Roleplay 101

Major Announcement: New Event Location

• Jordan opened with the biggest update: the February Expedition would not be held at Valkyrie Ranch.

• Attendees were told to come to the new Hynafol property in Paige, Texas instead.

• He emphasized that the address had been updated and that anyone driving to the old site would be going to the wrong place.

First Look at the New Hynafol Land

• Jordan described the new land as a major upgrade, built quickly by staff and volunteers from raw woods into a medieval tent village.

• He highlighted more tent space, more covered areas, a repurposed building for the counting house and archives, added water access, more hidden toilets, fencing for non-decorum areas, signage, and more amenities overall.

• A special musical act was also booked for Saturday night.

Volunteer Needs for the Weekend

• Jordan stressed that Hynafol depends on community participation and asked for more volunteers.

• Specific needs included Friday weapons inspection and check-in, Saturday morning weapons inspection, archive shifts, combat stewards, ledger help, and some counting house support.

• He explained that volunteering helps keep ticket prices reasonable and supports the community-driven nature of the event.

February Expedition Updates

• The codex had been updated before the call.

• Jordan reviewed battle assignments, noting that some skirmishes were assigned while others were still open for leadership applications.

• He also promoted the Duo Champions tournament and several player-hosted activities, including a wedding, courtly calligraphy, an establishment party, a player quest, and merchant activity.

Q&A on Logistics and Rules

• Logan asked how to sign up for the 2v2 tournament, and Jordan directed attendees to the February event page.

• Phillip suggested adding a clearer event link to the website menu, and Jordan agreed.

• JP asked about photos of the new site, but Jordan said he wanted most of it to remain a surprise.

• Kenton asked about battle caps, and Jordan said sides would be balanced as needed unless teams had pre-negotiated caps.

• Jade asked about titan healing rules, and Jordan said those would be communicated if a titan was submitted, with a broader update planned for summer.

Roleplaying 101: Hynafol’s Core Philosophy

• The second half of the call shifted into a beginner-friendly Roleplaying 101 discussion.

• Jordan explained that Hynafol is largely “what you see is what you get”: there are no traditional stat sheets or character cards, and most things are done through live roleplay or Carta Arcanum.

• He noted a few gameplay exceptions, such as healing by priests and poison use by rogues.

Character Creation Advice

• Jordan encouraged new players to keep their characters simple and playable.

• His advice included:

  • pick an easy-to-pronounce name

  • decide what you want to do at Hynafol, then build a character around that

  • choose a motivation and a flaw

  • avoid overly complicated backstories

  • let the world shape the character instead of forcing the world to fit the character

• He strongly advised against making characters who are rude, brooding, or intentionally unpleasant, because other players will respond to them exactly as they behave.

How Quests and NPCs Work

• In response to Frederick, Jordan explained that most quests begin and end at the archives.

• Special NPCs can also be identified by having a steward nearby in bright green and orange.

• This was presented as the easiest way for new players to understand where quests come from and how to engage with the game world.

Boundaries and Roleplay Check-Ins

• Javon asked how to handle a roleplay scene that becomes too intense.

• Jordan advised simple, direct out-of-character communication, such as asking to pause, checking whether the other person is okay, or asking for a break.

• He made clear that players can step out of character when needed to clarify boundaries.

Houses, Guilds, and Social Structure

• Jordan strongly recommended that new players join a house, describing houses as the building blocks of Hynafol civilization.

• He explained that houses help players find identity, goals, social connections, and things to do.

• He also clarified the difference between houses and guilds:

  • houses are more like family or social belonging

  • guilds are what a character does, such as alchemy, bardic work, or guardianship

• He said guilds are volunteer-run and that house information on the website would be improved.

Long-Term Roleplay Encouragement

• Jordan said he plans to do more calls in the future focused on deeper character-building and live roleplay exercises.

• He shared a story about a friend who unexpectedly got deeply involved in a religion-focused play experience, using it to illustrate that players often do not know in advance what part of Hynafol will speak to them most.

• His overall message was to arrive open-minded and let the world lead you into the most meaningful parts of play.

[Jordan] It All right, everybody, welcome to the Zoom call on February 18th, the Wednesday before
the, the siege, the February expedition. so a couple of announcements to start. so in case you
missed the memo, we are moving to a new location. So the future home of Hynafol is full speed ahead.
We will not be at Valkyrie Ranch. So if you go to Valkyrie Ranch, we will not be there. Instead,
come to the new location. The address is updated everywhere, I do believe, fingers crossed, but it
is, still in Paige, Texas, so you will just take, a left on, on the highway where you normally turn
right or which vice versa, depending on which way you’re coming from. It is very, very close. the
property looks amazing. there are a whole bunch of volunteers and many of the staff members have
been out there working their fingers to the bone, doing, just a lot of work and have put in some
serious time. And they have taken what was just a couple of acres of raw Texas woods and have turned
it into a medieval tent village, and it is gonna blow your mind. so, everything is looking very,
very good. There is a lot of tent space. I said this last time, but there is more overhead, you
know, where you are inside a structure, not a structure, but whatever, you have a roof over your
head, than we had at Valkyrie. the counting house and archives have a building. It has been
repurposed, and it will look better and better every single time we run an event there, but they
have a building. So, if you would like to, work the bank and the archives, and sit inside a
building, it’s gonna be dope. there are water towers slash stations put up that will have lots and
lots of water. so for those of you that were worried about, being dehydrated, that shall not be a
problem. we have more toilets than ever, more toilets than ever, so many toilets, and they are
hidden. You cannot see them. You have to go behind things to access the toilets, so you don’t have
to walk by and see. porta-johns in your decorum space anymore, so already big upgrades. there’s some
gravel in the, or some, some gravel, there’s some gravel in the driveway, I can talk, and, there is
fencing up to block non-decorum areas. and there are signs, and there are more amenities on site
than we had at Valkyrie. So, what we have lost in a couple of, actual structures over our heads, we
have gained with lots and lots of awesomeness. I, it’s gonna be awesome. You’re gonna love it. I
can’t wait to show it to you guys. I think you’re gonna, really have a good time. . Oh, and also we
booked a special musical act, so we will have live music on Saturday night, so be ready to party for
the first time at the future home of Hynafol, which we need to come up with a name for, so I can
stop saying that. on that note, we do still have, some volunteer, needs. So if you’re coming this
weekend, part of the Hynafol experience is that, Everybody pitches in a little bit. so we’re always
looking for more volunteers. We specifically need people Friday for weapons inspection and check-in.
So we have a couple of shifts, weapons inspection, 4:30 to 7, check-in 6:00 to 8. So if you can be
there and can help, if you’re like, I don’t know how to do check-in or weapons inspection, no
problem, we’ll teach you. And then Saturday, same thing, we need weapons inspectors from 8 to 9:30
a.m. So if you are an early bird who’s like, man, I never sleep in at these events anyway, might as
well get up and make sure everybody’s safe, we could use you. and then, lots of archive shifts. I
think some people are a little bit, intimidated, but, part of creating the ledger, which is, you
know, a, a new location we added. takes a lot of the pressure off of archives volunteers, so all
you’ll be doing in there is receiving people’s quests and giving them the next one. And maybe giving
them a hint that is carefully written down on a piece of paper in case they get stuck, and there are
those shifts all day. We are also in need of combat stewards. So if you don’t like to fight, then
please consider volunteering for a combat steward. it’s really quite easy. You don’t, you just need
to know the basic rules. We will teach you how to keep everyone safe, and then you keep an eye on
things, and then if there’s a problem, you report it to the head combat steward. If you don’t know
how to adjudicate it or fix it yourself, if you are going to fight this weekend, but you’re not
going to fight in every single one of the five battles, we could use your help, especially if you
know what you’re doing. Throw on the green and orange and help us make awesome battles for
everybody. we need combat stewards at literally every single battle. And then, if you would like to
join Jocelyn in the ledger, there’s a couple of shifts there. and then, there is a little bit of
help needed at the counting house. So I’ll show you how to sign up for those here in just a second,
very quickly, not gonna spend a whole lot of time on that, but we do need volunteers. It’s one of
the ways that we’re able to keep the price reasonable, is that, everybody pitches in, and this is a
community effort and not just a show up to a theme park and everybody does everything for you. So,
do consider volunteering. All right, on to other fun things. Quick review of February expedition.
this has all been updated, so if you didn’t see, we have updated the codex. there are, lots of,
exciting things happening this weekend. Just to point out, the skirmishes, they’ve all been updated
with who is fighting. There are a couple that are still open. I believe some people have requested a
couple of the open battles. so battle one will be the Aureate versus Golden Blades, battle two is
Lextalionis versus Crownless Royals, Battle 3 is currently open. Battle 4 is Morlodrona versus the
Exchange, and the big hairy final siege is currently open. so if you’re out there and you’re like,
man, I would love to lead a side and fight, and I could gather 50 people, I could make this happen,
consider filling out the form and, doing that. this weekend we do have, the Duo champions
tournament. So if you’re coming and you want to grab a partner and throw on all of your armor, and
then fight other duos, it is a very fun tournament. Make sure you sign up here. I opened this, but
this is the same thing, just the skirmishes again. We do have a number of very fun player-hosted
events here on this handy dandy, form. So the wedding of Amara Amore and Cal Rend, we’ve got courtly
calligraphy with Olin, we’ve got the year break, we’ve got an establishment party, we’ve got a
player quest, quote unquote, keep away, and then of course we have one merchant that will be there,
not a merchant being in-game merchant for bartering with Hainafall. In-game currency, coin, and
resources. So make sure you check that out, read through the descriptions, it’s going to be awesome.
And then if you haven’t seen this yet, this is our volunteer, software website. all you have to do
is sign up. It only takes a few minutes. You fill out some information, you make a thing. I’m not
gonna walk all the way through it. but yeah, do consider volunteering because it is, Awesome. It’s a
good way to make friends, it’s a good way to have some fun, and help pitch in and make the community
awesome. Before I go on to other things, questions, comments, concerns about the expedition, the new
land. Anything at all. Do the hand raises react, and I will answer your questions,

[Logan] Hello, so do we need to, how do we, how do we go about signing up for the 2 v2 tournament?
Okay, so if you go to Hynafol.com/February, which was the page that I was just showing, I will show
you. Okay, right here. And in these handy dandy boxes here at the top, if you click tournament, it
will take you to the form. Oh, sick, awesome, and you just fill it out. Coolio, thank you. [Jordan]
Yeah, no problem, no problem. All right. Anything else? Nope, nobody else, no questions.

[Phillip] Speaking of the website, can it be changed so that, as you just said, go to Haina Falls
slash February. Can, can there be like an event budding, and it’ll take it to like a list of events
or current events? Cause right now you have to go to like, get tickets, and then scan down that list
to find the events. [Jordan] Sure. I mean, This goes to the event page, but Yeah, but if someone’s
new and they’re looking for information regarding the current event, I will add it to the menu. ASAP
you got it,

[JP] Hey, I was, a couple of minutes late, to the, meeting, so I apologize if this was asked, but,
do you by chance have, any photos of the new space? I was just curious cause I’m kind of excited
about it. [Jordan] Yeah, so I didn’t share any new ones. I shared some last time in the last Zoom
call, but now everything looks way different and way better. And to be honest with you, the staff
have even been stingy with me because, you know, I live in Missouri, not Texas, so I haven’t even
been out there. so I don’t have any, new photos of it being updated and awesome. So, it will be a
surprise, except for the that the volunteers have been out there that have been sharing photos
around, but, you know, can’t begrudge them too much. But yeah, it looks even better. I love
surprises. The little bit that I’ve seen, you, you guys are gonna like it. It’s gonna be fun. All
right,

[Kenton] Hello, thank you. so, quick skirmish rules clarification, for the upcoming, skirmishes and
the expedition, are we capping the sides at 25 players per, or will there be an upper limit? that is
not in the document. so we will, obviously balance them if one side capitulates, and yeah, so we’re
gonna play it where it lies, unless that was pre-negotiated between the two sides that they wanted
to cap it, then we won’t. Okay, fair enough, thank you. Good question.

[Jade Puat Torna] Thanks. So for Titans, I know that the healing rules for titans has been different
the last couple events. I’m wondering if there is a standard for healing the titan, that will be
released if we are going to use one at the February event. that’s a fantastic question. So far no
one has submitted one, well, we have just one ever, so. If somebody submits one, then we will make
sure that everybody knows what that rule is and how it will work for the skirmish. We’ll make sure
that it’s communicated. Okay. No problem. But there are Healing rules coming for them in the summer
update. So make your titans for the grand gathering. It will be ridonkulous. Thank you. [Jordan] All
righty. Any other questions on that? If not, we shall move on to The topic of the evening. All
right, great. if something pops up, feel free. So, what I wanted to do is, cause in a lot of the
breakout rooms and stuff, and I’ve seen just a lot of chatter on the Discord and other places and
conversations that I’ve been having, is do a quick role playing 101. so, if you’ve never been to
Hynafol, what’s a titan? That’s a great question. A titan from the chat is, a A monster,
essentially, that is larger than life, they are either very wide or very tall, and they are summoned
by players for the battlefield, and then they fight on your behalf. So we have rules on the website,
they’re currently called monsters on there, we need to redo that. We renamed them titans, because
titans are huge and big, and we thought that evoked a better imagery than just monsters, and we have
monsters that, Occasionally come into Hynafol, the town, the village, and fight you. so we wanted to
differentiate between the two, and we called them titans. So yeah, that’s how it works, that’s what
it is. Okay, so role playing 101. So first, The big question is, is essentially how should you,
approach, role playing at Hynafol and kind of like what makes it unique. So essentially everything
at Hynafol for your character is what you see is what you get. Okay, so, if you can do it, then your
character can do it. If you can’t do it, then your character can’t do it. There, it’s not like
Dungeons and Dragons or other, . You know, RPGs of any kind, there are no skills, there are no
attributes, and there are no special powers, essentially, that you do in person, with one, exception
being healing. High priests and priests can do healing, and they are quite powerful. Everything else
is done either via roleplay or in the Carta Arcanum. there are some other things, but they’re not
exactly superpowers, they’re items, so like, you could be an alchemist and make yourself healing
potions, and lots of other potions, and all kinds of fun stuff, but it is not. You could also give
those to other people. there are a few other small things, the one notable exception, being, Ben, I
just saw your comments, so distracting. Okay, being that rogues can use poison, so rogues being,
thieves, assassins, and bards, can, distribute poison at Haf. Everybody else, is not familiar enough
with the, distribution of poison, and you will indeed poison yourself and die. So don’t do it. So
that’s a little bit confusing, and, but you know, you’ll catch it all, you’ll learn it all as you
go, but there’s, there’s no character cards, no character sheets, nothing like that at Hynafol.
Everything is what you see is what you get. So then the big question is, is, how do you make a
character? And I’m gonna give you the quick and dirty, easy way to make a character and take a lot
of pressure off of you if you’re new. at Hynafol, you will get lots and lots of different,
perspectives on this. And the reason for that is that Hynafol is specifically designed for you to
play this thing the way you want to play it. So there’s lots of different ways you can go about it.
I will cover some of those, but in my opinion, the easiest way to make a character is to, number
one, pick a character name and pick one that is easy to pronounce. Sometimes people make very
complicated names, and if that is you, more power to you, but often what I have seen is that those
people get nicknames that shorten their very complicated name anyway, and off they go. So pick a
character name, and it doesn’t have to be particularly fantastic sounding. I’ve told this story
before, but I used to go to this little LARP in Quebec, where they spoke French, and for years and
years, I was introduced to a guy, and they pronounced his French name very fast. It was Petitjean,
and I didn’t pick up what Petitjean was for a really, really long time till I started to learn
French, and then all of a sudden it dawned on me that petite means small, and then I said to myself,
oh my God, is his name Little John? And indeed, his name was Little John, and he was a pretty
popular character there at that LARP. and so you do not have to have something particularly,
complicated, it can be very simple. don’t sweat it, it doesn’t have to sound like it came straight
out of the Tolkien lexicon, Okay? but pick a character name. The second thing that you should do.
Is, figure out what you, not your character, wants to do at Heinefall, and that might seem
counterintuitive to going to a LARP, cause you’re like, but my character should decide what my what
I would do while I’m there, and that’s not actually how it works. The reason for that is that I have
seen too many people over the 12 years that I have done this, come to an event. Leave and go home
sad, and when I ask them, hey, did you have a good time, they’re like, yeah, it was pretty cool, but
I didn’t do all the things that I wanted to do. And when I say, well, why didn’t you do those
things, and they say, well, cos my character wouldn’t do them. And I say, well, that’s silly,
because your character goes home sad, or you go home sad and your character stays at Hynafol, and
your character is just fine. And so the point is, is that you should figure out the kinds of things
that you think are going to be fun at Hynafol, and then base your character around those things,
because you’re actually going to do things at Hynafol, and your character is just the story you tell
along the way, Okay? Then next, I would recommend that you pick some kind of character motivation,
something that will stretch you. This is your first time coming to behind a fall or a LARP of some
kind, pick a reasonable goal that you would like to achieve or attain, that you think would be fun
to do. this last year, there was a couple of people who, made it their mission to do every single
quest at the Grand Gathering. I thought that that was impossible, and they indeed did it. It was
very difficult, and we had these cool badges, if you weren’t there, that listed all the names of all
the quests, and they had every single one of them. It was a huge accomplishment. It was really cool,
and that was their goal. Then the next thing that I would recommend that you do. Is you, pick some
kind of flaw for your character. I think flaws are fun. Too many people make a character, and your
character is awesome. They have a really tragic backstory, they, you know, were lost at the scene,
they were betrayed and blah blah blah, all that fun stuff, but they don’t have any flaws. Make
yourself a flaw. Maybe you always say yes to adventure, maybe you always say yes to a challenge,
maybe you’re terrified of something. Pick a thing, it, it can be quirky and weird and strange. There
are a million character flaw generators on the internet, you can go look that up. There’s probably a
billion jillion YouTube videos about it, go check that out, but I think that’s fun. Then, after
that, you should let Hynafol be an explorable place for you and see where the narrative, the story,
your friends you make along the way take you, and, let your character fit into Hynafol. The biggest
mistake that you can make when you make a character is trying to make something. And then trying to
cram Haina fall into your character, Okay? So, the biggest mistake that I’ve seen, people make is
they make, they make characters that don’t fit into the world, and that’s why I recommend don’t make
a complicated character. You can do all kinds of things, you’ll see people, there’s probably even
people in the chat or talking on Discord or wherever right now, saying, but you gotta write a
backstory. You have to have a huge crazy long backstory. Almost nobody talks about their backstory
at hindfall. Almost nobody. And if you do, more power to you. And if you’re able to role play like
that, awesome. Have a great time. I’m not pooh poohing on it. I’m just saying that you don’t have
to. If you want to, because it would make you happy, and you think that it would be fun for you,
feel free, ride it, do it all you want, but make sure that it fits into the world, . And then, also
make sure that you stay away from, some types of characters that sound like they would be fun to
play, or they are very fun to play in Dungeons and Dragons or other tabletop games, but aren’t fun
to play in a lark. And I’ll pick on one, and I always pick on the same type of character, and then I
make some people upset, but it’s good advice. Do not make a broody hide in the shadows, stare at
people assassin. There’s only like 2 people that can pull that off. One of them is definitely on
this call, Okay? If you act like a strange person. At Heinefall, people will treat you exactly the
way that you act, like a strange person. Think about it like this. If you go out to the bar tonight
and a dude stands in the shadows and stares at you all night long. It’s gonna make you
uncomfortable. Same thing will happen at Heinef, Okay? If you are moody. And kind of angsty, and
kind of angry, and respond to everything with a strange remark, and are kind of awkward on purpose,
cause that’s what your characters like. Then people will treat you exactly the way that you act. So,
and then lastly, and this is always the piece of advice I give, is don’t make a character that’s a
jerk. Don’t make a character that’s an asshole. Sorry children, don’t make a character that, you
know, you have to say in your head or explain your actions with, well, I’m just an asshole because
that’s what my characters like. That’s not a good character. It’s not your character that’s a jerk.
It’s It’s you. Now that doesn’t mean that you can’t be bad. That doesn’t mean that you can’t do
things and create conflict in all kinds of ways and all kinds of things. There’s all kinds of things
you can do to be chaotic evil, and whatever, all that kind of good stuff. By all means, do it. We
need more villains than Hainef that know how to role play that out. But if you’re a butt, everyone’s
gonna treat you like a butt, so don’t be a butt. Hopefully that makes sense. Any questions before I
go on any further, cause that’s a lot. If not, I’ll review and go on. Nothing. Not even one, but I
can totally be a sneaky. Edgelord assassin in in the shadows.

[Frederick] Hello, hello. Hi, Okay, so when we’re there, how are we going to be able to decipher
who’s like a quest giver or anything like that? Sorry, I’ve never really been to one of the events
yet. [Jordan] You’re totally fine. There’s, it’s really easy. Number one, all quests, almost all
quests is really the way I should say that, but almost all quests, all the main quests, for
instance, will start and end at the archives. So you’ll go to a building, it’ll be on the map. There
will be a sign outside that says archives, that’s where the quests start and end. Other than that,
anybody who is a special character at Heinefall will always have a steward walking around with them.
So there’ll be somebody like the tinker, if you were on here at the beginning, we’re talking about
the character of the tinker. The tinkerer has a steward that walks around with them. And so if you
see somebody like that, they’re dressed funny, they have a steward walking around after them, who
are wearing a big bright. green and orange tabard, then you know that is, you know, an NPC, a
special character, and you might want to go talk to them, and they might give you a quest. They
might not, they might just give you information, or they might not talk to you at all. Who knows?
But those are the two ways. Outside of that, that’s where they all are. So they start and end at the
archives, or they have a steward walking around following them. Okay, all right, cool. Thank you.
Sweet. All righty.

[Javon] my question was that, this is a little bit more common sense, I guess, but I still need to
ask it just for me. how, like, let’s say we talk to each other and like we get really into like the
roleplay with each other, but like, let’s say someone is Too into it. How’s, what’s the best way to
go about, like, telling that person, like, hey, that’s a little intense, or like, hey, can we, can
you like, like, are you Okay? Like, how do we check in with each other to see if, like, you know, we
don’t step over boundaries or whatever? [Jordan] I mean, you basically just did it, right? Like,
hey, that was a little bit too intense for me. Can we take a break? I need to take 5. Okay, I think
you need to take 5, or like, hey, you know, are you, you know, are you Okay with this right now? Are
you like, and if they’re like, yeah, of course, but like, hey, no, like, you know, out of character,
out of game, however you want to phrase it, like, are you Okay? Cause like, this seems pretty
intense. Should we keep going or do you need to take a break? There you go. Simple as that. Okay,
thank you. , good question. Anything else? No, Okay, then my next piece of advice for making a
character, and again, there are infinite ways to approach China Fall. If you ask this question in
the Discord, or bring up this topic, you will get lots of different pieces of advice, but I want to
state very clearly, the next thing you should do for your character is strongly consider joining a
house. You should join a house. Houses are the building block of Hainafall civilization. they go
together and form kingdoms. They are the main socialization point for most people. There are other
ones that I’ll talk about in a second, but houses are the building block of Hainafall civilization.
So we want people to join houses. Hynafol is specifically intended and designed to be a group game,
and the reason for that is really simple. the, the highs and lows of winning and losing in a group
or on a team are a lot more fun and a lot more fulfilling, even if you lose, then doing it all by
yourself. as somebody who, I, I, you know, my personal story is, I wrestled. I wrestled all the way
into college, and, I can tell you, losing a wrestling match all by your lonesome on a wrestling mat
really stinks. losing a championship soccer or football game, is a lot easier to deal with cause you
got a bunch of other people with you, and that’s kind of the idea. same thing, in reverse, I never
played hockey a day in my life. I always wanted to. I thought that it would be cool. Yeah, sorry,
Ben, it’s my tragic backstory. I lost some wrestling matches in my life. anyway, I never played
hockey a day in my life, but man, I saw the Mighty Ducks when I was a kid, and I was like, damn
dude, I wanna play hockey, right? Cause I wanted to, you know, be with a bunch of misfits and win,
which, surprise, that’s what LARP is. When you can get into a house and you accomplish something,
it’s a bunch of misfits winning something, and it is really cool, and it’s really fun. and the, the
joys and the sorrows are a lot better. So, my recommendation for your character is to consider, we
are going to be updating all of the house listings on the website very soon, knock on wood. And, and
then you’ll have opportunities and ways to get in contact with people from various houses and talk
to them about joining them, etc. etc. It’s one of the reasons we put together, the house packages
the way that we do is because getting into a house we think is important. there are other groups to
join at Hynafol. guilds are a notable, mention, right? So, they, They, you know, that is your, your
activity, your job, your vocation that you’ll do at Hynafol, so there’s lots of opportunities there.
Religions are also a good one, and then of course, there’s kingdoms and, all of that. But we highly
recommend that you do that. And the reason for that is, is that being in a house can really help
round out your character. Every house has positions and needs and things for people to do, and they
need help to run and function and be healthy. And so if you join a house, that will give your
character stuff to do, greater than 50% chance that that house is also in a kingdom, and then you
also get to take that on as part of your identity, and every kingdom has things that they need
characters to do, and they need people to do. Any number of a litany of tasks and roles and
responsibilities. I don’t think there’s a single house in Heal that’s like, hey, we’re good, we
don’t need any more people, we’ve got all the bases covered, and everybody has everything done.
That’s not how it is. Most people have more things that they’re trying to accomplish with their
house, and they’re all trying to do it together, and then whether they get to do it and win or not,
and fail, is something that they get to do together. So, that would be, My, my next piece of advice,
and then part of that is you get to learn your house’s, goals and motivations, and then you get to
kind of take some of those on, which is really fun, right? It gets to be part of your identity, and
then same thing with, your kingdom. and then there are all kinds of roles within that, within those
organizations, you know, you might get to do guard duty. you might get to be a messenger, you might
get to be an ambassador, you might, get to be, you know, some form of an assistant to, you know, a,
a leader in either your house or your kingdom, and then, of course, kingdoms always need, you know,
bars of all shapes and sizes. They need heralds to announce their monarch entering places and all
kinds of fun stuff like that, and, there’s no, There’s no limit to the kinds of things that they
need. Yes, they need an assistant to the regional manager. So, those are my basic, roleplay 101
character creation, tips in, follow or in subsequent calls. I plan to dive deeper into, like, I have
a, a Like a, like a fill out a form that I’ll show you and give to you and help you make a
character. We can go in in depth on roleplay skills and abilities. I’ll even do, some, in-character
calls in the future as we get closer to the grand gathering. So that you can, I’ll make you do all
kinds of fun, breakout room exercises where you will, you know, practice role playing before you get
there, and all that kind of fun stuff. but then the last thing I want to do is I want to leave you
with, and if you’ve been to these calls like this before, I’ve told the story 10,000 times, but it’s
my favorite one. So if you haven’t been here before, my, all of this is summed up in, a story from
Way back in the day, I had, and this is kind of encapsulates my, don’t, don’t make a character and
then try and smash Hynafol into it, do it the other way around. and, so the way back in the day when
I first started running the voyage north, I had an internet friend who came on the trip with us. her
name was Claire, she was incredible. Claire was an outspoken atheist. I knew this because she posted
on Facebook about it. and the reason for that, that it matters comes later in the story. So we go to
the event the first year. And she sees these people marching up and down the street. They’re
chanting, they’re singing songs, they’re waving flags, they’re painted in blue face paint, and
they’re having the time of their lives. And she sees them go by, and then they go off into the
distance, and she says, those people look like they’re having the time of their life. I’m going to
go make friends with her, or with them. And so she did, and then, it turns out they were part of one
of the largest religions at that event, and she joined them and had an amazing time. So much so that
she ended up going to every single one of their events for the rest of the year, so she could become
a high priestess in that religion, and she did. And, the following year when we went back to the
event, I said, I said to her, sitting around the campfire one night, I said, Claire, can you believe
that you spend one week of your vacation every year, right? going to an event and proselytizing for
a fake religion, and she was like, oh, no, absolutely not. I could not have imagined this in my
wildest dreams before I ever came here. And she was like, but I’m so glad that I did. And I, I like
that story because it, I think it kind of illustrates that most people when they first came to
Heinefall, didn’t know what they were going to like. They didn’t know what part of the game or the
event was going to speak to them the most, and even if they did, and they had the best time, Most
people have still found other things, that they’re really into, and that they’re leading, or that
they’re a part of, that they wasn’t at the top of their list when they first started attending, and,
when it’s your first time, I hate to see you miss out on things because you had preconceived
notions, or you had a character that you were like, I gotta make this character work. Instead, make
sure that your character fits into Hynafol, and then let the event take you where it will, and you
will have a good time. So that’s my story. Questions, comments. Rude thoughts about role playing at
Hynafol. Frederick, I dig it. Ask away. Right, so, I was really curious because there were, I was
looking at the listing of all the different guild houses or groups, and there were two that interest
me in particular, and I was curious about like, is there any kind of like process when it comes to
joining any of the houses, like any kind of ritual or thing you must, you have to do. Yeah, so,
houses are by and large, player-led organizations at Hynafol. So they all have their own rules and
things that they do. before they admit somebody into their house. Some are very picky and want to
intentionally keep their house, you know, small or very choosy on who joins. Others are like, get in
here to basically, you know, do you have a pulse, and you’re one of us, let’s go, right? and so they
kind of vary, and that’s good. That’s what. Okay, so what we’re gonna do is, we’re gonna put on the
website under the house’s page, and you know, those kinds of things and how you can get in contact
with the leader of that house or somebody else that will handle answering your questions and help
you get, involved if you find one that you like. Okay, Okay, sounds good. Thank you. Yeah, you’re
welcome. All right, JP. So I really vibe with your explanation about not trying to make your
character too edgy or too hardcore or rude or standoffish. I actually work with kids and I find that
many times if I want to make some kind of sarcastic remark, even if it’s Kid appropriate, I have to
sort of pull my punches because they might not understand how sarcasm works. And what I found, what
I found is that If you’re ever going to play a character or play some type of thing where you’re
going to pretend to be aloof or rude or sarcastic or sneering or anything like that, and certainly
if your character has a flaw, you could probably play into that, but I find that the best way to get
away with it is to have some sort of L. Like you maybe make some kind of face or you do an
exaggerated voice or something that way you can sort of signal to the people that you’re talking to
that clearly this person is not just acting, but they’re doing some sort of, I guess you could say
caricature like I had fun once and it was awful, you know, something very silly like that. So that’s
just like my little piece of advice for anybody who’s You know, looking to do something like that
with their characters or, you know, in role playing. [Jordan] Yeah, it’s great advice. I dig it. I,
I, I mean, I even think that, you know, we try to be in character all the time, but it’s perfectly
Okay to not be when the situation calls for it, right? Like, if it, if you make a joke and or like
you get very angry in a roleplay situation, or you’re like, like you said, whatever, distant, and
you’re you’re standoffish, you’re aloof, it’s perfectly Okay to just tell people like, you know,
like. You know, break character for a second and be like, you know, this is just part of my
character. I don’t really feel this way, you know, in like, you know, appropriate settings. So it,
it’s Okay, cause sometimes we miss things and we, we get confused, the person with the character,
and I think it’s Okay to bring clarity to that. Cool. Javon. All right, I had a question about
vocations. so are the vocations, are they player ran or are they ran by staff members? So like, does
a player like get higher, like in the vocation and they, and do, do the players end up, you know,
running it, or is it all staff that does it and then the players just go into the vocation and just
level up? [Jordan] Yeah, it’s a good question. So all of the guilds are ran by volunteers. So
they’ve all, you know, been people that have been around Hynafol for a while, they know what they’re
doing, and, you know, they, they run those, and so it is, you know, it is run by, by volunteers. Now
they have, you know, requirements, and they’re required to be fair and all that kind of stuff. So,
you know, it’s a bit higher level of responsibility, but they do a good job, and if you want to rank
up in your guild, they’d be more than happy to have you get in there and get to work and have fun
with it. Okay, thank you. Yeah, yeah, of course. So, oh, sorry, I thought you were done. Go ahead
unmute yourself. I was just so, it’s just someone in the chat was saying that they’re called, guild.
So they’re, they’re called, so what’s the difference between, so there’s, so the, the people who you
bunk with, they, those are, those are houses and then the guilds are like the alchemy and the The
guardians or the that kind of stuff, the bards. Okay, all right, you got it. So you can, houses are,
you know, like, like your family, right? Think of it like that, and then guilds are like what you
do, right? So like if you ever played Skyrim, there’s a thieves guild, it’s like that. We also have
a thieves guild. Okay, I was just curious because in the Discord it, the, the channel said vocation,
so I was that I I’ve just been calling the vocations. We should change that and get it fixed, but
yeah, it is a name change that we made pretty recently and it is hard to to switch those around.
Yeah, Okay, thanks, thank you. You’re welcome.

[Hawk] Hey, yeah, how’s it going, least edgy character in all of Hynafol here, asking the most
important question that everybody wants the answer to. When does Waylon come back? [Jordan] Oh dude,
you gotta ask Waylon that question. That is a good question. I will, I will let him know. I will let
him know, hopefully in November, but Yeah, You guys, yeah, you guys should, in case you’re
wondering, Waylon is my little brother. And you guys should all text him and be like, yo, tell him
to come to May.

[Adam / Oliver] Yo, what’s up everybody? Hi everyone, sorry, I, we just went over the land. We’re
just walking over this, seeing all the incredible work the team did, by the way, it looks beautiful
my phone. I conquered your phone in King Arthur. so anyway, Jordan, you’ve got a dude who’s never
ever LARP before, ever, despite knowing you for like 10 years. And he’s interested in being forced
to Heinefold for the first time. we don’t force people to do things, but if you don’t come, then
everybody on this call will shame you with a shame bell. I appreciate the guilt, but I appreciate
the guilt and the the no pressure. It was shame, for sure, it was shame, for sure it was shame. So
this is a very old friend of mine in Jordan’s, and he’s never LARP before, so we’re gonna make him
do expedition, so politely. Love it. It was. Cool. There’s so many of you guys on here. It’s
awesome. Yeah, a lot of people. Yeah, it’s great. 42. Yeah. Have you, have you, have you guys
always, did Jordan show you all the updates from today? Have you seen the land today, Jordan?
[Jordan] Nobody’s seen anything. Even the staff don’t send me photos, Adam. That’s what Isn’t that
Oliver’s job? I did. I did. You don’t deserve your phone. it’s really, really good. there’s toilet
facilities set up, they’ve got water, they’ve got power. That’s cos it was alternate like between.
When, tell everyone, you’re there, you do it, don’t make me do it, you do it. Tell everyone. Hold
the phone, that’s your phone, don’t do that to me. Tell them, use your words. Why would you do this
week? Cause you know the updates. Okay. We’ve got I mean, we’ve got toilets now, more than we had
before. see, I wasn’t lying about the toilets. Right. Why, why did you do this? There’s fencing,
there’s lights. Yeah. Yeah, these are all true. Separation of non-decorum and decorum with fencing.
There’s decorum fencing to hide non-decorum. We, we went over all this at the beginning, guys. We
don’t have to do it again. Sorry, Jordan, we’re just very excited. We, I just saw it for the first
time today. It’s really good. Yeah, it’s good. Well, you, you’ll be there tomorrow. Did the
battlefield get bigger? I genuinely believe, you, you, you talk about the battlefield looks bigger
than it was at Valkyrie, right? yeah, yeah, it’s, it’s bigger, it’s more. What’s the word? There’s
more space to move, not just bigger, but like there’s more maneuverability on it. Cause we were
fighting like in the between the buildings before, so it was. We were fighting between the buildings
before, whereas now we have like an actual open field. That’s, like, clear. Yeah, it’s more designed
for, for the battle scenarios we do. Yeah, but I think the, the biggest thing for me, Jordan, and
like, everyone else is like watching, we might catch up with Jordan, but like, . What they’ve done
in the amount of time they’ve done is phenomenal, considering it’s the first event on this land, it
is just amazing. I told you it’s gonna blow your minds. Yeah, anyway, that was it. I just wanted to
chat and there was nobody else asking questions, but 2 more people have questions now. Yeah, let’s
do it. All right.

[San] Hi, can you guys hear me? Do you guys have pictures of all this beautiful, we don’t
phenomenal. [Jordan] We don’t, and I think at this point we’ll just let it be a surprise, and then
there will be tons of photos after the event if you can’t make it, but I think having everybody show
up without having seen every bit of it. It will be a really, really nice surprise. Okay. Yeah, I
know. I think it’s kind of like the gift for the people that are buying February tickets. They get
to see it, they get to be surprised, have a little ooh, a little ah, and then every time we hold an
event there, it’ll get better, so it’ll be fun. All right, all right. Javon, did you have another
question? You had your hand up, but then I saw it go down, so. [Jordan] All righty, well, that’s all
I’ve got tonight y’all. So we’ll do breakout rooms, and if you’re coming in a couple of days, we’ll
see you there at the new Hainafall land. It’s gonna be very exciting. And as always, I’ll stay here
in the main room if you wanna ask a question, but didn’t want to ask it on the recording and . Yeah,
and then I’ll bounce from breakout room to breakout room to say hi. So thanks for being here. Love
you lots, and hopefully we’ll see you all soon.