Larp more convenient?

[Rattslinger]

As I've gotten older and have gained more responsibilities that eat up my time, as well as my friend's time, I've come to the realization that Larp is more convenient.

If I want to game once a week, I can actually attend and not worry about two or three people randomly canceling and or unable to attend a table top game. I don't feel obligated to attend a table top game that I may not be in the mood for, and or would attend late. Larps will go on without me, and I don't feel guilty for getting there late, and I can leave any time, usually without much drama.

It also seem that Larp tends to be "less intense" after an extremely stressful week. I don't have to be super engaged in the story or plot, if I just want to hang out with my friends and have soft role play it is just easier on most people.

Anyone else have the same or similar experience to mine?

[KillianHawkeye]

Well I've never really gotten into the LARP scene, but there were a few things you said that were confusing to me.


If I want to game once a week, I can actually attend and not worry about two or three people randomly canceling and or unable to attend a table top game.

I don't understand, is LARP somehow inherently less strict about attendance than a table-top game? Isn't that more a function of a group than of the game itself?


I don't feel obligated to attend a table top game that I may not be in the mood for, and or would attend late.

Do the two types of games have different obligation levels? This seems to be entirely about your feelings. Is it that you feel more obligated to attend a table-top game, or that you have a more easy-going LARP group that doesn't care if you're late or want to skip? Again, this doesn't seem to have anything to do with the games themselves as far as I can tell.


Larps will go on without me, and I don't feel guilty for getting there late, and I can leave any time, usually without much drama.

Does a table-top game NOT go on without you?
Why do you feel guilt for getting to a table-top game late, but not a LARP game?
Why can you not leave a table-top game at any time without much drama?



Personally, I exclusively play table-top games, and I have none of the issues you seem to have. Perhaps my gaming group is simply more understanding than yours, but I don't understand what it is about the games themselves that has anything to do with this. Please forgive my ignorance if this is not the case.

[Nadevoc]

I don't understand, is LARP somehow inherently less strict about attendance than a table-top game? Isn't that more a function of a group than of the game itself?



Do the two types of games have different obligation levels? This seems to be entirely about your feelings. Is it that you feel more obligated to attend a table-top game, or that you have a more easy-going LARP group that doesn't care if you're late or want to skip? Again, this doesn't seem to have anything to do with the games themselves as far as I can tell.

From my understanding, yes, LARPs *are* much less strict about obligation, for two reasons:
1) A matter of scale. LARPS will usually have dozens of people - having a couple missing every game doesn't have nearly the same effect as having one of five or six people missing.
2) Most LARPs are Vampire or something of the sort that uses a more EVE style content generation than WoW - that is, most of the content comes from the players. So in a tabletop group, you might be the GM, and missing a game means the game can't happen; LARPs, from my understanding, very rarely rely entirely on a single person's attendance; they might have to delay a plot point, but they can still run.

Anyhow, LARPs are much less convenient for me because the nearest one I know of is 3-4 hours away. I prefer just running very small groups (3-4 people including GM) with a flexible schedule.

[Aidan305]

For me it's very dependent on the LARP. There are several in my area but most of them which I would enjoy I find myself getting put off by a number of factor, the primary one (aside from internal politics) of which is that when I play a game I don't want to have to put together a couple of essays worth of downtime after each session.

[iyaerP]

So something as a LARPer I feel obliged to point out: There are more LARP systems and games than there are pen and paper systems.

Do you want a vampire and politics of the dirty street LARP? Those exist by the score.

Super Hero LARPs? plenty of those too.

Boffer style combat LARPS? These aren't just everywhere, every different region tends to have its own system, style, internal politics, combat system and community. I attend one that is localized to the New England Area, exists as an offshoot of Amtgard, but still has well over 200 regular players. I can think of a half-dozen more that are similar or related just in the local area.

Historical re-enactment? Pretty much the same thing as a LARP even if most re-enactors wouldn't self-identify as such.

Fantastical historical re-creation? that exists too.

Zombie survival? Go google humans vs zombies, and you'll almost be guarenteed to find something local(assuming you live in the US), especially if your town has a college.

[Rattslinger]

I went to Phoenix Comic Con, played houses of the blooded larp, left con for a few hours to play an ongoing vampire larp, and came back to play the Byron falls larp. Every other game required lines, and registration drama and horrible players, the three Larps were awesome!