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Lord Tataraus
2007-11-09, 07:29 PM
...How exactly do you LARP? Is it based off your real life skill? How can I find info on this and how to find a group near me (possibly). I think it would be pretty fun, but I don't know much about it so if you wonderful LARP junkies could tell me everything I need to know that'd be great. If it helps, I interested mostly in realistic-ish D&D type fantasy.

Thanks in advance!

Fax Celestis
2007-11-09, 07:40 PM
Two good resources are Shade's List (http://www.larplist.com/) and the White Wolf Game Locator (http://www.white-wolf.com/gamefinder/index.php).

As for how does it work? Well, I'm mostly an MET (Mind's Eye Theater) LARPer, which is all White Wolf products. In it, one usually resolves conflict with paper/rock/scissors. To avoid spamming, you get a specific number of physical, mental, and social "conflicts" per session, based on your number of traits.

Traits are adjectives, and they can only apply in a situation where it makes sense. For instance, "I resiliently resist your blow" or "I nimbly dodge your attack" would work, but "I nimbly resist your blow" or "I resiliently dodge your attack" would not work.

Beyond that, it's pretty much exactly like tabletop.

Wraith
2007-11-09, 08:18 PM
I find that how you LARP depends very heavily on the system used. In the example given by Fax_Celestis, for example, confrontations are mostly resolved using mechanics ("I have skill A, which Counters effect 1, therefore I win. I have Skill B, which does not counter effect 1, so I lose"), however the version that I play in is quite different.

It's a homebrew system in which mechanics plays a very big part (there's a skill or spell available that will allow you to do just about ANYTHING if you look hard enough) however it is much more physical than Mind's Eye theatre.
I could regale you with countless examples of low level adventurers taking on and defeating much more powerful opponents not because their Build made it possible but simply because THE PLAYER was faster/stronger/more skilled/had a more efficient weapon.

Quite literally, if YOU can do it, so can your Player (which usually involves getting thrown into bushes and rolling around on the floor in my case, but I digress...) which is tremendous fun and gives you a good appreciation for what your poor Pen-And-Pencil characters go through in an average day.

Unfortunately for you I am English, and therefore any group I suggested joining would be pointless. What I can suggest, however, is a ruleset to look over and just get a general feel for a Fantasy-Based, combat-orientated LARP.

Hence, I give you Lorien Trust (http://www.lorientrust.com/), the biggest LARP system in Britain (if not, Europe) that occasionally caters to massive battles of 3000+ participants. The rules are very simple and are, I think, a very easy way to get into learning LARP rules.

Good luck!
Wraith
aka: Nikolai Manalishi
Wizard of the Varjezi (Viper Faction) :smallwink:

Finola
2007-11-10, 06:20 AM
If you are looking for a LARP with a high fantasy (dnd-esk) type feel, you could look up Amtgard as well. It is located in the United States and in Canada (specifically Ontario). Though I don't have the US park sites available off hand, you can check out

http://www.amtgard.ca

For rules and meeting times of Canadian parks.

malcolm
2007-11-10, 06:28 AM
Amtgard is great, it is fairly popular and relies almost totally on physical skill in combat. I'll tell you, nothing feels better than running around in the fresh air and beating the tar out of forum poster nerds with some padded weapons.

It's pretty safe, but like any sport there are cheaters and rules lawyers. I highly recommend you check it out, it's worth a shot and you could probably have fun for a day, even if it doesn't turn out to be your thing.

Fhaolan
2007-11-10, 10:39 AM
There are two types of LARPs to my knowledge, physical ones (sometimes called Boffer LARPs), and non-physical ones (like Minds Eye Theatre). Be very, very careful when looking at LARPs to join because if you get the wrong one you'll be very, very confused... :)

Several Boffer LARPS that I know of are; Amtgard, SOLAR, NERO and Alliance.
A note: many European LARPs are using molded foam weapons that look quite impressive. These are not 'legal' in many North American LARPs. Always ask about rules and regulations for equipment when joining a new group, as it can vary quite widely from group to group.

The other kind of LARP tends to not belong to nation-wide organizations, so they can be harder to find. If you have a gaming store in your area, it might be possible to find one by asking around.

Now, here are some things to avoid when looking for LARPS. There are physcial LARPs who have moved away from boffers and are either using shinai (rattan sticks with no padding), or have gone all the way to live steel. This is *not* a recipie for a fun weekend in the woods, this is a way to get familiar with the local ER. [Disclaimer: I perform with live steel myself, but as an actor as part of a performance. We take extensive training to be able to do it safely, and we are not actually fighting, but working through prepared choreography with a rigid system. It is not the same thing as Live Steel LARP.]

LARPs are also very prone to the Character/Player status blurring issue. For mental and social safety, please remember that you are *not* your character. Your character may be Prince of the Vampires, that does not make you the boss of me in real life. :smallsmile:

BrotherMick
2007-11-10, 10:43 AM
While it isn't exactly a Larp I am a member of Belegarth/Dagorhir. It is combat system that is completly based off of your person skill. The weapons are padded foam but the armor is mostly Authentic and garb rules are enforced. We have some of the most physical and fastest combat. Shield bashes,kicks,grappling,combat archery, etc.

MCerberus
2007-11-10, 11:05 AM
While it isn't exactly a Larp I am a member of Belegarth/Dagorhir. It is combat system that is completly based off of your person skill. The weapons are padded foam but the armor is mostly Authentic and garb rules are enforced. We have some of the most physical and fastest combat. Shield bashes,kicks,grappling,combat archery, etc.

It's also pretty crazy. When the drunk guy who claims to be a bugbear decides to run at you... you generally don't stand in the way.

Partysan
2007-11-10, 12:24 PM
Well, in Germany we know two kinds of LARPing, and of the one i play another two sub-kinds.

The first one is social-only. I don't do it, but it can surely be a lot of fun.

The second one is much more similar to games like D&D. The players are wearing costumes, playing characters, fighting each other (or the NPCs). There are two kinds of this one, or lets say two ends.

1. DKWDDK or DKWDK (you-can-do-what-you-can-represent-doing / you-can-do-what-you-can-do)
Those don't have rules at all. The latter obviously doesn't have magic. They are based purely on personal skill and the former also on actor skills.

2. Rule based. Those have many rules for skills etc. and do often have rules for fighting, too. (eg if you have a higher weapon skill you do more damage).
This one is considered as non-LARP by many followers of DKWDDK (including me)

3. Mixed systems. They are most frequently used. They base most things on personal skill (combat most important) but have rules where the real world skill won't help much (magic) or nearly nobody has them (tracking, crafting).

In germany we use weapons made of a fiber-glass staff coated by foam material and painted with colored latex milk. However there are countries that I have heard of using blunt metal weapons, which is obviously much more realistic and much more dangerous. Armor is real.
On bigger cons often "infight" meaning fighting with body contact is forbidden, because of the injuries (you cannot control that with 4000 people). The smaller mostly allow it for those who want (then wearing a sign).
There are people too, that fight with real weapons in germany, but those aren't caller LARPers and mosty don't do fantasy at all.

Lord Tataraus
2007-11-10, 02:32 PM
Wow, thanks for the info. I would really like to do a "personal skill" type LARP, but I'm don't exactly have the build nor the training for it. As a small, wiry kid, what chance do I have in a real-life skill LARP and how open are groups to teaching noobs? (from your experience at least).

Also, more for interest, what age group would you say is most involved in LARPing?

Thanks again!

Partysan
2007-11-11, 03:21 PM
You don't have to have the build and if using LARP weapons the training goes quite fast actually. (If you are interested in historical longsword combat (hence my video) I can supply you with a book and some other videos and sources)
Furthermore you don't have to play a fighter or you play someone who just started to be a fighter. This is roleplaying at all, not Hack'n slay. You can play a tavern wench or a cook in LARP if you want. Or a Wizard.
The thing with the groups is different for each group, sorry.

Hmmm. mostly around the 20ies. The youngest I know is 12 and the oldest is not yet fifty, but most are in the 20ies.

Lord Tataraus
2007-11-11, 04:24 PM
You don't have to have the build and if using LARP weapons the training goes quite fast actually. (If you are interested in historical longsword combat (hence my video) I can supply you with a book and some other videos and sources)
Furthermore you don't have to play a fighter or you play someone who just started to be a fighter. This is roleplaying at all, not Hack'n slay. You can play a tavern wench or a cook in LARP if you want. Or a Wizard.
The thing with the groups is different for each group, sorry.

Hmmm. mostly around the 20ies. The youngest I know is 12 and the oldest is not yet fifty, but most are in the 20ies.

Any links and sources would be nice. I guess I'm getting to the right age then as a freshman in college :smallbiggrin:
Thanks a lot!

....
2007-11-11, 05:31 PM
Amtgard is great, it is fairly popular and relies almost totally on physical skill in combat.

You've obviously never fought 6th level casters.

Healer: "I stun thee, I stun thee, I stun thee!" (which they can cast while running)

Druid: "Extension! Extenstion! I call for your death, I call for your death, I call for your death!"

Wizard: "I curse thee, I curse thee, I curse thee, I curse thee, I curse thee."

Still, it is a fun game. I used to be part of a chapter here, but the sheer amount of politics and cliques made me stop going out of disgust. If anyone is near SW Louisiana, I'd love to play again.

clockwork warrior
2007-11-11, 05:58 PM
dagorhir/belegarth are better, still foam fighting but no spell casters ( and better weapons, no crappy fun noodle stuff)

Ruerl
2007-11-11, 07:05 PM
If it helps, I interested mostly in realistic-ish D&D type fantasy.

There is no such thing as "realistic D&D type fantasy" :P -what you wish is likedly either high fantasy games wich has a tendency to be rules heavy, or low fantasy wich tend to be rules light.

Please bear in mind that most of the following post is from another board where someone asked a question very similair to yours about what LARP is and how you go about it:

Well, it depends a LOT on where you live.

I take it you wish the technical details due to your post. Here in Denmark we have a focus on the scenography and the costumes as our first priority, that means that people in bad costumes get turned away, weapons must look good as well ugly boffer weapons get turned away, the important part is not the weapon, but the roleplay after all -though beating up people can be fun too, thats what we have war larps for however.

Second there is a high expectation for you to be able to play your role well.

Now, these two are two things that are generally seen wherever I play, the level of the requirements swing from area to area as does the setting in wich you play or even wich type of larp you play.

Generally though on LARP:
Pros:
-It help you develop as a person, you learn to put yourself in a different set of mind and you learn to express yourself from a different angle.
-You get a lot of outdoors action and excersize in most LARP's
-You get to meet and befriend very different people, some good, some bad, but you get to get a new angle on life.
-might not be much, but LARP has a lot higher concentration of girls than warhammer

Con:
-In some parts of the states you'll be frowned heavedly upon.
-People playing roleplaying often have the same social stigma as warhammer players (ie: "nerd")
-it can be expensive. (I own for more than 10k danish crowns of equipment myself).

Examples of types of larp:

Fantasy (high or low):
This is your typical genre, it often takes place in a forest or on some sort of plains with forest connected, often in junior larp the setting will be based around some rival kingdoms where the players hold all the important roles. In high fantasy larp the GM's often insert high powered NPC's to give the game an additional action of element, this can be both good and bad.

A variant of the fantasy game is the low fantasy game, this typically has a higher average age on the players and is often based more on the roleplaying part than the fantasy-beat-up-the-monster style part (not that there is anything wrong with beating an ork, but if I play such, i'll play a warlarp, more on that below. )

A typical danish example of high fantasy larp for junior players:

http://www.ripen.dk/billeder/junior_sept_2006/images/DSC02207-1.jpg

A typical danish example of a normal to low standard fantasy larp:

http://troa.dk/gallery/albums/Sommerscenarier/Khypris/sp/sorenaklr_18.jpg

Two examples of a high standard senior larp city (i'm the small ugly guy on the second picture):

http://troa.dk/gallery/albums/k4/DSCN0836.jpg

http://troa.dk/gallery/albums/k4/DSCN0890.jpg

***

present day LARP:

These larps take two different aspects, in-crowd and seperated, in crowd present day larps (or futuristic larps) takes place amongst normal people who are not a part of the larp, this can present a strain on the game to put it mildly especially if you play in your hometown (would you like to walk down the street in costume in your hometown?).

The other version tend to take place on schools or other closed spaces, typical examples of this type of larp can be larp based on vampire: the masquerade, often these larps are based on intrigue and immersion, I do not participate in such myself and do not have any pictures on it to share, sorry.

Others on this board do have that information however I believe :)

***

War-LARP:

Normal larp is based first and foremost on roleplay, WAR larp is as the name suggests, based on beating the crap out of your enemy, in normal larp there cannot be any winner since the goal simply is to immerse yourself, play a character and have fun, in war-larp there is a winner and a loser, it can be highly competive and highly fun too, but make no mistake, it can be hard too and it has less to do with roleplay than the other types of larp, mostly because while you play a role in this as well, this is playing a soldier in an army, normally a foot grunt, for example when I was at the last one I played the empire swordsman "Karl" who where a part of XIII Averlands sword detachement (main regiment was a group of spearmen).

Due to the inherint dangers of a game based on fighting, war larp tend to hold an age restriction of at least 15+, the following pictures all have a very high standard that's normally only found in senior larps.

A picture of our main unit fighting a group of nurgle worshippers:
http://laiv.dk/krigslive3/pictures/picture-308.jpg

The main unit again, picture taken from the front:
http://laiv.dk/krigslive3/pictures/picture-2.jpg

War larp sometimes incorporates war machines:
http://laiv.dk/krigslive3/pictures/picture-279.jpg

An example of why it can be cool to play in a set setting, in this case the warhammer world, an empire battle standard bearer, a chaos undivided battle standard (defected 'bretonnian') and a khorne chaos warrior.

http://laiv.dk/krigslive3/pictures/picture-337.jpg

Shameless self-promovation (I'm the guy with the cross on the shield):
http://laiv.dk/krigslive3/pictures/picture-343.jpg

****

Good luck with it in any case should you wish to continue!

Regards

Lars