15 years ago today...

[jducoeur]

... we first tossed a gaggle of players down the rabbit hole of an espionage plot they knew nothing about. The idea of starting everyone with amnesia was new and cool at the time (TMA beat us to the punch, but we were the second game in the genre), and we learned a lot -- about LARP in general, and the amnesia mechanic specifically.

One player called me a bastard (in a friendly but chagrined way) when he finally figured out who he was. One figured out far too much about his character a full five seconds into the game, simply from how we had positioned him. One proved to us that you should never, *ever* tell a bunch of LARPers that the door of a locked room is unopenable, because they will spend hours demonstrating to you just how wrong you are.

I was just wandering around my old website, and came across the site for Tabula Rasa 2; that reminded me that Tabula Rasa 1 was held July 12-14th, 1996. So happy anniversary to what is still probably my *favorite* of the games we've written. It was flawed in a host of ways, and quite a learning experience, but man -- it was one heck of a lot of fun to write and run.

(And yes, hungrytiger and I need to get cracking on TR3. Unfortunately, it's at the heavy-lifting stage now. It's probably designed enough to get started: now we "just" have to write it...)

Comments

[mermaidlady]

Oh my goodness, was it that long ago?

[jducoeur]

Yeah, that was my reaction. It seems impossible...

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

I heard stories about that one -- even secondhand, it was a great story.

[gower.livejournal.com]

Now I'm going to be thinking about TR3 steadily for a long time. I would send in my casting form now if I could. TR1 and 2 (especially 2) *did* things to me emotionally that I still haven't recovered from, and I hope I never too. I kept one of the item cards on my desk for a decade.