LARPs?

[Wombat]

My biggest problems with LARPs has been LARPers who don't stay within their bounds. There was a fairly regular V:tM LARP in Santa Barbara for several years that also regularly "spilled over" into the community (chasing opponents down State Street, talking to "mundanes" In Character, etc.). Most non-gaming people caught up in this found this just annoying, but a few freaked (at least one 911 call) and a few got actively angry.

Personally, I just liked showing the Malkavians that insanity is not kewt...

(almost forgot to mention -- I was not in the LARP, but I did know people in it. Thus I was considered an "Open Victim" when they were playing, much to my consternation.)

 

[evileeyore]

I've seen the The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

Serioulsy, now. LARPs are like going to a con or game day and sitting down with 5-10 other people to pnp. How many are idiots? 1 out of 5 say?

Okay we'll say one out of five gamers are absolute social rejects. Lamerz, geeks, ragers, people with no social capacity what so ever. Now imagine you are going to a game with 25-100 people. So what small end 5 socially unjust, top end 10-15. The larger the pool of gamers the greater the percentage appears to be. Now imagine that most of them seem to congregate. Probably becuase noone wants to game with them.

So we have power gamers with power gamers, clicking.

Games can go down the toilet fast. I know I've run 'em. I've killed them as a player.

On the other hand I absolutely f----ing love LARP. I would drop my sitdown game for a good LARP any day of the week. But theres the rub. Good LARP, like good game is hard to come by.

TTFN--EvilE--prefers LARPing thank you very much.

 

[Bloodsparrow]

I used to run White Wolf LARPS at the LA cons back in the day with a group called "Sneezing Lizards". I also played outside of cons with that group and others. As with any game, it depends on the people you're playing with. I've had mostly good experiences with LARP'ing, but then, I had good friends, at the time, and we all looked out for each other. So bad experiences were minimized, I guess. (Not that every day was a bowl of cherries mind you.)

The only real problem with LARP'ing, is the same as with anything in life. Which is, the more people you chuck into the mix, the harder it's going to be for everybody to get along.

Now, while I still love my LARP friends, I'm no longer very interested in playing a LARP. Though I did have quite a lot of fun for a number of years.

I wouldn't discourage anybody from trying something new. In the end, if you don't like what's going on, you can leave at any time.

Have fun.

 

[dreaded_beast]

Once I made a bunch of weapons out of PVC and pool noodles.

The weapon of choice for kali-escrima tournaments.

 

[Janx]

The dragon magazine review of Call of Cthulu-live sold me on it.

Not having to run around in a park wearing a bath robe a waving a wiffle bat...priceless

Too bad I've neer had the time to actually run a CoC-live game.

Janx

 

[twistnack]

I've been in a bunch of MET games over the year. Some of them good, and other bad. Last year since there wasn't anyone else around that both could run a good game and wanted to run a game. So I ran a game, and all I can say is: Best LARP ever.

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Slightly Off Topic: I'm running a game this year, sci-fi with no silly vampires. Could someone direct me to a good free LARP system to replace MET? I'm working on something, but I'd like to open up my options a little. Thanks.

 

[Umbran]

Could someone direct me to a good free LARP system to replace MET? I'm working on something, but I'd like to open up my options a little. Thanks.

It isn't free, but it's pretty good: Rules To Live By, produced by Interactivities Ink, which has a number of other Larp products you might find useful.

 

[Trainz]

I did Aikido for over two years, and really got a lot out of it.

What I'm trying to say, is that if you want to have a physical experience that somewhat relates to roleplaying games, martial arts for the sake of martial arts is pretty much as close as you'll get.

My sis in law was part of a Medieval fair once. They had this big war reenactment where there were 100 dudes and dudettes charging another 100 dudes and dudettes on a field, all wearing medieval clothes and armor and padded weapons. They had a somewhat chaotic system to determine who was killed acording to sparring. She had a blast.

Not my thing though... I like my RP'ing to be in my head, where there are no holds barred.

 

[twistnack]

Umbran I've heard that Rules to Live by uses dice, is that true? If so I don't think it's the sort of thing I'm looking for. Love dice just not for LARPs, it's too easy to lose them.

 

[Umbran]

Umbran I've heard that Rules to Live by uses dice, is that true?

Each player (and GM) in a RTLB game needs a single six-sided die. If your players cannot keep track of a single die, you've got bigger problems than finding a new system