Musings: the Gathering ;)

Wow, what a busy time since my last post!

In the time since I last posted I went along to the Gathering in Spondon with my shiny new upgraded healer character Aurelian. He was the first character I had ever upgraded under the Lorien Trust system and was hoping to show off my awesome new healing abilities to help keep my group alive. This desire lasted about 3 hours, before being hacked down whilst on a rescue mission at our faction gate, dragged away and promptly killed. I knew I shouldn't have spent my OSPs! So with the untimely demise of Aurelian, it was time to get thinking of a new character sharpish.

I didn't want to repeat what i had already done (a heavy armour healer) and didn't wish to reuse the kit from the character, as to me, it would be too similar (not that I am recognisable in the Lions faction). So I decided to settle on a mage: enter stage right Pertinax: mage of awesome cosmic power. In a system like the LT system I always shied away from playing a mage, as it seemed to me that I would blow through all my (underwhelming) spells and be usefulness for the rest of the day. I can safely say (after 3 days of playing him) that this is not the case. i don't think i have ever enjoyed a LARP character so much. The tactical challenge of playing such a fragile character made for interesting fights, and my spells were far from underwhelming. The decision of what spell to use when is a lot of fun, and in many different situations, I felt I could have a decent impact on the fight. The highlight had to be stopping a member of the undead continuing his chant of wasting with a quick mute spell, thus saving his victim's life. That felt good!

This year's Gathering was probably the most enjoyable event I have been to. I think a combination of having more players (including a new one in the form of Anna's rogue type character), playing a character I really clicked with (despite my healer's death), and actually starting to do things as a group, have all combined to make it feel like we mattered as a group and that the event was a hit. Even leaving early on the Monday due to awful weather didn't dampen this feeling. Our group acquired it's first ever magic weapon (at a very reasonable price, thanks Ved!), and we were a useful and cohesive unit of the battlefield in both the set piece and the monster skirmishes. Our unit went along onto the plane of unlife on the Saturday morning, getting involved in some of the Lions plot of getting thoroughly beaten (but living). It was a fantastic event and I have come back with a renewed sense of keen for LARP and fantasy roleplaying. It was such a good event I only got one hand of Magic in!

The subsequent weekend has been taken up moving home to the West Midlands. I am now set up to work from home, and commute, meaning that I no longer have to reside in a flat on my own 5 days a week. What this means for gaming is hopefully a better focus on spending time writing/preparing for sessions and more chances to play. I got another session of Temple of Elemental Evil in this weekend and plans are afoot to get a second regular game on the go. Hopefully in my next post I should be able to provide more details on one or the other of these things.