Upwick Manor - Breakfast

[the_eggwhite]

Well, it's been a while since I played in a LARP before Upwick Manor started. I stopped when my head broke a bit, making LARPing pretty much impossible... and it's taken me a while to get back on the LARPing horse* even though I was probably recovered enough a while back.  But now I seem to have clambered back aboard with a bit of gusto, and have been enjoying it a great deal.  The whole "fully catered" aspect of the game has been a plus-point, of course.

It's a game set over the course of 24 hours in a 1930s manor house (the titular "Upwick Manor") after the death of the widely disliked family patriarch, with each game being based around one of the meals, starting with Dinner last month.

Last month - Dinner

Last month's opening event for Upwick Manor was a bit of a slow one, and whilst enjoyable, didn't have the feel of very much having happened as the big revelation came at the end. The main event there was dinner, which was rather nice, if somewhat diet-busting. Whilst it was interesting from a "getting to know characters" point of view, mostly it felt like I waited on other players and served a four course meal.  Because I did.  More happened too, but it was predominantly setup and foreshadowing until the big revelation of the evening once the plates had been cleared away.

That revelation was that the contentious and substantial inheritance would be settled by the staff - who must choose a single heir from the confirmed blood relatives or relatives by marriage.  That heir gets everything.  Everyone else gets nothing unless it's on the goodwill of the heir.  If the staff fail to all sign off on a single heir, the MP for scarborough will inherit and turn the place into a golf course, leaving the staff both homeless and jobless.

This month - Breakfast

This month's second game (out of three) was a bit more eventful.  It's difficult too talk to much about it, due to certain bits of key information not having spread across the upstairs / downstairs divide.  Suffice to say that surprising facts have started coming out about several characters.

We've got the following, that I know of:

• Suddenly revealed blood relatives amongst the staff, with proof of heredity


• Family members requesting not to be the one to inherit


• Members of the cast having unexpected heritage


• Past misdeeds coming to light all over the shop


• Well meaning but useless family members galore


• The deceased patriarch's hired thug turning up


• Lies and scandal amongst the staff


• Me in a penguin suit


• Socialism!

There were also some glorious cliffhanger moments, which I somehow managed to be involved in two of.  Neither of these is known above stairs yet to my knowledge, so here's another cut tag:


First cliffhanger: I was listening in discretely on a phone call where time out was called mid sentence, right on a major revelation for a different character where I might be considered to have a stake in things (and I suspect subsequent sentences will be similarly revelatory).

Second cliffhanger: Right after time out was called on the first cliffhanger, I followed the ST in to the next room just as time-out was about to be called there... just as the phrase "What... Victor?!" (Victor being my character, of course) caused a stunned silence across the table...  It would have been criminal for that to be an out-of-character moment... so it was deemed to have happened - of which I thoroughly approve.


All in all, a good game.  I'm looking forward to the next game, which will be "lunch", with the meal being the point at which the staff must either make their decision or see the end of the house.

_{(* - LARPing horse - now that's a talent on a par with Dressage, I think)}

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[izzy-stradlin.livejournal.com]

I am pleased that I am involved in at least 3 of the above, as usually I end up sticking firmly to the background in LARPs, and this indicates that for once I've managed not to...