Mythago for the second time

For me, this year wasn’t good for larping and Mythago was my first LARP this year, not counting the Prague Larpweekend. And it’s only my and my calendar’s fault. I don’t remember last time that I’d have so many colliding events and when we add the pneumonia, which prevented me from going to Bezkrálí… but at least I was able to get to Mythago.

And I wasn’t alone, I arrived to the enchanted lake together with Robin Hood, the doctor Imhotep, a group of Leprechauns, the Snow Queen and many others. Every one had their own fate and goals. The birds were searching for their wings and their king. Beowulf (well, many of them) looking for Grendel’s mother. The Little Red Riding Hood going to her grandma’s and together with her (oh, well I never!) also the big bad wolf looking for a tasty meal. And many, many more. All of us came to the land of the lake, ruled by a primitive tribe from the Stone Age – at least that’s what it looked like at first. The real ruler was actually a grumpy old man from the lake.

Many of the heroes have died here, but many have also found what they came for. But everyone who could left the lake in the end, since the dreadful winter was on its way and the Snow Queen froze everything in the area. Even the mighty Beowulf became a sculpture in the Queen’s frozen garden. I have left too, although I haven’t found the ideal model. But at least I had a bag full of gold and silver (for painting the birds’ lost wings back) and a promise of a favor by three gods (for a family portrait).

That’s the painter’s point of view, though his creations were actually photos from Mythago 2011. I didn’t play as much and my role was mostly unimportant, just giving me the chance to interact with other characters. I made my paintings a reality with use of a small printer which I set up in the main building and it really payed off – the reactions of the people when I showed them the pictures I “painted” were priceless.

Many things depended on the choice of a character and its connection with other persons, the ideal way was to bring your own group of fellow-players to bind each other’s stories together. It was of course possible to be alone and substitute the characters of the story by other people, but it’s not easy to be a vampire hunter without any nearby vampires. That’s the general problem of the sandbox type larps – it’s difficult to connect and equalize all the characters. This time the communication with the organizers (Zmyjka and Renglaren) was obstructed by the urban larp Dies Irae which lasted a month and ended just before the beginning of Mythago.