Interveiw with the LARP group Wiedzmin

2006 – whereas the virtual witcher Geralt fights against villains, monsters and PC bugs in CD Project RED's studio a bunch of witchers form up in Germany and found the LARP Group Wiedźmin (or Wiedźmini in plural):

Witchers:
Mikal – Monsterhunter and expierenced witcher who once trained young offspring witchers at Kaer Mohren. Now he travels through the country to kill monsters.
Vadim – A witcher with a patch on one eye. They call him "Reißzahn" (carnassial tooth) because ostensibly he had cut the throat of a guy with his teeth.
Katryna – A female monsterhunter, an Elfish fighter with red hair.
Maryszka – A female monsterhunter and a selfless healer with the keen mind of a dwarfen banker and the charme of an orc.
Travel companions:
Connor – A comrade who is surrounded by many mysteries and myths.
Keldrahir – An elf who has a glance of wisdome and experience of life in his eyes.

We would like to introduce the group to you and talked to Mikal.

The-Witcher.de: When did you create the Wiedźmin group and what was the reason? Did the PC game The Witcher call your attention or the novels and shortstories of Andrzej Sapkowski? The publishing house Heyne already released "The Last Wish" overhere in 1998 but it wasn't a success. It came with the release of the PC game in 2007.
Mikal: The first time I learned about the Sapkowski's work and Geralt was in 2002 or 2003 when the tv series premiered on the Polish television. During my stay in Krakau for a language course in 2004 I purchased all shortstories and novels. Sometime in 2006 I talked to Maryszka about it. We both were very enthused of the Polish landscapes in the movie and Sapkowski's fantasyworld. The realism to our world, the dismal prospect for many poeple, the humor of Geralt and Dandelion really capured us. This was new and fresh and a welcome change to the well-known and wunderful landscapes from of New Zealand. Hence we decided to create the witcherworld as our LARP subject. One year later Katryna joined us and 2008 we welcomed Vadim as our new comrade. I think we are the only witcher LARP group so far.

The-Witcher.de: How deep is your roleplay geared to the novels? I don't know your Wiedźmin names. But I have to admit that I merley know those books which are translated into German so far.
Mikal: We don't want to copy Geralt or any other of Sapkowski's characters. Neither the person Geralt nor his appearance. Since the PC game is out many poeple accuse us of doing so. We love the witcherworld, the theme and we are inspired to create our own witchers and characters as a part of this world who have their own problems and issues in this reality. This is creativity. What would you think if you meet two Gandalfs or four Elrics on a convention? This is very uninspired and unimaginative. There is no excitement for us as creators and the other roleplayers.
Hence we orientate ourselves in general to Sapkowski's concept. We derive from this dirty, brutal and unjustice world. This is a great novelty towards common roleplay backgrounds and this makes us attractive for other players. We are witchers like Geralt but we don't clone Geralt and we won't do it.

The-Witcher.de: What are your LARP plans for 2009?
Mikal: As all LARPers we are dedicated to improve our medieval clothes, our equipment and characterization of our personalities by storywriting, photo shooting and preparation. This offers us a large opportunity to develope our creativity. This is really crazy, we are busy with these things for about onehundred days just for a roleplay of about ten days.
Surely we plan certain activities this year. We liven the time after Geralt's disappearance and we try to gather the left witchers. Kaer Morhen is ruined, the laboratory is destroyed and we want to rebuilt the fortress. We need Orens for it, we need alchemical devices and ingredients.

The-Witcher.de: You have two "female witchers" as members, who are Katryna und Maryszka. But there are no female witchers. How did they become witchers? Or do you define the witchers differently than Sapkowski?
Mikal: In the TV serial there are indeed Wiedźminki (plural of Wiedźminka). According to our individual narration of Sapkowski's story female witchers are feasible and necessary. Apart from that we define the witchers the same way Sapkowski does.

The-Witcher.de: The chances that a young boy will survive the straining practices of the Trial of the grasses and the entire mutation procedure is very small. Don't you think the chance that a young girl will survive this is quite futile? What are your reasons for female witchers?

Mikal: We very well that female witchers are a rare exception but not every roleplay girl wants to be the replaceable sorceress, healer or virago. Maryszka knows the novels and the TV serial vey well. She is impressed by the concept in particular the role of the elves, which are not the stereotype touchy crybaby females surrounded by an ever shining light. They are victims of racism, suppression but also misleaded by their own hatred and pride. They became stunted at the end of the food chain and they are different from Tolkien's and the The Dark Eye's elves.
It's mentioned in the novels that the number of witchers shrinks. Hence girls have to undergo the procedure as well, when they survive. There are female witchers in the TV serial but they have different focuses and aims. We reason the female witchers with the necessity that the profession of the witcher shouldn't vanish from the world.

The-Witcher.de: How do your perform, present the typical attritubes of a witcher? The witcher signs, the mutated pupils, the supernatural reflexes, the agility or the vibration of the medallion?
Mikal: We managed to find a way to perform these supernatural abilities. We use contact lenses. Katryna has red eyes. I don't have snow-white hair but eminence temples after I succeeded from the mutation.
The witcher signs work like fireballs and other spells. With a considerable amount of creativity and support from our fellows in our group we enable these signs. The vibration of the medallion is slightly easier to demonstrate. We have a similar spell which we use as Wiedźmin in the case of vibration and which we adapt for the medallion. Though our medallions don't work 24/7 as Geralt's is always on the alert. We don't want that because it will spoil our thrill, challenge and of course enjoyment.

The-Witcher.de: Did you all play the PC game as well and how do you like it?
Mikal: At any rate we had to play the PC game as well and we all brim over with enthusiasm for the game. Maryszka bought the "Enhanced Edition" right away. Vadim finished the game with no interruption (almost). I had to purchase a new computer before I could start. Apart from that I was busy with exams that time. But now I have more freetime and I'm in chapter 4 so far. And finally the "Enhanced Edition" enables to play the game in the original language, which I will do after I finished the English version.
I think the game is a great success and I'm very happy about it after the failure of the Witcher TV series in Poland.