Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Kol Ford @kolford.bsky.social · 48m

Lines I have wisely ommited from emails this morning...

"Having said all that, I am not beyond asking for a thousand plain white boxes containing some really cool underground boxed set, but I think this should be a deliberate design decision rather than me not putting in the values correctly."

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Kol Ford @kolford.bsky.social · 12h

we realised this is the only place we didn't promote tickets to the smoke. if you are interestd in immersive theatre, larp, live action roleplaying or roleplaying games, then Londons larp festival is the place for you. Your ticket allows you to play 2 larps per day at Theatre Deli!

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Kol Ford @kolford.bsky.social · 12h

SIGN UP FOR THE SMOKE 2026

Join us on the 9th to 11th January in London's Theatre Deli as we host an incredible 50+ larps from all over the world.
Come join the magic

Link to Tickets:
omenstar.com/shop/

Link to the website:
www.thesmoke.org

💚💛🤍💛💚

☁️The Smoke☁️

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Kol Ford @kolford.bsky.social · 1d

This week we have been getting ready for the Immersives Experience Summit as well as opening tickets for The Smoke Chamber Larp* Festival in London! Which we really should mention on here as well!

* also Nordic Larps, Jubensha, Megagame, Freeform, LRP, Minds Eye Theatre, Immersive Theatre and more!

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Kol Ford @kolford.bsky.social · Jul 16

You seemed so excited to get it i was getting really impatient at the begining of the video to see you open it! I wasn't expecting it to be a plain wood one, but I was hoping it would be. They are so useful when crewing.

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Kol Ford @kolford.bsky.social · Jul 8

The Isle of Wonders festival in Croatia was wonderful and an outstanding success for us. Introducing larp to people who have never done it before with minimal onboarding and very little interference from organisers worked extremely well!

Image from TavernQuest at VoidSpace festival in London!

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Kol Ford @kolford.bsky.social · May 20

Our Valour Manor dystopian superhero larp was phenomenally successful with many five star reviews and lots of happy people. There will be a rerun next year!

Scientists in a psychedelic negative image

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Kol Ford @kolford.bsky.social · Apr 16

I hear you. Its not going to be easy to set up and moderate and we dont have the bandwidth to do it.

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Kol Ford @kolford.bsky.social · Apr 16

Our discords are doing well, and I really like them, but it feels like that is a community for people who are already in the Omen Star ecosystem. so yes, a uniting serving would be good. The Larp Place seems to work well for US larpers, but European equivelents dont seem to be taking off.

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Kol Ford @kolford.bsky.social · Apr 16

Oh no, please intrude. Community building is based on discourse and a part of me is wonering if we are all just a little too polite! Chime in on your feelings!

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Kol Ford @kolford.bsky.social · Apr 15

Hitting the point of wondering if Bluesky is worth the hassle of handling another social media. I like it, and I definitely gave it a solid go, but without the ablity to really connect with my community its all a little bit meh. Any ideas how I can make this a bit better, or will I gradually leave?

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Kol Ford @kolford.bsky.social · Apr 9

Hard agree with all of this.

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Kol Ford @kolford.bsky.social · Apr 7

We are doing really well and have just launched the call for larps for The Smoke 2026!! I am already excited about European Larp right now and it looks like it is just getting better!

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Kol Ford @kolford.bsky.social · Mar 23

A surprising number of larp orgas are inspired by the Wu Tang Clan. So I am excited to see not only a new Wu Tang Clan album is on the way, but also our personal favourite rapper at Omen Star ~ Inspectah Deck, the Rebel INS.

Wu-Tang Clan - Mandingo (Official Music Video)

YouTube video by Wu-Tang Clan

www.youtube.com

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Kol Ford @kolford.bsky.social · Mar 22

There are Jane Austen larps where there is precicely zero chance of you being clubbed with a mace replica, authentic or otherwise.

Being read to filth by the lady doweger on the other hand. That will happen.

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Kol Ford @kolford.bsky.social · Mar 20

Five years ago the Omen Star Satellite launched at the begining of lockdown. Unable to do live events, we used our event management infrastucture to support our local community and moved into the world of online larping. We would go on to produce a new larp every four weeks until lockdown lifted.

a man and a woman wearing hats (the woman a top hat, the man a pirate hat) sit in front of larp parapgenialia including sheilds and crossbows and a shelf of boardgames including Starcraft, Terraformng Mars and others.

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Kol Ford @kolford.bsky.social · Mar 19

Also while you are here, I absolutely loved the skill with which you did the workshops at L'conconicnce. You were candid, engaging and witty without diluting the important information you were sharing and I am here for it. <3

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Kol Ford @kolford.bsky.social · Mar 19

I go every year and have done for a while now. There was a great sense of community and belonging. I would not say it was the best KP, but there was a feeling in the community of belonging and mutual sharing. It was nice.

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Kol Ford @kolford.bsky.social · Mar 19

Feeling good after KP. I encouraged those who wanted to do something in larp but wanted a bit of affirmation. This included talking about talks and articles for next year, party ideas or ideas for chamber larps or cool concepts for new blockbuster larps, I loved every interaction! Good times! <3

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Kol Ford @kolford.bsky.social · Mar 18

This all sounds quite ominious. I am a writer. There are very few things in my head that do not, in some way, contribute to putting food on my table. 😁

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Kol Ford @kolford.bsky.social · Mar 18

(unless it is the Busted Song "Year 3000". Living under water does not reasonably qualify as "not much has changed")

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Kol Ford @kolford.bsky.social · Mar 18

"This thing is living rent free in your head!"

No no, I can assure you, one way or another it pays rent.

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Kol Ford @kolford.bsky.social · Mar 12

Finally had it to Oslo, resting after a long and weirdly difficult journey. Soon I will meet again with the larp community and much talking will take place.

Exciting times ✨

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Kol Ford @kolford.bsky.social · Mar 10

Will you be speaking? It would be so good to see you. I loved seeing you at Redemption and would have loved to have played more but you always seem so busy!

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Kol Ford @kolford.bsky.social · Mar 10

That would have been so cool. Ive said this everywhere else but I would love to larp with you again. for people who do not know this individual, she is a phenomenal larper. Absolute joy to play alongside.

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