Most of us are riding in steerage

[learnedax]

Just finished reading Watchmen, long delayed. Darn you Alan Moore, darn you all to heck.

At least I can bug metahacker for most of the back catalog that I will now need to devour.

(Without spoilers: the style struck me as extremely cinematic, to the point where some panels looked like nothing so much as crossfades. The density of information also seemed like an occasionally over-deliberate attempt at meaningful multilayering, particularly when juxtaposing two narratives against each other for pages at a time, with e.g. only half of a relevant piece of information visible. I could easily see this being called pretentious and intentionally convoluted. Luckily, it's done so excruciatingly well that I can't help but love it. Curse you again Alan Moore for controlling your release of information so cleverly. Finally catching the strangely triumphal Pyrrhic end on the last page even though it was quite dramatically set up long before was, I suppose, transcendental.)

Comments

[juldea.livejournal.com]

It does, it does.
I think the chances of me not being talked into attending Intercon are decreasing dramatically. Between londo, learnedax, tpau, and now theoretically you...

I feel like I've already written that somewhere, but I'm not sure where.

[mr-teem.livejournal.com]

Theoretically? Allow me to further convince you. Not only will Intercon D have a generous assortment of the best LARPs in the area, if not anywhere, you already have several friends who are already going to be there and will also find a like-minded friendly and eclectic group of creative people who get some of the most fun out of this hobby.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Not sure if you're aware, but by pitching the Con to me you are pitching the Con to a complete Con newbie and in fact, a complete RPing newbie. I've grown up around RPers (siblings, every single one of my friends, every guy I've ever dated) but through various insecurities I've never attempted to join in.

Therefore, sell me the Con from that point of view. :) Seeing as the idea of a "generous assortment of LARPs" makes my head spin and some serious agoraphobia to kick in, and this thing's so big that the few people I do know aren't guaranteed to be nearby all the time... Make me feel comfortable with going to this hotel (?) for a weekend with a bunch of people and attempting to fumble my way into joining the things they all - or at least most - have tons of practice doing.

p.s. I looked up agoraphobia to ensure I was using it correctly, and it turns out I was using it more correctly than I thought. "Abnormal fear of being helpless in an embarrassing or unescapable situation that is characterized especially by the avoidance of open or public places."

p.p.s. I know I'm putting up serious resistance to people's attempts to help me have fun, but unfortunately that's the nature of a phobia. :P

[mr-teem.livejournal.com]

Okay, I plead guiltly to being overwhelming. In general, LARPing is fun and very social and, at least the ones that typically run at Intercon, don't require learning a lot of rules. And the games at Intercon D pretty much all rock so it's fairly easy to be entertained as well. You could get a lot of firsthand comments on what kind of fun your friends have had at LARPs and at Intercon. Some people just like the social aspects of the games, some people want to *ACT* in a major role, some people want to solve puzzles and some people just like making and/or dressing up in costume. There'll be a couple hundred or so people attending but there are several tracks of games and there's thirtyish, tops in any given one. And, part of the fun about Intercon is the interaction between and after LARPs as everyone compares notes and catches up until way early in the morning. Granted, it's easier if you know someone is going to be with you and/or being in a LARP with you. But, newbies by and large are expected (and encouraged) in all of the games and one of the unique things about LARP is that eveyone has a part in making the experience happen and there's rarely "one right way" to accomplish that goal.

Re:

[juldea.livejournal.com]

learnedax scolded me for being too hard on you, so I apologize if I came across as pushy or demanding. I've reached the point where I really want to say, "Yes, I'll go to Intercon and have a grand time!" but worries hold me back from saying it, so I'm just trying to get as many people to talk me into it at once as is possible. ;)

Re:

[mr-teem.livejournal.com]

Gods forbid--I wouldn't have said anything like that. I'll just be quiet now and perhaps have the pleasant surprise of seeing you in March!

Re:

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Hrm, I think we've gotten signals crossed. I don't think you're being pushy and I'll be a very sad person if you stop talking to me, seeing as how I've enjoyed our interaction so far :)