Alliance Denver - Chapter Owner Introduction

[Suzanne]

Hi everyone, Most of you know me, I’m Suzanne Bastien, and this is my elevator speech about one of the two, new Alliance Denver owners.

Alliance Denver has been a breath of sunshine I didn’t expect would exist after years in and out of the LARP community. I will say that I am truly sorry I didn’t show up sooner. I want to thank you all for being the community that I didn’t believe existed anymore, I am looking forward to getting to know you and creating some amazing memories on top of the ones you created years before I came along.

Having started this chapter in March of 2019, I am new to the Alliance community; However, to some, I am an old hat they have known for a long time. I fully understand the shock some people had when the announcement was made, I can promise you I am still thriving in an excited awe that I get to work through this adventure with y’all. We are planning on doing a FB Live Q & A sometime. We want to answer those burning questions, keep looking for the date for that event.

I have a bullet list below. I am not going to speak to my adventures, where I came from or who I knew. You can peruse that if you want, it reads like a resume of just how geeky I am. Y’all have met me, you already know.

Before I sign off on this, I want to say Thank You. To the people who have sincerely reached out, to the players for allowing a large group of loud singing, dancing, colorful people to enter the game they have been playing for years and welcome us. To those that have helped behind the scenes and in front, to the late nights, early mornings and all of the years of players that assisted to getting me to where I need to be. Right here.


Suzanne bullet points:

• Started playing NERO in Texas; February 1994
• Moved to Colorado in November 1994 to start NERO Colorado with James Adams
• Ran/Played in NERO Colorado from 1994-1996
• I moved back to Austin Texas and opened NERO Austin/San Antonio with Steve Patterson & crew. (1996-1997). I worked as the national newsletter creator for NERO National under Joe Valenti.
• Moved back to the DFW metroplex and played in NERO DFW from 1997-2000 (This is where Will and I met)
• Moved back to Colorado for the final time in July of 2000. I became General Manager of NERO Colorado from 2000-2005 still under the ownership of James Adams.
• I dropped out of LARPing (except a few stints in Crusade of Legends and some Vampire the Masquerade) from 2005-2016
• Went back to playing NERO International in Texas (though I lived in Colorado) in 2016 and traveled back and forth playing out there, I was working as a Cross chapter plot member between the southern and western chapters to create cohesion. (Traveled to Atlanta, Grand Rapids and Illinois to play)
• I joined the NERO World group and started working with Ford Ivey to recreate the new NERO game.
• Joined Alliance Denver in March 2019 and finally walked away from NERO World in May 2019.

Will bullet points:

• IFGS from 1988 to 1995

Made the initial step from tabletop to LARP first as a player, then as a writer, and finally as an event producer. Was responsible for introducing IFGS to world course events vs. the single line course events they were limited to running previously.

• Mind's Eye Theater from 1992 to 2000

I was ultimately involved in all aspects of the organization from MC1 player all the way through to an MC14 Coordinator/Storyteller. I played Vampire with Mark Rein-Hagen. I wrote and organized convention events, with up to 400 pre-generated player characters. At a couple of those events, I was lucky enough to cast Julie Newmar as a Bastet and Ted Raimi as a Sidhe! Our group regularly received product support for our region from Justin Achilli at White Wolf.

• NERO International from 1995 to 2017

I started in DFW NERO as a level one fighter with 15 build. Yikes. Played that character primarily for the entire Badderian campaign. Over those many years, I evolved from player, to Marshall, to writer/producer, to event organizer, to owner. It was in this LARP that I met this drop dead gorgeous woman that took my breath away immediately. That woman turned out to be Suzanne Bastien. I was fortunate enough to get to travel to around twenty different NERO chapters across the U.S. I was present during the “Alliance Scism”. I was also present at the beginning of the Valenti/Ivy War that continues to rage to this day. During this time I finished a Master’s in Game Design and I am all but dissertation (ABD) on a PhD in Synthetic World Design (which is a fancy way of saying I studied LARPing). I owned and operated the NERO Bexar Chapter out of South Texas for three years.

• NERO World (Ford Ivy) from 2017 to 2019

I was invited to join Ford’s staff with promises that Ford would end this silly war with Joe Valenti (spoilers: He didn’t!). During my time here, I joined his Design Team and was responsible for constructing multiple schools of magic and the initial electronic, bluetooth enabled wand device design that he would later take and use as the basis for his new vision of augmented reality LARPing.

• Mind's Eye Society from 2017 to 2018

My return to parlour LARPing was short lived. I enjoyed the flavor and roleplay it provided. However, I think that once you have attended your first full weekend, immersive event like NERO or Alliance, there is no going back. It has remained my first love all these years, so while this was an amazing distraction that allowed me to broaden my LARPing contacts and friends, I honestly just missed NERO.

• Denver Alliance from 2019 to present

It was like stepping into the past and a breath of fresh air all at the same time! It immediately harkened back to those first wide eyed days of NERO. The community was warm and welcoming. There was danger! There was adventure! There was COMBAT! There was roleplay. It allowed me to fall in love with LARP once again. AND it allowed me to do it with the most amazing woman. The most amazing children. It very quickly felt like home. We were immediately hooked.