Does LARP freak anyone else out?

[Synicism]

Also this boffer larp I'm confused. Your actually swining foam bats at each other. How do you determine a hit. your actual skill? so if you suck you can't play a bad ass warrior, that would seem lame. So what is the deal?

You take a piece of PVC tube. You wrap it in closed-cell pipe insulation and seal it up with duct tape. You make a hilt for the thing, and voila, you have a sword.

Now, take your sword and whack the stuffing out of your friends.

Yes, a good part of the game depends on your real ability to hit other people. I went to a game one time and watched a couple guys who were really good IRL fend off a number of higher-level opponents until they got overwhelmed and game mechanics (like low HP) took over.

That being said, you don't need to be some kind of super-athlete to play... but a willingness to try something, look silly the first few times, and sweat a little really helps.

 

[Synicism]

Isn't paintball kinda a LARP anyways? I mean you have 2 different groups that try to "kill" the "enemy" with fake guns that shoot paint. People get dressed up for the part of actually kinda being a military person.

Sometimes. Especially when you deal with established teams where people have callsigns, trademark weapons, and all kinds of stuff.

It's rather like the SCA, except your cleaning bills are higher. <g>

 

[lordbasl]

Played WW LARP for a time. I love Werewolf and I was really into it for a time. HOW into it? Well, I was playing a granola-crunching acolyte of Jerry Garcia named Uncle John who was a Galliard Child of Gaia. Think tye-dyed hippy stoner relic of the 60s who smoked pot to keep away his "bad dreams" (pre-First Change werewolf furry wet dreams) till he was 50 or so....

Now, UJ did not make rock-paper-scissors (LAMEST game mechanic ever designed!) tests against some Bard skill or another to do Songs of Reknown -- give experience -- at our in-game Moots. I -- the player -- wrote filk songs about the game characters involved and sang them at the moots! I had to really crawl into character to pull some of those songs out.

Needless to say, Uncle John was a popular guy!

At the end of the outdoor playing season, UJ was honored by selection to a Silver Pack as a roleplaying honor to me for playing a Galliard to the core.

--Basil

 

[aurin777]

Yes, it freaks me out. Once I saw a bunch of White Wolf players wearing balloon hats and biting eachother. Its messed up.
~~Brandon

 

[mistergone]

Yes, it freaks me out. Once I saw a bunch of White Wolf players wearing balloon hats and biting eachother. Its messed up.
~~Brandon

Oh man. Hahaha.. I don't know what that was about, but if it's true.. PRIME EXAMPLE.

>shakes head< oh man.. hahaaa...

Yeah, and I just saw that "ogre Battle" link.. that made me laugh too. I SO want to say some more about this, but I can't without offending anyone. LARP is wack, yo. That's all I can say. I stand by my original post.

LIGHTNING BOLT LIGHTNING BOLT!

 

[Lord Pendragon]

My problem with LARP is that it seems to be crossing a boundary. It reminds me (however erroneously) of the Jack Chick D&D cartoon, where the girl is taken from the game to learn "real magic." Indeed, someone even mentioned a LARPer going through the hand-motions of a "protection spell."

It doesn't sit right with me. Pretend magic and pretend vampires seems to be taking things too far.

I wouldn't have a problem with the LARP mentioned on page 1 or 2, where the participants were catholic cardinals meeting to select a pope. I suppose because I feel that such a scenario (without any commitment to "fantastic" elements,) feels more like improv acting. I don't need to "believe" in something that isn't real to participate.

 

[Tsyr]

It doesn't sit right with me. Pretend magic and pretend vampires seems to be taking things too far.

Yes, of course. Standing up and pretending to be a vampire or mage is soooooo horribly worse than sitting down and pretending to be a vampire or mage.

 

[Holy Bovine]

Yes, of course. Standing up and pretending to be a vampire or mage is soooooo horribly worse than sitting down and pretending to be a vampire or mage.

LOL!! Good one Tsyr! I personally have no problem with LARPers and many of the people I've gamed with were heavy into a LARP for many years. They still loved tabletop RPGs too. I have contemplated joining a NERO group but the closest one to me is 2 hours away by car (and I don't have a car!). NEROis about the only LARP that interests me I have never been a fan of Vampire or Werewolf (although I loved the old CCG Jihad and Rage)

 

[Grifter86]

Cthulhu Live (long?)

I don't believe certain types of LARPs are freaky at all. In fact, the LARP I enjoy most hasn't even been mentioned:
Cthulhu Live.

The only other LARP I have participated in was one of those IFGS variants, which I didn't really enjoy. The plot was fairly limited... The players were just a band of people hanging out in a shack and waiting for "elementals" to show up and direct the plot. I'm pretty clumsy, so things got real ugly real fast. The group was more into "hack n' slash."

I have only observed WoD games, but I believe, as another poster stated earlier, that Vampire players prefer to be super human and possess an advantage over mere mortals, as well as other players. This may be an askew view, but it is one supported by other accounts. Its just not my cup of tea.

Cthulhu, however, is dark and gritty and the odds of survival are infinitesimal for the good guys. Heavy role play is abundant in most scenarios, but combat based ones are also possible. No rock-paper-scissors here, instead, players are supplied with a wound card listing what every bullet will do them; whether the next bullet will be a hit or a miss. The sounding of a cap gun brings fear into every character's heart.

So Cthulhu Live LARPers tend to be less into incessant theatrics or mindless combat. They want a balance in a darker setting. That's my experience with LARPs.

(Unless you count that time I led an attack on a Vampire LARP to deprogram our group's DM... Nine Inch Nails drove them vamps outside good. What a sight it was, a half-dozen gamers, hopped up on Mountain Dew [or the Faygo equivalent], armed to the teeth with foam stakes, yelling out "Hoody Hoo!" at the top of our lungs whalst we ran into the heart of the enemy. We had been deprived of DnD... We were unstoppable.)

-Apologies to Knights of the Dinner Table

 

[Tsyr]

Re: Cthulhu Live (long?)

(Unless you count that time I led an attack on a Vampire LARP to deprogram our group's DM... Nine Inch Nails drove them vamps outside good. What a sight it was, a half-dozen gamers, hopped up on Mountain Dew [or the Faygo equivalent], armed to the teeth with foam stakes, yelling out "Hoody Hoo!" at the top of our lungs whalst we ran into the heart of the enemy. We had been deprived of DnD... We were unstoppable.)

-Apologies to Knights of the Dinner Table

Despite the dig at LARPers, that strip series was great.