SPRING ADVENTURES 2023
- Mystery Event: Murder at the Manor, Adventures in Cardboard, Sat, April 29
- Game Day 1: Kingdoms of the Old World, West Bush Lake Park, Sat, May 6
- Game Day 2: Grisla's Retreat, Theo Wirth Park, Sun, May 7
- Game Day 3: The Battle of Gurthbad, West Bush Lake Park, Sat, May 13
- Space Opera Weekend, Tony Schmidt Regional Park, Sat & Sun, May 13 & 14
- Hard Tactical Weekend, Caponi Art Park, Sat & Sun, May 20 & 21
- Game Night: The Dark Forest, Caponi Art Park, Sat, June 3
Mystery Event:
Murder at Manderley Manor
Saturday, April 29, 3pm-9pm, ages 12-17, $139
Adventures in Cardboard, 4501 Hiawatha Ave, Minneapolis
very low combat play
Adventures in Cardboard turns the interior of its entire studio into a creepy cardboard Victorian Manor situated over a system of buried catacombs and we invite you to put your detective skills to the test as you join your favorite AIC counselors for a devious dinner party, glamorous games, perilous plots, and a cacophony of chaotic clues. Only one thing is certain… this will be an evening to die for!
Inspired by both our Theatrical Weeks of summer camp and our extravagant annual Halloween installations, this will be a low-sworldplay event, focused chiefly on live-action roleplay, exploration and clue hunting, character intrigue, and outrageous storytelling. So show up in costume or arrive in your own clothes, come as a character or come as yourself, but make sure to bring your appetite for mystery!
Game Day 1: Kingdoms of the Old World
Saturday, May 6, 11am-5pm, ages 8-16, $99
West Bush Lake Park, 9401 West Bush Lake Rd, Bloomington
high combat play
An Ancient Conflict: 'The War of the Ugly'
The Great Dwarves were driven from their ancestral home on Mount Shehelemet by the Sorrow named Colossus and pushed into the wild lands of the Sahn. When they arrive war breaks out with Goblin peoples who had made their homes there long ago.
But it's not only Dwarf and Goblin in this conflict, a long-forgotten and terrifying people of the Sahn awaken: the Gladva Sidi. These were a people referred to in tails of the ancient world as the 'Blood Elves,' the first peoples to appear in the Realm and who bound themselves to the forest spirits of Wynathnudd deep in the shadows of the Sahn. Roused to wrath, the Gladva are eager to nourish the forest with the blood of both intruding Goblin and Dwarf.
Kingdoms: a Game of Power & Style
Meet your team members, make your own arms and armor and play a one day game of strategic capture the flag with multiple flags and capture-able territories! Kingdoms is a more version of Dominion. In addition to capturing flags and territories you will be advancing the powers of your faction as you play and gaining points for both your style of play and the spirit of your group!
Game Day 2: Grisla's Retreat
Sunday, May 7, 11am-5pm, ages 8-16, $99
Theo Wirth Park, 3200 Glenwod Avenue, Minneapolis
high combat play
Retreat from Khad Zhere: Will the Paladins Survive?
After nearly 300 years of war between the Empire of Iztan and the Houses of the Realm, the Iztani people of last citadel of Khad Zhere fled their fallen fortress. Ninety of Iztan's greatest warriors fell in this fight, including Ranraki the Golden.
But Grisla the Redeemer and twenty of her youngest Paladins lead the survivors through a perlious journey to the Northern Islands of their kinfolk. In defense of their people, many Paladins fall, and most fall in the terrifying valley of the Toerc Amrhet.
Teams for the day will include:
- Grisla & the Last Paladins of Khad Zhere,
- The Scared Rabbits (or Hiricidzen), sworn opponents of all intruders to the Valley,
- Morgaunt Leesh, fortress of the northern wards of Mabon & the House of Hart,
- and the Gwylion Host, an ancient force of the wild lead by a terrifying demigod.
The Strategic Game of Retreat
Meet your team members, assign specialty roles, make your props and play a one day strategic game! Retreat is similar to Dominion but played in several successive rounds with different objectives determined by the successes and failures of the factions playing!
Game Day 6: The Battle of Gurthbad
Saturday, May 13, 11am-5pm, ages 8-16, $99
West Bush Lake Park, 9401 West Bush Lake Rd, Bloomington
high combat play
The Battle of Gurthbad: The World is Poised for War
The Elder House of Hart and the Kingdom of Arko, rival powers of the south of the Realm, have long been poised for war. After a brutal civil strife fueled in part by agents of Hart, the Arkan Kingdom consolidates power under the line of Aetrig. Several dignitaries of Arko are shot dead in Gurthbad by a Hartian detail and the Kingdom plans for an assault on the City of Icénia.
Marching west with friends from the House of Sahn-Gliér, the allied Arkan forces meet fierce resitance from the Hartian Bracelet of Knights and a myrdyn of Draechi sorcerers. Surprisingly a host of dragon boats also arrives all the way from the Hákkarlan Free Towns!
On this day you decide who will command the future of the Realm!
The Strategic Game of Dominion
Meet your team members, make your own arms and armor elements and play a one day game of strategic capture the flag with multiple flags and capture-able territories! Dominion is like a strategy board game played on your feet with knowledge of the other teams' tactics and movements limited by your line of site and the organization of your scouts.
SPACE OPERA WEEKEND
Episode VII: The Skourge Dome
Sat & Sun: May 13 & 14, 11am-4pm, ages 8-16, $189
Tony Schmidt Regional Park, 3500 Lake Johanna Blvd, Arden Hills
high combat play
The Skourge Dome
They have been watching you!
A black-ops conflict between the Empire and different rebel bands has been raging for over a decade on our galactic rim. From the homeworld of the Kra'al Monarchy to the distant Plorosite planet, from the orbital platforms of the Dominae Arbora to the crashed surface of mall-planet Arthandu...
You have fought in these conflicts,
You have survived these conflicts,
...and now you (and you have no choice), have been chosen to be a lucky contestant in the Skourge Dome: the most space-slinging, dart-flinging, action-packed event in the cosmos, hosted by none other than Killmeister themself!
In the dome you will likely explore dense jungles, you may stumble upon expansive vistas, you might discover untold treasures and you will certainly run for your life from embittered opponents and a host of bloodthirsty beasts desiring to rip you to shreds... all as trillions of viewers on sub-legal channels across the galaxy cheer your name!
This season's contestants have all been picked from the rim conflict. You can run, you can hide, but in the end you will have to play with all your old 'friends', because none of you have a choice! Hate em or love em your teammates are there to help you survive and in the end only one team can leave the Skourge Dome! Will it be yours?
Nerf and Melee Combat
Meet your team members, choose your character, make your own arms and armor and play a science fiction-themed, weekend-long game! An assortment of over ninety nerf guns and gear will be mixed with melee combat and armor in this adventure themed after a century of popular science fiction soap operas.
Hard Tactical Weekend
Sat & Sun: May 20 & 21, 4pm-9pm, ages 11-16, $189
Caponi Art Park, 1220 Diffley Road, Eagan
high combat play
A Hard School: Fight, Flee or Perish!
Welcome to Hard Tactical: the third installation! This is an update of the rules re-written by campers who lived through the last two versions of Hard Tactical. A slimmed down, un-powered, un-buffed game, you must now rely far more on you and your team's abilities to organize, stalk, negotiate and evolve tactics to changing situations.
Hard Tactical is a weekend experience that raises competition and resourcefulness to a new level, so if dropping yourself alone into the wilderness with only a cardboard dagger sounds like fun, read on...
We give you no teams, you'll have to find or form a small band of comrades as quickly as you can, or remain a on your own constantly under pressure from warring factions.
We give you no cardboard weapons or armor. Not only must you build everything from scratch, but you must first find cardboard, tools and supplies before you can even start building!
We give you few safe places to be, and even in those places you cannot remain for more than a few minutes. You'll have to build or discover your own safe places and level up to keep opponents from finding and raiding them.
We give you no exact method of winning the game, there are a multiplicity of outcomes and that gets defined primarily by how you all end up playing the game!
Hard Tactical is an experience designed for the most mature and cooperative players; toxic behavior of any sort simply cannot be tolerated. Hard Tactical might be for you if you are looking to be your best self in an extremely competitive environment where loss is constant.
If this sounds like fun, then we invite you to try! Test your sense of indomitable cheer under pressure! Test your ability to stay cooperative, forgiving and not lose your sense of humor in the highest spirit of the game, in the harshest conditions and under the most punishing losses!
Game Night: The Dark Forest
Saturday, June 3, 7-11pm, ages 10-16, $89
Caponi Art Park, 1220 Diffley Ave, Eagan
high combat play
The Forest: Be Afraid of the Dark!
War is upon us in the Dark Forest - a place of twilight caught between the worlds. The Forest has always been contested by three cursed peoples whose kingdoms touch its edges. Lords of the Nildreth, Syldrath and Lledreth now perch themselves on dark castles in the far marches of their territories that overlook the coveted forest and its mysteries. These sorcerer-queens and kings have always sourced their power from this dark land and now devise plans to take it all for themselves.
The three related people of the Forest were born in it and cursed by it. Their separate realms are kept in a perpetual and never changing station of day or night in this strange part of the Realm. In the marches of Darkness dwell the lofty and brooding Lledreth, people of the night. In the perpetual and maddening marches of Daylight dwell the crazed and grasping Nildreth, perhaps the people most akin to humankind found elsewhere in the Realm. Lastly in the marches of the Gloaming, a perpetual sundown realm between Day and Night, dwell the faery-like court of the Syldreth. By Wyrd of the Forest each of these peoples has been Cursed to Hunt and find themselves in a vampyric chase. The life essence of one people is intoxicating, empowering and sustaining to the other - without it they would fall into madness!
But there are other things to worry about in the Dark Forest more terrifying even than your opponents. Will you seek them out or will you attempt to avoid them as you play?
A Variety of Games
There will be little time for building in the Armory, instead we'll focus on several new games that integrate darkness into their system of rules. Some games will require cooperation between factions, some games will pit you against each other, all games will put you squarely in the Dark!
