NERO Massachusetts 2009 Season Opener

Source:  LARP Source
For those of you who do not know NERO Massachusetts is the flagship chapter of the LARP known as NERO (New England Roleplaying Organization). This iconic Chapter has recently acquired new management and is now under the thoughtful and experienced hand of Annie Boswell, who replaced Rachel Morris as the head cheese for the chapter.

I surprised Annie with a seemingly passive phone call to inquire about her event and with ninja like moves I got to the juicy truth of the upcoming event. But let’s not get too ahead of ourselves here - first we should take a look at what we are talking about.

NERO is a live action role playing game that focuses on the medieval fantasy genre, and for what appear to be reasons of verbal confusion, exclude the Roman era (”You’re looking for NERO?” “No, Nero.” “You mean NERO, right? The game…” “NO I mean Nero, the Emperor!” - you get the idea.)

NERO (the game) is a boffer weapon live action role playing game that not only lets you be the medieval character of your fantasies (PG 13, please!) it also forces you to get off your dice rolling buttocks and get DO what you just told the lonely elf beside you that you want to do.

When I spoke with Annie about this upcoming event and told her that I was going to immortalize whatever she said to me, good or bad, on the internet she seemed a little shocked, but not pensive. I took that as a symbolic “Sure, you can quote me if you would like” and trudged onward.

Me: Running a chapter is a big step for anyone. Did you have much LARP experience?
Annie: I have been participating in various LARP games since 1994 and I have been helping Ford Ivey with his game The Isles by running plot for the last 7 years.

Me: What first got you into LARPing?
Annie: I was at a convention and decided to try something new. Jeff Collins was running a LARP event at the convention and once I tried it I was hooked. I did a few conventions before I ever tried my first weekend LARP experience.

Me: So, indirectly we could blame Jeff for making you a passionate LARPer?
Annie: Yeah, I guess so!

Me: What made you decide to run NERO Mass?
Annie: Rachel had expressed a desire to sell the chapter and I wanted Rachel to be able to step away without feeling that she had let the chapter go. Rachel still plays and is very much a part of the chapter. I don’t think we could ever replace what she has done for this game, or for NERO.

Me: What are your objectives for your 2009 Season Opener?
Annie: Ultimately I would really like to give the players an enjoyable experience. After that, the first event of any season is always the hardest - it just seems like everything that can go wrong will go wrong. I just want to be prepared enough to be able to handle anything that does go wrong.

Me: Do you feel that you are prepared enough?
Annie: Yeah. I mean truthfully this event is owed 100% to my staff. We couldn’t have gotten anywhere without their time and support.

Me: What do you look forward to most with this upcoming event?
Annie: My plot team has such vision, creativity and imagination… I really think that they have done a lot to tie in the history of this game with current events. It’s nice to see some of the old material instilled with new breath. As an old player I look forward to seeing what they have done to revitalize the game world.

Unfortunately our talk was cut short due to Annie’s dog demanding attention so I thanked her for her time and decided to settle down to get our chat onto paper. Well, at least to this website.

I have decided to show my support to NERO Mass by showing up tomorrow to their 2009 Season Opening event. It’s only a 8.5 hour drive… what’s that to a LARPer looking for a game? Of course this does mean that I won’t be writing any updates until Tuesday….

All the best in your future LARP endeavours,

Kevin Tjia

And so it began......

Dawn breaks, war looms, the evil Lord is gathering his armies to wage a campaign of destruction upon the free peoples of the world. It is up to I, Sir Maximilan Pegasus to stop him, with my trusted band of adventurers we must gather the enchanted sword of Tek, the Shield of Way-Lem and the amulet of Subsidence and together we shall slay this abomination! “TIME FREEZE” And bam, the fantasy world fades away, the enchanted sword of Tek in my hand is a rubber sword smothered in coloured ribbons with a laminated card cable tied to the hilt, I look down and I’m wearing plastic armour and unflattering heropants, and the magical world of my imagination washes away to reveal a field in Wigan, but you know what? It’s larp and I’m a larper, it’s what I do.
I started larping when I was 17, I’d never role-played before, I’d never played D&D or Warhammer, never played WoW or any form of online game, I’d never even read Lord of the Rings, I feel somewhat privileged that I hadn’t done any of those things, I think it gave me an untainted attitude towards what larp could be, I had no preconceptions about saving the maiden fair, slaying the dragon or smiting the liche, to me it was just a new thing to try.
It was cold, really cold, 10am on a September morning, the rain was battering down and I’d been given a faux fur tunic, a mouldy old sword and been pointed towards a man and told, “You’re monstering, there’s the ref he’ll tell you what to do.” I obeyed, I played wave after wave of zombies, orcs and various line monsters and to be honest, was cold, bored and hungry. That is, until lunchtime, the teams switched sides, I got into the kit I’d scrounged up, as with most first timers, a black trenchcoat. I took the mouldy old sword, stood with my fellow adventurers and it hit me, I’m a god damn hero!
Pow, there it was, a new larper was born.