by Eric Smith 

Drink Deeper is the sequel to Drink Deep, which ran in February of 1999. Drink Deeper will be run on from February 22^nd through 24^th near Baltimore, MD. All of the current staff were players in the previous game, and enjoyed themselves enough that they wanted to create the opportunity for another good game. The Drink Deeper staff is Eric Smith, who played Tarzan in the original run, Scott Mohnkern (The Prince), Kate Bunting (Daisy Buchanan), David Hanscom (Mr. Dingle) and Adrienne Amerman (Diana Tregarde). There are four confirmed repeat characters for the second run: Robin Hood, Maid Marian, Ming the Merciless and Teddy Roosevelt.

The second run will deal with a number of issues: Changes to the Commonwealth of Letters after the aborted Apocalypse which ended the previous game; The fate of an orbiting space station; The remains of the four horsemen still causing trouble and many new plots including Hogwarts School and a possible new space race. Of course, much of this remains open. While we are using details from the previous game, it is not necessary to have played it. More players are coming in as groups or ensembles than last time; which will give the game a different feel.

The LARPer asked about problems and concerns we are having. Well, I would say the most frustrating problem is that people often don't realize how important it is to sign up early for 'write your own character' games so that we can write the game. We hear from people who say they or someone they know is playing this or that character but we have heard nothing. Until the character is submitted, we cannot begin writing for it. We are dealing with many of the same issues others have dealt with in writing games. One thing we are trying to do is work more with props and setting for the city of Newton to give it more of an in-game feel rather than people having to imagine things. We think we have some good ideas on that front as well as on some modern elements as things move forward. Games like this depend on the characters submitted, so no matter what we do this game will have a different feel.

We hope to run a fun game with some depth for the players who come. Maybe someone will be inspired to run a third one. That would be the highest tribute I can think of.

The Drink Deeper Staff:

Adrienne Amerman – The Plot and Character Creative Encyclopedia. Adrienne started gaming in 1992 with the beginnings of what was to become Xanodria Productions Incorporated (XPI). After marrying her husband, Shane, they moved to the Baltimore area where they met up with the ILF/LARPA crowd. She was wooed back to the gaming fold when she played in Drink Deep and the Mersienne Medieval Fantasy campaign. She came into her own when she began writing games for the LARPA community. She co-authored Gold Bug, a game set in Mike Young's Dark Summonings campaign with Gordon Olmstead-Dean. The next game she wrote was for Intercon 15.5. Together with her husband she helped write and GM Callahan's Continuum and 1920's Cocktail Party with Gordon Olmstead-Dean. Currently she is working with Gordon Olmstead-Dean, as one of the primary GM's of the 1936: Horror campaign, which is now running in its second season.

Adrienne's looking forward to seeing how the sequel to Drink Deep will run and hopes that everyone involved will have a wonderful time.

Kate Bunting – The Ruthless Pragmatist. Kate was sucker-punched into LARPing by several well-meaning-but-nefarious childhood friends, one of whom may well be attending Drink Deeper. Much to her mother's amusement, she's been sewing at a frantic pace, having picked up historical costuming as a hobby. You might've seen Kate at Drink Deep playing Daisy Buchanan, at any Intercon in the last four years, as a Minx girl-comme-CIA operative at Grand Prix in 2001, stamping her little foot in the Mersienne Medieval Fantasy campaign, shooting her mouth off in 1936: Horror with a bad British accent, or as a cast member of the latter part of the DC area's Dark Summonings campaign. Kate wishes to thank Michael, for putting up with the well-versed griping. While she has been conned into helping run more than one game, this is her first (albeit feeble) attempt at game writing.

Dave Hanscom – The Master of the Non Sequitur. Dave joined his family at 3 years of age when his mother kicked over a rock and found him there. Since being an Army brat was better than eating slugs, he jumped at the chance and has never looked back. His first live gaming experience was the 3rd running of Café Casablanca, in which his best friend sold him to the Gestapo. Since then he's been hacked to pieces by vampires, appointed Attorney General of the US, burned to death in a warehouse, helped prevent Curtis Lemay from bombing Cuba off the map, drowned when his ship hit an iceberg, and generally had a great time with the most wonderful group of loons, toons, and goons it's ever been his privilege to meet in any life. He is currently playing in the 1936: Horror campaign and, of course, helping in some small way to put on this game

Scott Mohnkern – The Man Who Says "No." Scott started LARPing in 1980 with the International Fantasy Gaming Society in Boulder Colorado as an NPC. After doing a six-year stint there, he took a hiatus to go to college and law school. After relocating to the Washington, DC area in 1994, he started LARPing again in 1997 with the Dark Summonings campaign. Since then, his entire life has been sucked up by LARPing, in addition to playing in Drink Deep, and four campaign LARPs since then, he's written and GMed a game in the Mersienne Medieval Fantasy campaign, and three games in the last six months. His most recent works include 1936: Horror - Cuba, Schism: The Great Western Synod, and Heimdall's Children.

Oh, and did we forget to mention that he's President of the Live Action Role Players Association, and has served as treasurer for Intercons XVI, and XVII?

Eric Smith – The Great Gesticulator. Eric's first LARP was a very early run of Shakespeare's Lost Play, but then he didn't do much until many years later when he and Christine played Murder Mystery Weekend. At the end of the game, he proposed and she accepted. Since then, Eric has played many LARPs and helped to run many others. He personally wrote It Sucks to Be You (a Vampire game where the players are the food, run twice) and Heimdall's Children. Working with Scott Mohnkern, he wrote an episode of the Mersienne Medieval Fantasy campaign. Drink Deeper is his big project for this year; he looks forward to returning to floor GMing and smaller contributions to the community for a while.

Eric would like to thank his wife Christine for dealing with him prior to game, all the staff of the game for signing on with him, all the players for signing up, Richard Butler for impromptu "cheerleading" and all those people who have been so encouraging.

Steve Dean – Measure Twice, Cut Once. Steve's first LARP was Paddlewheel, and has been doing tabletop gaming about as long as Eric has. Since then, he's been active in the 1936: Horror campaign as a salty sea captain, and played King Henry VIII in Drink Deep. Steve foolishly volunteered his expertise with power tools to aid the current production's scenery, and will serve as your friendly neighborhood stage manager during the course of this game.