It’s Sunday morning as I sit at my computer for a few minutes trying to keep my thoughts clear in a body that is in pain. So far this weekend I’ve played 2 different games that I’ve never played before. It’s been a wonderful way to kick off the October and Play a New RPG month. This report will focus on the second game I was in. I want to get this out before I forget, because I wasn’t able to take notes during the apocalypse.
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| Our zombie Survival team |
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| The arsonal. |
The Steinbach LARPers Society hosted a Zombie Apocalypse game. People were encouraged to come out with your favourite Nerf Gun, LARP baseball Bat or whatever else might be found during a modern day Zombie Apocalypse. Our own group collected a variety of weaponry;
- · A purple royal crown dice bag (that I stuffed with foam) to simulate a dice bag.
- · A knitting needle case the was filled with straws to simulate knitting needles
- · A spray bottle filled with water that was supposed to be a mixture of peroxide that would blind a zombie
- · 5 different style Nerf guns.
- · A couple of foam knifes
- · And more Nerf Ammo then you can shake a stick at.
We arrived at the site at about 630 and the parking lot was packed. People were strapping on weapons and preparing whatever they brought with them. Some had put an amazing amount of effort into their costumes and their equipment. We saw a guy dressed as a full on Lumber Jack and another guy had built a car door shield. One of the things I was really impressed by was the level of organization. The number of people (57 people) who came for this was about double what they had been expecting I think. They did a quick round of announcements and ran through the rules and they started sending people over into the play area in waves of 10. |
| The pre-game meeting. |
Our group was the second wave in and we took out a couple of walkers on the road. Then swung left towards a lit area that was part of a fort, we were pretty certain that the first group had already gone through here. Within minutes we had a small horde on us. My choice of guns had proven to be terminal, and I was taken out a by a Hunter Zombie. Thus began my time as part of the horde.
There are a lot of different things I could go into at this point and give you a play by play of the whole night. Instead I’m going to share some highlights and some of my favourite memories.
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| The sign outside the Zombie Hive |
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| New members of the horde adding some extra blood |
2) The second time I went out as a human I went alone, I wasn’t looking for safety in numbers or the extra fire power. I was going to play it full on stealth mode. I went out and crossed into a row of garages and took up residence nestled in-between them. A short distance away I could hear someone talking and went deathly quiet. A group of human’s came down the path passing not more than 2 feet from me. It wasn’t until the last one that anyone spotted me. A Nerf axe nearly took off my head before I could get out the word “Human”. I proved to them that I was human and joined the group. I was a short lived team-up. A hunter took out the one who spotted me right before my eyes and as I jammed the barrels of my guns into his back and called out my damage. We mercy killed the one who been bit and then stripped him of his gear. I had a new automatic which later saved my life.
I split off from the group and hid in a small tower, where I was able to take a couple of minutes and send out a tweet for help. While hidden up in this tower I watched a small group of horde zombie’s shamble right under me. I was certain that they were going to see me and attack at any moment but they didn’t. It was after that tower when I moved in to the woods that I was spotted by a brute and hunter. The newly acquired automatic allowed me to drop the brute by myself but the hunter took me down.
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| The lumber jack |
End result of the night the humans cured the plague with the help of an NPC scientist. There was a large climatic battle in which I died in the end. It was a memorable night and an amazing experience. The only down side and warning I would offer is if you have glasses either leaving them at home or wear protection on them. I didn’t and now have two nasty scratches on my lens for my mistake.
If you are reading this and you were a player, hopefully you’d take a moment and comment to share some of your memories as well.
I got to say, playing on both was fun. I spent most of my night as a zombie Brute, and had great fun watching the players flee like the mice they where. >:)
ReplyDeleteI especially enjoyed the couple of times that zombie hordes managed to pick off a member of a human group, especially when it was by surprise.
As well, the knives I brought thaht I thought would be completely useless turned out to be my best zombie killing weapon.
All in all, Great fun.
Being new to LARPing, I have to admit, this wasn't really my thing. I am willing, however, to give a daytime adventure a shot, with a smaller group.
ReplyDeleteI did have some fun when I got the opportunity to play the Brain zombie. It was something different, and I got to lead a fair sized horde.
I do have to say though that the game was VERY well run and the organizers did a great job of thinking on their feet & changing things when needed.
I coordinate the fantasy boffer larp within the steinbach larp society and i must say it was nice to be a player again. being a zombie was fun too.
ReplyDeletei found that a net and boffer 2x4 (both looted off zombie killed humans) were much better in my hands than the nerf gun i brought. i just got scared and threw the loaded gun at the horde.... it was pretty embarrasing
i did have a really great moment with said net + board with nails. i was ambushed and chased by two fast moving zombies. running down the path i whipped off the net, threw it behind my with some height. i turned for the standoff to find that my throw had spread the net across the narrow path and caught on trees on either side. this was a dark path and the zombies ran into the net and literally tied themselves up. i proceeded to beat them to mush with my boffer 2x4 and disgustedly separate net from said mush for more fun zombie catching later in the night. true luck is better than fiction
I've got to agree with everyone's comments about the ranged weapons. They were almost waste, the best bit of team work I saw was one guy with double blades and his partner with ranged weapons. They made for a deadly combo.
ReplyDeleteFor the next one if it can't fire one handed and shoot more then one dart I'm not bringing it.
Being the biggest fan of this genre, I walked into this event beyond excited. Surrounded by my good friends and some strangers with nice weapons, I walked into the forest with a small amount of confidence in my own ability to survive.
ReplyDeleteAt the front of the group with my small arm weapon, I immediately scouted for our escape route should things go bad for us. We soon got attacked my two horde zombies, but quickly cut them down with two of our bigger guns. Before I knew it, all hell broke loose. I'm not quite sure where everyone went, but I was soon separated from my group. I made my way to the left path, heading towards and a small camp that had been set up. The survivors that I joined up with managed to defend it for sometime. While the others with bigger guns kept an eye out for the undead, some of us searched the camp for any useful items. Some medical supplies were found. We were soon surrounded and I was bitten. The evening had truly begun.......
I had so many memories, but ill leave you with the three I will always remember.
Memory 1: When I first had the pleasure of being on my own. I found myself on the outskirts of the forest. Ahead of me, I watched in horror as a group of about 15 undead were assaulting the castle. A group of survivors were doing a great job defending it. But i knew if the zombies broke in, they would be doomed. They did, and when that happen, that was my cue to leave. As i ran, i could hear the screams of death coming from inside the castle.
Memory 2: I was now a zombie........ Shambling towards the garage with a brute, the brute took off in a rage and destroyed the barricaded the survivors set up. They scattered for their lives, but left me with no human flesh :).
Memory 3: During the end of the evening, i returned as a human. Again I was alone, and very low on ammo. I decided to concentrate on grouping with whoever was still alive. I found some across the yard fighting for their life as well. I was about to cross the bridge to join them, but soon found myself trapped between two hunters. The only way for me to escape was jumping in the cold water. Wet from the knee down, i dragged myself to the other humans.
I had so many other memories, but all in all it was a night ill never forget..........
I had the Luxury of being being a zombie the entire time. It was blast skulking around. Being quiet as one zombie slowly following a group. Joining the group in the cover of darkness while they were distracted and then chomping down on a tasty human just before they notice me. It was fun to feel the adrenaline and fear pouring from the groups. It really made the game. I would then come out as another zombie loud and obnoxious, taunting people out of their hidey holes, trying to call my zombie friends (whos' brains were far too rotten to understand that I had meals hiding away behind doors), the tasty morsels would often come out of their improvised Spam cans and kill my poor little zombie and then move from their location. One time after eating a human that had a glow stick bracelet on her arm I but the glow stick in my beard as a trophy, in the next mob attack, my next victim was trying to figure out what was stuck on this zombies face to this I moaned out "Send more Ravers" And then there were the times I would just roam the area with my friends.... all 50 of them in one cohesive mob controlled by zombies of higher cognitive abilities and skills (such as opening doors and using weapons)... This was the time I wished that I would have been a survivor, seeing that any zombies itchin' to eat your brain would have been terrifying, but alas, I only got to eat them...
ReplyDeleteThe game was well organized, The turnout was huge, people were good sports about becoming a zombie, the acting was great and the sense of fear hung in the air. Photos of this event do it no justice in that most of the magic was created in the minds of the people playing. I can not wait for the next event
Rykk (aka. The really blood drenched zombie)