***Sign-Up for Meal Service here: ****
http://cottingtonwoods.com/events/mealplan.php

***** SIGNUPS FOR A MEAL PLAN CLOSE 1 WEEK BEFORE AN EVENT *****

The Full Meal Plan ($35) consists of Saturday Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner, and Sunday Breakfast, as well as unlimited hot drinks in the tavern. Lunches will be grap-and-go, as game play will not stop. For Breakfast & Dinner Hour, we will have roleplay only encounters that occur in the tavern alongside the meal.

You may also opt into a Main Meal Only option ($30) (no lunch) that consists of Saturday & Sunday Breakfast and Saturday Dinner only, as well as unlimited hot drinks in the tavern.

Finally, we also offer Unlimited Hot Drinks in the Tavern Only option for $5. Hot drinks will consist of coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and apple cider.

***VOLUNTEERS for Kitchen Prep/Serve & for Cleanup*** In order for the Meal Plan to work, we need volunteers to help prepare/cook/serve food in the Kitchen, as well as to do Cleanup afterwards. You can opt to Earn CP or credit towards you Meal Plan. You can sign up here:
http://cottingtonwoods.com/events/kitchenhelp.php

***PAYMENT*** Finally, payment for the Meal Plan can be made via PayPal to prereg@cottingtonwoods.com or via Venmo to @Cottington-Woods.

***NPCs:**** Cottington Woods Staff provides for your meals, in no small part due to the generosity of our PCs. Please do fill out the form so we know your food allergies/restrictions, but also so we know you wish to have the service. We will also provide food in Monster Camp.

Thank you!
Cottington Woods Staff

While the downward trend of numbers is heartening, the reality is that we are still at a 7-day average of both cases and deaths that is too high to run in an event that, in all likelihood, will require us to congregate tightly together in indoor spaces for long periods of time. The weather in early April is unpredictable, but current predictions are calling for winter-like weather to linger into early April. We debated waiting to make this decision, but realized at two months out from the event, all of us need to make plans about whether or not we would be running, and we would need to give the campsite advance enough notice of the change of our plans to not be out our deposit. We just did not feel comfortable that the Covid numbers and the weather would allow for a reasonable safe ability to run a full weekend event, and we take our responsibility as staff to keep all of you safe foremost in our deliberations.

We are deeply sorry, as we know many of you were eagerly looking forward to our campaign opener and the return to LARPing this spring.

On the bright side! We do intend at this time to run our May 18-20 event at Camp Frank A Day as our campaign opener! We believe the longer timeframe - 3.5 months - and the much nicer weather that is usually found in May will be more conducive to running a safe weekend event and allow us to ample make use of the great outdoors.

To that end! We need you to preregister!

Registration is open on LARP Portal for all 3 remaining 2022 events: www.larportal.com
Please log in - PC and NPC alike! - and let us know if you are coming! We are hard at work plotting out the events, and knowing if you will be there helps us greatly.

Likewise, if you are not coming -- LARP Portal now has a feature to tell us that you are not! Please go to LARP Portal and indicate that you will not be attending!

For the May 18-20, 2022, Event, if you preregister on LARP Portal to tell us you are - or are not - coming to the event by March 15, you will receive .5 Early Preregistration CP!

Some of you may also be wondering what this means in terms of the timeline for Cottington Woods 2. Given all the changes to kicking off the campaign, our current best guess is that Cottington 2 will run from 2022 to end of 2025, or just shy of 4 full years. In-game PC actions could always cause this to end earlier than planned, and just as our CW1 players will tell you, PCs may cause this to end an event or two later. But that is our best guess on where we currently expect major campaign arcs to go.

I hope you know we are all equally disappointed, as we are eager to begin running Cottington Woods for all of you. We hope you all stay healthy and safe, and that we'll be able to welcome you all back into the Woods in May 2022.

Hugs
Michelle & John
& all of Cottington Staff (Alysha, Niki, Rick, Monique, Coryn, Amanda, Brendan, Matt)

Purchase items now and help unlock additional community rewards!

Also! The Jewelry Block is donating 50% of all sales through 7/31 to Cottington Woods, and this donation counts towards our community rewards!

* WINNERS of the RAFFLES
* WINNERS of the SILENT AUCTION
* COMMUNITY REWARDS you have UNLOCKED due to reaching Fundraising Goals

Thank you again!

Cottington Woods is holding a Virtual Community Day, Fundraiser and Vendor Faire on Discord on July 24 from 12pm-7:30pm, with an "After Party" of War Storying and General Hanging out after.

Preregister to attend here!

We have a number of Panels on a variety of topics - from Cottington-Specific discussions on the different headers, common knowledge, rules, NPCing, and more - to general LARPing panels on Makeup, Costuming, Spellcasting, Boffer Fighting, Writing Great Pels & Histories, and more!

We also have a number of Raffle items to win, Silent Auction items to bid on, Items for Sale, Cottington Swag to purchase, as well as dedicated Vendor Channels (check out our Sponsors!) for a Virtual Faire during the Community Day!

Special Thanks to Our Sponsors, including:
Auntie Arwen's Spices, A Valley of Stars, B3 Imagination Studios, Dulce D Leche, Florist in the Corner, JenEyre Photography, LARPortal, Laughing Oak Bakery, Magical Escapes Vacations, Meloria Maille, Heather Senz: Muse for Hire (Writing Coach), Nana Carol's Quilted Crafts, NightmareHorrorshow, Artist, Rivendell Books & Games, Silver Owl Creations, The Dough Lady, The Jewelry Block, Threads of Time, Wyrding Studios, Isabel Cooper (Author), Melissa Caruso (Author), and Wayne Kyle Spitzer (Author),

Already have a character history ready to submit? Submit it here!

Announcing the "Cottington Woods 2: The Final Tale" Campaign, starting in Fall 2021!

This is a brand new campaign (using the Accelerant base system) with its own stories and plotlines, set in the Written World and within the Cottington Woods. It is a Dark Fairy Tale and Folklore Inspired genre, and while we hope to keep the feel of "common people dealing with the uncommon," especially in the beginning, expect there to be some Darker Tales told and the campaign to grow from Fairytale to Epic Fantasy in the course of this campaign.

Cottington Woods 2 is a campaign of interwoven stories. Our plots do intertwine with each other, and your character histories often form the basis and inspiration of the stories we tell. Character Histories are vital and we take delight in making them a part of the larger world. This is a campaign of places and quests and derring-do, of legends and folklore and myths, but most importantly, it is a story of people, of their loves and fears, wishes and losses. It is your story.

***

This is a complete and new campaign. You need not have played in Cottington Woods 1 (The Evil Fairy Queen Campaign) or Tales from the Cotting House, and while some of the people and places will obviously be the same in CW2, the plots and storylines we tell will be new.

That said: the final two Tales from the Cotting House events, running June 21-23 and October 4-6, 2019, serve as a bit of a prequel to Cottington Woods 2, even though they are their own distinct plotline ending with the Finale of Tales. Anyone planning to join CW2 would certainly benefit from playing, getting a chance to explore the world and your character, before the CW2 campaign starts. (But do not worry, these events will be recapped in the history going out for CW2, so if you do not play them, you will not be starting off at a disadvantage coming into CW2).

***

Some additional information can be found here! Otherwise, stay tuned for more information once the Tales campaign ends! Feel free to join our Facebook and Googlegroups to start hyping, talking, and asking questions.

Please preregister if you haven't already, and please let us know if your character is ending in Tales, so that we can given them a proper ending!

Interested in NPCing? We could use many NPCs to help bring the Tales campaign to an amazing end for our players! Please consider preregistering to NPC!

Interested in PCing CW2? Introducing your PC into Tales is a great opportunity to get to know our world and try out your PC before the new campaign starts. Or, come NPC and earn some CP in advance for your new PC next year!

Join us on May 14 from 11am-5pm at Eagle Pass Camp for a Player Adventure Day, Fundraiser and a Mini Vendor Faire Fundraiser for Tales from the Cotting House. Cost is $40 for Players, $20 for Faire Attendees, and free for Tales NPCs & Staff.

• Adventure Mods, Playtest Fights, Games and more!
• Chance to meet other Players, meet the Staff, and ask the GMs questions
• Raffle & Silent Auction - purchase raffle tickets or bid in the Silent Auction for a chance to win great prizes & items offered by our Sponsors, made or donated by fellow LARPers, and Tales-specific items
• Bake & Food Sale - buy some yummy baked goods and food during the event
• Vendor Faire - we have some great vendors who will be onsite, including Meloria Maille, Dragon's Opus, Lusty Leather, and Nana Carol's Quilt - get a head start on your Ren Faire/LARP shopping for the year!

Tales has been extremely grateful to be supported by some fantastic local businesses. Please consider them for your next costuming or LARP needs! Come to the Adventure Day to see examples of their work, pick up information to purchase from them, and in the case of those who will be present, purchase directly from them!
Thanks to our sponsors: | Auntie's Arwen's Spices | B3 Imagination Studios | Damsel in this Dress | Laughing Oak Bakery | Liddle Druid | Loot Drop Crafts | Lusty Leather | Meloria Maille | Nana Carol's Quilts | Orion Leather | Silver Owl Creations | A Valley of Stars | Xeph-Ink/LARP Hack |

More details to be found on our Adventure Day page:
http://www.cottingtonwoods.com/events/adventureday.php
Or at our Facebook event page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/261886400922445/

http://gamewrap.interactiveliterature.org/vol1/beyond-birdseed/

**** ANNOUNCING A NEW LARP FOR 2017: Tales from the Cotting House ****

The wind whispers through the trees of the Woods, as if to carry secrets to the ears of those who can understand it. Leaves dance within its fingers as it flows through the open window of the Cotting House, rustling the pages of Alice's Book where it rests on the table, its Words telling the tales of five years past.

Music and laughter and talk fill the air within the Cotting House, as locals and travelers alike gather to tell their tales and share news of lands near and distant, and ward away the dangers that still lurk within the Woods when the sun goes down. The wounds of the War are healing and the fear of the Evil Fairy Queen is fading from memory. The Cotting House has become a waystation and the gathering place of the people of the Woods. Some travel here just to visit the place where the newest Patron walked and wrote her tales, or to see where the most unlikely of Heroes gathered into the Woods to save the Houselands. Some come because it is said that it to find your own tale, you must first venture into the Woods, for here is where all Quests truly begin.

The door to the tavern suddenly bursts open and two figures burst in, one with a red-trimmed hood guarding the other, a long white stole trailing from their shoulders. A sudden hush follows as heads turn, and the wind, as if eager, races past them to flip the pages of the Book, stopping suddenly upon a blank page.

A new story has begun.

*********

We are happy to announce a new LARP, "TALES FROM THE COTTING HOUSE," to start in 2017.

We have 2 events planned presently for 2017:
June 23-25
October 20-22

Tales from the Cotting House begins years after the events from the original Cottington Woods campaign ended. While this campaign will be set within Cottington Woods, and feature people, places, and events you may be familiar with from the first Campaign as a backdrop, this is an entirely new series of stories, and will thus feature many new NPCs and entirely new storylines. This is not a continuation of Cottington Woods, nor an epilogue.

This will, however, feature a different format than the original Campaign. Whereas most LARPs can be thought of as a Novel or a Series, where there is an overarching beginning, middle, and end spanning all events, and missing an event means missing crucial details to the story, Tales from the Cotting House is instead a collection of Short Stories: an episodic campaign with plots beginning and ending in a single event. While there will be an overarching theme/plot that connects all the Tales, we are designing this campaign so that missing an event does not mean you miss out on what will be happening next event. We're going to try out some new things here that we hope you will all enjoy!

This will also allow us to tell stories and fairytales we wanted to in the original Campaign but never got a chance to, and explore some new ways of telling stories than we had before.

We will also be using the format we pioneered with our "Neverland" event: Friday nights will be in-game at the Tavern only with plot running only from 10pm-1am, giving a headstart on the weekend's events and to interact with NPCs and their fellow PCs. This allows us to setup, but allows those for whom starting on Friday is more hassle than not to show up on Saturday, or arrive any time necessary on Friday and go to sleep without fear of missing something crucial. The main campaign will start on Saturday morning at 10am and run through early Sunday afternoon. We also hope that this will allow everyone to get a decent amount of sleep during the weekend and not be exhausted Sunday evening when you drive home.

Finally, because this is geared towards plotlines being mostly encapsulated within an event, it is also easy for players who wish to explore additional character concepts to bring in new characters each event if they desire. CP for Tales will be tied to the Player, not the Character, so you can explore new concepts without worrying that you've lost skill/CP progress. Existing Cottington characters are most certainly welcome to return, though we may be making some rule simplifications/changes before Tales begins. Stay tuned for more information on that!

We hope you will join us for the next Tales to be told within our Woods. Please feel free to reply or reach out to staff to let us know you'll be playing (or NPCing!) the Game so that we can begin planning.

Character concepts, if you're excited to begin, can be submitted to characters @ cottingtonwoods.com

Please pass the word along! We look forward to welcoming you into the Woods again next year.

Much love,
John, Michelle & the Cottington Woods staff

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

For those who like FAQs, we tried to answer some common questions we've been getting from those who heard about Tales before this announcement:

** What is Tales of the Cotting House? **
This is *NOT* a Cottington Woods 2, or even an "Epilogue" of the original Cottington Woods. While characters from the original Cottington Woods will certainly appear again, this is instead a collection of new tales and plots to be told in the Cottington Woods world.
If Cottington Woods was a novel, this is a collection of short stories. It will be episodic, with the plots of each event beginning and ending within that event. While there will be an overarching theme/plot that will ultimately tie the events of Tales together, it is purposefully being designed so that players who miss an event will not feel as if they've "missed out" or that they are now "behind" in the campaign. This also makes it easier for new players to join after the game begins.

** What will events be like? **
Tales will use the format we pioneered with the January "Neverland" event of Cottington Woods: Friday nights will be setup and "Roleplay" encounters in the Tavern only, with the main game beginning at 10am on Saturday and running through early afternoon Sunday. Thus, there will be Plot Friday night from 10pm-1am for those who participate (clues about the main plot and a chance to interact with NPCs), but you'll all be able to get to bed at a very reasonable hour. If Friday is too much of a hassle to arrive on time for you, you can miss Friday night without missing the main plots of the event.
We may also experiment with running some "old style" Module Days going forward as well as one-day events.

** How often will you run? **
We are currently planning to run 2 Events per year, attempting to be somewhat outside mainstream LARP Spring/Fall dates.

Events for 2017 will take place on:
June 23-25
October 20-22

It is possible we may add a playtest/one-day event before the first full weekend, but it's also possible we may not. More to come as we finalize details.

** Where will Tales take place? **
Events will be held at Eagle Pass Camp in Wales, MA. This is a brand new LARP site custom built for LARPers. The new Monster Camp will have heat and AC, with sleeping quarters and bathrooms in the building. This will be a much nicer and more comfortable site to run at!
In-game, the setting will remain Cottington Woods.

** Can I play my Character from the original Campaign? **
Yes. Existing characters may return, or you may start a new character.
We are discussing simplifying some of our rules, so stay tuned for information on CP and Rules for returning (and new) characters.

** I Want to Start Planning a Character Now... **
While the www.cottingtonwoods.com is still being updated, you may use the existing character information on the website to get an idea of what cultures and classes to play. Note that there may be some minor changes once we've had a chance to revisit the rules.
You are certainly welcome to reach out to staff and start submitting character ideas!
Please submit concepts to characters @ cottingtonwoods .com

** Are the PCs the Heroes of the campaign? **
Yes. The PCs are the heroes, but note that in fairytales, many of the heroes are the "common people" - the little tailor who defeated the giant, the Woodcuter who killed the Big Bad Wolf. In Cottington, we encourage you to play the unsung heroes who, over the course of the campaign, find the hero within themselves. We do not allow PCs to play royalty or nobility.
Note that we will be emphasizing the heroic aspect that PCs embody in a fairytale world. While we will not force you to be "goodly" - we do encourage flaws and weaknesses within characters - we will not reward evil behavior in the game, and are creating stories to allow PCs to be heroes and to do what is right. If you prefer a game world that allows you to be villainous, then this might not be the game for you. Dark heroic headers that PCs could obtain in the original campaign, such as Nightmare-sworn and Dark Witchery, will not be PC classes in Tales. We found it is difficult enough to create a framework of stories to allow PCs to become heroes without also accommodate villains and betrayals, and given how those can directly contradict one another when villains willfully betray the efforts of the town, we have decided we are not encouraging or rewarding that within this campaign.

** Who is Staff for Tales from the Cotting House? **
We're going to hold off on the Staff announcement for right at this moment, only because we're waiting to hear back from a couple of individuals and don't want to make several announcements that might confuse people as to who is/is not on Staff. You can expect that many of the people who brought you the original Cottington Woods are returning, both as Staff and NPCs, to bring the next Tales to life - but we are also excited about some NEW people who will be joining our staff, and cannot wait to share who they are and the tales the will tell with all of you! :)