Steampunk: the new LARP

[hoopla]

What exactly does larp mean?

BVH
-ignant

Live Action Role Playing, I believe.

OH GOOD GOD!

[The Good Reverend Roger]

What exactly does larp mean?

BVH
-ignant

Live Action Role Playing, I believe.

OH GOOD GOD!

Yep.  It's like children playing make-believe, crossed with D&D without any combat or dice rolling.

And they refer to their games as "theatrical events".

 

[hoopla]

How do they decide how much charisma they have without dice?

This is anarchy!!

[The Good Reverend Roger]

How do they decide how much charisma they have without dice?

This is anarchy!!

I believe that depends on whether or not they're fucking the "storyteller".

[e]

How do they decide how much charisma they have without dice?

This is anarchy!!

I believe that depends on whether or not they're fucking the "storyteller".

[Jasper]

If LARP didn't suck so badly, it'd be almost like a Shawshank Redemption take on the BIP.

But instead it sucks.

[Mangrove]

I was thinking of going to a LARP.

My character will be a guy in t-shirt & jeans who has ended up amongst a group of creepy 20-somethings pretending to be vampires and wants to go home really really badly.


 

(Sorry Cram & Rat' but the LARP makes me --> )

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

Bad LARP makes me  as well... I had given up on the concept until I ran into the group I play with now. Rules lawyering is kept to a minimum, OOC "Look what my character can do" doesn't happen (or if it does, the person is ejected until they learn to play the game).

I personally like playing pretend. I like pretending in the SCA, I like pretending in Cthulhu Live, I like pretending in Vampire and when my Steampunk LARP happens later in the year, I will like playing pretend there too. I really like making the costumes and the props and the sets the story, the characters and the monsters (particularly in Cthulhu). And yes, TGGR, it is like playing make believe. I have no problem with that... In fact, I hope to be playing make believe until my sanity fades and old age just makes it the default state of my brain.

[hoopla]

You just made Roger cry.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

You just made Roger cry.

I can't help it if he's lame.

[Mangrove]

I met a SCA type a while back. He was talking about swords and callibration and generally volunteered all sorts of information that I didn't ask for.

Then he says: "You'll find this funny. I was at a comic convention and saw this guy with a Naruto t-shirt that said 'just because you have a headband, doesn't mean you're a ninja'.

Me:   
Him: Have you seen Naruto?
Me: No.
Him: It's anime.
Me: I see 
Me: [pretending to hear my name called and exiting swiftly]

Now, of course I'm pretty sure having a headband does not actually make one a ninja. But the assumption that I knew & cared about these things made me sad.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

I met a SCA type a while back. He was talking about swords and callibration and generally volunteered all sorts of information that I didn't ask for.

Then he says: "You'll find this funny. I was at a comic convention and saw this guy with a Naruto t-shirt that said 'just because you have a headband, doesn't mean you're a ninja'.

Me:   
Him: Have you seen Naruto?
Me: No.
Him: It's anime.
Me: I see 
Me: [pretending to hear my name called and exiting swiftly]

Now, of course I'm pretty sure having a headband does not actually make one a ninja. But the assumption that I knew & cared about these things made me sad.

Yes, social rejects congregate within the SCA and Gaming... possibly including myself I suppose.

[e]

The worst kind are the social rejects who think it's them that rejected society because they're "better" and "smarter" and that's why they sit in a room with other social rejects all day long pretending to be elves.


(NOT, mind you, that there's anything wrong with sitting in a room with other social rejects all day long pretending to be elves.  You just have to have the right group of social rejects.)

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

The worst kind are the social rejects who think it's them that rejected society because they're "better" and "smarter" and that's why they sit in a room with other social rejects all day long pretending to be elves.


(NOT, mind you, that there's anything wrong with sitting in a room with other social rejects all day long pretending to be elves.  You just have to have the right group of social rejects.)

Agreed. I find that the people that "reject society" are particularly lame... I prefer the ones that take a hiatus from society to play a game... and then be abl;e to go back into society.

[Cramulus]

(Sorry Cram & Rat' but the LARP makes me --> )

It's all good. If I was concerned with what The Other thought of my hobbies, I certainly wouldn't count myself amongst Discordians. I can see why some people think LARP sucks, or that I suck for doing it. All I can say to that is  . This is the Strange Times, and everybody is unspeakably weird. No shame there. One might just as validly critique people who post on forums all day, or own guns, or follow women's basketball or whatever.

Pissing all over someone else for doing something you don't personally approve of is MORE pointless than how pointless you think what they're doing is! So is taking offense to someone doing so.

In the end, I go to LARPs because I like to get outdoors, hang out with my oddball friends, and engage in team-oriented physical activity. I like challenges, competition, and the feeling of being a part of an ongoing story. I like the escapism of putting your life on hold while you get away for a weekend. I like that LARPing is relatively cheap, rewards creativity, and networks you with some very strange and interesting people.

I don't expect that it's for everybody. But that's cool, nothing is for everybody.