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TheTome /
Icon2002ReviewsYou are on the archive wiki. The new wiki is here. Unlike sane CLAW associates, I went up on the bus. It broke down. I became intimately familiar with the Karoo over 30 hours. Icon 2002 was monumentally and tragically overshadowed by the death of PeterCoode. I wasn't a close friend of his, but I'm close to people who were. These people included the organisers of Icon, such as AlanKent, GrantCharlton and RichardvandenHeever?. Also people of whom CLAWS people saw a lot, such as LauraEvison? and BenPage. Everyone got to know his fiancee Michelle who in particular attended the prizegiving, bringing Peter's hoarded chilli tequila with memorable, emotional and fiery results. Peter fed me some of his Chilli Tequila (it deserves capitals!) for breakfast at ICON 1999. It is probably the most powerfull drink I have ever tasted, with the one-two double punch combination of the chilli and tequila giving it a unique and memorable afterburn. He made it by stuffing as many chillis as he could into a bottle of tequila and letting it infuse for a while. - AdriaanWessels The convention was perhaps all the greater for its being held following Peter's death. Other conventions will be forgotten, I believe Icon 2002 will be one of those remembered for a long while. There are other reasons for this besides its being Peter's memorial. RussGoldman and AngieWheatley wrote, playtested and staged 'WinterCourt'; many Capetonians played in this at Icon. It had faults. It was enough that its consequence overshadowed those faults. This was the first LARP of its scale and magnificence attempted in South Africa; it will be some time before any LARP will be presented that can rival it. Russ and Angie made themselves sick over it and no wonder. Powerful lessons will be learned by the players about characterisation and LARP? involvement that will take a long time to fade. Russ also presented 'Homecoming?', the follow-on from his Scorpion-plot module of GenCon 2001. He promises a third episode in 2003, though how he can follow the brutal and final events of 'Homecoming' puzzles me. A very fine, though disturbing, module nevertheless. The other modules presented were of outstanding quality. I believe as players we did justice to them all, though 'SamAmI?' cannot compare to the magnificent and chaotic 'OctopusAliensWantOurWomen' of GenCon 2001. This only because tiredness prevented us from devoting the attention it deserved. Even Dr Seuss couldn't dream up his rhymes on 3 hours sleep. ShadowCasters won again, it wouldn't be Icon if they didn't 8-) But Capetonians on the whole distinguished themselves in winning prizes. And we're closer friends of the Jo'burgers than ever before. They've put in a lot of selfless time for this convention, and are delighted that we had a good time. |