TAG Talk Tuesdays – Billy/Fenerio
Greetings and welcome to another TAG Talk Tuesday! Mel (me) and Mat interview our fellow TAG players about their LARPing experiences as well as their character for Odyssey. This week we’re startin’ fresh with the talented Billy who plays the charming bard Fenerio! Introduce yourself Mr. Billy~
Yeah… So… I am Bill McGinnis, and at TAG, I play Fenerio O’Onnghalie. In my non-LARPing life I am the Director of Education for a Sexual Violence Crisis Center. I like to read, play DnD, video game, cook, and eat… you know normal stuff… 🙂
I salute your services, sir! So I imagine going into LARP is a much needed escape from reality. How long have you been playing?
So… I starting LARPing when I was like 16 or 17, I think. I played for sometime and then took a very long break… No real reason… just was doing other things. I moved… school… stuff like that. I think didn’t play for like… 15 plus years.
Then… my friend Adam, who plays Jasper, suggested I play again… I thought why not… I’ll go back for one event… and then I stuck around playing consistently for a few years until Quest (the LARP I was doing) paused for Covid. Maybe 10 years… I don’t know how long I didn’t LARP, lol.
It’s all good! Time flies lol. Was it a shock to come back to LARPing after so long? Or was it like getting back on the bike, so to say.
Hmmm… A little bit of both, I think. I started out kind of slow… I was testing if this was still for me… still had my training wheels on… I would only come for one day of the weekend, miss a few events… or I would leave early. It was strange too, because so much world building and plot was happening all around me, but I really didn’t feel apart of it. Just was kind a there to hang out and mess around a bit. Didn’t really think too much about “who” my character was, or how he felt into the world, or what was happening in plot. So I think I was LARPing, but I was missing out on a whole bunch of what makes LARPing, LARPing… I guess I was doing the LA part but not the RP part. Took me about 2 good years of playing before I started to get invested, and was really looking forward to it… and then poof… it was gone.
Coming over to TAG has been a blast. I love the newness of it. Instead of just riding the bike, I feel like I am custom building parts of what I want the ride to be like. It lets me explore what I want this character to be, and build it along with the game. Plus, all the people are great! It is so nice to see people just playing and being amazing creative people… Now I actively look forward to playing and thinking about plot and look forward to hearing about all the creative stories people have come up for their characters. It is really interesting to hear them talk about it or to see them play it. I really hope more and more people come to TAG. This is such a dynamic group of people that are so creative and perfect that I can’t help but look forward to the event season. It has been exciting to meet new people, or to re-meet them in a deeper way… There were absolutely people that I played Quest besides for years and never had a real conversation with them, but at TAG have gotten to know them more and look forward to chatting with them.
Overall… coming back to TAG has been a fun, great chance to dive into LARPing and I look forward to this season.
Goodness, what beautiful sentiment! <3 <3 <3 You say custom building parts ‘n at- what have you “built” that you’re really proud of?
The new world and the way plot is approaching it, allows for much more creative player input than other LARPs I have played. They asked, “help us build this world…” and though I don’t think I have helped a tons, I do hope that the interactions my character does allows change and development of the world. Last season felt like everyone was testing the waters in both the game and what they want to play. I think this year will be dynamic and really see world building. I know I put in a small character history that I hopes adds to the tale. I hope to put more deeper aspects of character development.. One of most impactful plots for me was that the one the Adam Giles ran (and your character helped guide us on) that dealt with a haunted area of the forest. Though I fought monsters like this and seen plot like this a hundred times in other games… being able to hold a makeshift funeral (assisted by Adam Learn’s character Grukkar as introduced in very first TAG Talk) and play a song for the victim made it feel like it mattered and reminded me that NPCs in this world should matter… I hope I built in that moment a deeper experience. I had my character write a poem and put it to music, The Binding and Release of Aerik (Part 1: The Binding)… which I will share on here or at the first event… the second part remains to see if it will be written.
I loved that whole plot. And the song you played was beautiful! In the forest and with everyone in character, it felt very serene. So you’re obviously musically inclined- does that influence the kind of characters you play?
Thanks… Listening to music, especially live music is a big part of my life (if I hit play on my Grateful Dead live shows collection and walked away, it would play for over 5 weeks without stopping) but I’m not that experienced playing music. To be honest, I know a few songs on a few instruments and a big chunk of that is because I decided I wanted to play a character with music attached to it… I’ve been into Irish traditional music for a while so, I decided to bring my very limited knowledge of it into the game. I love poetry and rhyme so I hope to keep bringing that into it as well… honestly, I’m just an explorer trying new things and music is a very new thing for me. I hope to keep at it for a while and my character has helped keep my, often short, attention span interested…
That’s so cool that you’ve dedicated such time into your character. He is Fenerio, correct?? What inspired you to play as him?
Yeah, that’s correct… well… I had this idea. What would it be like for a force/being/god/goddess to intercede on a person’s behalf, save his life through song and verse… a person that didn’t have any connection to music or creativity… what would he feel like he owed her/him/they… I decided they, at least in Fenerio’s case, would dedicate his life to celebrating her/him/they best they could… so at least in Fenerio’s case he is trying the best he can… exploring music, verse, and poetry… he considers himself a Cleric of this force… which he calls the Muse. So, that’s the inspiration… I wanted a character that had some sort of mystic, spiritual, religious connection but… wanted to explore it my own way.
Ooooohhhh, I love the concept~ And that’s a perfect segue for Mat! I look forward to learning more about Fenerio. Everyone, don’t forget to take a look at Billy’s Wiki entry about his character. And don’t forget if YOU have a character, you’re more than welcome to make a Wiki entry as well! Or be interviewed by myself ‘n Mat for TAG Talk Tuesdays! X3
Until then, have a lovely day~
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