Stargate – Batjutsu

I’ve uploaded the 2nd video about Orion Sphere LRP event 1, this time focusing on the wonderful UK Starship Bridge Simulator (UKSBS).

Focusing on the ship missions at Orion Sphere, the combined efforts of the Orion Sphere (Conan Daly, Michael Rees & Nathan McDonald) and UKSBS (Wayne Street, Raymond Toghill & James Balls) teams was very impressive. Like any creative project, creating the ideas for a new game universe can become a black hole, filled with constant research. Add to this the care of managing the inspiration of other universes, whilst giving things your own spin; all of course with the time pressure of: eek the event draws ever closer! It was revealed at the end of the event that the two teams had not worked together before, making things more impressive.

As a coder that has also dabbled with the Unreal Engine and Blender, I have an appreciation of how much effort & time it takes to design assets and populate a map, never mind the tweaking and playtesting that comes after that. This then leads back to the point I mention in the video about being able to moderate ship missions in real time, plus staying In Character (IC), bringing together a collection of ‘a very particular set of skills’ 😉

Of course there were teething problems, I don’t want to misrepresent things and imply perfection. Plus as I mention in the video the learning curve of the players. I think the foundations for this aspect of the LARP has been well established, providing a solid basis for future events. Another important part of both software development and world building is building up a library of assets to help speed up the creation of new assets easier. A quick reality check is that this is being done by small teams, so health, work, etc., can get in the way, so I remind myself not to demand excellence just appreciate it when it is there 🙂

Orion Sphere has been designed to be a living universe, to allow the players to add lore and their own stories, to strive to maximise player agency. The UKSBS has helped create and run a key part of that universe, setting a high bar, which technically was not required to make Orion Sphere event 1 so impressive. To repeat what I say in my video: amazing!

Check out this video for a tour of the system used in event 1:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/UKStarship/permalink/2204873423131460/

Orion Sphere Links

wikki.orionspherelrp.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/orionspherelrp/

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/conan3994/boards/

https://www.facebook.com/SJEganPhotography/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/UKStarship/

http://daid.github.io/EmptyEpsilon/

https://www.facebook.com/WhiteStarClothing/

The Live Action Role Playing (LARP/LRP) event 1 of Orion Sphere was awesome. The next event is on the 21st September, you should join in 😀 (links below).

Unfortunately this review is a bit behind schedule, due to health and other priorities. When I returned to finalising my thoughts I was once again unsure how to condense the emotional high and overall fun that I had at Orion Sphere event 1, so I decided to record a stream of consciousness and see what came out. I also decided to go an extra step for my overview and put on some of my kit for Lucian Thomson; failed surgeon to space docker now scientific explorer. The root of the kit and character idea came from a fellow player’s obsession with dungarees.

As I mention in the video I think the game combines some of the scale of a festival LARP along with a smaller club / convention LARP was impressive. Considering the crew and players I am sure this spirit will be maintained, especially as the game grows.

Having a setting that brings classic Sci Fi like Star Trek, Star Wars, Stargate, Battlestar Galactica, Firefly, and so many others was a great starting point. As I mention in the video the four Factions help set the stage for player plot and tension, building upon a rich and growing lore. Like most people I’ve so many things to do, but I’d like to write some lore and after event 2 I’ll chat with the design team about this.

As mentioned above my kit had a silly root, but turned out okay, in part because of the wonderfully diverse Free Union fashion sense 😉

Orion Sphere E1 — Preparing to fight/save the hive.

The variety of NERF designs being made by players was very impressive. I made 3 guns, here is one of them:

As I mentioned in the video the event was awesome. Besides the usual pre-event apprehension I am super excited for Event 2; although sadly my In Character (IC) nephew cannot attend. I am currently working on kit & prop ideas; given the kit standard at the first event was impressive, I imagine other people are going to be bringing some incredible designs. Lots of great kit can be seen at the Orion Sphere website and their Facebook page, but for example just look at this Reskan (sentient swarm) outfit:

Plus the ever incredible outfits of Tom Roe, owner of WhiteStar Clothing (link below):

Orion Sphere Tom Roe — Free Union NPC, played by Tom Roe of WhiteStar Clothing

The ship simulating setup added a great immersive aspect to the game. I am sure the game would have been good enough without the UK Starship Bridge Simulator (UKSBS), but what Wayne and Raymond brought uplifted the game to cosmic heights 😉 I will go into more detail about them in the next blog.

Orion Sphere UKSBS setup — Orion Sphere computer setup for ship missions, run by UKSBS

Thanks to Orion Sphere, SJEgan Photography and Andrew Forrest for some of the pictures. On the subject of pictures, during the run up to the first event a few of us started making memes. Here’s one of my lame attempts: