This revolting school lunch is a visual metaphor for what David Seymour wants to do to all public services in NZ.

The many contradictory versions of Arthurian myth provided lots of options for writing the scenario, making it unpredictable even to fans. To allow for both the Christian and pagan themes common to the genre, I envisioned God's creation as including wondrous mysteries unknown to the common people.

Various hidden game mechanics are in play to determine the outcome of deals made at the gathering. For example, one mechanic deals with Arthur's lords conspiring to go to war with him. Who would win? Merlin is used to channel the results of these hidden mechanics back into the game as prophesies.

It's a classic secrets-and-powers game, but there is also the option for combat to resolve matters of honour, trial by combat, or the looming possibility of a brutal uprising.

The first run was at Chimera larp convention in Auckland, New Zealand in 2009. Using a scout camp meant games could be either in halls or in the wooded grounds of the camp. A grassy area surrounded by forest made the perfect setting for Arthur to meet with his lords and their families and knights.

I also had a #larp axe to grind. The prevailing view (e.g. in The Book of Larp) was that larps had either: 1) player-made characters with foam weapons in campaigns, or 2) GM-written characters with abstract conflict resolution in one-shots. I wanted to write a larp to prove this a false dichotomy.

White in turn was inspired by the 15th-century classic Le Morte d'Arthur by Thomas Malory. When writing the #larp I often referenced Malory, an encyclopaedia of Arthurian myth, and other sources, but I came back to White for the emotional depth of his characters.

I fell in love with Arthurian legend reading The Once and Future King by TH White. I'm now reading it to my son. The prose is lyrical, the characters whimsical and tragic. It begins light-heartedly but with political parables of might versus justice that play out as the tone darkens across 4 books.

I'd like to talk about a #larp scenario I wrote in 2009, The Black Hart of Camelot. Let's talk about what inspired it, how it was innovative at the time, and where it fits in the New Zealand and international larp scene.

You can find the scenario here: www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/8...