General Larp Thread

[inespie]

I haven't read the wiki, so I'm not sure if it's clear, but it should be noted that there isn't really an overarching organization for Accelerant; it's just a set of rules, which a lot of starting groups find a lot more convenient than having to design rules on their own. But there's a pretty big Accelerant larp community in the northeast, with a lot of different games in different genres, so you do get a lot of cross-pollination in game staff and ideas.



As tyckspoon said, the swords you posted look pretty much like the fancier boffers B3 and others make.

While there are an increasing number of games that really want and incentivize good costuming (a lot of Accelerant games, for example), NERO and Amtgard and Alliance and the like generally don't do so as much; I think the reason lower costume standards are more common in the US is due to the fact that larping here started out as a thing you do at college, meaning without much money, so you see a lot of t-shirts and the like. Then, when existing groups try to make hard rules raising costume standards, people get mad. That's been getting better, though; and any time somebody gets a really good kit together and shows up at an event somewhere, it tends to elevate the costuming of the rest of the players over time as they realize how cool it looks.

I think a lot of it has to do with a pretty strong DIY culture, at least in Amtgard, and the fact that your basic boffer is really not hard to source materials for or assemble. They're also pretty obnoxious to ship once you want to do anything other than your standard one-handed sword! So while every region will probably have people who have a cottage industry of selling equipment to other players (especially using fancier materials - finding a good reliable, reasonably priced, source of quality foam is surprisingly hard, especially since you normally have to go direct to manufacturer and they're often not interested in selling less than a palletload at a time..) they often are regional vendors at best. Setting up a national storefront and shipping cross country isn't worth the expense or the time for many of them, who are hobbyists at best.

(Admittedly I hadn't thought of looking at HEMA gear, since I didn't know they had foam trainers/equipment for unarmored practice. Probably should have, I've thought about getting the the leg/knee protectors they use before as safety gear/to wear under costume when fighting.)

We got those for 30 € from the producer, 40€ from a retailler in my country. You could check MSF (behurt, light foam kit) and hema trainer for ugly but safe and resilients trainers weapon, but I doubt the latest slav magic come to your country.

I used one of my steel protection set to make a kit. That was the one I used for my little nocturnal adventure, and the reason I was stealthy and able to dance in brambles.
https://i.imgur.com/o3yWsaA.jpg its good but totally overkill for larp, I think.

Hema Gear canada make stuff similar, I saw https://scontent-cdt1-1.xx.fbcdn.net...1d&oe=602EDD9A

[AdmiralCheez]

I think the reason lower costume standards are more common in the US is due to the fact that larping here started out as a thing you do at college, meaning without much money, so you see a lot of t-shirts and the like. Then, when existing groups try to make hard rules raising costume standards, people get mad. That's been getting better, though; and any time somebody gets a really good kit together and shows up at an event somewhere, it tends to elevate the costuming of the rest of the players over time as they realize how cool it looks.

That's pretty much exactly how it happened to my group. They started it as broke college kids, and over the years became adults with expendable income, and slowly upgraded their gear from hockey pads and a couple of thrift store shirts that vaguely look fantasy-esque, to handmade frock coats, real leather, and steel armor. It's a matter of "whoa, if my friend has something that looks real cool, I can do that too!"

[Cygnia]

For our 7th Sea LARP, weapons are NOT allowed, boffer or not. There's been...incidents.

[RochtheCrusher]

For our 7th Sea LARP, weapons are NOT allowed, boffer or not. There's been...incidents.

That must be so weird... at our game, the ban hammer is just liberally applied to anyone who looks like they might be real-life dangerous. Real weapons are grounds for eviction from at least this current event, as is slipping things past the weapons check. Wailing on folks with safe weapons too hard generally gets you a warning, and "too hard" is purposefully set pretty low so our problems stay low-level.

Do you folks have any combat at all?

[Cygnia]

Combat is based on blind bidding of tokens, at least that's my understanding. I've yet to actually SEE any fighting happen at one of these particular LARPs though. Just a lot of RP...

[RochtheCrusher]

I suppose if you make combat difficult enough to survive/predict/profit from, it happens less often.

[JeenLeen]

I went to one V:tM LARP. The only real complaint I have is that I wasn't briefed on etiquette much, so I got yelled at (IC, not OOC) for not presenting myself to the Prince as a new vampire in town. It was fun, and interesting in that the LARPers were using the downtown area of a city, so it was mixed in with normal people and even in stores. I guess the store-owners were kinda okay/in on it, but it was odd seeing folk play-out a fight in a coffee shop, or walking around with your arms-crossed to note you were using Obfuscate.

I didn't get much into it, though, and was mostly there since my then-girlfriend and her sister were a player. I have enjoyed V:tM as a tabletop game, though.

Not as bad as you might think. OOC most of the veterans were friendly and inviting to new players - in part because it was the other rival cliques of veterans they reserved their venom and bile for. New people were potential allies to be recruited into their side of whatever OOC spite-feud was currently raging.

Oddly, except the being nice part, that also sounds like how elder vampires would treat neonates IC

[inespie]

Playing in a normal real place not even privatised, with onlookers that don't know the **** you are doing seem quite weird to me.
I know of some bars that does murder party night and such, but those are... Well, niche thematic club for those geek weirdo, not regular bar.

[RochtheCrusher]

Playing in a normal real place not even privatised, with onlookers that don't know the **** you are doing seem quite weird to me.
I know of some bars that does murder party night and such, but those are... Well, niche thematic club for those geek weirdo, not regular bar.

It sounds actually wierdly immersive for the Masquerade, though. The whole notion of, "We're surrounded by clueless muggles who will shut us down if they figure out what we're doing, so vamp it up but shhhh..." works both in and out of character.

Helpful for stealth, too, if there are many people about who are non-factors to hide among.

[Kickaha]

Yeah, I've never played Vampire (there isn't a local group to my knowledge), but I've heard a lot of stories of games using the town as their game area. Generally the recommendation is to make sure the local cops know about it beforehand, but they're usually okay with it once they know what's going on. I'd imagine Roch is right about the immersion aspect.

For our 7th Sea LARP, weapons are NOT allowed, boffer or not. There's been...incidents.

I'll admit, I'm simultaneously baffled and intrigued by the concept of a swashbuckling larp without any combat. I'm assuming it's mostly politics, then?

[crowhaven]

I've always wanted to try but I don't know anyone who does it

[Kickaha]

I've always wanted to try but I don't know anyone who does it

Well, what kind of game are you interested in? Post-apocalyptic with nerf guns or airsoft rifles? Fantasy with foam weapons? Modern theatrical-style with combat by rock-paper-scissors? Any of the above?
The first thing to do is figure that out. The second thing is to see if there are any larps near you. Have you tried google? If not, 'larps near [your area]' is probably a good place to start. You don't need to know someone else who plays to try out a larp event.

[Kickaha]

New question, folks!
Once larping starts back up again (for those of us not in places where it's safe again like New Zealand, lucky blaggards), what are you most excited about?

[inespie]

A fantasy game inside a old mine.
Don't hope much from the orgas, but the location is cool.

[Kickaha]

A fantasy game inside a old mine.
Don't hope much from the orgas, but the location is cool.

That sounds SUPER cool! Hope the game will figure out some ways to really utilize the site!

[AdmiralCheez]

Over the weekend, some of us got together at the larp camp to assess the state of everything for a potential reopening, see which buildings needed fixing, which ones had been reclaimed by nature, etc. It's been quite a while since we last had an in-person event, so it was nice to get back out there.

Overall, things looked good. No structural damage, no burglars, nothing major that needed replacing. We did have a mouse make a nest out of duct tape rolls and twine in the scrivener's desk, and a raccoon broke into the tavern and ate an entire box of hot chocolate mix. Oh, and we found a whole bunch of bones scattered about. Like, not the cheap plastic bones we use for props. Actual animal bones, picked clean, and scattered in various places. Looks like some kind of predator moved in as well.

So yes, having your own private larp camp with permanent buildings does have its drawbacks, like spending half an hour scrubbing mouse poop out of a desk drawer. Still worth it though!

[Aliess]

Over the weekend, some of us got together at the larp camp to assess the state of everything for a potential reopening, see which buildings needed fixing, which ones had been reclaimed by nature, etc. It's been quite a while since we last had an in-person event, so it was nice to get back out there.

Overall, things looked good. No structural damage, no burglars, nothing major that needed replacing. We did have a mouse make a nest out of duct tape rolls and twine in the scrivener's desk, and a raccoon broke into the tavern and ate an entire box of hot chocolate mix. Oh, and we found a whole bunch of bones scattered about. Like, not the cheap plastic bones we use for props. Actual animal bones, picked clean, and scattered in various places. Looks like some kind of predator moved in as well.

So yes, having your own private larp camp with permanent buildings does have its drawbacks, like spending half an hour scrubbing mouse poop out of a desk drawer. Still worth it though!

That honestly sounds awesome. We nearly bought a site last year but someone else got the drop on us (possibly for the best).

I'm looking forward to trying out all of the new kit I've made/bought over the last year, but mostly just want to go camping and catch up with a whole lot of friends I've not seen for a year (cheesy but true).

[AdmiralCheez]

...but mostly just want to go camping and catch up with a whole lot of friends I've not seen for a year (cheesy but true).

That's a sentiment I, and basically my entire larp group, fully agree with.