Most experienced staff in the
business
Our staff includes some of the most experienced people in the business. Founded by Ford Ivey, founder of NERO andconsidered by many the
"grandfather of American live action," we have a professional staff
consisting of people that have been with live action since its beginnings.
We’ve run events of our own for years, and have spent time at events run by
many of the other live action organizations out there. We know what can be
done, what should be done, and what needs to be done better –and we’re
dedicated to making that happen.
Play how you like to play
It’s a fact – different people enjoy live action for different reasons. For
some it’s all about taking in the atmosphere and doing some improvisational
acting. For others combat and going on quests have the highest entertainment
value. We find that the majority of people like some of both. To address these
varied desires, we’ve created zones within the game boundaries. Are you a
role-playing enthusiast that wants to sit by the fire and tell old yarns all
weekend, but never have to think twice about gaming aspects such as combat and
adventuring? We can do that. Or are you the adventuring type that enjoys the
physical challenge of combat and moduling? No problem – head out to “the ruins”
and see how long you can survive. The end effect is that you can enjoy the
event how you want, when you want.
Innovative payment options
Our payment plans allow you to attend a partial event or a full event, and you may choose to be a Townsperson or an Adventurer. Townspeople have full characters with skills, but they do not leave town to go on adventures (perfect for those who love to
role-play and develop a character, but aren’t interested in game mechanics,
combat, and the like). Adventurers are similar to Townspeople in that they have
full characters with skills, but Adventurers can head out into the wilds and go
on modules.
For more details on our innovative payment
options, click here.
Player-centric game model
Our many years of experience running live action events has taught us that
players enjoy plot lines that they are, to a large degree, creating themselves.
Because of this, at our events you won’t find plot lines that have defined
conclusions before the event even starts. Instead, we focus our efforts on
creating an environment that is full of potentially deep plot, but plot that is
not locked in any given direction until the players take action. By allowing
the players to take the lead in defining plot direction we create a far more
enjoyable experience. You’ll never be led along by the nose at an Isles event,
and you’ll never be left out or penalized just because your response to a plot
situation is different than what we predicted it might be.
Our plot staff is dedicated to taking feedback and
direction from players regarding the types of plot they’d like to be involved
in. Our attitude is that we are creating a world for you to enjoy the way you
want to enjoy it, and our plot staff is there to ensure that you can.
In addition to player-centric plot, our rules
system allows for great latitude in player-proposed skills, races, and more.
We’ve established a set of online tools that allow you to easily propose new
skills, races, and plot so that you can make the game into the type of game
that you want to play. We’ve also created online feedback forms so you can give
us your response to an event directly, and we are dedicated to paying attention
to and responding to your feedback. For more on our online proposal tools and
feedback forms, please click here.
Cutting edge rules system
The rules system we’ve created is an excellent blend of depth and simplicity.
The massive depth and breadth of our rules system allows for deeply defined
characters and capabilities, yet the methods we have used to implement these
rules allow you to learn only the rules that apply to your character directly.
The “Accelerant” system that we utilize allows you to quickly and easily
understand the effect that a skill has without needing to understand the game
mechanics behind the skill. For more complex skills, we’ve built in time
delays, giving you time to reference a given skill and make sure you understand
it fully before the effect takes place. The result is a game with massive
possibilities, but extremely smooth and elegant game play – the best of both
worlds.
Click here to view our
rules system.
Accelerant
We employ the “Accelerant” system of skill calls, which allows for all players
to understand the effects of every skill in the game without having intimate
knowledge of that skill. Accelerant works by establishing a very simple
vocabulary that players use to let one another know the effect of the skills
they are using on one another. Once this vocabulary is learned, a player knows
immediately how to react, without needing to question or understand the skill
that he or she is being affected by.
The main philosophy of the Accelerant system is to
keep the game flowing smoothly without interruption, and we’ve found it does
just that. Almost everything you do you should attempt in game. There should be
no reason to drop out of game, to consult an out of game personage during
normal game play, or to describe out of game actions unless those actions may
make others uncomfortable.
Player-driven economy
Our in-depth resource production system allows for an entire in-game economy
that is driven by the players themselves. Our production system is split into
two main groups – skills that allow players to produce raw materials, and
skills that allow players to refine raw materials into finished products. Each and
every player-produced material has a direct use in-game (in many cases, several
uses), which makes production-based characters (such as merchants, craftsmen,
and smiths) an integral and necessary part of the game. Instead of
production-based characters being relegated to the sidelines, in The Isles
you’ll find a production-based character to be a vital and lucrative part of
the game. At the same time, those who are not interested in production skills
don’t need to understand the production system at all – they simply need to
find a character that can supply them with what they need and then barter or
trade with them for those goods.