Lying on my belly, I watch the 4 werewolves pass us by, and join the 10 to go into the wave battle in the main part of town. My heart was pounding in my ears, and my 16 year old brain was screaming, "THIS IS AWESOME."

So, who are you? :)
 
Michael Strauss. I have been playing since 1993. I lived in NJ when I first started playing and the first ever Ashbury event was at a farm just about half an hour from my home (it was a day event and my first ever event). I was 16 at the time. I currently live in Pittsburgh, PA.

I played a human rogue at that first event. He died twice that first day (both times by PvP), killed once by a Baron that later became the Duke (and who OOG later became one of my best friends ever). This was before the days that you automatically remembered your death, so I had no clue who killed me.

Since then I played an elven templar that permed in the 10% club on my OOG 25th birthday, and a human scout that is my current PC.

My Hook moment happened before I ever played the game. I read an article in Dragon magazine, written by Mike V., about NERO, when I was 14. I have loved the game ever since.

-MS
 
I'm Dan. I'm from the South-Eastern New England area.

I don't always PC, but when I do, I'm a retired elf mercenary who can't manage to stay retired.

I started larping in May 2001, when I was brought to a game by my good friend and D&D buddy Corey who had started the year before.

I got hooked when I started writing for the game. The allure of world-building for other people to explore on that scale was a natural for me (I DM a lot).
 
Who are you? Sam gladish
Where are you from? Originally played at Nero northwest and then Seattle
What do you play? An elf rogue
How long have you been playing? Well I haven't played in a few years since I joined the old US army but I started at 15 and have been playing since then when I can. Keep meaning to make it to the Ashville games!
What was your hook. The very first night, sleeping in the tavern without wards and posting a guard all night, hardly sleeping and just hearing excellent npc goblins making fantastically scary noises and just generally being creepy.
 
Hello there, I am Philippe. I live in Calgary, Canada. I like board games and have a wide selection in the wardrobe at home. I played a few different tabletop games. The first game I played was Shadowrun when I had no idea about anything, and I think I fell in love with tabletop games and the storytelling and imagination behind it. I then played pathfinder, DND, Homemade games a bit like DND and even a one base on Stargate SG1 .

I have started playing at the Alliance Alberta 3 years ago.

I am not quite sure what my hook was. I can think of many things that are awesome. I believe a few of the things that keep bringing me back are the community, and the fact that I can talk about things from years ago and still laugh about it.
I think working with the plot team in writing bits of the story and seeing the players having fun going through those adventures is motivating.
 
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Hey folks!

I'm Evan. I was born in Springfield, MA, but I've been living in the Seattle area since I was 14. My first LARP was 15 years ago, and it was made by players who disliked a game that was made by people who disliked NERO. I always thought that was funny.

I play an Earth Scholar Raccoonkyn by the name of Zeth. Since making him, Zeth's given me the opportunity to explore parts of my own personality, and meet a wide assortment of people and personalities that have made me greater as a person.

What was my hook:

My first event was a season closer in February of 2012. I got mauled by Matt Oostman wearing a full-body dragon suit. It was awesome. I've since then become more involved with the chapter as a rules marshal, member of Logistics, and the New Player Representative, because I want to help contribute to an awesome community in every way I can.
 
Hello!

My name is Ben. I was raised in Massachusetts, joined the Army and spent over a decade in Texas. After that I moved on to Oregon and have lived in the Pacific NorthWest since. I play a Mystic Wood Folk Celestial Scholar and master chocolatier. I've only been playing for three years, but I'm graced with being on the Alliance Seattle plot team after a year and a half on NPC Guild.

I got hooked when on my first event (I NPC'd) after the big Saturday night battle I asked the plot team if I could head out as one of their small sneaky monsters. They said yes and told me to try and capture somebody. An hour and a half later I walk into monster camp and grin. "OK, I got someone, now what?" The surprise of the plot team was amazing, and addicting. That feeling of accomplishment and surprise is something that has stuck with me since. From a PC standpoint that would be when I grabbed some other fledgling players, with no "escort" and went off looking for trouble. We found it in the form of lizards that crippled limbs. We limped, drug and barely hobbled out of that cave. We feared for our lives, we fought like crazy, we were sure one of us would die... and it was AWESOME.

So now I help the Seattle chapter as staff, and play in the Oregon chapter. If NPCing is something you have the least bit of interest in, I suggest you work both sides of the fence that way. They're both great for different reasons, and I love everyone that I work with on either side of that fence.
 
Hello, Alliance friends!

My name is Donna and I was born and raised in the suburbs of Philadelphia, PA, where I currently reside. I first began LARPing in 2011 at Alliance Crossroads when my best friend dragged me to the game after raving about it to me for over a year, and I instantly fell in love with not only the game but the wonderful community of people that came with it. Since then, I've traveled to a number of other East coast chapters, but primarily play at Ashbury, where I began writing plot in 2012 and became the General Manager in 2013. I also play a High Ogre from Gettysburg named Zara as well as Izima, a dog-kin from the Nine Towers HQ campaign.

My hook was a major wave battle against the Dark Man and a horde of husks at my first event as an NPC in Crossroads. We sat scattered in the woods, waiting for the PCs to arrive to the field where a makeshift fortress had been built, and there we hung up all of the extra husk glasses -- plain black plastic glasses without lenses mounted with colored laser lights on either side -- all over the trees. Once the PCs were in position on the field, we were cued to flip on all the hanging glasses to give the illusion of the vast awaiting horde, and we poured shrieking out of the woods to ruthlessly wreck the town. I had never had so much fun in my entire life.

Alliance has totally changed my life in countless wonderful, beautiful ways and I'll always love it for that.
 
Hiya,
My name is Anna, I am from and live in Tacoma Wa, and at the end of October I will have officially been larping for a year. I play Gidjit, a High Orc scout, and am both in character and out trying to figure out how I fit into the scheme of things.
There are a couple of reasons I keep coming back, it's a wonderful excuse to play with makeup and go tromping about in the woods, and I have become more motivated to get back in shape. At my very first event as a level 2 Rogue, there were patherghasts that were yelling "SHUN ALL NON HIGH ORCS!" Being the only High Orc in the area( I think there were three at the event) I got to fight them. It was terrifying. And after that weekend I couldn't stop talking about it.
 
Donna, that event is where you and I met! We waited in the dark and hissed off-color jokes at each other until someone told us to shut up, and then we giggled.

My name is Evan and I was raised in Houston, TX. My first LARP event was four months after I moved to Rhode Island (you can read about it HERE) and it set me on the course of attempting to make LARP not only a hobby, but a career.

I play a pair of characters who each started out being bad and crazy, and who thanks to the PC characters they wound up with became not just good guys, but respected leaders. I think transformations like that, wherein a person experiences a character arc from start to finish, for good or for ill, with the help of their friends, is the best thing about LARP.

The second best thing about LARP is hitting my friends with sticks in the woods.
 
I'm Lauren, I started playing in 2008? I'm terrible with remembering dates. Born and raised in Connecticut, I NPCed HQ for an event to find out what this whole thing was about, because a lifelong friend wouldn't shush about it. That season and the 3 after it I went to every HQ, CT, NH, and NJ game that didn't conflict, and staffed Catskills when it opened. A few years back I moved to NorCal and played SF and the occasional Seattle game. About a year ago I got transferred to MA, and play as much as work allows for.

My primary is a human-turned-MWE celestial ritualist, and my secondary is a dark elf earth caster... and at some point I might end up playing my high Orc fighter tertiary.

My gotcha moment? Sitting on the basement stairs during my first event at like 3 AM Sunday morning watching a Dragoons mod alternating between thinking "I will *never* be able to do that" and "I WANT TO DO THAT."

There are a plethora of moments that kept me coming back, and the fact that this crazy band of nerds has become my family. I've driven hours to help the friends I've made, leaned on them when I've needed it, moved across the country to live with them, and moved back and been welcomed with open arms. I've even gotten a few amazing significant others out of the deal! This community has changed my life on every level, and I wouldn't be where I am if I didn't listen to a crazy redhead and drive to the middle of nowhere in PA for a weekend.
 
My name is Bill. While I was born in Washington, I have lived in Oregon for 39 of my 44 years and love it here.

I started with RPG's when I was 10, 1st edition Dungeons and Dragons. That expanded into Boot Hill, Gamma World, and many of the other TSR games. Then I branched out to others; GURPS, DC Heroes, Palladium Fantasy, etc. I began to run my own games, rather than be a player and found that I loved being on the other side of the screen. Creating and shaping stories with players became my addiction. I have been doing that, mainly with Earthdawn, for nearly 30 years now.

I began my LARP hobby with Vampire and the Camarilla. I moved onto Amtgard for a brief period and then stopped for a long time until I watched the movie Role Models and remembered how much fun I used to have. I looked up local LARPS and found a new one starting, Devia. Devia was a bright and shining spot for me. A truly great experience. After it ended, several people who had played encouraged me to try Alliance. I went to my first event in 2010 in the spring. I had a good time and while it did not draw me in like Devia had, it was the people that led me to decide to keep coming back... well, that and having a conversation with a dragon about how dragons don't exist and he had a good scam going on. :)

My first and only Alliance character is The Black, a Human fighter who really is a diplomat at heart. I have had some great moments playing him, but for now he is on the shelf. Last year I was honored to be asked to join the Oregon plot team and create stories for the PCs. This year I was honored again to be asked to become the new head of plot for Oregon. I am looking forward to working with the great team I have put together to create plenty of scenarios that lead to our players having those kinds of stories that they can share and laugh over for years.

Thank you Alliance for giving me the opportunity to meet awesome people, and create shared moments that become legends.
 
Hello. I'm Kiefer.

I'm one of the handful of Iowa players who have spent the last decade playing at games that are, at best, six hours away. :) First Nero Alliance Kalamazoo (back when we still called ourselves the Nero Alliance), then playing through the founding of Chicago, an ill-fated moment at Northern Minnesota (may it never be spoken of again), and Southern Minnesota. I spent a couple years in Texas and made for more travel by flying out to play Seattle to get my fix, then getting back here and rolling to Ohio for the national event right before they left the Alliance. Took some time off after that because it wasn't a ton of fun as a low level character outside of the big Saturday night fight and a couple mods, and have only recently come back and enjoyed the game again.

I can't say I have a primary character. I have 3-4 on the books just now, and have retired at least 3 more because they either weren't a great deal of fun in one or another way, or reached points in their story where leaving made more sense. I'm currently working on what's going to be my primary for the forseeable future, because there need to be more birdkin and after playing so many makeup races I just don't feel right getting into character without it.

What keeps me coming back is the immersion. For all that this is an expensive, and vastly time consuming hobby, no other RPG really feels as if in-game actions have as much consequences.

I am a shameless theorist, because while the game is good, there are places we could make the mechanics better support the goal of telling good stories and not getting in the way of immersion.

What really hooked me was the people. I've met a lot of very fun people through this game, who I've enjoyed playing with a lot over the years.
 
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Who are you? Jena
Where are you from? Originally - Medford, OR, but now I live in Littleton, NH
What do you play? Alliance Deadlands in Claremont, NH and used to visit Caldaria from time to time. Also play Star Frontiers on Sunday afternoons. Also any board game, pretty much, yeah
How long have you been playing? LARPing for 10 years
What was your hook (what made you go, ZOMG LARP IS AMAZING) ? My friends played and they really wanted me to try it. I tried it once and hated it...I didn't just dislike it, I HATED it and swore I would not return. Then I met a really awesome guy and he thought LARPing sounded kind of fun so I said "okay fine I'll try it again". And I fell in love with it. I loved playing the character, making the costume, you name it! So sometimes first impressions really stink. But if you give it another shot, you may just fall in love.

Since then I have made two more characters. When the dryads were first created I fell in love with not only the race packet but everything they had going on. There was so much freedom to do weird things that had never been done before. So I made a reed dryad. I also wanted to make a rough and tough fighter, so I made a dwarf. I enjoy playing her more than I thought I would.
 
Hi, Im Jay Morrison, and Im from Central Massachusetts.
I have primary been a core NPC / Desk Monster Master for the Caldaria (Mass-Connecticut) chapter for the last 13 years, but on the incredibly rare occasion I'm not, I play Lugobelinious aka Mr Jingles on the east coast. I have, however been mostly absent over the last few years, with both time and money being harder to come by.
I was hooked after my first trip out of camp. Given a base kobald with a dagger and waylay. I got the waylay off.
Next night was (and still is by the way) my favorite mod, known to some as Shadowhook. 10 PCs, 3 bennys, 120 shadow possessed Orcs and 1 Mini Shadowlord. Yeah, I HAD to go back the next month.
 
Hi! I'm Samara, from the New England area. My primary PC is a Pa'ani caster named Irina; I also have two chapter-specific secondaries and I'm on staff at Deadlands (New Hampshire). I attended my first Alliance gathering in 2006 (an off-season IG winter feast held by PCs), but since both New Hampshire and Connecticut were on hiatus at the time, I didn't attend an actual event until 2007. I transitioned to New Hampshire staff in mid-2008 and have been there ever since, serving as a Plot member, new player contact and social media/website manager as well as contributing to National content.

As is the case for most players, it took a lot of listening to my friend gushing about the game to get me to initially go. I have degrees in theatre and have been tabletop roleplaying for years, so I was already predisposed to anything involving creative acting, but it still took a fair bit of convincing. At the winter feast I got to meet several people I'd been hearing stories about, so it was like meeting a room full of celebrities. At my first event I NPCed and did roughly everything wrong (was dreadful in combat, screwed up a mod hook), but I also invented a character that was well-received enough to develop into a recurring role. The idea that I, a wee baby player, could affect the stories of other players was so exciting! And that's when I was hooked.

Alliance has introduced me to an incredible circle of close friends, loved ones, even my fiance. It's given me the opportunity to participate in phenomenal stories as well as tell some of my own. I love the Alliance community and wouldn't trade it for the world.
 
My name is Dio.
I have lived in a LOT of cities, but I started larping while living in Boston and now live in Atlanta.
I play a loud-mouthed dwarf rogue and a stark, old human farmer. Fine, fine, he's a fighter. But he's still just a farmer.

This is only my second season PC'ing and I NPC'ed three games before that in 2013. So still a baby when it comes to larp even if I'm in my mid thirties.

I was convinced to try larping after years of being staunchly opposed to it. I NPC'ed for three games, and I could see why other people liked it, but nothing clicked at all. I just couldn't imagine spending prime weekends in the summer doing it. Season ended, winter happened, and little did I know the same friends that got us into it to begin with (you know who you are!) were convincing my wife to try again, this time as a pc. I didn't think I'd like it any better, but decided to give it a try, whipped up an "easy" character, and trekked up to New Hampshire to try again on the other side of the fence. My first game I was deathed twice, feared a half dozen times, turned into an undead, and even put to sleep and drug into the woods to be eaten (saved by a dragon)... I LOVED IT! I can't say there was any one moment, but the whole weekend formed a gestalt experience that had me coming back for more. Now 18 months after first dawning my farmer hat I've played 18 games across 7 chapters in two systems. I guess I'm officially a larper.
 
Hi, I'm Illana, and I've been playing for 11 years. I'm originally from central CT (Lauren is My Fault, muahaha), although I now live in the MD/DC area. My first event was when my roommate, an old high school friend, said, "hey, you like all that fantasy stuff, and you liked theater- you should try this!" So I drove up to Claremont with her to NPC a Syraandor game, and I was honestly hooked from the minute I started meeting all the wonderful nerds we play with. I had been very shy around new people previously, but when I timidly asked questions, everyone was incredibly welcoming and enthusiastic about the game. Realizing that there were other people out there like me was an incredible shock to me- I had found my people! Then I went into NPCing, and with the first combat got this rush of adrenaline, and I was thoroughly hooked.

Since then, I've met some of the best friends of my life at game, and even a pretty swell husband! Over the years I played at CT, NH, NJ, and HQ, which is my primary chapter now. I'm on staff for the 9 Towers sub-campaign, which has been a ton of fun, and while being so far south makes it hard I do want to make a few trips north again. This game has utterly changed my life, and I wouldn't have it any other way!
 
Yo I'm Frisco!

I'm originally from Colorado, then Pittsburgh, now Lancaster PA.

I play the Gettysburg and Headquarters so far, but I really wanna spread myself a bit more.

I've only been playing for about 2 years

If we're honest, I watched Role Models and I was like, "I would totally do the hell out of that." Then I did a bit more studying, bought a bunch of armor, and made some garb (I have since stepped up my game a little haha). Then I started barraging the closest chapter (GB) with questions and ****, made a character, and then started playing.
 
I'm usually called "JP", sometimes "West-Coast JP", and occasionally a variety of other names best not repeated in polite company. ;)

I was an army brat and still am a frequent traveler, so the idea of being "from" anywhere is kinda alien to me. I originally started playing about 25 years ago in Boston; my third or fourth event was a big Brood-based one out at Camp Wing (I think? Had a tavern with a football field, lake behind it, fort past the lake off the the right... anyways) - I played an elf ranger-type with the Royal Army Dragoons; my character, his commanding officer, HIS commanding officer, and the Brigadier General were all "drunk"; apparently our roleplay was of sufficient quality that Mike actually rejected our attempt to go on the big weekend mod for fear of our characters dying horribly. Instead, we ended up singing songs around a campfire while watching the crowd of players outside the mod area wait for their turn to get smacked around, and ended up staying up the entire night.

I've played lots of characters as a PC: the afore-mentioned elven ranger, a cut-throat dark elf mercenary/assassin, an islander barbarian, a romani knight, a dwarven bombadier, a grizzled old retired veteran, and a sarr wildchild, among others. Most recently I've been playing a hobling chef, and I'm working up a new character concept to start out in San Francisco. I've served on a few plot teams here and there, including heading up Oregon's plot team for a couple of years. I'm a marshal, I've helped edit the most recent rulebook, I'm even in the bastard-child of LARP documentaries: Monster Camp. (And yes, I did, in fact, personally do 1500 points of damage to her. ;) )

LARPing was always just the melding of two pasttimes: theater and playing tabletop RPGs. It's good stuff.
 
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