Call for Games - Chimera 2016

We’re going to need 30 awesome games for Chimera 2016, and we need to have them in by June 1st. Please see below for HOW TO SUBMIT, and CRITERIA for games. Please make sure you read what stwe need before submitting a game.

NOTE: Please don’t post you game ideas here, lets save that for when we launch the site - if you are looking for help/ideas of things to run the heading over to the Game Ideas forum is a great help.

How do I submit a game?
To formally submit a game, please email the following details through to chimera@nzlarps.org, and we will be in touch to discuss:

Public Information
Title:
Authors:
Blurb: (to interest potential players, so no spoilers)
Cast List: (if available, otherwise character numbers and gender ratio. Please indicate what the minimum number for the game to run is.)
Costuming Requirements:
GM Contact Info: (to go on the website)

For the Organisers
Are there any timing restrictions on your game?
What level of roleplayers is your game pitched at? How many brand new people is your game able to handle?
Will there be any difficult gear requirements?
What sort of playing space will you need?

FAQ
What are the basic criteria for games?

  • Characters must be pre-written by the game writer (i.e. players do not create own characters), and mechanics must be reasonably simple.
  • The game must take no more than three hours to run, including set up time, briefings, debriefings and pack down. You are realistically looking at 2-2.5 hours of actual play time. PLEASE pay attention to this one.
  • One-off games heavily preferred, campaign games are may submit concepts, on the following conditions: Campaign games may not include any player characters from their normal campaign, and must not require any previous knowledge of the setting.
  • Your game must be able to function with only 80% of player spaces filled.
  • Your game must have at least 12 characters, and no more than 30. We recommend in the 16-25 region as most optimal.

How many games will you need? How do you pick which games to run?
How many games we need depends on how many characters the games have. We will probably be needing four or five games per round, so somewhere between 25-30 games for the convention. We try to fit in all the games we are offered but we may have concerns. New GMs should try to work with a more experienced GM to make sure a high quality game is produced.

How many games can I run?
It’s actually a fair amount of work to write a game for Chimera and we try to spread the workload across more people rather than less, so you may run, at most, two games and have your name down for one back up game.

What sort of help can Chimera give me with my game?
We want to make the game running process as easy for you as possible. The Chimera team will be in touch and available to support you through the process. We will help you source gear, help you liaise with players and be on hand to help pull things together when things go pear shaped. There is a fair amount of backstage chat between the GMs in the months leading up to the convention, so there is a good sense of community with the other game masters and the organisers. While we do our best to get you the gear you require, being realistic is really helpful as well - try to use what we already have in the gear shed, and if you require something truly esoteric, we may not be able to help. Then again, we’ve sourced a cauldron before, so who knows.

For whatever reason, I am not able to write a new game but would like to run something at Chimera. Can I do this?
Not a worry. Any game that has been made available to run, or you have acquired permission from the original writers, can be run at Chimera. If you’d like to run something but not sure what, email us and we can help you find something fun!

My game needs to run at a specific time, and needs 2 buildings and a helicopter!

We will do our best to schedule your game at a time most optimal to its success, but we need you to be flexible with us as well - not everybody can run on Friday night! Scheduling is determined by a lot of factors, and the chief aim of the schedule juggling act is to make sure that each round has enough player spaces to meet expected demanded, each round has a suitable variety of genres and styles, and that each round has enough playing spaces to accommodate all the games. It’s not half-tricky to get it to work, so it helps if there is no fixed time that your game must run. The same applies for where you would like to run your game - while we will endeavour to give you the location that best fits your game, flexibility is helpful.

I have a question you haven’t answered here.
I’m happy to answer it

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Offical submission made.

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So what’s everyone offering this year?

I’m putting up The Gehenna Memo, my WWII Laundry Files at Bletchley Park (so, Cthulhu meets The Imitation Game) larp. WARNING: there will be maths, and some simple code-work. I’ll probably offer a second game as well, but I’m waiting to hear from some people.

We are getting a steady stream of games coming through now, all of them look so good, I wish I could play them all!

I’ve just offered Caroline Murphy and Alex Brune’s The Always Waltz, hot from Intercon this year:

You are at a decadent masquerade, drinking the sweet wine. Your companion to your left smiles devilishly and bows courteously, your companion to your right tilts her head and curtseys delicately. Never before have you remembered feeling so happy, so alive.

You start to remember something… A child crying? Why is she crying?

She’s calling to you… Calling you, something…

Why would you leave your child?

Your pulse quickens and panic rises in your throat, the bile of sweet wine sickening your senses. You go to take off your mask… NO! You MUSTN’T TAKE OFF YOUR MASK. The music flares, and the bells toll. Places, everyone. Places.

You will dance, and rejoice, and you cannot sleep until the bells strike twelve. You will gather the rosemary and dahlias from the moon garden this night to nestle under your pillow. As you do every night. As you must.

The Always Waltz is a game about intrigue and mystery. It is a horror/romance game set in the Napoleonic era. Rococo or victorian fashions are appropriate for this game.

This game is inspired by tales like Labyrinth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. You will start the game thinking you know who you are… but you may discover dark things as the evening goes on. You will have every opportunity to fall down the rabbit hole to discover more, but at what cost?

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I’m offering Tomb of the Mad Goddess.

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I’ve offered a rerun of Hotel Paradise

We are still looking for some more games for Chimera, if you are at all interested in running a game please contact me on Chimera@nzlarps.org - there is a bunch of great games out there that are already written so even if you want to give GMing a go, but can’t commit to writing a game then flick me a message and I can help you find a game to run.

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