Playing Convention of Thorns — part 2: Advice for new players
As I mentioned in my earlier piece, my husband Jason and I played Dziobak’s Convention of Thorns blockbuster larp in October 2017. They’re running it again this year and I know several Australian players are planning to go. A few of those people have asked me for advice or recommendations for the game, so I figured it might be worth a follow up piece with a couple of observations specifically of interest to players from a similar background to my own (Australian larps and freeforms). As always, take from it what you will, your mileage may vary, etc.
Logistics
This is not Dziobak’s first rodeo, and it shows. They’ve got the logistics side of things smoother than pretty much any other larp I’ve experienced.
While you can organise your own transport, getting the vampire bus from either of the Berlin airports (Schonefeld or Tegel) will get you smoothly and efficiently from the airport to the castle.
The accommodation is clean, comfortable and reasonably spacious. Water pressure in the shower was decent.
A wide variety of plentiful food was available as a buffet at meal times, and snacks and drinks were available in one of the off-game rooms for most of the night. The snack room does get packed up late in the evening, before the 3am game end time, so don’t wait until the end of game to refuel. Dziobak have obviously put a lot of thought and effort into making sure it is easy for players to keep themselves well fed, hydrated and rested. Make use of it. There is literally no excuse for a hangry meltdown.
Characters
A few people have asked me for recommendations for which characters to ask for. I think the first round of casting is done now, but if you haven’t been cast yet, this is what I’ve been telling people so far.
If you want to play the political game I would strongly recommend playing one of the big named characters from canon. One of the Camarilla founders, their close allies, or one of the key Anarch leaders. They have the best access to the political game. If you’re not a founder, I’d suggest you start campaigning for a Justicar position (for yourself or one of your close allies) early.
If you want to play with the occult weirdness I’d suggest either Malkavian or Tzimisce. Possibly Tremere. To be honest I still have no idea what the Tremere were doing.
If you want to play family drama play a Borgia. There are other noble families about, but the Borgia’s seemed the most populous and seemed to have the most going on.
There are a lot of great gossipy-harpy characters in the Toreador clan.
Playing with friends
If you desperately want to play with a partner or group of friends, I would suggest playing characters of the same clan rather than the same domain. You’ll have at least one clan meeting in each phase of the game, but you won’t necessarily do anything with your domain unless you arrange it yourself.
That said, I’d also recommend making an effort to play with people you don’t know that well. That’s part of the fun of a big international game like this. If you mostly play with people you already know well and have played with before you will probably find yourself falling into your usual play habits and style and won’t get into the different consent mechanics as much. In short, you won’t get as much out of the game.
Advice for getting into the fun
I went in hoping to try a bit of everything, while Jason played to a particular part of the game. Generally, I’d say Jason had a better experience than I did. I wish I’d focused on one or two types of fun rather than spread myself too thin and end up with not a particularly satisfying amount of anything. As such my advice would be to decide what sort of experience you want to have, what sort of fun you’re looking for, and chase that fun fairly aggressively.
That said, remain open to seizing other opportunities if they come up and look enjoyable. I missed out on what would have been a cool death scene because I was reluctant to let go of what I was pursuing at the time. In hindsight I wish I’d expressed more enthusiasm about the idea, as I could have negotiated to get what I wanted out of the experience.
Also, if your character dies in the final act, the Dziobak team will let you play NPCs for the rest of the game.
There won’t be pre-written plots per se, just the basic structure of the game around voting for heads of each council, then council voting for the wording of each Tradition, then voting by clan to see who is in and who is out of the Camarilla. Once a clan has agreed to be in the Camarilla they will also appoint a Justicar. That can happen without much input if you’re not careful, so if it’s something you want I’d suggest you start campaigning for it early.
There will be plenty of other “plot” happening though, but this will generally all be requested or generated by players. If you’re interested in having something happen (like having the inquisition show up) then you can put in a request to the Dziobak room and they’ll make it happen.
Even if you don’t organise something yourself, plenty of other players probably will. I’d suggest making a few relationships beforehand either through the facebook groups or on the bus on the way there. Then you can tap into anything they’re organising or just play out your own stuff together. Some of my best moments were a result of relationships I’d arranged pretty last minute. And some of Jason’s favorite bits were a result of an idea he had to get some PCs together to organise re-conquering Constantinople.
If you do want to organise meetings or scenes to happen in game, I strongly recommend writing them on the whiteboard in the Dziobak room and telling your group to check it for details. It’s much easier to check during game when people don’t have their phones on them. And if everyone does it you’ll be able to see if someone else has organised a meeting or scene at the same time or in the same room.
The character sheets and the design document have a lot of good background and great story hooks as well as leads and suggestions for how to play and have a fun game. Read up on that before game and take that as your lead, but feel free to improvise and extrapolate on anything that seems interesting.
It’s a great game for exploring humanity, monstrosity, identity and morality, which is something I rarely say about White Wolf games. If that’s a thing you are keen on, I’d heartily recommend leaning into that side of the game fairly heavily, as it’s not an opportunity Australian players will get in many other circumstances.
Seeing Poland while you’re there
I love Poland, it’s a beautiful country with wonderful people and a delightfully complex history. I would heartily recommend combining your game with a longer visit to Poland.
However, Castle Książ is not exactly in the middle of town. Game time and day-play sessions, and trying to get some sleep in there somewhere, will probably take up most of your available time for the three days you are there. If you get the bus from Berlin you’ll arrive just in time for workshops to start and leave the morning after the last session. There is very little opportunity for wider exploring.
If you want to visit Poland, I’d suggest using the vampire bus to get yourself to the castle, and plan a few extra days in Poland after the larp. You can get a taxi from the castle to Świebodzice. From there you can get a train to Wrocław, which is a lovely city and you should totally visit it. The Dziobak team are wonderful and will help you to arrange transport if you ask nicely.
I know a few people who have flown into Poland via either Wrocław or Krakow a few days early and then made their own way to the castle. This is a good option if you’ve signed up as a volunteer and need to be at the castle early anyway. But if it’s your first time, the opportunity to meet people and form relationships on the bus is too valuable to pass up.
Conclusion — play
It’s a great game, a lot of fun and not an experience you’ll get in any Australian game, or many other European ones. Yes it is expensive, but it is most definitely worth the money and the effort. So go play it, and tell me all about it when you get home.
Photos thanks to Przemysław Jendrosk #cotlarp #conventionofthorns #dziobaklarpstudios
