And so the tale of my adventures at Chroniken von Mythodea 2024 continues. Many thanks to you stalwart people who managed to read all of Part 1. Picking up where I left off, things take a turn for the worse…

The night was cold and I slept poorly. Come the morning I was reluctant to rise. However, bodily functions demanded otherwise and I thought a hot shower might help my now aching muscles. The pathway and steps down the hill to the toilets and showers was a slick, mud covered nightmare. Later in the event this was improved by gravel being added to the muddy dirt steps (Thank you Burgschneider!).

The showers were hot. The toilets still clean. Despite the hot shower I still felt pretty miserable. Such exhaustion as I have not felt in a long, long time. Years ago I relied on my experiences in the Army to endure the challenges of camping in the field for LARP events but time has swiftly run by, leaving me older, more delicate and much too quick to feel sorry myself. I have grown soft, far too accustomed to comfortable living. Not that I was ever truly hardcore but I was surprised by just how difficult this had all become for me. Old lessons would need to be relearned but they would not come overnight.

The physical fatigue was matched by mental fatigue so forgive me if I get some of the timings of the following events out of order. Or forget some details Some of this stuff is a bit of a blur to me. Nor did I catch the names of everyone involved. Some details are going to be left out because I do not want to make this blog post longer than it has to be, I have forgotten some things already and some folks are not keen to have their event details posted online. Out of respect for them I have omitted a few things.

For quite awhile I lounged around in my tent, feeling sorry for myself. Napping a bit. The weather was odd, sometimes hot, sometimes cold, but almost always either rainy or humid. Occasionally a nice breeze helped make things more comfortable. The new tent worked well but I was really struggling to get motivated. I had many things I knew I could/should be doing but I just did not feel like doing anything. It was very odd for me to be so alone… to feel so alone. It was not a good feeling and I normally have enjoyed my own company well enough in the past. But it was also a bit unusual for me to not feel responsible for others.

I could hear people in the tents around me, in particular one group that was pretty militant. They were fairly well motivated and disciplined. Part of me was glad I could just lounge around while they prepared themselves in proper military fashion but part of me missed the responsibility that comes from being part of a group like that.

After quite some time I got motivated, armored up and joined the Captain Mother (“Mrs T”, she has many responsibilities including being the Admiral of the Western Seal Navy) of the Wardens of the Waves for a bit, following her as something of a bodyguard again. She took me many places and I was quite enjoying hanging around at the back in order to absorb what was going on in various meetings. Much of the role play was done in English. It was interesting to see a side of the game I normally missed.

Time and again the Captain Mother impressed me in and out of characters with her knowledge, wisdom and skills. She is physically and mentally tough. She had sustained an real injury during the fighting the previous night and handled it like a pro, visiting the paramedics to sort it out it out with the sage advice of, “best to sort out small problems before they become big problems.”

One high point was meeting Johnathan Crimson, leader of the Crimson Sails Trading Company. Something of a charismatic but clearly black hearted rogue, Johnathan is quite the character.

Some of what he and Burgschneider have made of the Crimson Sails Trading Company is what I wanted at one point for the Grand Expedition to become. As it is now the CSTC (inspire in part by the infamous East India Company) is a great set up for bringing new characters into Mythodea. See the Skill Tree ConQuest of Mythodea videos for more information on that.

While it was a short bit of role play with the Johnathan and his people, I greatly enjoyed it and look forward to more role playing with the Crimson Sails Trading Company in the future.

When the Captain Mother no longer required me I went back to my tent to rest and ended up feeling very sorry for myself. It was quite odd. I do not remember ever feeling quite such strongly despondent feelings. I was in turn lazy, wanting only to be left alone to sleep, then deeply sad, followed by angry and frustrated, then feeling it was a mistake to have returned to LARP. I missed my wife and son. I felt old. A has-been. Broken. I felt trapped, that I could not leave site and just wanted to be forgotten by everyone. If I could have left site at this point I probably would have but there was no way to bring the van up to the camp to load up my tent and kit. On top of that a cracked tooth that had been bothering me got worse (after the event this required a root canal at the dentist, fun times). So stuck I was, in pain, feeling miserable and I dreaded the idea of anyone coming to the tent. My plan was to basically hide until the event was over.

It was really quite disturbing because I got to a point where I felt like I could taste colors, and that things become odd looking, the ceiling of my tent distorting and moving around. Was I becoming delirious?

It had gotten pretty warm and I noticed that I was not sweating. My Army training and experience finally kicked in. I realized I was beginning to suffer dehydration/ heat exhaustion/sun stroke. Once in Basic Training I had been hospitalized for heat stoke. I debated going to the paramedics but did not want to cause a fuss and felt I could deal with it myself. I decided I was still in the heat exhaustion rather than heat stroke phase. I stripped down to my underwear, wet a towel to help bring down my body temperature, laid down on my cot and sipped water carefully, to avoid vomiting. After awhile I started to feel better. I made sure to eat some snacks to take in salt and make sure my blood sugar level was ok. I rested for a few hours and finally started to feel much better in the early evening.

In hindsight I should have asked for help and gone to the paramedics. My stubbornness and pride had become dangerous and I really need to watch out for that. It is a difficult balance, wanting to be stubbornly tough to avoid quitting from weakness but the line between tough and foolish is a thin one.

Some folks will think I should not share this experience publicly like this but if someone, anyone, learns from my mistake then it will have been worth it. And writing it all down has helped me confront my own mistakes. Open and honest self criticism as a means for self improvement.

That said, many times I have been told I think too much, care too much and wear my heart on my sleeve.

Some folks might add I talk/write too much!

Medical emergency averted… I got dressed, went out and socialized a bit. The Captain Mother asked me if I wanted to accompany her some more. I jumped at the chance and I had a brilliant late afternoon and early evening of role playing with her and folks she introduced me to.

Although not everything went according to her plans I believe.

We occasionally dipped out of character a bit at the tavern. I met an interesting Ukranian couple at their first LARP. There was lots of singing and dancing at the tavern. One of my throwing daggers fell onto the floor in the tavern, right in the middle of a large group of singing women as I tried to get past them… which created an awkward moment. All of the folks working in the tavern were great but one fellow behind the bar stood out to me in particular. His English was excellent, his sense of humor quite sharp and he always managed to cheer me up every time I ran into him… both in the tavern and on the battle field. I regret to say I do not recall his name but he was quite the character.

After such a great evening I did not expect things to get any better but something really interesting took place later that night.

I was looking for Colin, Archon of the West, in the large communal tent one of the Western Seal groups used as a meeting location for various folks, including the leaders of the Western Seal. My plan was to get some introductory role play for my character as Xymryk was supposed to be here on behalf of Jarl Zeno but Colin was busy as was so often the case. I resigned myself to head to bed and deal with it the following morning.

Suddenly a character named Tarabas (spelling? Sorry Carstein!) suggested I join a meeting of “weaponmasters” that was about to be held in their communal tent. I declined. He insisted. I knew Tarabas to be an influential character in the West. I decided that he was important enough and unusual enough for him to be someone Zeno would have spoken of being one of the few Drow that Zeno liked. It seemed difficult to refuse him but I tried.

Knowing very little of these weaponmasters, only that they were all quite well developed characters with long term plot investment and powers based on the Elemental Spirituality of the Mythodea setting, I figured my Sword Scholar (ie dedicated philosopher/student of all things related to war and combat) character would probably want to attend the meeting to learn about them.

So I finally agreed.

Once folks began arriving I suddenly got self conscious about my poor German language skills and tried to make my excuses again to leave. I was repeatedly told by several people that language would not be an issue and I was given a personal translator (she was quite competent and very nice). I was not the only guest at the meeting but the other guest was a prospective applicant to become a weaponmaster.

Honestly, I was quite overwhelmed.

As the meeting progressed I realized these were some of the biggest heroic movers and shakers of the Mythodea setting, coming from various different factions. People who had sacrificed a lot to become these highly skilled defenders of the Elements. High level plot was being discussed, the kind of thing my previous character rarely got involved with (outside running the Grand Expedition Zeno focused on mass combat primarily, caring a lot more about how to fight than why to ). It was difficult to play catch up and much of it went over my head but it was a brilliant glimpse into a part of the Mythodea game world I had never really experienced.

It felt a bit like sitting in on a meeting of the Jedi Council.

They all made me feel so welcome. I was even allowed to ask some questions and thereby participate a bit. Thanks again Tarabas(Carstein) for being so stubborn with me!

Another challenging night of being cold and uncomfortable but not as bad as previous nights. Followed by another difficult morning but again not as bad as previous mornings, except I picked the one shower trailer that did not have hot water. I took that to mean none of the shower trailers had hot water and only found out later I could have just tried a different trailer. Doh!

The day went quickly. I was feeling much better. I got around and did a few things…. mostly socializing…but figured this would be the day we would have “the big battle.” LARPs can be a little predictable about things like that as so much needs to be fit into so few days and we were on the last day of the event.

For more photos check the Skald Galleries…

https://skald.com/event/galleries?lang=en&ct=galleries

I was correct about the battle, but it did not happen as I expected. We did not march off to a big set piece battle. Instead, while I was with a small group guarding a location important to the magical aspects of the plot we slowly got dragged into an ever growing skirmish that turned into a pitched battle. It felt a lot more natural than a staged set piece battle.

As it was I was increasingly involved in a lot of the fighting, at times guarding the Captain Mother while at other times joining the shield wall. I tried not to fall into old habits but time and time again I grew frustrated when people let gaps form in the shield wall or did not respond to threats on the flanks. A few times I succumbed to my frustration and yelled commands at people to address these concerns. Each time I tried to remind myself that I was not playing Zeno and that such orders as I was giving would likely be ignored. And indeed generally those orders were ignored.

Based on where she went, the Captain Mother and I seemed to see the very same tactical problems, but she rarely called on people to fix them. Instead of telling people what to do, she generally just did what needed to be done on her own. Some times people followed and other times they did not. Some times she did give orders. But time and again our thoughts seemed to run parallel. We usually stayed on the left flank of the Settler forces (ie the player characters). But sometimes we ended up in the middle of the mass formation as we faced off against the Undead.

For those that do not know the PCs generally play settlers who have come to Mitraspera, a continent in the world of Mythodea. The Western Seal is but one faction amongst several.

en-home

We saw enemy troops of the Skargen (sort of like Vikings) hit the rear of the Settler forces but did not get involved with the rear guard action, trusting others to do their part.

The “army” of Settlers was a somewhat motley collection of various factions, groups and solo players. Some groups were better organized and more disciplined than others but coordination between groups was difficult. While there tends to be strong leaders at the top levels, junior leadership and coordination tends to be lacking, ie NCOs. I suppose that matches many real Medieval European armies but it makes my inner NCO become greatly frustrated. It was not the first time I had experienced this.

It is in part why I gave my character Xymryk a background of once having been an Urizeni Sentinel of the Citadel Guard (disciplined soldiers of the Urizen army), however I am also of a mind that many players do not want to play disciplined soldiers… they want to play heroic, individualist warriors.

And the game play at Mythodea is focused on building a collaborative narrative, not winning per se. I have to keep reminding myself of that. It is not a simulation, training or a competition. I will admit it is much easier for me to lose a sword fight than it is for me to lose a battle I am leading people in. Does that sound strange to you? I think it comes in part for feeling responsible for other people but also because while I accept many people are much better sword fighters than me I really dislike the idea of being considered an incompetent military leader.

LARP is often a balance of simulation and game. In the past my emphasis on the simulation aspect damaged the fun of the game aspect for some players, because I felt I had to provide the best, most realistic battlefield leadership I could. Which in practice really makes heroic, cinematic mass combat difficult. People get tired of “hold the line!”, not taking unwise risks that put the group at risk to save individuals and focusing on achieving strategic or tactical objectives rather than showy victories where the enemy routs in panic.

I have been compared to Lucius Vorenus in the past….

So I decided to create Xymryk with a background that mirrored my own, and made him question the value of trying to treat heroic, individualistic warriors as soldiers, when they clearly were not. I did this by having him have a past that included time in the Imperial Militia as a thief-taker where he learned the value of lateral, individualistic critical thinking. This mirrored my experience as Police Officer where some of what I learned in the Army worked but some of it did not. As a British Cop I learned to ask “Why?” a lot, whereas this was discouraged in my US Army Infantry training. There are good reasons why armies should not be used for policing.

And I will continue to try to avoid the temptation to lead others in LARP combat. I always felt it was a mistake for Jedi to become generals for example. Let others enjoy the burdens of leadership I say. Heavy is the head that wears the crown. Feel free to add in your own witty leadership anecdote.

During a lull in the fighting, there were some arranged duels between some Settler champions(were these weaponmasters from the previous night? I have no idea and did not even consider that at the time) and one of the main Undead champions….. Sir Fortingas.

This Undead champion was one of the main plot characters of the event but I had not really understood the main plot of the event. I got the impression that while under the sway of the Undead currently we were trying to convince him to no longer support the Undead through magical means. And we were fighting him for some reason. Perhaps to prove our honor? Our mettle? Just to beat him for morale reasons?

We watched these duels as the battle lines jockeyed for position. Sometimes the Settler champion won, sometimes the Undead champion. Then one of the Undead rank and file warrior witch called out, questioning the bravery of the Settlers… asking if there were no more warriors brave enough to fight. She looked right at me as she said this and I felt called out. So I stepped out of the battle line, walking straight towards here. She said I would not be fighting her but their great Champion. I said fine… but this was clearly not part of the plan as suddenly what appeared to be some sort of Undead mage came up to me to tell me not to take another step forward. I suppose no one had expected me to step forward, there is hardly enough time and space for everyone to get to fight in duels on the battlefield. I played along and told him that it works both ways, so that he should not take a step forward. Which of course he did. I hit him with my sword, he ignored it, grabbed me and started babbling what I guessed was a spell. I told him I could not understand what he was saying a couple of times, he just continued so I decided it was some sort of painful contact spell and fell over. I was dragged back into the ranks of the Settler forces and given healing treatment.

The great Undead champion it turns out was being played by a friend from my old LARP days and at one point after he had been beaten by another Settler and I was helping him up he said he would come for me. I smiled and said sure. Not long after he tracked me down and called me out of the Settler ranks. Again I stepped forward, hoping I would not make a fool of myself. We were both clearly tired but we had a fun, if brief fight. I did better than I expected, fighting in my usual Game of Thrones Jorah Mormont style (not the most skilled, more power than finesse, one to never give up), closing the distance to make the most of my shield versus his pole arm. He got me good at one point with a punch to face I had not expected but I decided with my helmet his punch would not finish me. I took his legs and while we both laid there injured he played along as I pretended to stick my sword into his armpit, avoiding his plate armor. I finished it off with punching the pommel, driving the blade home in a nicely dramatic fashion. He played along like champ and made me feel quite the hero. Thanks Michael!

Again I was dragged back through our lines and was healed thanks to a very skilled Alchemist. I was deeply in her debt as I figured Xymryk had been on death‘s door at this point.

While that duel was the single most epic moment of the event for me, there were plenty of other decent and not so decent fights I had with various Undead during the battle.

A couple of stand out moments, a big Undead soldier with a flail. Fortunately I have used a LARP flail before so know to counter it… and that is one reason I use a large round punch grip shield. A large active shield is one way to counter a flail. One Undead who got me with a good shot into my face with his LARP weapon by accident. He was genuinely sorry and I told him not to worry about it as I was uninjured, which is why I wear a helmet in LARP fights, but I liked his good sportsmanship and concern for my well being. I fought some tough Undead ladies, one of which is in the top photo of this blog.

Where I got into bother was with a couple of the same frustrations as before, NPCs that in hindsight I believe were pretty much indestructible so they could act as “crowd control” but that at the time I did not realize were doing so.

I saw some of what I took to be Undead witches doing battlefield magic with just two of them instead of the three I had read were required for battlefield magic… this I took to be from the limited number of NPCs available. They seemed to be causing magical fear as they rushed into our lines, causing large holes to open up. I was told that it was pointless to stand before them and try to face them. That they should only be attacked from behind. So, I tried the only tactic I could think of. Despite my age and armor, I tried to sweep in behind them whenever they got into our lines… running past hitting each one once in the back, figuring that while each blow would be unlikely to incapacitate them that others would follow my example. I do not recall seeing anyone do so, nor did my blows seem to cause any affect on them. At the time my attack seemed clever but in hindsight I must have looked foolish and I regret doing it now. Rookie move.

At another time one of the witches was alone in her battle line across from me, made eye contact and started shouting what I guessed was some sort of magic spell. I could not understand and was unsure what to do so I backed up a bit, broke eye contact, knelt down behind my shield and tried to decide if my magically inclined, Fey touched Sword Scholar would have some sort of counter spell or resistance. In my mind I was like young Galen hiding behind his shield as the dragon breathed flame upon him in the movie Dragonslayer….

I was asked what I was doing and I explained I was being magically attacked by a witch, in response they said, “what witch”? I pointed to where I thought she was. Silence followed. I then glanced quickly up, only to see she was gone. I have no idea how long she had been gone and I felt a little foolish.

Given that the combat game mechanics call for “you can do what you can convincingly portray” I decided that panel beating plate armor with a one handed sword was foolish so when fighting heavily armored opponents I tried to aim for unarmored sections. In particular on people fighting someone else in the chaos of the battleline scrum. In order to not hit delicate body parts, like the back of the knee which is so often unarmored, I tried to “saw” those with my sword blade. I was later told this was not allowed, despite it not being published in the written rules online. I was told it was banned due to the sharp edges of some LARP weapons causing real injuries. I felt terrible that some people may have thought I was being unsafe but frustrated at there being unwritten rules. I felt very much like a rookie again.

I was also confused by an NPC (turns out he was an Ref) pushing me and when I pushed him back he said, “I am pushing you” repeatedly, which I took to mean he was saying he was somehow magically stronger than me. It frustrated me because a verbal call like that runs contrary to the “you can do what you can convincingly portray” combat I am experienced in from Epic Empires. I am OK with such verbal calls but only when I know they are part of the rules, such as in other LARPs I have attended. How was I to know his NPC was stronger than my character, both of us being of similar size and similarly armored? Is there a way to resist such a call? Anyway I just rolled with it and let him push me back several times.

During the fighting I saw many people hitting him to little effect and he often moved people around. Normal plate armor or something magical? I had no idea. That was when I noticed his yellow shoulder bag (marking him a Referee or SL as they say at Mythodea). I decided he must be doing “crowd control” for safety and to help move along overall narrative of the battle.

For a couple of weeks prior to the event I tried to get clarification on the rules for thrusting using thrust-safe weapons at the event. Asking on Reddit did not help. Emails to Burgschneider prior to the event did not help. Speaking with Thomas of Burgschneider about it prior to time in sort of helped, in that he clarified that Freyhand thrust-safe spears had not been deemed by Burgschnieder to be safe enough for Mythodea events. Only Calimacil thrust safe spears…. and I do not recall seeing any of those on the field. However I did see people thrusting with a lot of other weapons, including swords.

So I was a bit frustrated when the NPC/Ref mentioned above thrust his pole arm into my chest. Where he was frustrated later when I “sawed” the back of his neck, tonwhich he shouted “not the throat, never the throat!”. To be clear I know to avoid the throat and was no where near his throat. I thought it was a safely controlled move while he was bound up pushing another player. However, I now understand it was a prohibited move. I countered with a comment he should not have been thrusting earlier and we parted ways. I was later told by Thomas his pole arm was a specially made thrust-safe pole arm from Sander Propworx, a LARP weapon maker I know and trust. I believe neither of us wanted to fight unsafely and risk injuring the other but all this confusion about what is or is not allowed comes down to poor communication and documentation. I have since tried to apologize to this Ref and have passed the word to Burgschneider, while I have been told he is fine and no additional apology is necessary.

I want to make this very clear. I enjoy LARP combat but I never want to actually hurt anyone for real while we do this. I strive hard to fight well but safely and I do not feel so competitive that I have to win every fight. If it appears I have not taken a hit it will be because I did not feel it or believe the hit would not have penetrated my armor. I realize this can make a fight between two plate armored opponents at bit dull.

The Settlers finally won the battle, clearing off the Undead and Skargen. On the way back to camp the Captain Mother dismissed me to go on private business. I finally got some time to role play with Collin, Archon of the West, as he and a handful of Western Seal settlers fought a powerful enemy NPC called the Black Prince of the Black Dynasty (formerly known as Blck Ice. I was able to role play a bit of healing and priestly encouragement to a badly wounded Settler and finally introduce Xymryk properly to the Archon.

A bit more socializing but not a late night as I knew the morning would come swiftly…. and the event was over for me.

Burgschneider has faced a lot of criticism. Certainly I have heard a lot in the short time of my admittedly extensive online research since my return, backed up with quite a bit said to me in person during the event. I do not want to dismiss those criticisms as they belong to the people making them and I do not have their experiences. However, I have not yet seen malice in Burgschnieder or any of their staff. I have seen entirely too little communication.

The combat rules, particularly about thrusting and thrust safe weapons needs to be made more clear. And there needs to be something in the written rules online about “sawing” being banned. I would not have done it if it had been noted as prohibited in the rules. And for the record, I like thrusting with thrust-safe weapons in LARP combat. I think it adds to the combat experience. Everyone has to be on the same page of music though during this combat dance. It would be nice if there was a way to visually distinguish thrust-safe weapons.

Mythodea felt like a weird mix of old and new to me. I really like the new factions Burgschneider have introduced, Atteron and the Skargen. The showers and toilets were fine. I wish there had been more traders on site, there were things I had forgotten that I would have liked to have had an opportunity to buy there. The rules confused me but overall I enjoyed the fighting. I really need to get my head around the magic system. Burgschneider provided a decent in character tavern, although I consistently struggled to stay in character at the tavern.

I am curious to see where the main Mythodea plot goes under the direction of Ruth of Burgschneider.

Kartoffelhaus provided good food, although a limited menu, and lots of jokes. I always enjoyed the banter with them.

I have hit many of the high points and low points of the event but not all of them. This has been an incredibly long blog post and I am running out of time. To speed up the summary, I had fun after the battle. It was great socializing with so many nice people, old friends and well as new.

Baron Dagger (Gary) of East Blackwood and his people deserve a special shoutout for helping me out of character as well as in character at various points. I wish I had had more time to role play with them as well as Sir Balor the Red (Hagen) of Validar. If I had not been so broken from the first evening I would likely have been able to do just that! Lesson learned.

To better understand what actually happened during the event in character East Blackwood produced an in character newspaper article about it…

https://www.eastblackwood.de/l/mythodea-a-campaign-for-terra/

Almost everyone in the Western Seal made me feel welcome, certainly no one made me feel unwelcome, although I was surprised how few recognized me. I had great fun presenting butterfly brooches from my hat to people that had either taught my character something, gone over and above to help my character or saved the life of my character… which resulted in some great role play and a teary eye or two.

Speaking of teary eyes…..“Mrs. T, Mr. F and Steve”… I can not thank you enough. Your assistance throughout the event really helped carry me through it and was topped off with your very kind assistance in helping load my van so I could get off site before the rain started again. While I got briefly stuck getting off site I managed to avoid getting myself and my kit soaked. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow and role playing with you at JdS!

In closing I want to thank the event organizers of Burgschnieder, all the NPCs (NSCs), Refs (SLs) and players that made Chroniken 2024 as much fun as it was. Apologies to those I did not specifically name, you still had a big impact on me. Weaponmasters, Alchemists, Soldiers, Rogues, Knights, Lamplighters and more.

LARP is a collaborative endeavor and we all make game for each other. Hopefully I was fun for you to role play with and if you have any feedback or suggestions on how I can do better, please let me know.

For the non-LARPers reading this, I hope you now have a better idea of what LARP is beyond the infamous “lightning bolt” YouTube video. Adults playing pretend but also creating stories and living adventures both fictional as well as real. As always please feel free to comment below.

Beyond the Seals

Now….. I need to get packing!