Gina Moriarty
Over the last couple of years, I’ve been trying to read more books. It’s a hobby I loved as a child, which I’ve fallen out of the habit of, so now I want to make more time for it. So here are the most recent books I’ve been reading!
Continue reading “Books I’ve Been Reading”
Had a few ups and downs last year, moreso than 2023 for obvious reasons. While I’ve been writing more about the sad things (because it helps me process), I want to celebrate the good things, even if they’re small!
Continue reading “2024 Summary”
So it’s been a hot minute! I’ve had a fair amount going on recently, and I’ve not really had much time to get anything down.
Planning a wedding, changing jobs, progressing my career? Who knew all that could take it out of you 😂
Anyway, here’s to getting some more time to write.
I will, of course, be updating you on how everything came together, how life is resuming, and my LARP schedule will be filling up again now I’m not preoccupied, so expect more of that type of content too!
Happy Living/LARPing/Loving!
Gina x
Okay, I know 2023 has been and gone already, but I still feel the urge to write about it. For posterity’s sake.
Continue reading “2023 Summary”
Wow. I really let this slide didn’t I?
To anyone who enjoys my content – sorry! I’ve honestly had a lot going on, but I shall get into that in this post – which will be a summary of what I got up to last year.
Read more: 2022 SummaryThis was my first time crewing an event, and then I was also entrusted the role of Crew Coordinator – meaning I had to organise who was doing what and when. Helping out behind the scenes was stressful, but I very much enjoyed it. I’m a helper by nature and a people-pleaser, so I did my best to ensure that every crew member had roles they were happy with and that they looked after themselves and didn’t burn themselves out.
Going from feedback from the organisers and the crew, I did a great job! Everyone was comfortable, felt that they could back down if things were too much, and – most importantly – had fun!
A week after the emotionally tiring stint at Merrolyn, I attended the single evening ball-style LARP Wild Hunt, which is gothic-horror themed. I had been assigned to the Summoned faction, which are essentially elemental spirits in humanoid form, and finished with a concept of “graveyard spirit”. It was good fun, I made some new friends, though I did have a couple of criticisms over the event – partly the ruleset being somewhat too complicated for an evening event (though would work perfectly fine for a weekend or more), but mostly that the three course meal provided were very small portions (I left the game hungrier than I went in).
The main story lines I participated in were mostly concluded – two of the other Summoned had been bound, and we were able to free them – but one of them had technically only just started. Myself and the rest of the Summoned faction helped to bring life to a dragon egg, allowing it to begin incubating. Interestingly enough, the next Wild Hunt event is titled “Birth of Dragons”, so I’m very excited to continue that story.
The next event will be a weekend event, so hopefully the system and rules in place will be easier to learn, and people can delve into character development more.
No point beating around the bush – in April, my partner proposed!
It was around the time of my birthday, and we decided to host a group trip to Herstmonceoux Castle – which, you may remember, is the event site for Bothwell School of Witchcraft, and where Gareth and I met. So, off we went, meeting a fair few of our friends there, and in the rose garden, Gareth asked me for my hand in marriage.
Me being me, and Gareth being about as subtle as a brick, I saw this coming several miles off! I’d even had my nails done a couple of days before in preparation. But that didn’t stop me from crying as I said “yes”, because I’m a hot mess.
As of right now, we haven’t got any solid plans for the wedding, for reasons you’ll understand further down in this post. But you bet it’s going to be medieval / Ren-Faire themed!
In the spring, we attended Tales Untold, an Arthurian-inspired event set in Camelot. While we had originally planned to go as members of a new realm, we ended up going as Monarch (me) and General (Gareth) of Penmortid, a pirate-inspired nation. Essentially the original monarch was no longer attending the event, and due to plot reasons, the organisers asked us if we were willing to step in, due to the similar concept that our realm had.
We agreed, though I wonder if we would have, had we known that Penmortid was on the brink of war with about three or four other realms! Our game initially comprised of diplomatic conversations and trying to persuade everyone that no, we weren’t like the previous monarch, and yes, we wanted peace, and please, don’t declare war against us on our first event!
Thankfully, we were successful, and we ended up being quite well-liked by the other Realms. What I really enjoyed about the event is the implementation of “vignettes”, missions that are wholly non-combat, which is very important to me as a non-com player. I also really liked the magic system, once I was able to get my head round it! It seemed really complicated reading about it on the wiki, but it’s one of those things that needs actually doing to get the hang of it.
Oh. And I married a goblin.
Ah, to live life as a Hobbit, and spend my days making mischief and eating… and at EyeLARP’s Second Breakfast, I was able to do exactly that!
This is the second event I attended with an in-character family, and I really enjoyed having our little group that I knew I could always find game within. My IC sister ran one of the taverns with her wife, so I was there more often than not – and if you know anything about LARPers (or Hobbits!), there’s always something happening in the tavern!
I ate so much that weekend, but every mouthful was worth it. I definitely would love to go again!
Over the last couple of years, mostly during lockdowns when there weren’t any LARPs happening, I’ve been working on making a podcast with my friends. I mentioned it in a previous post, and we launched this year!
A lot more goes into producing an audiodrama than you realise, even after you start releasing episodes, so a lot of my spare time after work and at weekends consists of working on future episodes and promoting current ones.
I’ll do another post going more in depth about it, but you can listen to it on Spotify (or any other podcast provider), visit our website, and – if you want to support us – our Patreon.
Also known as, the main reason our wedding plans are on hold!
As of August, Gareth and I bought our first home together, and are officially homeowners! As you can imagine, a lot of patience, work and tears (from me) went into the whole process of acquiring a house, but we did it.
And pretty much as soon as we moved in, we got a brand new kitchen sorted – the old one was falling apart, and I mean that literally. I opened a wall cupboard and the door very nearly fell on my head.
There’s more work to do and decorating to save up and plan for, but we’re hoping that once the big stuff is done, we’ll be able to do both that and save for our wedding.
A friend of mine reached out to me and asked if I would be interested in hosting a Murder Mystery party for her. I said absolutely! And as it turns out, this would be the last time I get to see her before she moves to Australia in January!
I wrote it fully from scratch, tailoring it a little to the people I knew would be attending. It was a fun experience writing it and watching everything unfold after I had “died”. There were a couple of things that didn’t work as I’d hoped but, considering I’d never written one before, I think I did alright!
Everyone involved enjoyed the evening, and they did manage to figure out the murderer, and that’s what matters really!
That about covers everything from this year. I plan to do another post about some of the events from before this year, though considering it’s been a long time since I attended them, they won’t be very long.
Now that I’ve moved and somewhat more settled into a routine, I hope to keep this blog updated a bit more! I’ve got a few plans for next year, and I’ll probably talk more about my mundane life too. But we’ll see.
In the meantime – Happy LARPing!
Want to see more of my life as it hurtles towards chaos? Follow the blog!
Want to listen to Quest of Ruin? Find it on Spotify, or any other podcast provider!
Check out photographers Oliver Facey and Tom Garnett!
Check out Wild Hunt, EYELarp and Tales Untold!
It’s been a while since I posted… well, any content. I’ve been semi-active on twitter but I mostly scroll instead of tweet.
To be fair, when your main content is about something that hasn’t been able to happen in nearly two years, it’s kind of hard to post about it – especially when you add real life on top!
So what have I been up to?
Of course, I still work in community pharmacy, which has been a blessing in many ways as I am still in work and have been able to not worry about bills or losing my job this whole time.
The second biggest thing I’ve been doing is making a podcast! We are hoping to premiere it this year, and I shall post about it separately as soon as I can. But that’s been taking a lot of my spare time that I would have been otherwise using for Larp prep.
I have been double vaccinated, and most recently boostered, against COVID-19, so I’m hoping that I will be able to go the events I have planned this year.
Other than that? Not much has been happening. I do what I can to keep sane, and hope that one day we can move forward instead of waiting for a return to normal. Because what even was “normal” anyway? The world changes constantly – whether it’s for the better or worse – and we need to learn to live with it regardless.
So, keep up the safeguarding. Wearing masks, more frequent hand washing, testing ourselves, isolating when needed. We do what we can to protect those who can’t.
Above all else, be kind.
Want to know more about Gina’s adventures in life and LARP? Follow the blog!
The New Year Approaches!
Here’s hoping for a happy and healthy New Year!
2020 has been tough, for many people, for many reasons – the most prevalent, of course, being the COVID-19 situation. I’m not sure what 2021 will hold for us, but I’m hoping it’s towards a better, brighter year.
Do you have any resolutions you want to act on this year? Let me know!
Happy Larping!
Ah yes. The winter holidays… A time to celebrate the end of the dark, the return of the light, and the expectation of spring. I know that seeing family over the holidays is important to many, and this year it’s been more difficult due to the circumstances, but I hope everyone has been able to figure out a way.
Yule was yesterday, so I hope you all had a good Longest Night!
Christmas is in a few days (which I also celebrate), so if you’re celebrating it – Merry Christmas! If you celebrate any other winter holidays, I hope you enjoy them!
I will be returning to my usual blog posts come the new year.
Merry Larping!
It’s been a while, hasn’t it?
First off, I hope you are all safe. The current situation of the world has left many people in a state of uncertainty and anxiety. As you may be aware, I work in the healthcare sector – specifically in pharmacy. I’ve been at work every day since this whole thing started, working through the lockdown in the UK, and trying to decipher what’s in the public’s best interests as I muddle through in a state of heightened anxiety.
As such, many of my intended Larp events have been postponed or cancelled. This has kind of dulled my excitement and motivation to work on projects. Plus there’s an element of jealousy involved, as I see so many people working on their projects they now suddenly have time for, while I still struggle to enjoy my time at home. This jealousy, no matter how valid I feel it is or not, disheartens me and continues to sap my motivation. It’s a very frustrating cycle to be in.
However! I’m trying to focus on the positive! I’m very grateful to still be in work; I’m grateful for the extra time between Larps I have to work on different projects; I’m grateful for my support network that have helped me during this strange period of our lives.
I’m currently working on a few things that I’m really excited to share! A hint for one (or two) of them can be found on my Instagram and Twitter accounts – so go follow me there for more sneak peeks! There’s also a more long-term project that I’m working on with some friends, but we’re not quite ready to share yet (so yes, I am being a bit mean mentioning it with zero explanation! Sorry). You’ll hear about everything when the time’s right.
In the meantime: Stay safe and at home, practice physical distancing, wear a face covering(!), keep washing your hands, and when we’re able to get round to it again…
Happy Larping~
It’s been a few months, but I’m back! I’m as settled in my new place as I can be, and I’ve got a few projects planned that I’m excited to share with you!
I hope everyone had fun bringing in the new year, and that you’re all filled with positivity for the year ahead. There’s a lot going on in the world right now, and everyone will have their own stuff on top of that. But hopefully, together, we can try and make the world a better place.
I hope you enjoy the look into this year in the life of a British Larper, and that you’ll all enjoy your plans for 2020.
Happy Larping!
Live, LARP, Love 