I went on the Internet, and I found this...

Firstly, allow me to introduce myself. My name is BritNerfMogul, or at least it is when I'm on the internet talking about Nerf. I been 'nerfing' for just under a decade, and have extensive knowledge of Nerf blasters and modifying them, going so far as to running my own company, Higson Armouries. Recently I became involved in a new LARP event in my local area. The game is known as Dark Tempus, and runs as a Post Apocalypse game play. Set out over 2 days starting on Friday evening and finishing on Sunday afternoon, players were left to roam free, fight off zombie hordes, and try to start a new world in the midsts of staff trying to create distractions, thefts and all out spanner-in-the-works escapades.

Now before discovering this event, I'd rarely looked into LARP games, mainly due to the fact most of the game types I came across were Fantasy based. Now, I'm not really into sitting down and spending 4 hours trying to understand the rules and still not having a clue as to what I supposed to do when I'm in character. The other issue was no Nerf weapons, or if there were they had 'magical' properties that required a 30 page operational manual in regards to rules and interactions with other players etc, etc. So when I was introduced to Dark Tempus through a mutual friend of the game operator, I was a little unsure about the game. Until I read the rules. It was then that I'd found I'd finally discovered a simple rules system with almost identical hit rules to standard Nerf war rules. Not to mention the fact that the entire game is essentially Fallout 3 in real life!

Once I'd regained my composure, life on the road to my first Nerf LARP event began in the same place as most things. Facebook. Joining the Facebook group was nice and easy, and was great for sharing experience and was great for asking even the stupidest of questions. Thanks to this, preparation for the event was pretty straight forward. One of the most interesting parts to rules for this game was the balance system. Every player, at the beginning of each event is given 100 'credits', or 200 if you sacrifice one of you 4 personalised skills. Out of this budget, you must account for everything, weapons, armour, rations and ammunition. Once of the most intriguing rules I found was the cost of ammunition. 1 dart would cost you 5 credits. Those of you with a good grip of maths would have quickly noticed that 25 darts would cost 100 credits, or your entire budget. This was a nice surprise for me, as it meant it wasn't going to be a 2 day Nerf war where only the players who could bring the most darts and high capacity blasters would enjoy the game. Now luckily, all darts were provided by the game organisers so there was no issue with any players being able to simple mow down everyone or everything in their way.

Arriving on the site was nice and easy, and everyone was really friendly both crew and players. Game play started at 8pm on Friday, with everyone collecting their starter packs from the bar. These included a welcome letter, your allocation of ammunition, and any extras you'd been able to afford in the game. From then on, all hell broke loose, and it was glorious. Morning raids from both zombie hordes, armed cannibals, thieving bandits and even player versus player disagreements. Combat was frantic, fought everywhere and any time. Night combat, indoor, outdoor, me lee you name it, it happened. The site was Boy Scouts camp site just south of Macclesfield, featured acres of woodland, full facilities and lodges where we could sleep, cook, and also had our own in game bar with real alcohol. For a first event, I had an amazing time, and my experience with Nerf blasters was greatly received by all the players and the crew. However this has now meant that I am attending the next event with not only my own kit, but kit to sell and kit to for the crew to use. 

All in all, I had an amazing time, and I would highly recommend this event for anyone who's looking for something slightly different from Nerf, or anyone looking for a gentle introduction to LARP in general. In fact, I'm trying to put together a Squadron for next Dark Tempus Event, which will be September 20-22^nd, details can be found below!

Thanks for reading, and feel free to contact me through any of the links I've dropped here.

Brit

Handy links:

Dead Echo Squad: https://www.facebook.com/groups/515396628525126/

Dark Tempus https://www.facebook.com/groups/DTLARP

Higson Armouries http://www.facebook.com/HigsonArmouries

Dark Tempus Full website http://www.darktempus.com/