Cottington Woods

  • 2024 Event Dates
    • January 13 (RP One Day)
    • April 19-21
    • May 17-19
    • August 3 (RP One Day)
    • September 6-8
    • October 11-13
      weekend events held at Camp Frank A Day, East Brookfield, MA
      January RP Day held at Estate of Mind, Whitinsville, MA
      August RP Day held at Camp Denison, Georgetown, MA

  • 2025 Event Dates
    • January 11 (Fairy) Ball Event
    • April 11-13
    • May 23-25
    • July 19 Summer RP Day
    • September 12-14
    • October 17-19
      weekend events held at Camp Frank A Day, East Brookfield, MA
      Jan 11 Winter Ball 1-Day held at Clara Barton Camp, North Oxford, MA
      Summer RP Day held at Camp Denison, Georgetown, MA

  • 2026 Event Dates (Final Year!)
    • TBD

      weekend events held at Camp Frank A Day, East Brookfield, MA
      Winter RP 1-Day held at Clara Barton Camp, North Oxford, MA
      Summer RP Day held at Camp Denison, Georgetown, MA


  • Post-Event Logistics
    • Submit your PEL (Post-Event Letter) on LARP Portal
    • Submit your Info / Between Event Skills
    • Submit any Letters you are sending In-Game
    • (Deadline for PELs, Info Skills & Letters are Monday 2 weeks after the event
  • Participating in Cottington Woods 2
  • Campaign Info on Cottington Woods 2

  • Read our Community Values and Covid-19 Vaccine Policy
  • Important Surveys
  • Stay In Touch With Us!


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    Signup for the Meal Plan and Volunteer in the Kitchen! 04/13/2022
    Cottington Woods is happy to announce that Dave C will be providing meal service for our events!

    ***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



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    IMPORTANT: April 8-10 Cancellation and May 18-20 Preregistration 02/07/2022
    Hello, beloved Players and NPCs!
    It is with a heavy heart that I announce that we have decided to cancel the April 8-10, 2022, Cottington Woods Event.

    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)



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    Fundraiser Ongoing: Purchase CW2 Items, Baked Goods Vouchers, and Influence Tokens through 8/1 07/26/2021
    Just a reminder!
    The CW2 Items, Vouchers for Baked Goods at a Future Event, and Influence Tokens for the Merchant Board are still available for sale through 8/1.

    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!



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    THANK YOU! to everyone who supported our Community Day and Fundraiser 07/25/2021
    Thank you to everyone who attended and supported our Community Day and Fundraiser. The sessions were full of great information, and we raised $5,033 to help CW2 build an onsite storage shed and prepare to launch in the fall!

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

    Thank you again!



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    Join us at the CW2 VIRTUAL Community Day, Fundraiser & Vendor Faire on July 24 07/19/2021
    Want to learn about Cottington Woods? Want to get to know our Community? Want to win some great prizes while you do it?

    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),



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    Take the Cottington Woods 2 Interest Survey! 12/29/2019
    Interested in PCing or NPCing Cottington Woods 2? Take our Cottington Woods 2 Interest Survey to let us know! This allows us to start planning.

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



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    Announcing Cottington Woods 2: "The Final Tale" - Starting Fall 2020 10/29/2019

    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.



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    Tales from the Cotting House: The End 10/06/2019
    Tales from the Cotting House Campaign has Ended. A huge thank you to all of our Players, NPCs, and Staff for a fantastic campaign, for all of our wonderful stories, and for the amazing community we have. You brought the Tales to life, put your heart and soul into this game, and we cried with you when the final epilogue was read. The Fairy Mists have swept over us all, and the Change Winds are blowing. We hope to welcome many of you back into the Woods in 2020 as the next and final campaign, Cottington Woods 2: The Final Tale is told.


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    The Penultimate Tales Event is June 21-23 05/28/2019
    Our next to last event is running on June 21-23!!

    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!



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    Take our Player Survey (or NPC Survey!) 05/31/2017
    Hello, hello!!

    For all of our players, please consider filling out our Player Survey:
    http://www.cottingtonwoods.com/events/player_survey.php

    This gives us some info on your play styles, types of plot you like, experience with boffer larping, and what you are hoping to get out of playing Tales from the Cotting House.

    Even if you are a returning player and filled one out before, we ask you to do so again -- we recognize that playstyles and preferences change over time, and that even just playing a different character or new campaign may change what you hope to get out of a game.

    The results will not be posted, nor will they be shared outside of Plot Staff. This is to help inform us of what YOU want and like so that we can help design plots and the game around what you will enjoy.

    Thank you!!

    P.S.
    For our NPCs, don't forget our NPC Survey here!
    http://www.cottingtonwoods.com/events/npc_survey.php


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    Take our LARP Conflict Survey 05/30/2017
    While our event dates (June 23-25 and October 20-22) are already set for 2017, and we won't begin planning 2018 dates until later in the year, we thought we'd get the ball rolling in terms of understanding the potential conflicts out there with Players, NPCs, and Staff.

    Please take a moment to fill out our LARP Conflict Survey: http://www.cottingtonwoods.com/events/larp_conflict.php

    This lets us know which games you play, npc, or staff so that when scheduling future events, we can do our best to avoid conflicting with other games you play.

    In the end, however, we're at the mercy of site availability, and can absolutely make no promises that we won't conflict with a game you love out there. There are just too many LARPs running in New England to avoid conflicts, but we'll do our best within the site availability constraints to avoid major conflicts!

    We will not share your specific answer. We may share a total results (such as 20% of our players won't miss Game X), but we will not directly share your answers. So please answer honestly, so that we can try our best to avoid scheduling conflicts - while understanding that conflicts are inevitable.

    Thanks!


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    Submit Character Histories 05/25/2017
    A friendly reminder to all to submit character concepts / histories if you have not already done so to characters @ cottingtonwoods.com
    Thank you!


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    Thank You - Our Adventure Day Fundraiser is a Success! 05/15/2017
    Our Adventure Day Fundraiser was a huge success! Thank you so much to everyone who made it happen and who came.

    Thank you to our players for introducing us to your stories as we introduced us to ours.

    Thank you to our amazing NPCs who made every encounter come alive.

    Thank you to our Staff for making it all happen behind the scenes.

    And a huge round of applause to our Vendors who came, allowing us all to do some shopping, and contributing to our Auctions & Raffles. You added so much to the event!:
    * A Valley of Stars Studio​ http://www.avalleyofstars.com *
    * Loot Drop Crafts http://lootdropcrafts.etsy.com/ *
    * Nana Carol's Quilts nanacarolsquilts@yahoo.com *

    And A HUGE THANK YOU to our remaining Sponsors who so kindly donated to our Silent Auction and Raffles, offering great prizes and helping us reach our fundraising goals:

    * Auntie Arwen's Spices​ * http://www.auntiearwenspices.com
    * B3 Imagination Studio​ * http://www.b3is.com
    * Damsel in this Dress​ * http://www.damselcorsets.com
    * Laughing Oak Bakery​ * http://www.laughingoakbakery.com
    * Liddle​ Druid * http://www.patreon.com/TrickySkricky
    * Loot Drop Crafts * http://lootdropcrafts.etsy.com/
    * Larry & leenie's Lusty Leather​ * http://www.lustyleather.com
    * Meloria Maille​ * http://www.meloriamaille.com
    * Nana Carol's Quilts * nanacarolsquilts@yahoo.com
    * Orion Leather​ * http://www.etsy.com/shop/OrionLeather
    * Silver Owl Creations​ * http://www.silverowlcreations.com
    * A Valley of Stars Studio * https//www.avalleyofstars.com
    * Xeph Ink​ / LarpHack​ * http://www.larphack.com

    And also to our players and staff who donated their own amazing handmade items, including Bess Libby-Shannon​, Hillary, Niki, and Alysha, and those who contributed, including Matt, Lise, and Erica. Thank you to Hillary, Angus, Suzanne, James and Colleen for contributing to the food & bake sale.

    Finally, thank you to everyone who bought raffle tickets and food and who bid in our auctions!

    Thank you, thank you!!

    For those of you interested in joining us in the Woods, details on creating a character can be found here:
    http://www.cottingtonwoods.com/library/charactercreation.php

    If you would rather join our Cast, we would love to have you as an NPC! http://www.cottingtonwoods.com/events/npc_info.php

    The Tales from the Cotting House: FIRST Event is June 23-25! Mark your Calendars!


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    Player Adventure Day, Fundraiser & Mini Vendor Faire on May 14! 03/30/2017

    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!
    Come get a chance to find out more about Tales from the Cotting House, earn some CP for the start of the 2017 LARP season, and/or support the local LARP community, see what Eagle Pass Camp is like, and support local businesses that support and depend on us, the LARPing community.

    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/



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    Player Adventure Day, Fundraiser & Mini Vendor Faire MOVED TO SUNDAY MAY 14 03/30/2017
    First, thank you to everyone who jumped on the poll to vote and help us with this decision. These types of calls are never easy to make, and I know that there are some of you who will be deeply disappointed by this decision, as it now makes it so you are unable to attend on the new date. We are also disappointed that after all the work and preparation, we need to postpone the event.

    However, watching the changing forecast over even just today, the weather predictions indicate a lot of precipitation (snow, sleet, and then rain) which we feel will make Saturday both potentially unsafe getting to the event, but with the rain and cold, we feel not be an environment conducive for everyone's enjoyment. Because of the heavy amounts of precipitation, and that the warmer temps on Sunday will melt the snow, we are equally concerned that Sunday will be All The Mud and thus run the risk of cars getting stuck on the unpaved, long road into the campsite.

    Which is the long-winded way of saying that we as Tales Staff have made the decision, based on the weather and the number of votes indicating which dates will work, to move the Player Adventure Day to Sunday, May 14. We will still be running at Eagle Pass Camp.

    For those who cannot now attend, our deepest apologies. We hope to welcome you into our Woods at our first full event on June 23-25, where we are eager to help bring yours (and our) stories to life!

    If you've already paid for the Player Adventure Day and can no longer attend, we can either apply the cost to the June event or refund you. Please email me to let me know your preference; otherwise we will apply it to June.

    If you have any questions, please let us know.

    Thank you all for your enthusiasm! We cannot wait to be telling your Tales!

    Hugs
    Michelle,
    John & all of Tales Staff


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    Cottington Woods featured in Game Wrap Magazine 02/18/2017
    This is coming a little late, but we had to share. Several modules and encounters run in the original Cottington Woods campaign were featured in the article, Beyond Birdseed: Bringing Immersion to Non-Combat Modules, by Kat Davis in Game Wrap Magazine.

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



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    Completed Rulebook for Tales now available! 02/15/2017
    Head on over to the Rules page (under Info) to check out the completed Rulebook for Tales!


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    Races for Tales added 02/09/2017
    Information on PC Races - Humans, Brer, Golem, Elves, and Goblins - have been added: http://www.cottingtonwoods.com///library/races.php


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    Announcing Tales from the Cotting House 11/20/2016

    **** 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! :)



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    Soon to Be Announcing Tales from the Cotting House 11/06/2016
    Stay tuned! We will shortly be announcing "Tales from the Cotting House" - an episodic campaign set in Cottington Woods, running two weekend events per year. This will be a different format of event, which while having an overarching theme/plot, will be done in such a way that missing an event will not mean missing out on the ongoing plot. If the Cottington Woods campaign was a novel (or a trilogy), think of Tales as a collection of Short Stories. We will also be running in the same format as we did our Neverland Event - meaning that Friday night will consist of Roleplay and Introduction to the Weekend Plot, as well as setup and prep, but will not run modules and plot will end early, allowing for a decent night's sleep. The main campaign will start Saturday morning and run to early Sunday afternoon.


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    Cottington Woods Campaign has come to "The End" 06/19/2016
    The Cottington Woods campaign began 11/3/2012, and ended with a final weekend event on June 17-19, 2016. We held 14 weekend and 6 one-day events, telling the tales of players and staff alike, wrapped around the tale of the simple people of Cottington Woods and the dire plans of the Evil Fairy Queen. We cannot thank you all enough for the amazing tales you told. We were blessed with incredibly talented NPCs and Staff who brought our stories and characters to life better than we could have imagined, and with an amazing Player base whose stories surpassed our own, and who embraced our world to make it uniquely their own. It is always sad to say goodbye, and we hope you'll all remember the stories told here for many, many years to come.

    Cottington Woods © Copyright 2012
    Designed by Jonathan Heard