Outpost Chi
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Outpost Chi was a seminal LARP Campaign of the Baltimore-Washington Community serving to establish the basis for an eclectic Theatre Style community playing multiple event (Campaign) games. Principally organized by John and Rebecca Corrado, the Campaign ran in the late 90s. The game was Science Fiction based, set on a colonial planet in the near future. In genre terms the distinction of the game is that it had a surprise ending. Originally presented as a more or less political game, it was in fact a disaster/horror genre, with a surprise event unleashing a monster upon the players which was resolved in the final game. "An Outpost Chi" has become a fairly well known term for a LARP with a surprise ending which is not what was originally presented to the players as the overall theme. Depending on personal belief and preference this may be seen as a positive or negative, so the term may be both descriptive or pejorative depending on use.
The game also gave rise to the term "Chi Military" which has gained substantial use as a LARP Theory term in the northeastern US, particular among GMs involved in the Intercon LARP conventions. The game was dominated, somewhat unintentionally by a group of players representing the Military faction, who bought matching uniforms, developed protocols, and presented a picture of well organized group play. While this group was intended to be one of several factions, they became somewhat dominant because they appeared better organized than most of the other game factions. The tendency of a group of well organized players to inadvertently dominate a segment of the game, even to the extent of having a negative effect on overall play, has been colloquially termed "Chi Military Syndrome," and the term has gained currency outside the body of original players, to have somewhat wider use as a general LARP Theory term.
