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I have some experience with LARPing - I did it weekly for maybe six months. I hestitate to call it a LARP, though, because there was very little actual roleplay - it was more like the medieval reenactment battle people but with foam weapons. I'll be following this thread although I don't have that many stories to tell - just the fact that everyone involved was weird, gross and creepy. And the people who made the rules would regularly change them in order to keep their group more powerful. A fair few of my friends still do it and it hasn't exactly been the best influence on their lives. It combines the worst parts of a competitive sport with dozens of people who never grew out of being insecure high school nerds and can't handle competition.
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Aug 11, 2015 01:42
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Ghogargi posted:I actually like the idea of boffer LARP (foam weapons in a field), because at least you're flippin' outdoors doing something physical. But I imagine it has the same political issues and social cringes as theater LARP. Bingo. The big thing about the game I played in was that the people who created the homebrew ruleset also played the drat game as significant members of player-on-player factions. To anyone who has had experience with anything competitive, you don't let the people who make the rules play the rules. Particularly not nerds, who can't be guaranteed to remain objective about anything. Now, all these people who made the rules were also the sorts to throw down a ton of money on metal armor, good foam weapons and so on. This isn't surprising. This, essentially, made them very tough to beat on the field - and that's fair because, well, they're in armor and it cost them a bit. But let me tell you about magic. The game had a magic system. A player could chant for a certain amount of time and then throw a rubber ball at someone. This did a lot of damage and two to three of these would take out a heavily-armored player. Once people started stacking mages in their factions and decimating the slow armored rank and file, magic was summarily made 'consent-only'. Yes, players - in a competitive game - would have to consent to being affected by any magic. And then it was written out completely, to be replaced by healing - which, funnily enough, meant that people only ever spent time healing - surprise - the people with the most powerful sets of armor. So, the games would just devolve into shield walls and line fighting because it was the most powerful way to play. Nothing could defeat a shield (except magic) and all weapons, from the smallest dagger to the biggest warhammer, did one damage. So, why would you do anything except fight with the lightest weapon you could get, as much armor as you could carry on your body, and bear a shield in one hand? The game began favouring the lifers, though, and it's part of why I dropped out. You used to be able to show up in tracksuit pants, a tee-shirt, runners and you could just hire our a foam sword for a few bucks. It was a lot of fun to just beat on nerds as a fairly fit guy. But then they introduced a rule that you had to be period authentic (and the list of things that weren't period authentic included things like 'zips' and poo poo like that). Not only that, but the referees were all volunteers - sourced from the teams. A big reason I left was when, in a capture the flag scenario, we had pushed the enemy team into a river (instant-death) and won. Then, the referee - on the other side of the field, dealing with something else - said that we had actually lost because we had gone into the river too. Even though the other team went into the river first and therefore would have died before us since we pushed them back into it. Quell surprise, his faction was the one holding the flag. There was no way to officially question the ruling. And that's not even going into the fact that the people in charge were almost assuredly just embezzling the money from the weekly fee people had to play. Hundreds of people paying about twelve dollars each every week, and they couldn't even provide food, drinks or anything that you'd expect from a weekly activity with full physical contact. So, that explains that the game itself wasn't very good and suffered from, yeah, the political and social issues that regular LARPs suffer from. I'll get in on this on another post because this already feels long.
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Aug 12, 2015 01:11
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Ghogargi posted:The issue is, and I think this is why I'm steering gently away from the Crazy Tales, is people regale others with the madness that occurs at LARPs, but nobody addresses how worrisome those things are. It's like telling stories about your friend Blaine who gets trashed every weekend and ends up naked in a fountain or loses his car somewhere downtown. On the surface it's entertaining (and I used to really enjoy breaking out the ol' LARP stories), but no one ever says 'Hey, you know, maybe Blaine's an alcoholic, sounds like he's going off the deep end and really loving himself up'. Yeah, the weekend roleplay events for the game I mentioned were basically drunken orgies under the guise of - as you mentioned - 'it's what my character would do!' Friends would come back from it and be like 'Oh, Person A and Person B had a three-way with a girl' or 'A bunch of people set up a "massage parlor" and got a bit too handsy'. And it would inevitably lead to these dramatic shitstorms because, as virtually anyone knows if they've been MUSHing or MUDding (which is much closer to LARPing than tabletop RP is), you cannot mix sex and roleplay without risks of OOC bleed-through. That's, of course, giving them credit that it was actually for RP purposes and not just desperate, needy guys picking up desperate, needy girls (who were, sometimes, much younger than the guys in question). Alchohol was, of course, involved. It's just skeevy. When I heard about all that stuff going on, there was no way I could go out there for something like that. The thought of being in a place where people honestly said 'What happens at LARP, stays at LARP' about things like this was just disgusting. If the prevailing stories that come back from an event like that isn't how cool the roleplay was or how awesome it was being in-character but rather how much sex people had and how drunk people got, well, I've got a girlfriend and I gave up drinking to excess about four years ago - what can the game offer a normal person like me? Apparently nothing.
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Aug 12, 2015 01:29
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Camrath posted:Never, in my experience. You have a certain number of hit-points (either locational; so arms, torso, head etc or global) and when they're gone, down you go. There's always referees and marshals hanging around to keep an eye on things in case of cheating but it's largely self-policed; if you're not taking hits people will call you on it and/or report it. I have the opposite view. In my experience, there was tons of people who wouldn't count their hits. They'd claim that they 'couldn't feel it' through their armor. This is a lie because I've worn a metal breastplate and I knew when I was getting hit. I've definitely seen people get pissed off and almost come to (actual) blows over it. FilthyImp posted:Every person I've ever met that LARPed sounds like this girl. Down to the mannerisms and everything. I didn't watch this whole video but seeing the girl in a corset (because they always wear corsets) made me remember how a corset added +1 armor point under the rules I was playing. No real explanation as to why (when chain and leather had to be a certain thickness and cover certain areas to count) but it prompted almost every girl on the field to go around wearing a corset. It was always pretty clear it was just a way for nerds to get to ogle cleavage.
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Aug 13, 2015 07:51
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Cocomonk3 posted:Are you over the east side of Australia? If so I am 100% sure I know this game. Went over (from Perth) to one of their major events this year. It was a change of pace from our games. And the cheating was ridiculous. Yep, over in Melbourne. Wouldn't be too surprised that you know it because it's the only game over here. I'd go back to playing it if everyone involved treating it like a fair competitive game with a friendly spirit. But, nope, cheating is endemic and you can't count on the refs to be impartial, so, why even bother wasting my time? Camrath posted:Cheating douchebags do happen, but in all the systems I've played anyone acting like that would get pulled up by a ref or reported to one very quickly. In previous characters I've worn heavy armour and know the problem- it's why I pull my blows in a certain way so that while safe they make an audible 'thwack' on armour. Check out the video I posted up thread- that was shot from a good 10m away but it's very easy to pick out my hits audibly. This kind of goes with my above point - I'm a pretty nerdy guy and I don't think Australia's ever had a real LARP subculture. We 'cargo cult' a lot of things that are big overseas. My point about corsets is more how the game I'm talking about was really big on making sure that all armor was as practical as possible. For example, if you were going to have scale mail, you would have to ensure it was of a certain thickness and certain material to get armor points from it - and they were incredibly particular about what counted. Sometimes I don't think they really knew if they wanted to be historical reenactment with foam swords (hence the removal of magic) or a more conventional LARP. But, yeah, corsets are the exception for some reason and would just grant armor points.
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Aug 13, 2015 13:34
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BiggerBoat posted:I have sort of a dumb question. Why, instead of dedicating your life to something as soul crushing and ultimately unrewarding as LARP, don't the players just get involved in community theater and put on a play or something if they like to play dress up and act? Even an improv type of thing? One of these requires hard work and the ability to compromise with other people, particularly improv theatre. The other allows you to be the belle of the ball.
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Aug 25, 2015 00:58
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I'd say it's because Vampire is all about social relationships and stuff like that, so, the lines between IC and OOC are increasingly blurred. And the players are all playing a type of character that's been associated with sexuality but without any of the deftness needed to portray that sort of character in a real-world setting without being cringeworthy. Of course, I'm also watching half a dozen people concoct an elaborate IC plot to kick out someone they don't OOCly like out of their party and wrest control of the group from the guy who made it. It's like a political coup... but about make believe foam sword fights.
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Sep 15, 2015 12:26
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CheeseThief posted:That one shot sounds like a lot of fun! It gives me the feeling that there's a lot of unspoken context information involved in LARPing that is both a product of what a game is and what it will grow to be, something like "younger players get to play the eldest characters" sends a certain message to players and how they interact with the game. So when you've got a lifer running the show the message and context of the game will carry their, uh, I don't have a good word here. Politics? Basically I'm saying LARP suffers from feedback loops where lifers will consume the game due to their dedication and then cultivate an atmosphere that breeds lifers. Things get as bad as they do because their microculture will become increasingly self serving and appealing to people who want a slice of that. Basically. Very few people, when doing roleplay - LARP, MUSH, forum, IRL, whatever - ever think about what type of game they'd want to play beyond the genre of it and what sort of message they want to send to their players through it. I kind of want to start up a threat about MUSH communities but it feels like I'd basically be reiterating a lot of the points from this LARP thread. It's kind of interesting how the exact same issues crop up, particularly as one of the larger roleplay MUSHes I roleplay on is going through a bit of a crisis which is revolving around so much of what has been mentioned in this thread as LARP drama.
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Sep 16, 2015 15:23
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Skunkrocker posted:It was fun the first few times. Then it gets super lame really fast when you realize all these people are exactly as described above. You go to a few more games hoping for that same spark you saw originally, then you get a life.
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Oct 4, 2015 23:07
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But, really, I can't think of anything that positive to say about LARPing. I think it could be that, a., it promotes physical activity in people who need it and, b., it can help teach some people skills like tailoring, prop-making and so on. But the negatives outweigh the positives by such a huge amount that I wonder why people bother. As I've said, I've got friends who are hugely into LARP, and the sheer amount of drama that comes with it... why waste your time? And the people I know who are really into it, really into it, I've known for a long time and therefore, like Tuyop says, I'm aware that they've all got things going on that obviously push them towards this hobby that is all about validation and little cliques. I've never seen someone improve as a result of the hobby, only regress. It's just an all-encompassing thing, too, that it basically devours any sort of shared social time.
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Oct 26, 2015 12:51
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so i'm watching my LARP friends try to come up with names for their new IC team i've told them good stuff for names and to maybe come up with the name last once they've come up with everything else and maybe try to think of a simple word because all team names, no matter how long or awesome, get reduced to one word because that's just how people talk they have 22 names they voting on, all some kind of warhammer-esque combination of multi-syllable latin word and tough word my folly in helping them was thinking they wanted something smart and snappy and easy to remember, not something that only appeals to grimdark children. it kind of encapsulates my experience with LARP.
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Oct 30, 2015 08:24
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JcDent posted:Can we see the list? I want to weight your suggestions against theirs! some examples: wrathborn dominion tuscana dominio tenebris dominion dominion of light oscuro dominion they're all like that. it's some kind of italian or latin term that relates to light or darkness or there's some ones that are italian geography. no one in the group is italian and the world isn't a real world setting. my suggestion is literally 'the dominion' since that's the word they seem to keep using
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Oct 30, 2015 09:28
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JcDent posted:Wow, they're literally taking the name last, because most of those dominions seem very different in character. They're hard set on name that would imply that they're "dominating," aren't they? i always remember something i was told when i was doing amateur voice-acting: when you're an amateur, a bland performance is better than a melodramatic one.
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Oct 30, 2015 10:43
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Cyrano4747 posted:LARP is like any other nerd hobby. There's usually nothing wrong with the thing itself, it's just the people who enjoy it that can be loving toxic. My Facebook feed has been filled with people histrionic about the fact they have 'post-LARP depression' after a weekend away. Part of this sadness involved an 'epic' quest line where the final thing was one guy convincing another depressed character to commit suicide - for the good of their faction, you see.
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Apr 14, 2016 06:41
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Cocomonk3 posted:When people ask what LARP is I mention Role Models. It's not really accurate to what I play in Western Australia, but it's a starting point. I know the game you're talking about. Yeah, it's dodgy as hell. My favorite part is how the board members utterly nerf magic over and over again because they saw it as 'cheap'. Great game, terrible board, terrible atmosphere, terrible sportsmanship. They make a shitload of money and very little of it ever came back to the players in any way. They're very lucky they're basically the only game in town. edit: IIRC, some of the dodgy financial stuff involves buying a plot of land out east for their big quest events with the goal of doing it up with facilities and building and stuff (in prime growth territory, too!) but did it in the name of one of the board members and they've run exactly one event out there and nothing has been installed and suddenly it's all: "Oh, no, we need to go to different places now". Also, a lot of money gets 'stolen'. At one point, about $500 a week, IIRC. Milkfred E. Moore fucked around with this message at 11:52 on Apr 16, 2016 |
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Apr 16, 2016 11:41
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trauma llama posted:As far as Larp in general resulting in broken people. I think it's like anything else. You have a spectrum of functionality. You get weird broken people like the OP who just happen to use Larp as their outlet. All the way to socially functional, conventionally successful people who occasionally enjoy dressing up as elves and beating people up with foam covered golf clubs. I was one of these people. But eventually the game I was playing basically ran the more 'casual' players out.
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Apr 19, 2016 09:30
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Liquid Communism posted:Happens. A lot. Especially in games like the one I recognize trauma as playing, where you get on the field with people who have literally been playing the same character for 20+ years. I said in another thread the best thing you can do in any kind of roleplaying is retire your characters. I mean, you get a great big Thing out of it like a heroic death or a funeral or an event and then you get to make a new one! The world moves on and everyone gets a turn in the spotlight. *in an extremely Plinkett voice* OH... oh...
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Apr 19, 2016 11:15
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I'm seeing a lot of rumbling about someone apparently trademarking the words and term 'LARP Australia' and therefore expecting people to rename any and all Facebook pages that could... infringe upon it? Or something?
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Apr 22, 2016 08:32
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The group in Melbourne LARPs on a big public football field near a well-used public walking path. poo poo gets jacked from the sidelines all the time. Bags, phones, even LARP equipment.
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Sep 12, 2016 12:42
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Mr. Sunshine posted:I'm not what you'd call a LARP veteran (I've been to a total of three LARP events ever), but a lot of people in my social circle are hardcore LARPers. I'm also Swedish so it's interesting to read this thread and see the big difference between American and Nordic LARP. Nordic LARP seems to be more one-offs exploring weird concepts (like that hardcore survival LARP someone linked upthread) or long-running campaigns with maybe one or two events a year. They also tend to be pretty rules-light. The few I've attended basically had some bare-bones combat rules and that was it - no character sheet, no skill values, no special abilities, no experience points. Mechanical benefits are tied directly to what gear you have, and maxes out at plate armour and two-handed weapons. So it's impossible for veteran players to *mechanically* dominate newbies. I'm not sure that's just a LARP thing, although it's surprising to see it there. The MUSH community has a similar problem with people joining games to basically play out their slavery/BDSM fantasies, regardless of the game.
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Sep 29, 2016 00:52
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