Metro 2033 “Renegades”
- apocalypsealmanac
- Nov 6, 2017
- 6 min read
Updated: Sep 17, 2018
On Oct.27-29, 2017 we took part in the final game of Ukrainian LARP season Metro 2033 “Renegades.” The game based on Dmitry Glukhovsky book Metro 2033 was hosted in a network of Odessa catacombs, Ukraine.
Mechanics: Airsoft\LARP melee
The game itself nicely turned into a pure roleplaying sandbox game. For some of us it was the first Metro game and we were scared by fellow roleplayers that this is an airsoft game with nothing to do for us - mere mortals. Which turned out not to be true and Metro 2033 “Renegades” was a very good example how players make the game.
LARP
Compared to previous years this time full network of catacombs was open for the game and exit to the surface was forbidden completely. And we have to say it was damn huge.
Also this game was not a non-stop LARP. The game started on Friday at 20:00 and LARP lasted till 03:00. The next day from 10:00 till 01:00 and on the last day from 10:00 till 14:00. During non-LARP time each station ICly closes hermetic gate and no one could enter or leave station In Character (of course everyone could do that Out of Character).
Considering there were no safe zones (locations without airsoft) non-LARP hours helped players to get some rest and settle down their personal matters, but honestly with pauses between LARP many people just had no chance to finish the game or were stuck in the middle of it. Maybe it would be much better just to make a non-airsoft zone or only close stations for said period of time and let LARP go on, but it’s up to orgs, not us.
Story
This year’s main story had a secret plot focused on all ingame factions which we, of course, will not spoil. But in any case it didn’t come true, so... whatever.
Aside from main story line each faction had a separate main quest including tons of minor quests for different citizens of each faction.
Citizens of Metro were represented by next factions (stations):
- Forth Reich - nazist pigs;
- Red Line - communist pigs;
- Hansa - capitalistic pigs;
- Polis - neutral station, so neutral that Reich had no issue conquering it;
- Bandits - do we need to explain anything here?
- Kitai-Gorod (China-Town) - second neutral station with glorious sons of Metro. Most noble traders in all underground, brave scouts who could reach any corner of the metro and unveil any secret and of course most spiritual leaders who could reach deepest corners of your mind and touch consciousness of any ghost or mutant of the underground (As you can see this review will not be prejudiced in any way).
- Mutants - restless ghosts, mutants and of course Dark ones.
Unfortunately we will throw another rock towards organizers - they have a very small team. Some crucial for the plot players canceled their registration the last moment, more than expected amount of players overall - all that led to many quests just being abandoned (including the main one) and miscommunication between players. On the other hand that gave space for the sandbox were everyone could do what they want and Metro looked pretty alive and gave space to many new story lines.
Economics
Currency for this game were real life used bullet shells which, we have to say, are much more bad ass than some newly painted bottle caps.
Also there were 3 types of resources on the game represented by game cards: Fuel, Provision, Medicines.
Each of above could be purchased or produced on the station (production factory had to be build on the station first):
- Fuel allowed your station to run electricity;
- Provision was required to keep your citizens well fed and allowed to reduce respawn rate;
- Medicines were required do avoid quarantine on the station.
All resources were in form of small paper cards. At one hand it was very comfortable, on the other side it was weird that you could carry 20 provision packs just in your pocket. Or imagine trying to loot a dead body and find where that motherfucker hided a canister of fuel!
Also some players said that it was almost always more expensive to produce something than just to buy it. But we as children of God did not care for such stupid material benefits. Yet we did go to the casino couple of times to feel evil seduction to play cards or watch pole dancers (just to try how it feels and warn others).
Catacombs
Here’s a map for you so everyone could understand scale of the tragedy:
For some of us this was the first game and being honest location made this game. If you’re not scared of being 4 days in complete darkness underground, sleeping on the wet floor - you will fly (or crawl) from happiness. Of course it was damn easy to get lost here, which many of us did. But the atmosphere is above all expectations. You need to get here yourself to feel it. Add mutants and other players that can walk out from each corner and you will have something to tell to your grandsons. Oh yeah! And there were also bats! God damn real bats!
Grey Zone
One other nice addition to the game was the Grey Zone - part of the catacombs full of anomalies, radiation and other dangers. By default no one was allowed to the Grey Zone except for two conditions.
To survive in the Grey Zone you had to get a scientist in your team and a PDA. Usually you could last only one trip to the Grey Zone and get one artifact from it. Your PDA and rad suits couldn’t last longer.
The best thing about Grey Zone is that finally you could orient not by paper stickers on the walls saying: “Radiation level 9000! Woohoo! Terribly dangerous! Shit your pants!” But by using a real device that was showing you radiation levels or any other anomalies around you.
Monsters
They deserve attention. Monsters were amazing. There was minor miscommunication between certain players and certain monsters (some special powers were just not clearly explained to both sides before the game), but it was such a small issue it didn’t spoil the game in any way.
Of course human is the most dangerous predator on Earth and especially in post-apocalyptic world, but during this game suddenly two most dangerous factions decided to make peace and first half of the game was without a single gunshot. So the most dangerous thing on this game were monsters. Our faction had several mediums (including me) and we had our own way of communicating with ghosts and mutants.
Railway lineman was pure entertainment, one of the most interesting and atmospheric ghosts we’ve met. Somehow instead of scouting and scavenging abandoned metro stations we’ve found our fun just getting in touch with the ghost and roleplaying with him. It’s not a secret anymore that the only way to save yourself from an invincible ghost is to freeze and hide your eyes from his lantern, but admit it - it’s hard to stay silent and not move for 40 minutes when lineman suddenly stops in front of you and decides to make some coffee.
Though closer to the end of the second day a group of new monsters arrived and our spiritual prays suddenly stopped working. Very quickly priests changed candles and censers to assault rifles.
Many players told that they somehow were lucky not to meet monsters during the game - bullshit. Even ghost and mutants from whom we had spiritual protection tried to sneak on us from every corner, but when Termites joined the game everything turned upside down. Termites were the most scary shit we’ve seen during this game. If wandering alone in complete darkness in huge network of catacombs is not scary enough - imagine creepy mutants jumping on your from small holes in walls or crawling out of junk piles, and even making distraction traps for players. They are masters of camouflage. They managed to hide even when we lighted every single corner of the tunnel. We’re not proud of it, but we shitted our pants not even once.
Conclusion
Despite minor flaws of organisation the game is a must go and can freely fight for the place of biggest post-apocalyptic LARP game in Ukraine. Some mechanics requires polishing, but people and atmosphere easily compensate everything and will keep you in suspense every single minute of the game.
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