March 19, 2025
We at BYOV have been devastated by the loss of our good friend, and in many cases LARP-writing mentor, David Collins.
If you were involved in the LARP scene at Gen Con at any point over the last 30+ years, you would have seen the Courting Murder series, and very likely would have been thrown into a murder or revenge plot courtesy of his games. David deciding to move his tabletop D&D games away from the table and away from the dice (well before White Wolf and similar companies took it up in the 90s) opened a door for many of us into an entirely new world of gaming, and some of us never looked back. We would not be what we are without David having led the way. Gen Con and plenty of other conventions are now full of live-action gaming–but there was a time not really all that long ago where it felt like a group of 20 or so people, four or five times a year, gathered around David for our end-game reveals while the rest of the gaming universe did not know what they were missing. Those days are etched in stone. It never got old, not for a minute, to do something sinister enough in his games to get a ‘Ha!’, and a laugh, and a clap on the shoulder.
David was also a warm, intelligent, and generous friend. He always had time for excited questions from bothersome 18-year-old kid GMs, and broad smiles and warm hugs for anyone who wanted one. Long discussions about gaming could turn with ease into long discussions about history or literature–sometimes even during a lull in a game, before he had to step away to adjudicate someone’s untimely demise.
The list of regular players who will dearly miss his games is long, and the list of people who will dearly miss David himself is longer. He welcomed with open arms anyone who wanted to be a human being, anyone who wanted to be kind to others–he accepted you as you were.
David was a storyteller, at the heart of it. Game writer and novelist, he took great pleasure from a great tale–whether it was told by him, or told by his players. We at BYOV have tried to be the same, and we hope we’re half as good.
Our deepest condolences go out to his family, and to all who had the fortune of knowing David. This thing that we do will never be the same again.
We salute our dear friend. If you ever played in a Courting Murder game: remember to take your antidotes, check your pillows for poisoned needles, never visit the high castle walls alone, look inside the piano for bombs before you play it…and remember David Collins with fondness.
We will miss you, David.
-The BYOV Team
