Photos of Two Wyrd have been posted in our gallery, check them out!

At Two Wyrd we wanted to feature some specific designers this year, focusing on their experiences in the media, academia, or the field in general. This year we focus on three special guests. 

Brandon Boucher

Brandon Boucher achieved Intermet meme infamy as the guy
crying out “Lightning bolt! Lightning bolt! Lightning bolt!” in a
YouTube video ad for Legends Role Playing in 2003. Millions of hits and
parodies later, Brandon appeared on Comedy Central’s Tosh.0 to
“redeem” himself. Despite the negative portrayals, the video and
Brandon have been introducing larp to more and more Americans through his
interactions with Hollywood. View
Brandon’s Tosh.o debut here.

Events lead by Brandon

LARP vs LARP, What is it

My expertise is in Boffer, continuing story campaign
where we write the character history based on information about a particular
fantasy world.  I will break down the different systems out there, silent
combat, single hit, numbered combat, paper doll, etc.  This will be a
round robin discussion with the people in the room. This is for both veterans
and newbies. Lead by Brandon Boucher

Date: Friday, June 10, 2011 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM (Pacific Time)

Location: Emerald Bay

LARP, What is it.

Round Robin discussion to provide information to first time
LARPers or people thinking about trying it out. How to write characters, how to
interact, mistakes that first time gamers try and causes them to have a bad
takes in their mouths about the hobby. The 20 questions to ask as you come up
with a character history.  I’d like there to be some episodic LARPers
there, this way we provide more comprehensive discussion. Lead by Brandon
Boucher

Date: Friday, June 10, 2011 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM (Pacific Time)

Location: Emerald Bay

Sarah Lynne Bowman

Sarah Lynne Bowman received her
Bachelor of Science in Radio-TV-Film from the University of Texas at Austin in
Fall 1998 and her Master of Arts from the same department in Spring 2003. She
then attended the University of Texas at Dallas, completing her Doctor of
Philosophy in Arts and Humanities in 2008. Her dissertation, “The
Functions of Role-Playing Games: How Participants Create Community, Solve
Problems and Explore Identity”, was published as a book by McFarland Press
in 2010. She presently works as a lecturer for UTD, Ashford University,
Brookhaven College, and Richland College. Her interests include role-playing,
fantasy/science fiction, psychoanalysis, gender/sexuality studies,
rhetoric, media studies, critical theory/cultural studies, multimedia
performance/new media, evolutionary psychology, and the history of human
consciousness. Current projects include understanding role-playing characters
in terms of Jungian theories, Ascension myths in popular culture and games, and
making sense of conflict in role-playing communities.

Events lead by Sarah
Panel: Understanding “Bleed” in Character and Player Interactions lead by Sarah Bowman

This lecture will provide an explanation of the
concept commonly known as “bleed” in role-playing theory. The events that occur
within a game session establish what Johan Huizinga called “the magic circle,”
a safe space for participants to explore issues and experiences that might
otherwise be deemed taboo in mundane interactions. This circle is meant to protect
players from the consequences of enacting taboo behaviors or behaving out of
accordance with the normal social contract while “playing pretend.”

Though most role-playing enactments fall within this
“safe” zone, the experiences that tend to be the most powerful or cathartic
create a sort of “bleeding over” of the emotions of the character with the
player, as described by Markus Montola and other theorists. Boffer LARPers may
experience the adrenaline rush of a “real” battle; Call of Cthulhu players may
feel the terror and suspense of an abyssal monster tearing through the veil
between the worlds right before their eyes; LARPers in a dramatic narrative may
feel the flood of endorphins of a “real” romance while still contained by the
bounds of the game. Examples such as these of “bleed” between the emotions of
the character and the player are often perceived as pleasant – sometimes, even
desirable.

However, bleed can take a negative turn when events
in-game become interpreted as out-of-character attacks, or visa versa. Human
beings are complex creatures, psychologically-speaking. When emotions such as
jealousy, envy, rejection, and anger overwhelm players, either as a result of
experiences within the game or outside of it, oftentimes they lash out at the
community as a whole. Conflicts such as these can threaten to dissolve an
otherwise strong and compelling game, particularly in long-running groups. This
lecture will ponder the questions: Can we distinguish “good” bleed versus “bad”
bleed? What does bleed teach us about ourselves, both in- and out-of-character?
And, finally, how can we minimize the negative repercussions of bleed in order
to solidify the safety promised by the magic circle for players within
each role-playing community?

Date: Saturday, June 11, 2011 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM (Pacific Time)

Panel: Shifting Identities in Role-Playing Games

This lecture will summarize the three basic features
of role-playing games as described in my book The Functions of Role-Playing
Games: How Participants Create Community, Solve Problems, and Explore Identity.
I will then specifically discuss the relationship between players with their
characters. How do players find their inspiration during the character creation
process? How do characters evolve over time? Most importantly, what
relationship do these characters have with the players that create them?

Role-playing involves an experience of immersion,
albeit to greater or lesser degrees depending on the style of game. Some
players experience a relative sameness between their primary sense of Self and
the character, while others feel a definite shift in their identity. In
psychology, we refer to this shift in identity, whether mild or extreme, as
Identity Alteration. During the identity alteration that occurs in role-playing
games, the player is aware of the division between their own motivations and
that of their character. Sometimes, these motivations correspond strongly with
one another; other times, the player may experience the strangeness of the
character seeming to “run loose,” making his or her own decisions while the
player observes the entire process in a somewhat passive state.

In this presentation, I will explain the Nine Types
of Characters as proposed in my book. These Types do not necessarily correspond
with archetypes enacted, but rather with the relative “sameness” of the
personality and motivations between the player and character. These Nine Types
are as follows: the Doppleganger Self, the Augmented Self, the Devoid Self, the
Fragmented Self, the Repressed Self, the Experimental Self, the Idealized Self,
the Oppositional Self, and the Taboo Self. This lecture will endeavor to answer
the questions: Why do we choose to create and enact certain types of
characters? Should embodying a character different from ourselves –
particularly one that is amoral or evil – cause concern? What sort of
psychological pleasure do we derive from shifting our identity in the safe
space of the game world?

Date: Saturday, June 11, 2011 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM (Pacific Time)

Location: Huntington Beach

Ford Ivey

Ford Ivey, sometimes called the Grandfather of NERO, is the
founder of several live action role-playing games, including NERO
International, Shandlin’s Ferry, Wildlands, The Isles, a live version of Call
of Cthulhu, and his newest game, The Osiris Sanction. Ford is the recipient and
namesake of the LARPY Lifetime Achievement award, and is the LARP Guest of
Honor at Origins Game Fair in July, 2007.

After attending the University of Texas school of
Architecture, Ford Ivey worked in all parts of the construction industry, doing
everything from design to supervisor of construction on some major projects in
the Boston area. He got disenchanted with the construction industry and went
back to one of his early loves, opening The GameMaster, a full service game
store In Arlington, MA. This store had tables for playing roleplaying games and
miniatures. While doing this, he heard about a Live Roleplaying game in New
Hampshire called Mid Realms Adventures, based on the Treasure Trap games in
England.

While he enjoyed this game, he was convinced that it could
be done in a way that would allow more character freedom of action. After
running a series of games for a couple of years in Sudbury, MA, under the
umbrella of the Explorer Scouts, he (with input and assistance from several
others) developed the idea of everyone playing the game: everyone was someone
else’s NPC. This event was known as Shandlin’s Ferry, which was run in the fall
of 1987 and was the immediate predecessor to NERO.

NERO was a unique development in LARPing, based on character
growth and freedom of action. It grew far more quickly than the organization
could handle in those early days, after an article appeared in Dragon Magazine,
written by Michael A. Ventrella. NERO suddenly had over 5,000 active members.

NERO began to expand with new chapters quickly, starting
with one in New Jersey, called the Ashbury Campaign. They later broke off to
form Alliance LARP. Other early chapters were the Pittsburgh chapter (now PRO),
and the Atlanta chapter, now running a game based on an early set of the NERO
rules, now calling themselves SOLAR. NERO has, to date, spawned in excess of 40
games of the same general type.

Ford’s NERO game was the first game to own its own site
dedicated to Live Roleplaying. This was in Ware, Massachusetts. This site had
105 acres (0.42 km2) of woods and fields and 27 structures, including an old
New England Inn, barns, and many cabins.

Ford sold the game in 1998 to Joe Valenti. After overcoming
health issues, Ford is now involved in several new projects, including a new
concept in LARP, The Osiris Sanction.

The Osiris Sanction is a whole new direction in LARP,
combining elements of an ARG with what has been called “Ultra Laser
Tag”, with mystery and conspiracy plots arrayed against the players with
the final satisfying encounter being a SWAT team type mission.

Events lead by Ford Ivey

Ford Ivey’s Osiris Sanction Demonstration

The Osiris Sanction is a new kind of gaming experience. It steps
away from the boundaries of interactive theater, live urban gaming, or an
online interactive role-playing game, combining elements of each into something
uniquely suited to telling our story of intrigue and conspiracy.

The place is here, and the time is now. In the Osiris Sanction,
you and not a fictional counterpart have the chance to be a hero. As you weave
through the puzzles and clues you encounter through various media, you’ll
discover the nature of the vast web of evil that threatens our normal
existence. You’ll enter the shadowy world of the coyotes, who oppose the dark
forces at hand. Game play ranges from real world clandestine meetings to an
online community when you can discover clues and events, and then ultimately to
the actual missions into an alternate reality…

Take a deep breath. Let it out. Repeat to yourself… it’s only a game.

Date: Saturday, June 12, 2011 6:00 PM – 7:00PM (Pacific Time)

Location: Emerald Bay

Panel: Open discussion about NERO, it’s history, and it’s current state

A discussion lead by Ford Ivey and his relationship to NERO: how it started, what
the major influences were, it’s rise, and Ford’s departure from the game.

Date: Sunday, June 12, 2011 11:00 AM – 12:00PM (Pacific Time)

Location: Huntington Beach