Post Kapcon Post

Approximately 63 hours since the Kickoff of Kapcon (Drinks and social chatter at Southern Cross) on Friday night, I am still buzzing with Kapcon hype. So much in fact that I am actually posting on this blog*. I generally find that Kapcon is the most fun and simultaneously exhausting and invigorating gaming experience I have each year. It is the fountain of RPG enthusiasm for me. It keeps my passion for roleplaying fresh and renews my enthusiasm for some games and genres, and is also responsible for introducing me to brilliant new systems and types of gaming. Also the catching up with old friends, making new ones and reminding yourself again why you are lucky to be able to game with the range of talented people you do, is a pretty emotionally satisfying experience. With RPGing, as most other hobbies, you can fall into the trap of of thinking that it is becoming a bit stale or that you aren't as keen or inspired by your own personal gaming as you used to be. I know that now, as a person with a job and adult stuff to worry about, I'm only able to squeeze about one game a week into my regular life, as opposed to the 3 or 4 weekly games plus being able to eagerly jump into whatever one-offs and LARPs I could when I was a student. I'm very lucky with my regular group in that we all work together to cram as much quality roleplaying into the short amount of time we have each week and also that our GM(s) keep things fresh by changing games and systems. I think that we are very lucky to have an interest like Roleplaying, that has so many clever and creative people at the game design, GMing and player levels ensuring that each game you play is unique and you keep getting something new out of each experience - even after over 20 years of roleplaying. As I get older I find that books, movies, TV shows seldom surprise me. I generally am easy enough to entertain and enjoy and appreciate the storytelling or crafting but few strike me as original or unique. All too often they are formulaic and predictable. I virtually never have that experience at Kapcon. I am all too often blown away by the spontaeous, caffeine-fuelled quotes or actions of genius that flow from fellow players and the skills the GM have at pacing, setting up and crafting interesting stories in only 3 hours. It can also be amazing to see how well they allow players the freedom to go crazy and manage to get some pretty bizarre player actions to shape and enhance their stories rather than derail them. I guess what made this year's Kapcon different from the usual euphoric combination of "I love these people and RPGing" warm fuzzy feeling and the gluttonous orgy of gaming (and sugar), was being involved in the more stressful role of organiser rather than participant. I only played in one game, Dale's 6th round Superhero game (a game so awesome it requires its own separate post to do it justice). I feel a huge amount of relief now that it is over (especially the LARP because I was very stressed that it would, in spite of hundreds of hours of work, be a disaster, or people would be disappointed and people who spent hours and money on amazing costumes would lynch me - probably some kind of re-enactment of the KAPCON 13 LARP where I was disembowelled). Yet in spite of the stress, lack of sleep and tired blurry eyes making it difficult to read some handwriting and spreadsheets on the computer screen, I had an immense amount of fun. I am hugely amazed at how much fun it is to watch other people roleplay, hear war stories and read other people's accounts of games or nominations for funny or inspired moments. I thought the joy came from doing the roleplaying but now I know that it can be fantastically entertaining to simply see or hear about the roleplaying. The important thing is that the fun and the amazing experiences happened. It doesn't matter if you personally did them, or saw them, they are rich moments that should be shared and enjoyed by us all. I strongly encourage everyone who went to Kapcon to make the effort put their stories out there. Every moment that made you laugh, cry or drop your jaw in wonder/horror is worth sharing. That way we may all share in the joy and the legends of Kapcon 15 will be consolidated in the memories of everyone who went or read about it. * A fact that will be surprising to the many who have noted that my blog has of late** become an abandoned, cobweb-infested basement - barren and starting to reek of the musty odour of desolation. ** Ok, I admit it, it's probably over 3 months since my last post.