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Further Proof That I Am, Indeed, Bonkers.
Aug. 2nd, 2008 09:04 amThis should go on the gamers and gaming filter on my regular journal (and I'll no-doubt crosspost) but given the nature of the idea, I want to discuss it here.
Bit O'Context
Years and years ago - at this point, something like ten of 'em, in fact - my hubby and I looked at each other and said "Let's run a Doctor Who LARP1". To be fair to the husband, it was largely my idea, but he humors me in all sorts of ways. The idea was largely inspired by the live-action RP/scavenger hunts that a friend of mine hosted once a year so, the final premise that Alex and I bashed out was that the participants are all final-year students at "The Time Academy" on Gallifrey (keeping it simple) and they had been sent forth in a slightly wheezy Type 60 TARDIS to do their final exam in the field. Things, of course, would go wrong, with the upshot that the half-a-dozen players would spend a pleasant afternoon dashing around central San Francisco collecting clues from various NPCs, solving little riddles and, y'know, saving the world. Simple enough, so to speak, and much like the highly-enjoyable events a pal of mine used to run, albeit set in another gaming world entirely.
Naturally, Alex and I called our little idea I Left My Hearts In San Francisco.
The idea was abandoned when I realized that the logistics were way out of hand - I was looking at needing at least half a dozen assistants, scattered across downtown SF and possibly even in to Berkeley (cellphone connectivity mandatory!) in order to support half a dozen participants and, even then, there was going to be lot of unseemly scrambling as the helpers doing a turn as NPCs2 Zed and Vee would have to rush off and get ready to be NPCs Gee and Aitch at another location because when you realize you've written something like twelve NPCs, none of which encounter the players more than once, you're going to ask your volunteers to double-up on NPC duty. Potentially fun for the players, yes, but also a potential nervous breakdown for the GMs - namely me and Alex.
Later on, I devised a second idea for a much smaller "locked room" event, focused more on The Doctor, himself - and assorted nemesii, of course. This idea is in a constant state of 'in development' but hasn't been abandoned. In fact, I'd write the whole damn thing up in a moment - certain outstanding plot issues notwithstanding - if I knew I could get the players together. The one huge-and-unfixable disadvantage of the plot is that it must have exactly X number of players and if one of them flakes out on the event, the entire thing croaks. "Tightly knit" barely describes how the PCs and plots are woven together, although I will admit that X keeps wobbling between eight and eleven people, depending on how I'm feeling about a particular plot line on any given day, so that's still to be fixed. I'm not going to share any more details about that one, because, as I say, it might yet happen - and it'll remain untitled until I can think of one that wouldn't give the game away in half a dozen words.
So, it's established that I've got a history of wanting to do something gamer-ish and Whovian - a history of being bonkers, yes.
***
This morning, I woke up with the shreds of some dream fading from my head and, without any bloody prompting from me, the following permutations for a complete revamp of I Left My Hearts In San Francisco fell into my head. Of course, they're still ludicrously ambitious.
( Details Behind The Cut )
Bit O'Context
Years and years ago - at this point, something like ten of 'em, in fact - my hubby and I looked at each other and said "Let's run a Doctor Who LARP1". To be fair to the husband, it was largely my idea, but he humors me in all sorts of ways. The idea was largely inspired by the live-action RP/scavenger hunts that a friend of mine hosted once a year so, the final premise that Alex and I bashed out was that the participants are all final-year students at "The Time Academy" on Gallifrey (keeping it simple) and they had been sent forth in a slightly wheezy Type 60 TARDIS to do their final exam in the field. Things, of course, would go wrong, with the upshot that the half-a-dozen players would spend a pleasant afternoon dashing around central San Francisco collecting clues from various NPCs, solving little riddles and, y'know, saving the world. Simple enough, so to speak, and much like the highly-enjoyable events a pal of mine used to run, albeit set in another gaming world entirely.
Naturally, Alex and I called our little idea I Left My Hearts In San Francisco.
The idea was abandoned when I realized that the logistics were way out of hand - I was looking at needing at least half a dozen assistants, scattered across downtown SF and possibly even in to Berkeley (cellphone connectivity mandatory!) in order to support half a dozen participants and, even then, there was going to be lot of unseemly scrambling as the helpers doing a turn as NPCs2 Zed and Vee would have to rush off and get ready to be NPCs Gee and Aitch at another location because when you realize you've written something like twelve NPCs, none of which encounter the players more than once, you're going to ask your volunteers to double-up on NPC duty. Potentially fun for the players, yes, but also a potential nervous breakdown for the GMs - namely me and Alex.
Later on, I devised a second idea for a much smaller "locked room" event, focused more on The Doctor, himself - and assorted nemesii, of course. This idea is in a constant state of 'in development' but hasn't been abandoned. In fact, I'd write the whole damn thing up in a moment - certain outstanding plot issues notwithstanding - if I knew I could get the players together. The one huge-and-unfixable disadvantage of the plot is that it must have exactly X number of players and if one of them flakes out on the event, the entire thing croaks. "Tightly knit" barely describes how the PCs and plots are woven together, although I will admit that X keeps wobbling between eight and eleven people, depending on how I'm feeling about a particular plot line on any given day, so that's still to be fixed. I'm not going to share any more details about that one, because, as I say, it might yet happen - and it'll remain untitled until I can think of one that wouldn't give the game away in half a dozen words.
So, it's established that I've got a history of wanting to do something gamer-ish and Whovian - a history of being bonkers, yes.
***
This morning, I woke up with the shreds of some dream fading from my head and, without any bloody prompting from me, the following permutations for a complete revamp of I Left My Hearts In San Francisco fell into my head. Of course, they're still ludicrously ambitious.
( Details Behind The Cut )
