Crossfire -- Why It Worked

A completely impromptu IG that culminated in a neat storyline, endless action, and all around inclusion of everyone involved. How'd we manage that?

1. We play together a lot. One of the factors is that we all know each other's play styles pretty well, and thus any clashes we may have had in the past have been worked out to where they don't come up anymore.

2. Good sportsmanship. Honestly, this is the key to avoiding conflict between players that would otherwise distract and disrupt the flow of the storyline. Have clear rules, if needed, and use them to justify the other person's shots more often than you use them to justify your own. No "I hit you!" "No you didn't!" Arguments. If they said they hit you, just fall over, whether you think they did or not. Let them win, and roll with it. The more storyline conflict the better.

3. Staying in character. The characters drove the entire story of Crossfire. Secrets, turncoats, and double agents. One important factor was that we all remained in character during the game. That doesn't sound too difficult, until you take into account the fact that there were times when we would pause the game to talk to each other as ourselves or do something for Mother. At one point, the boys planned an infiltration into my bedroom, but like proper gentlemen, knocked on the door first to ensure this course of action had the go ahead. With the game paused, we assured them it would be fine, and then we had to go back to our oblivious characters without taking up defensive positions because techinically, in game, our characters would not have known about the imminent threat. This is what I mean by staying in character. Don't use out of game knowledge to influence your in game character's decisions. 'Cause technically that's cheating.

4. Inclusive teams. We played this game with myself, all the way down to my six year old little brother. If you haven't played with littler kids before -- all kids ages eleven and under count as littler, comparitively -- you know that advanced plots and characters don't work very well when they have to try and maintain a major role. So the key is to be creative and accomodating, while not making them feel relegated or insignificant. Often this can be achieved through creating a Wildcard Team. In the instance of Crossfire, it was the Russian Mob. While not what one might consider main characters in the game, they were certainly major players, and had real effect on the course of the story. Being on their own team also allowed them the freedom to do as they wished, not having to follow the orders of the older kids' teams. As a result, they added a much welcome element of unpredictability that gave the game a three dimensional feel to it.

5. Storytelling to suit. Last but not least, this game was completely unplanned. In some cases I think it's better to not plan IGs, because then the story takes shape around whatever material happens to be on hand, and continues on with a sort of flexibility that sometimes can't be found in planned IGs. When the basic plotline of an IG is already established, there is a certain ammount of pressure to remain within those parameters. Now, I don't think unplanned is better than planned in every case -- planned IGs allow much more depth of detail -- but if flexibility is desired, unplanned is the way to go. Just jump in and go with the flow.

6. Guns over swords. Seriously, this really helped. There's just something about a good ol' invisible bullet firefight. It's much faster, much less unwieldy, and much less dangerous (I cracked my knuckle PVC pipe sword dueling Seph, once). Plus we did this inside, so swords were already out of the question.

That's pretty much all I can think of at the moment. Hopefully it's a little bit helpful to those other big families that like to still play shoot 'em up in the house every now and then.

Dia duit,
~Penny

Crossfire -- Spies and Secrets Impromptu IG

American agents, rogue British black ops, and, of course, Russians. One top secret document, two decoys, and a whole lot of gunfire.

That's how my siblings and I spent our Friday evening. It began with Pippin stuffing one of my old purses full of spy gear -- 'fake' ID, driver's lisence, credit card, a gun, and some 'cash' -- and giving it to Rosie along with a top secret document for her to keep safe. All through the day, between the rest of daily life, the satchel was stolen and re-stolen by Rosie and Pippin, and Percy and Seph, who quickly joined in on the little game.

But this evening, it all came to a grand climax. I can't even remember how the game started, but all of the sudden, ammo-less nerf and airsoft guns were firing, and it came time for everyone to choose a side.

"How many sides are there?" I whispered to Percy while we hid together in a hallway, our guns ready. "Two sides...... or three?"

I had to know whether or not I was going to team up with him, or if in the end we would have to be enemies. Pippin had entrusted me with the satchel earlier that day. I'd seen the top secret document. Not only that, but I was responsible for more secretly hiding the actual document within its yellow envelope. No one else but Pippin and I knew of this arrangement, so it would be a cinch to give Percy this info, stage an ambush, and make sure he got the right file. Then we'd both split and sell it to the highest bidder.

So two sides, or three?

As the game continued, the sides became more and more distinct. Amidst the crossfire, alliances had to be formed, or there would be no chance of survival or success for any of us. Pippin and Rosie, government agents, the real owners of the document. Percy and Seph, rogue British black ops. The younger children of the group played the very convenient -- or inconvenient at times -- role of a Russian Mob. This they enjoyed quite a bit, as it meant they could shoot any or all of us and throw grenades and bombs. Wildcards, if you will.

In the end, I declared my final loyalty to my sisters, the American government. Though of course, this meant betrayal to Percy. Not that he had to know right away..... I allowed Percy and Seph to believe I was still on their side, with the idea of tricking them into believing one of the decoy documents was the real document, and thus ensuring the actual real document ended up in the right hands.

This was far trickier than I imagined. Several slip ups, and many complications in maintaining my cover, ended up in the document constantly swapping hands. A third document was created to cause further confusion, but the documents weren't the only things changing sides. In one confrontation in the kitchen, Seph revealed himself as a mole. American CIA. Which left Percy alone in his villainous task.

Or did it?

Losing trust with both sides, suffering guilt for my betrayal to Percy, and beginning to doubt Seph's own story about being a mole, I became more and more desperate. I took heart in the knowledge that Pippin had, she said, hidden the document somewhere safe.

Bullets flew, almost as fast as the accusations. Seph captured Percy and turned him over to Pippin and Rosie. Was he really a mole afterall? In an epic escape that involved shooting his captors with his guard's own gun, Percy escaped. When I returned to his hideout, I discovered Seph, who had apparently helped engineer the entire mission. Not a mole?

Neither side trusted me. I was held at gunpoint and shot by both sides so many times, neither of them could tell for sure whether I was working for them or playing them.

At last came the showdown. After a dizzying firefight, Percy, Seph, and I ended up back upstairs in the hideout. Percy drew his gun on both of us.

"Tell me which one of you is the mole."

Seph accused me. I accused him. Even though I was certain by now that his whole mole gig was just an act to get on Pippin and Rosie's good side.

Percy made us drop our weapons, at which point Seph quite willingly produced one.....then two......then three yellow envelopes, all marked top secret. I panicked. Pippin said she'd hidden the document somewhere safe! I couldn't fathom how Seph had gotten his hands on it. And I was out of plans for how to get it back, except cling to the fact that Percy still thought one of the decoys was the real deal.

"Verify it." He ordered, still holding us at gunpoint.

I did so. On the decoy. I insisted it was the real thing. Seph decried my efforts, saying I was a mole, so how could I be trusted? I flipped the same accusation on him. After all, he was in the same spot as I was, looking just as suspicious because of his infiltration attempts.

The argument grew heated. Percy finally ordered us both to back away. A silence ensued, then at last, he shot us both, and took off with all three of the documents.

We called a halt to the game there, as it was getting late. We all sat down and revealed our secrets. Mostly who was working with who, for it had become quite difficult to ascertain loyalties in the end. As I'd suspected, Seph wasn't really a mole; his loyalties remained with Percy. Percy was shocked to discover my betrayal and trickery, which I informed him I still felt bad about. Pippin told me she'd always trusted me, even though Rosie admitted she had grown exceedingly suspicious of my actions several times.

And then the bomb. I sighed about the villains having gotten the document. Until Pippin reached into her pocket, and pulled the real top secret document out of her pocket. We all gasped. I couldn't believe it.

"I took it out of the envelope just before the last fight," She explained with a grin. "and I hid it under the piano. Only Rosie knew about it."

So Percy had escaped with two decoys, and an empty envelope! I had been panicking that he'd gotten it, when Pippin had had it all along! Seph had stolen worthless information, and he hadn't even known it.

And this is why we still play Imagination Games. Completely impromptu, completely unscripted, completely awesome. And what's more, we played this entirely inside, with no more costuming than a few fedoras, a red trench coat, and some plastic guns.

I love my family.

Dia duit,
~Penny

Quest for the Keys of Avalon

My poor blog is still being neglected as it ought not to be. I'm sure I've made all sorts of promises and expectations which are now crumbling like a dry sandcastle. Something I'm sorry for, because I quite like this blog. I wanted it to be more interesting and instructive, really. Helpful.

But alas, it is not so. I'm hoping that warmer weather will help improve things, since I'll be doing things that are much more interesting and far less chilly than I have been lately. This isn't a blog where I write out particulars about my life, either, so blog material has been scarce. The next parts of FtGG will have to be sorted via skype with Dana at some point, because we've run out of finished transcript to copy over. So that will take a short while to do. Then, of course, there have been no Imagination Games due to the weather. And what with writing and all (I've quite the workload, at present) there hasn't been time for research to write a Legend Post.

On the bright side, I'm on my way to publishing a short story of mine. I'll toss a link up here when I do.

So, in the meantime, my long suffering readers will just have to put up with me rambling about Lore. It's the topic that's most on my mind as every chilly day whets my anticipation for warmer weather. My imagination has been considering and scheming, longing to take part in the epic journeys that keep flititng through my mind, and the sheer enjoyment of living those magical adventures alongside the people I love the most.

Morganna Le Fay.
My hair is much shorter,
and I tend to smirk a bit
but I like this picture anyway.

Not too long ago, TSFH released a new album called Skyworld. I listened to it the other day (actually, I bought the whole album. TSFH rocks.) and ran across a song called El Dorado. At that moment I'd been considering one of my villain personas in Lore, Morganna Le Fay, the alchemist half sister to King Arthur, and all the sudden the music and Morganna's persona as I had imagined it meshed. The song continued to play, growing more intense, and images of other villains -- Fafnir, The Red Rider, The Halflings -- coiled into the mix, filled with schemes and edged with danger...

And then..... something else approached. The darkness cursed, as the form of the surpassingly noble hearted St. George lifted his gaze to the scene, and with him came heroes of legend, seared with determination to battle these rogues for not just a treasure, as I'd thought before, but the good of the Lands of Lore themselves.

The song continues, outlining the rapid exchange of fight and scheme, light and dark locked in a grapple for victory, a struggle of greater complexity than imagined as more and more lives are caught into the current of this desperate race.

And so 'El Dorado' has become to me the song that describes The Quest for the Keys of Avalon.

 

 By way of explanation, Avalon, in Lore, is a place that's hidden in another dimension that can only be reached through portals called the Gates of Avalon. These portals are unlocked/created by special devices, known as the Keys of Avalon. The Keys are kept by various Nimues, who are the race of continuous regenerates, most of whom have been alive for quite a long time and are considered somewhat mythological. Also, the Keys are made to look like another object. For example, the Key placed in the posession of The Lady of the Lake is better known as Excalibur, the magificent sword. And again, the mirror owned by Amaterasu is another such Key, and in fact the reciperocating Key that links with Excalibur to unlock the Gates of Avalon.

 

Avalon is considered such a special place because it is where the very best in all trades are taken to build the most majestic and beautiful things their trade can possibly produce. It's a land of incredible wealth, breathtaking beauty, and untold secrets, much like its underwater sister, Atlantis, which is another story all together.

 

Being such an amazing place, it's no surprise that villains of all kinds have sought to secure passage into Avalon. And also no surprise that heroes have risen to stop them. 

Once upon a time, there lived a valiant knight named George. This knight had slain a dragon and gained the hand of a beautiful princess, but alas his promise to serve six years as knight of the Fairy Queen, his foster mother, called him away until his dues were honorably paid.

  It came to pass that one day his patroness called him to her throne. Word had reached her that a dear friend of hers, a woman only known as the Lady of the Lake, had been driven from her watery home by an evil dragon named Fafnir, who pursued her capture. Though the queen knew not this dragon’s reasons, she bade George go forth, find the Lady, protect her, and slay the dragon. Undaunted, George sallied forth to do as he was instructed.

  Thus George crossed into the Land of Lore, a place where legends meet. At length, he located The Lady and her trusted handmaiden, Azula, and gave them refuge from their flight. Upon inquiry, George was told of this terrible dragon that sought the Lady so zealously. He was Fafnir, the Dragon King, and terrible in body and heart, worse than any dragon George alone had every set out to slay. Intelligent as a fox and black hearted with greed, he protected a treasure beyond all save the treasure of Avalon. The treasure of Avalon, so, was the one he desired so strongly, and The Lady alone was said to have the key to entering that glorious city.

  Hearing this, George began to doubt. He alone could not withstand this king, a king who commanded all his offspring and followers, an army of dragons and dragon halflings, each almost as black as he. It would be a futile quest.

Furthermore, Fafnir vowed revenge on any who would attempt such a feat on him, and should he succeed in slaying one who sought his blood, he would ravage the kingdom from whence the fool came.

  Now George, being in no way arrogant, came to the conclusion that he would require powerful assistance in order to be successful in his bestowed mission.

Many a time had he heard tales of a warrior king named Beowulf, who resided in Scotland and had so far been known to have killed three dragons with the aid of only his sword and famous shield. In that, George knew he would gain a great ally, so protecting The Lady and Azula, George came to the land of Lore in which this king resided.

  When his plight was explained, Beowulf, having long since wanted to test his mettle against such a famous dragon, agreed to assist. However, the one thing that had restrained him from going against such a foe thus far had been a thing that had halted many a slayer before him; he knew not where Fafnir dwelled. In this, they looked to The Lady, who informed them that only two knew the whereabouts of the Dragon King. Merlin, and King Arthur himself alone posessed such knowledge.

  Confident that their chances of success had been multiplied in the alliance between George and Beowulf, the two dragon slayers set out for Camelot.

  Along the way they met with two women -- a noble and a gypsy -- who hailed them. One named herself as Vivian, ward of Morganna Le Fay, who now sought out her end for helping Merlin steal half of a key to the Gates of Avalon from Le Fay and attempting to escape with him to the city. Alas, she had been thwarted, and while she escaped Morganna's wrath, she was unable to reach the portal in time before it vanished.

  Now she came to find The Lady, who was known to posess the only other key to the Gates of Avalon, that she may follow and be rejoined with Merlin in Avalon before Morganna kills her. The key, however, had been hidden at The Lady's home in the lake, and could nto be reached until Fafnir's end had been obtained.

  Therefore, Vivian, and the gypsy, who proved herself to be a mere storyteller with a mischevious air but a kind disposition, joined the band. She gave no name. She was a Brownie, and as such her name could not be pronounced in the human tongue. She allowed those who wished to name her for their convenience. Now George and Beowulf willingly accepted the task of protecting all four women, as their swords alone bore skill, and did so easily as they continued on towards Camelot.

  Their path drew them through a section of forest, along a well trodden path.

Suddenly from the treetops there dropped a man clad in lincoln green and a hood covering his head. His longbow drawn back and his arrow nocked, his keen eye sighting down it with effortlessness belonging to an expert marksman, this man informed them that were currently being held up, and that any who wished to oppose this action would be shot by him or his men.

  Brownie associate quickly informed them that the man with Beowulf's heart in his sights was known as Robin Hood, and he was every bit as good a shot as the legends said (though not quite as tall as was told), and also had a band of men who would assist him as he said they would.

  However, Beowulf liked not such insolence, and refused to offer forth his weapon in surrender. Before an eruction could begin, another figure appeared from the forest; tall, with a warrior's build and carriage, and wrath in his countenance. He raised a gleaming sword and called out a challenge to the two dragon slayers, calling them kidnappers of The Lady they now had under their protection. Upon this accusation, the archer appeared to withdraw his jovial daring and drew taut his bowstring. But in the moment that he had been distracted by the arrival of the newcomer, Beowulf had charged him. Too close to shoot, the archer dodged within an instant, escaping the slayer's blade.

The other warrior came for The Lady, and George, fired with a noble anger, rushed to the conflict to protect his charge from harm.

  The man fought with skill George could not have attributed to an outlaw, famous or no, and did his best to withstand. Beowulf found a match in his own opponent, who had lived in the greenwood far long enough to have learned to use it to his advantage in a fight.

All at once the Lady's cries fell upon the ears of the fighters. She called for them to cease immediately, and gave a name to the man George had engaged: Arthur. At the sound of it, the tall man paused, and George caught his breath, ready to fight again should this be a false alarm.

  The Lady came up behind George, and to the tall warrior. The man's countenance of anger faded, and his sword abated its ready position. He called to Robin, shouting for him to stay his own blade. The Lady hastily told George that the man before them was none other than King Arthur, and George gave urgent cry to his fellow dragon slayer to keep from decapitating the outlaw.

 At the pause in the conflict, The Lady placed herself in a peaceful position between the two opposing lines, and gave an account of what had transpired up to the present time. As the tale progressed, both lines relaxed, and George dropped to one knee and apologized profusely to the legendary king.

  When she concluded, Robin Hood invited them to dinner, and the group proceeded to a camp that had been previously set up by both the outlaw and the king. In their company around the fire there were two more women to add to the enterouge, who were introduced as a young woman named Belle, and another named Scarlet, who wore a cape and hood to match her name. Scarlet was related as a Wulver, a shape shifter who could assume the form of a wolf. The other, a princess from a nearby land who had learned the art of dragon taming. This, obviously, the dragon slayers regarded dubiously.

  Once around the fire and being informed that Robin was, in fact, alone, and had successfully halted the band single handedly -- something he took great amusement in -- The Lady asked Arthur to relate to them the tale of how he and his company had come to join.

  Robin answered, at the king's bidding, and informed them that Fafnir had recently come and wreaked havoc over his lands, especially Locksley. Although he had retired as an outlaw since King Richard had been restored to the throne, he donned his old uniform and set out to teach this dragon a lesson. He learned soon enough what a daunting task he'd undertaken, and sought out King Arthur for advice, as he knew also the location of the dreaded beast.

  Arthur took up the tale at this point, and from Robin, who has a habit of talking to the lowly in rank and learning local gossip, as that had been a tool for survival in his outlaw days, learned that The Lady had been captured. Assuming she was taken by Fafnir, he enlisted Robin to help him rescue the maid from the Dragon, if she were indeed his captive. Along the way, they aquired a guide, the Wulver, Reeve, and a dragon tamer, who would serve well in securing their safe passage to Fafnir's cave itself through all the Dragon King's minions.

Now, however, that The Lady was safe, they willingly retasked. Together with those present, they would seek out, reach, and slay Fafnir once and for all, risking life and limb and safety of kingdom to rid Lore of its worst blight. It was also agreed that along the way, The Lady would meet with her cousin, Amatarasu, who bore the other half to the key The Lady owned that would open the Gates of Avalon.

 Thus the band set out, their talents together more than legend can do justice.

 

As you now know, the simple, if difficult, task of slaying Fafnir and saving Avalon once and for all isn't going to turn out to be as simple as they thought. With other villains such as the vengence bent Morganna, and the mysterious Red Rider, and conflicts even with their own band, the adventure is going to become one of far greater magnitude, and their quest  one of far greater importance.

 

Dia duit,

~Penny



And So Life Goes On

Shockingly enough, I still exist. I very much miss spending time posting things on my blog, but life has been a bit consuming as of late, what with unpacking and all. I'm actually sitting in the disaster area that is my bedroom at the moment, taking a break from sifting through rather disorganized boxes.

This winter weather has made me desperate for an Imagination Game. It's far too cold outside at the moment to play one, but my head is practically spinning with ideas!

More recently I've been considering our Lore world, and the difficulties that arise from trying to re-weave fairytales and legends in a magic free, more Conservative way. This has been a task I've performed so many times in the past. Though I write fantasy, I do not 'do' magic, which has opened up endless possibilities in finding plausible scientific ways of allowing special powers and non-human races to exist. I enjoy doing this very much, even though it can be a chore sometimes, but I'm also trying to find out where even the scientifically explained powers become just a little to magical in spite of my efforts. In short, I'm finding that not all powers are created equal. One of the things I attempt to avoid is having the characters'/world's powers not end up being too weird, even if they can be explained through biological or chemical means. Because then it's more like magic by another name rather than, say, a biological ability of a certain race.

We have turned wizards and witches into alchemists and healers, given limited biological abilities to fairies, pixies, sprites, and brownies, and turned some ancient gods and goddesses into humans with regeneration abilities and vast knowledge of history called Nimues. So you see, we've rewoven and toned down things I personally would find objectionable in a story or Imagination Game.

But what about a Nimue who resides in a stretched timestream, so that a portion of herself is in the future, giving her glimpses of what could be? How far can one go? When does even the scientific become too alike to the supernatural? I want to be different. I want the middle ground, the perfect mixture of fantasy and reality. I don't want to give up the fantastic for the realistic, but I also don't want to use reality as an excuse for the fantastic rather than an explanation. I want all the pieces to work together; to balance.

It is an interesting labyrinth to try and navigate, and I'm certain I don't get it right all the time, but I do, at least, try my best. That's what counts the most in anything anyone does, I think.

Dia duit,
~Penny

PS
And if you're wondering why I'm not posting pictures anymore, it's because silly blogger has a glitch and won't let me upload my own photos. Meh.

Resourceful Costuming for the Non-Seamstress

Though I've done a little bit of costume sewing in my time (wow, that makes me sound old...), I am certainly no seamstress. Nor do I have the patience or time -- hello, I'm writing a novel -- to become one.

But I'm picky. I like things to be nice, and while I'll put up with a slightly lower quality when it comes to costumes I make, I like them to at least be worth the ammount of work put into them, and very much dislike tackiness. Cheapo costumes sold at Wal-Mart or Target during Halloween are pretty much out of the question. Those things just scream cliche. There's little to no creativity when it comes to those.

Those two reasons -- my lack of sewing skills and my dislike of cheap storebought costumes -- are mainly why I will spend a little extra on tailored costumes like the ones from armstreet.com and yourdressmaker.com.

However! There is another option I haven't yet mentioned when it comes to costuming. And that is normal clothing. You would be simply amazed at how well a properly matched outfit bought in the regular clothing section in a store can play the role of a quality costume for a given occasion. You just have to know what to look for.

Before I give a few tips, you'll have to understand that these are regular clothes. They're not top notch specialized costumes, so there's only so close you'll be able to get to the 'real thing'. But you can get pretty doggone close if you're creative and, yes, a little lucky.

Medieval/Fantasy

Girls
~Peasant tops. These are great as a base piece, though be sure to get them in solid colors and not modern patterned fabric.
~Ankle length tiered skirts. These are full and swingy and are also great as a base piece. Once again, solid colors; no modern patterns.
~Woven belts
~Gold or silver bangles
~Hoop or feather earrings
~Medallion necklaces
~Another cool one is taking a plain solid color mini-dress and wearing it with brown or black pants underneath, a belt, and boots.

Guys
~Oversized solid color t-shirts (best colors are brown, dark green, and black). Worn with a belt, these resemble medieval tunics, especially if they're a little long.
~Courderoys in black or brown. So far courderoy is the most medieval looking pant fabric, even over khakis.
~Since men's boots are very modern looking these days, with the laces and combat boot feel to them, we've found that wellies -- or golashes, as Americans call them -- work pretty well. Yes, they are made out of rubber, and may be pushing things a bit, but hey, that's what imagination is for. Besides wellies, boots or all black sneakers work well. Sorry, guys; you don't get as much fun with footwear.
~Belt. Almost any kind of guy's belt will work.

Accessories

~I've seen leather bracelets of various types in stores nowadays, and though I haven't bought any yet, they've always struck me as awesome unisex costume accessories.
~Shoes. Like I said before, boots are great, but another option for girls is to wear plain brown ballet flats.
~Bling bling! Silver and gold make for great jewelry, especially for a gypsy.
~Consider sashes as a substitute for belts.
~Leather string. I can't think of the proper name for it... Anyway, I found these things at Jo-Ann's craft store in the very small leather working section. If you use these to 'lace' up the bottoms of your pants, it looks really cool. Same can be done for sleeves.
~Use your belt to go diagonally across your chest like a bandolier.

Weapons

Most of these do actually have to be made, but you can find some fairly cheap daggers online.

~Swords.
~Daggers.
~Bows and arrows.
~Axes.
~Spears.
~Poisons. Vials can easily be bought at a craft store, then all you do is fill them with water and food coloring of various types.
~Slingshot.

Sci-Fi

Okay, I actually have pictures for this one. My siblings and I have come up with our own knock off of Star Trek. So we needed uniforms.

Since we were taking off of a uniform design that was already made up, our job was much easier. Especially since this design happened to be fairly simple. We followed the basic uniform concepts from The Original Series (which happens to be my personal favorite series of Star Trek), which consists of a solid color top and black bottoms. That's pretty easy, but it's ridiculously easy when you consider buying those clothes from a regular clothes store instead of trying to make them or buy the 'official' Star Trek merchandise from online. That's also where a little bit of luck comes in. We found a shirt at Target that was so amazingly close to the gold/yellow shirt Captain Kirk wears in TOS that we were practically squealing with excitement. It's perfect.

Anyway, we actually began with assigning colors to the various divisions on the Penterprise (it's a PenKnights ship, we decided), then assigned each person to a division, and that's how we knew which shirt color to buy for who.

Command Uniform

Security and Operations

Cadet

As you can see, they're not perfectly Sci-fi, but they are pretty doggone close. And a great thing about these outfits is that they can also be worn as proper clothes. Because of that, they will last quite a while and look good.

Here are also a few other ideas of what to wear while playing Sci-Fi Imagination Games.

Girls
~Surprisingly, many of the base medieval costume pieces will work for sci-fi, as well. Look at some sci-fi; a lot of the clothing -- when not completely outrageous -- has a slight medieval tone to them. Especially clothes for royalty. The trick is changing the color theme from forest colors like brown, green, orange, and so on, to colors like black, grey, and other deep colors, and adding the right accessories.
~Black, grey, or deep colored mini-dresses make for good tunics over black or grey pants. Go for trim, clean lines.
~Black belts with silver or gunmetal accents.
~Boots or sneakers work better than ballet flats when it comes to look.
~Metal jewelry rather than beads.

Guys
~Black or grey pants.
~Trim shirts that don't look like tunics.
~Black belts, or utility belts for those with a more mechanic type job. Like the ones handy men wear.
~Boots or sneakers, though not wellies.

Accessories

~Wristbands. Leather is best, if you can find them.
~Fingerless black gloves.
~Drop holster. I am honestly not quite sure where to find these, and I don't know how expensive they are. We use one of my Dad's old ones.

When it comes to sci-fi, there is less of a specific style to follow. With fantasy, we go off of medieval stuff. With sci fi, what is there? It's the future; you have a lot of freedom. It's up to you to design your sci-fi culture and thus the rules of clothing. The one guideline I know that helps keep things looking more sci-fi than modern or fantasy is to keep things sleek, trim, and clean. With fantasy there are a lot of layers and 'frills', if you will. With sci-fi, things are very straightforward with fewer layers, and only a few accents.

Weapons

~Nerf guns! While not exactly colored correctly, these are the weapons we use for every one of our sci-fi IGs, both with and without darts.
~Daggers.
~Slingshots. Yup.
~You can also use storebought lightsabers, if you like.
~PVC guns. Yes, it can be done.
~If you have some creative energies left after all this, try your hand at creating something like the Covenant Energy Sword from the Halo series. If you do this, give me pictures. Because that would be seriously one of the coolest things ever.

That's all I've got for you, folks! Putting together costumes from normal clothes is great fun for those who have a mind for it. It involves a lot of creativity and resourcefulness. I've given you some ideas to start with, but you're going to have to come up with many more of your own.. Unlike with sewing, we're restricted to what the stores have to offer, so consider every angle, keep your mind open to possibilities as they present themselves, and don't be afraid to try something that you hadn't originally thought would work. You never quite know what the end result will be.

Have fun!

Dia duit,
~Penny

Q&A -- Imagination Game Basics

Trinity, a faithful follower of my blog whom I very much appreciate, left this comment on my last post:

I'd be really interested in hearing more about how you organize your games. We've tried to do similar games, but they always end up falling apart. Possibly because we have so many littler children.
 

 Since my reply turned out to be too long to fit in the comments (what a shock), I decided to toss it up here on this blog post. Here you go, Trinity!

It depends on what you mean by orginizing. Having littler children does tend to dampen the story aspect, as they are generally more interested in the action than the plot. But it's not impossible to let them join in, it will just fall on the older participants to carry the storyline, while the young-uns are given characters who are more secondary and who can run amok causing conflict for the main characters while not being expected to make profound story advancements on purpose.
 

In order to make an Imagination Game successful, storyline is essential. One must remember to play more for the story than for anything else. One does this through the characters chosen by the players to play. Conflict! Conflict is what moves a story forward. A band of friends is great, but a misfit or dysfunctional band provides far more drama to work with. Villains, hidden amongst the heroes, or stalking them, each with their own motives. Try to make as many possibilities for conflict as possible outside of the usual goodguy vs. villain interaction. Embrace challenges and imbalances within the story. Consider them not as unfair -- the other team has more people and weapons, etc. -- but as obstacles for the characters to overcome in resourceful manners. That's one of the most fun things one can do in an Imagination Game. Accept challenges, don't try to make everything an even playing field all the time. Even playing fields kill conflict.
 

Another thing to remember is that Imagination Games are NOT competitions. Treating them like one will almost invariably lead to dissention amongst the players (not the characters, the players). And when players bicker, the story grinds to a halt, and the game disintegrates. Just because the villains are fighting against the heroes, and even if the villains capture the 'flag' or steal the special object by no means translates into the villains 'winning'. It just means the heroes have to go after them now and get back what was taken. Unless you have purposefully set up the game so there will be a winner, due to time constraints or some such, then the only kind of winning there is is the victory that comes when the story is being driven forward, and everyone is having fun.
 

Here are some basic things to remember when playing an Imagination Game. We've learned these things through trial and error. Imagination Games go most smoothly when:
1) Players play for the story
2)Players are good sports about everything, including about other players not being good sports, and embrace an uneven playing field as an in-story challenge for the characters to overcome.
3)Players remember that 'winning' is when everyone has fun. Consider complaints, but players who continually whines about an aspect of the game should be referred to 1 and 2.
 

As a last note, I'll say that the dynamic of an Imagination Game changes depending on the ration of reality to imagination. For example, it's far easier to do combat IGs with real (read: PVC or foam) weapons because when someone gets hit, it's undeniable. However, when using more reality and less imagination, it's harder for people to play characters that are out of their skill range because they aren't, in fact, dead shots with the bow or fearless swordfighters. Also, it's much easier to remain in character when you're in costume. My advice is that, in either case, one should be realistic about the types of characters one is able to play well.
 

There are many little tips, tricks, and twists that we've learned over time that I could go into, but what I've related here are the basics. Timewise, two thirds of the Imagination Games we play are spontaneous, but for more complex games it helps to plan a little bit.
Hope some of this helped! Feel free to ask any more questions, because I could talk about this topic all day.
 

Dia duit,
~Penny

 

 

 

Let The Games Begin!

And so!

We have arrived in Maryland safe and sound. The drive was not too bad at all, compared to a lot of the other long drives we've taken.

The very day after we arrived it was out to the woods to hack each other to-- er, I mean, to play. Hee. The armory of PVC Pipe swords were a smash hit right from the start. Dana adores the claymore Percy made for him, and Bob (Dana's younger brother) likes the Wander Blade Percy made him. Lynn's wardrobe of various costumes and cloaks is incredibly impressive, and has kept our whole company well robed in medieval garb.

So far I've been involved in two games. We've discovered that the element of 'objects' in an Imagination Game is very near essential.

Obviously, for an Imagination Game, one needs characters. That's a no brainer. Costumes come in close second, and weaponry, and location. Those kind of go without saying. But one element that has been invaluable and I think often overlooked or poorly defined is the element of objects, which can be anything from a coke can to a ring of dungeon keys. An object is an inanimate thing that allows the balance of power in the game to shift back and forth, usually because it is desired by more than one party of characters within the game itself. Objects are fast, easy ways to spark conflict, which is what makes Imagination Games fun.

For example, in the first game I played with the others (Dana and I had to go out for a bit so we missed the first Imagination Game everyone played), the main object was a ring of oversized keys that I'd bought from JoAnn's just before leaving home. Dungeon keys. We had three character groups, two in each group; Rosi and I, who wanted the keys to save my Uncle; Dana and Percy, who wanted the keys to rescue their family; Lynn and Pippin, who wanted the keys because they owned them; and then Seph, who wanted the keys because he was the official Key Keeper of the realm.

So you see, there are five groups who all want the same thing. Some of them could forge alliances, since their causes are common, and there is no specific villain even though some of the groups must also work against each other in order to achieve their objectives.

There doesn't have to be just one object, either. In the game we are currently playing, there are two: a diamond and a message to the king. However, in this game also, I am playing the villain. Needless to say, we have a plethora of conflict, especially since I am the type of villain to play tricks rather than fight head to head. (I have alos managed to con both groups holding objects out of their objects and hidden them, but they aren't meant to know that yet. Shh!)

In both games, the balance of power has shifted numerous times. Whoever holds the object(s) automatically has an advantage over the others. Since everyone's trying to get them, and since several will undoubtedly succeed, the game never stands still. There are obviously other elements that play into keeping the game on its toes, but objects are extremely helpful.

As you can see, there are no pictures. I apologize. I haven't had time to download the pictures from the SD card onto the computer yet, but I promise I will soon.

Dia duit,
~Penny