I am a Woman: Siege of Troy Review
by Brad, king of Cyprus

I just played in the annual Freeform larp here in the UK: Siege of Troy.

Apparently it was their first weekend long game, and it went very well.

The mechanics were simple enough and combat rare enough that we didn't have any big problems. The power balance between Gods and players was excellent. Gods had practically no direct powers; they could only curse or bless players, and that only by influencing their priests. They could also affect indirect game elements (such as releasing prisoners from Hades). In combat they'd always win, but you could run away, and then they'd get an earful from Zeus. Despite being so powerless, they still had a huge degree of authority that stemmed from the mindset of the players that these were Gods and not mortals. Excellent mechanics really.

Here are some pics by Melanie Harper.
 

I'm in 2482, 2484, 2491, and 2494. In the latter two pictures, you can see a nametag stating "I am a woman."

Those last two pictures show Hera forcing me to marry at gunpoint after some minions of a particular Goddess I won't name turned me into a woman for 3 hours. I got the priest of Hephaestus to make me a chastity belt to keep me from getting pregnant. Hera eventually had enough of my bullshit and smote it from my loins with her sword, but the spell wore off just in time.

The role was something of a miscast for me, but they only had one slot left by the time we got in touch. Rather than being an integral part of a team on one of the sides as I'd hoped, I was a neutral who started off the game on the kill/curse list of 3 gods and at least 8 players. I went down in flames just an hour before the end, as the witches finally got together the parts for their El Zorcho spell, burst into the Neutral powers council of war and fried me to a cinder.

In true larper fashion, no one lifted a finger to help, or even batted an eye. There was talk of retribution for attacking a member of the Independent Kingdoms Economic Alliance (IKEA) we had formed, but it was quickly determined that this was a personal matter, and therefore didn't fall under the provisional rubric of the alliance's concern. My corpse smouldered at the table as negotiations went on.

Despite all that, or maybe because of it, I had a fantastic time. Excellent people over here.