{"id":104,"date":"2024-09-02T00:24:14","date_gmt":"2024-09-02T00:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.larping.net\/blog\/?p=104"},"modified":"2024-09-02T00:24:14","modified_gmt":"2024-09-02T00:24:14","slug":"the-woundeds-review-of-bicolline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.larping.net\/blog\/the-woundeds-review-of-bicolline\/","title":{"rendered":"The Wounded’s Review of Bicolline"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Standard Caveat<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This is my opinion on what I experienced.\u00a0 Others will have had different experiences (especially for this event).\u00a0 If I am not certain of something (aka \u2013 do not know it for a fact), I will start it with \u201cI think\u2026\u201d or \u201cI believe\u2026\u201d If a reader knows something I said is, for a fact, not true, feel free to correct me in the comments.\u00a0 I truly welcome it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TL\/DR:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • Went to Bicolline 2024 and hurt myself so I couldn\u2019t fight.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Delved into the world a bit more where I could.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Had a great time.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Would go again if I could do it cheaper
    <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    I went to Bicolline 2024 with a group called The Voyage North.\u00a0 I will review TVN in another blog post as covering both of them in one article would make it quite a slog to get through.\u00a0 For the short of it, I doubt I would have had nearly as much fun as I did if I had tried this alone.\u00a0 And their support especially for this event for me was invaluable.

    But this post will be about Bicolline the entity itself.\u00a0 The title of this review is \u201cThe Wounded\u2019s Review of Bicolline\u201d because on the very first day of the weeklong event, I wound up injuring myself that reduced my mobility and forced me to opt out of all combat.\u00a0 For me, though, combat is more of an accent than it is the main course of larping, so I did my best between needed rest to throw myself into the world.\u00a0 And with that, let\u2019s throw us into this review.

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Bicolline In a Nutshell<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Bicolline is a larp that takes place 162km from Montreal (that\u2019s two hours away in US distance). The site was developed specifically for fantasy larping.\u00a0 \u00a0It is situated on 100 hectares of woods as well as cleared areas and has hundreds of permanent buildings including a fully functioning inn, churches and countless cabins.\u00a0 They hold monthly weekend events as well as workdays to improve the area and even some in-game geopolitical events.\u00a0 I believe there\u2019s also a huge online aspect to this as well.

    One a year, they have the \u201cGrande Bataille\u201d which is a seven-day event.\u00a0 Three days have major engagements that the entire attendance can join, with the major battle being around 4 hours long on Saturday.\u00a0 In between, there is political intrigue, quests and other things to do while there. I think there are also some minor battles that happen that are set up between the various guilds.\u00a0 Most of the RP and action that happens is player driven.\u00a0 In fact, I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any NPC\u2019s in this game unless you count the people who play monsters (usually very tall costumes with referees helping deal with the fights) from time to time.\u00a0 This year, it was reported that they had 5,300 attendees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Site<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    This was the main selling point for it and I seriously doubt that you\u2019ll find any other fantasy or medieval larp site that has the size and look that this one did.\u00a0 And I\u2019m including the two yearly German larps: Conquest of Mythodea and Drachenfest.\u00a0 \u00a0I already mentioned that it was huge.\u00a0 Because of my injury, I was told to keep moving to help it heal so I\u2019d spend about three to six hours a day just walking around and seeing what there was.\u00a0 And I still think I didn\u2019t see it all.\u00a0 But that\u2019s not the most impressive part.\u00a0 For me, it was the authenticity, what they call \u2018Decorum\u2019, of the place.\u00a0

    Other than half a dozen of those large, white plastic tents with plastic windows that you often see at outdoor weddings (and all of them were for vendors), everything fit in with the setting of Bicolline. They have buildings that reach up to four stories, an area with vardos in it for a Romani themed guild, standing stone circles, Fae woods, military barracks, functioning forges and I could on. Other than when someone was taking a picture of me with a beholder mask hiding the lens, there were only two times that I felt I wasn\u2019t in a medieval setting.

    The first is whenever I had to deal with personal issues.\u00a0 The food on site was incredible but most of it was served in modern containers, which is understandable as it probably has to do with health codes and cost.\u00a0 There were also hot showers available in out of sight areas as well as the porta-potties that I believe were cleaned twice a day.\u00a0 There is also an area in the woods for non-decorum camping so you can bring your modern tents, they\u2019re just a distance from the main area.\u00a0 The second thing that pulled me out a bit I\u2019ll get to later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Fighting At Bicolline<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    First, although there is magic in the world, there isn\u2019t any during combat.  Magic here brings tsunamis, locus plagues and other \u201cnatural\u201d disasters.  It isn\u2019t another way to beat someone down.  And I like that idea. There are healers who can bring people back up from the dead on the field but it is a timed system, so you have to protect the healers.

    As for the fighting, it\u2019s very simple.  All weapons do 1 point of damage.  If an area of your body gets hit, it can no longer function (a hit to the upper arm means that entire arm is useless).  If you get hit in the head or body, you die.  If you have flexible metal or rigid leather, you get one point of armor on that area.  If you have overlapping plates or significant rigid metal covering (such as a helm) you get two points in that area.

    You can have a shield which is considered indestructible.  As such, I believe you can strap it to your back and any hit on that shield will be ignored.  Unless it\u2019s hit by a siege weapon.  In which case you die.  Siege weapons are an insta-kill. 
     
    All weapons need to be approved by Bicolline via Homologation \u2013 basically a weapon checking site that then tags if your weapons are good.  They strongly recommend store bought weapons as they often will fail home made ones.  They allow flat headed, open cell archery and specifically crafted javelins.  Smaller thrown weapons are not allowed on the field. 

    I did not see any fighting happening outside of the major fights unless it was an assassination attempt, but it was a big place, and I could have easily missed them.  Oh, and I didn\u2019t go to the big fights as they seemed to be out in the open, the sun and I had issues with just standing around.  But I felt having been to other similar events, I figured I knew what it would look like. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Not Fighting at Bicolline<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    This is what I want to focus on though I\u2019m not certain I\u2019ll do it justice.\u00a0

    As there are days where there aren\u2019t any battles scheduled, there are other things to do.\u00a0 I really can\u2019t list all of them but when I went out, I always found something to occupy my time.\u00a0 Whether it was figuring out how to open a wooden lock box for my house to searching for some components for people on quests from the Mage Tower (a literal four-story building).\u00a0 There were many food vendors there, from pizza to more interesting meals.\u00a0 I found a Performer\u2019s Guild that allowed me to create contracts with other guilds to perform for them and not only would I get paid for it but upon completion, I received a Population Card (Pop Card) that has some major power to sway political angles, and they would pay a good amount for it.\u00a0 The Performer\u2019s Pop Cards were going for 50 Solars (the currency at Bicolline).

    I should note that when guilds would create events to happen, from the Most Impressive Beard competition to a talent night at the tavern, Bicolline would supply the coins and Pop Cards for them. They really support the players in their creativity and help make the experience enjoyable for everyone.
    Then there was watching a couple games of Troll Ball (Google it if you want as I think it is what you probably think it is), music concerts on the stage, attending a summer court meeting of the Fae, being given tours of one of the larger buildings on site.\u00a0 I stole from neighboring guilds in a consensual thievery game and gave someone a set of Japanese stone carving tools that I have had for three decades and never used.\u00a0 They used them as an introduction gift to a Feudal Japan themed guild and they absolutely went crazy over them \u2013 in a dignified manner. Had a travelling seamstress stop by and fix a hole in one of my pouches.

    \u00a0\u00a0I did more, which I\u2019ll discuss in my TVN review, and I\u2019m sure I forgot some things while writing this, but I was never bored when I was about.\u00a0 There was always something new to see or explore.\u00a0 There were even more things to find out there to do, I just didn\u2019t have the mobility or the time to do it.\u00a0 I even got a fantastic massage to help my injury and my sore feet but had to first do my fire performances to make enough solar to pay for it.\u00a0 This required me to go to the fire department (yes, they had actual fire fighters on site), fill out forms and I was required to find a fire safety person to be at my shows.\u00a0 Speaking of which\u2026
    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Staff at Bicolline<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    I have nothing but good things to say about these people.\u00a0 The medics of course were fantastic, and I went to see them a few times thanks to my mild hypochondria but each time when I apologized for bothering them, they said, \u201cNo.\u00a0 Please, bother us!\u201d\u00a0 When I decided it was best for my health to leave a day early, the staff was happy to call me a cab (as my phone coverage sucked).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Attendees at Bicolline<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Have to mention them as well.\u00a0 Everyone was fantastic to me.\u00a0 There were a couple of people that I felt were giving me a little American bigotry, but it could have been because they didn\u2019t have all of the information at the time and thought I was trying to be a Kevin about things.\u00a0 However, in both cases, the issue was quickly fixed by someone who knew what was going on.\u00a0 I did hear of an incredible case of \u201cKaren\u201d that a good friend encountered which might have had me permanently ejected from Bicolline if I had been there.\u00a0 Though I\u2019d like to think Nigel (my character) would have found a better way to humiliate them. And this is where my second pull from the setting would happen.\u00a0 Although the vast majority of people were in Decorum kits the entire time, there were one or two people that would be wearing something like black drawstring pants, flip flops and wrap around sunglasses.\u00a0 One such person was in my guild, and I would see them regularly like this.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if they had an eye or foot issue or not, but it felt more like a bro kegger whenever I was around them. I suppose that\u2019s a risk with larps that focus on fighting all day and drinking all night.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0

    On another couple of occasions there was a language barren (including with the fire department) but nothing that couldn\u2019t be overcome.\u00a0 But anywhere I went and anyone I talked to was more than happy to chat with me, with a smile and, quite often, offering me a drink of my choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    This was a great event.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure I would have boosted this up to \u2018fantastic\u2019 if I wasn\u2019t limping around and catching a cold (not the \u2018vid) at the end.\u00a0 I got to see some old friends there who I had no idea were coming until after I started posting on Facebook that I was going.\u00a0 I hope to attend it again when I am healed though I do have a bit of a schedule already planned out for a couple of years of other larps to attend.\u00a0 Also, this trip was rather expensive for me, which I will explain in more detail in my TVN review, so I would like to find a cheaper way to attend while still being able to have my own place to sleep. I\u2019ve heard that Bicolline rents out tents, but I haven\u2019t found that anywhere.\u00a0

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Standard Caveat This is my opinion on what I experienced.\u00a0 Others will have had different experiences (especially for this event).\u00a0 If I am not certain of something (aka \u2013 do not know it for a fact), I will start it with \u201cI think\u2026\u201d or \u201cI believe\u2026\u201d If a reader knows something I said is, for … Continue reading The Wounded’s Review of Bicolline<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,7],"tags":[15,17,10,16],"class_list":["post-104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-larp","category-review","tag-bicolline","tag-fantasy","tag-larp","tag-reveiw"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larping.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larping.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larping.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larping.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larping.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.larping.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105,"href":"https:\/\/www.larping.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104\/revisions\/105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larping.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larping.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larping.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}