Player Profile: David CoyleFebruary 4th, 2020, 6:42 pm
How long have you been playing: This September 2020, it will be my 7 year anniversary at Kingdoms Of Novitas (KoN).
But the character was actually created for Dagorhir on July 12, 2009 at the Feast For Crows event in Rochester, New York after my friends and I heard about Dagorhir in the now defunct Rochester Insider paper.
I first heard of KoN on July 14th, 2013 during a practice with Dan (Atticus), Richard (Reaver) and Zach (Octavius) – who were also of the Dag unit Cairnhold Legion. I believe Zach was First Marshal of Marketing, Player & Outreach at the time but he told me about KoN and I was completely sold to try it.
Unfortunately, soon after that invitation, I had a negative experience with a different LARP weeks later due to its bizarre standards and I actually became an anti-LARPer.
But some Rochestarians really wanted to try out KoN. And on September 6th, 2013, I drove them to our first event. Midway through the post-LARP brunch at a local diner, I knew I wanted to be part of this family.
Describe your character: “… a masked man in full black, with a bullwhip at his belt and a skull-topped spinal cord attached to his back, stood against the wall and watched the room unblinkingly… our eyes met – his shockingly yellow eyes, with their jagged black irises, stood out… through the eye-holes of his mask – and he held my gaze for an uncomfortable long moment.”
– Ellenor’s Letters – Blog Entry: Best Friends, 8-6-1595
What is your favorite in game moment?: There are so many moments but my favorite moment as Daitoro and as a LARPer in general was from “The Eye Surgery” storyline at the May 18-20, 1596 event in 2017. I took Daitoro out of my comfort zone and delved deep into the soul of the character.
If you love reading blogs, check out the blog section of the forums. Thaerion and Joy blogged their perspective of that weekend. Thaerion’s blogs start with “Regrowing Pains Part 1” and ends with “Fortunes And Misfortunes Part 2”. Joy’s blogs start with “It’s Fine, Joy” and ends with “Fangfish”.
What is your Favorite Monster? Why?: That would be the ex-Cairnhold Ranger named Zylah played by Tammy Pratt. Zylah is the right-hand woman of a nosferatu named Reginald Bartholomew Augustus or "Reggie".
Reggie is a reoccurring NPC played by Dave Morgan. When a force so great threatens to consume the town and you have no choice but ask Reggie for help, you’re put in a seat at the 1943 Tehran Conference. You know that you’re going to be dealing with him down the road after he grants you his services. He is a fan favorite iconic NPC among us.
At times, he is accompanied with Zylah. Unlike monsters who by their inner nature are aggressive and dangerous, Zylah is a human who willfully chooses evil and engages with Daitoro in psychological warfare.
I always tell people that Zylah is like the Joker from the graphic novel, A Serious House On Serious Earth. And Tammy is phenomenally evil as her. The kicker is that she was never a personal plot for Daitoro in the first place. It was all organic character development from her reoccurring NPC appearances dating back to October 3rd, 1594 or 2015. It is truly a great gift when she appears. And engaging in battle from a psychological perspective is truly unique and different than the typical swords and spells fight.
Why do you love Kingdoms of Novitas?: S-C-P-C:
S = Setting. The medieval-fantasy setting we have is a selling point for many. I have a love for The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.
C = Classless Alignment System. The game's system gives you freedom to create your playable character within the world book’s framework using one of six character races. That means you have more freedom in character creation compared to Class systems.
P = Price. It's among the lowest for LARP weekends in the United States. It pays for four game shifts where you get a bunk and are also fed as well. It is currently at a price of $30 per event. And your second visit is free.
C = Community. It’s amazing to see the evolution of our game from 2004 to when I entered in 2013 and now here in the year 2020 – thanks to this community.
On this website, click on the “About” link and then “Staff Members”. These are your current First and Second Marshals who help run the aspects of our game behind-the-scenes to make sure we have a smooth fun experience.
But even if you are not a Marshal, everybody can play an important role to make our game great. We got people that strive to improve our game by bringing in their talented skills. Check out these links:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/LARPEssentials
https://www.facebook.com/ArcanaArms/
https://www.facebook.com/magicalmayhemFX/
https://www.facebook.com/sticksbystone
People can have the ability to leave a positive fingerprint on our game. I feel that if someone misses out an event, I can actually feel their lack of presence to our game whether they are playing a PC, NPC or doing staff work. And when people miss you, that means a lot.
You really can have another family in your life. I’ve seen players become parents. I’ve attended weddings. I’ve seen people get their first house. I’ve seen our players helping other players outside of game.
If you never attended KoN, you can see glimpses of our community on our YouTube channel – KON LARP.
To conclude, I am going to quote Steve Hower's great closing statement on episode IV of one of our YouTube series – On Break: “You’re going to make lots of new friends. It’s going to be good for you.”
Who is your favorite PC?:
The best answer and one I truly sincerely agree with is the answer from Dan Meerschaert’s Player Profile: “I can’t answer this. Every single PC is a beautiful work of art. Someone put their whole self into creating something you can interact with, learn about, and even add to yourself.”
However, there is one character I do mention the most to people over the years: Geoffredo Abasette.
Septon Geoffredo Abasette is a elderly human who was the leader of Order Of The Temple. Although Al played prior PCs, Geoffredo debuted during the 1592 Harvest Fest on October 5th, 2013 and was active for about 3 years.
Once Al put on that prosthetic face, altered his voice and got into the distinct mannerisms – Al could literally steal the show with his role-playing during his back-to-back PC shifts. He did a phenomenal job of always staying in character.
He once did a 20 plus minute near-perfect sermon on the seven gods of Novitas. The imperfection came when he tried to open a chest but he didn’t know where the key was. Al’s frustration in real life was translated to as Geoffredo and it was so funny to hear an old man swear at the chest not opening. He stayed in perfect character while the rest of us died in laughter.
And while he could be a witty smart ass – once a PC said he stopped a leader of a cobra cult, Geoffredo replied, “Ah, I see you stopped the cobra commander!” – he is empathetic. I know this, Geoffredo stopped a suicidal NPC I played, a role that was outside my comfort zone of comedy and horror NPCs. I purposely made our interaction go about 30 minutes because I wanted to learn from a veteran peer how to be a better LARPer.
I only wished he would’ve been around to meet Joy, a High Priestess Draconus Worshipper. She is the closest equivalent to him in my opinion. If those two LARPers interacted with each other, they would have created a masterpiece moment for all of us to witness – and to learn from as well.
What did you think your character concept was? What is it now?: My influence of creating him was based on my childhood love for ninjas. He's a love letter but done with my own twists.
Cross-gaming from Dagorhir to KoN for the first time, I didn’t have the character backstory set. He did have core tropes we’ve seen in many medieval-fantasy stories: the loner, the man in black, the silent one, etc.
Once I fell in love with KoN after my first event, I immediately came up with the reason why he came to our original town of Pinedale. I must mention two fun facts about the backstory:
First, the final plot on that rainy forth shift when Daitoro debuted involved the undead invading. It’s not officially canon by staff but I consider the moment Cairnhold arriving Sunday at 1:30AM on September 8th, 1592 at Pinedale was because Daitoro retreated there and Cairnhold followed.
Second, it was my way of thanking Cairnhold Legion members Dan, Richard and Zach for coming to practice in Rochester. And because Zach told me about KoN, his undead Dagorhir character Malevolence has the honor of giving Daitoro that scar.
Nowadays, there are many stories and arcs for Daitoro. I also love to explore the psychology of the character.
One advice I always recommend to newbies is to keep an open mind of what happens in game. I never thought I become a Medium but I did. I also needed to get contacts due to me being near-sighted. I had a fear of contacts but I came up with this idea of yellow eyes for Daitoro once he became a Medium. Thus I have a storyline and I overcame my fear of contacts.
How many PC’s have you had? What happened to them?: Only Daitoro Hlorëapimpe.
I always tell fellow LARPers to never take your character for granted as permanent character deaths happen, I tell them to have fun and I advise to treat your PC like you have a second life.
I still have so much fun playing him today like I did when he arrived 7 years ago to KoN. And as long as I am having fun and don’t get him killed, I’ll continue to his journey of life in our current town – Maplewood.
I do have to say, I found Atticus to be inspiring. As stated in Dan’s Player Profile, he has played Atticus since day one of KoN – all the way back to May 2004. Even prior to KoN, he created that character for another LARP. He is the longest serving PC we have.
I would love for Daitoro to reach that decades old milestone. The kids of the parents at our game are going to be old enough to join soon. I would love for them to see Daitoro. And if I am blessed with kids of my own, I hope they can meet him in game, too.
In conclusion, I have four things to I like to say:
1) If you're a newbie from Rochester, NY and you need a ride to your first game: l can help you out.
2) To the potential newbie who reads this: I hope to see you at game and you get at least a glimpse of my character.
3) To my KoN family: I'll see you at game.
4) And to my KoN family members on hiatus: We'll be still be around.
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