Poll: Do you LARP?

[Aerevolt]

This is a poll about Live Action Roleplaying. This includes any genre and style of game. Mind's Eye Theatre, boffer Larps, any local style game experience.
I'd appreciate details of your opinions of larping and larpers.

Personally, I've tried a few larps, but could never really "get into" the game. I have trouble suspending disbelief, and feel kind of like an idiot. Like I'm too old to play pretend.
I also dislike what a big commitment it is, with time and money (specifically for boffer larps)

What are your thoughts?

 

[Scarim Coral]

Never tried it myself but I do want to have a go at it at least once.

 

[Elfgore]

It's something that has always been on my bucket list. A co-worker frequently LARPs and sings its praises quite a bit, he's got me in the mood to try it out. I do see some possible road bumps coming up , as I don't like creating armor or weapons. I also think I'd have a tough time taking it seriously while doing it.

 

[Saetha]

...maybe...

I, um, I'm kinda new to it, as in I've only gone to maybe six or seven sessions. It's alright, but I feel kinda out of my depth. I've never played a Table-top RPG before, much less a LARP, and getting into the character is a bit difficult, too. I've never been that good at improv - I much rather prefer to sit down and write a story rather than act it out on a whim. But it's a neat way of meeting geeky people, and as someone who's painfully awkward and anti-social to the core, I'll take whatever I can get.

All that being said, I think I might be a bit more suited to the regular table-top variety. I get a greater entertainment watching others do their stories than I do getting involved in them myself.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Sure. Sex counts, right? Because my gf likes to dress up like old school Lara Croft. I'm not even gonna pretend that I'm not into that. Old school Lara Croft outfit is fuckin' hot. Judge me if you want to. Don't care - had sex!

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

No. I could never take myself or anybody else seriously enough to do it. I'd break character every chance I got.

 

[Johnny Impact]

Tried a Vampire LARP once. Seemed like a lot of bother. It was cool to be outside but it's hard to feel immersed in a living game when everyone has to stand still when it's not their turn. Guy running it was a bit of a tool, which did not help. Didn't feel like I needed to do it again.

 

[Chaos Isaac]

No, but I would like to.
Then again, i'd like to play a tabletop rpg with some chums, but that doesn't happen either.

 

[McElroy]

Haven't, and only would if I get to be the sociopath.
Now wait a minute...

Frankly my mental image of LARPers is mind-numbingly negative.

 

[Jiggle Counter]

I did ONCE.

I threw a tennis ball, shouted LIGHTNING BOLT, friend went overboard (literally, he leapt off the second story via balcony) and broke his ankle.

We all stopped playing after that.

 

[Shymer]

I have a reasonable amount of experience in LRP (or LARP). In the 1980s I was part of a group that did LRP in the Dartford Marshes. I also went with a group to Chislehurst caves (http://www.labyrinthe.co.uk/) which I didn't enjoy much because you felt like you were intruding on someone else's story - we weren't treated well by the organisers at the time. I helped set up and run a LARP society at University back in the early 1990s. We did some exhibition battles for public display - a bit like outdoor theatre. After university I dropped it.

I admire the dedication of people who LRP regularly but it isn't for me any more (I'm in my forties and I suspect it's a younger person's game). It's mostly harmless as long as the group finds the right locations, works with authorities and helps others to be safe. There was a bit too much flamboyance with amateur pyrotechnics in some groups for my liking.

Getting a costume together is no harder than getting one together for a fancy-dress party - and getting to the venue in costume was half the fun. I have been dressed as a dark elf - accompanying an orc barbarian, in Victoria Coach Station in London. It appealed to the extroverts (for obvious reasons) and the introverts, who could enjoy the thrill of notoriety whilst being 'in disguise'. Several people were interested in making costumes/armour as part of the hobby. Probably similar people now re-enact or cosplay.

You need good rules and understanding in the group - particularly for people just starting. Dropping in and out of character is hard enough around a table, but when you combine it with chance encounters with the public - real-world aches and pains and other considerations, it's more intense, but can be more piecemeal than a tabletop RPG.

Running a LARP is ten times harder than GMing a tabletop game and I have a lot of time for people who have done it successfully. When organising a battle means having a team-talk with various people in a forest clearing - and running to-and-fro between monsters and the party - it can be exhausting.

Feeling like an idiot is probably par for the course and dealing with that feeling is part of the attraction. It can get in the way of immersion. It can help to have a good supportive group and the right location to minimise interaction with the public. If you are going to be showing to the public - then it's simply a piece of outdoor theatre where you are either the honest and noble hero - or the villainous knight who tries to win through chicanery. It's sometimes easier to stay in character when you are performing to the public - compared to when "a normal" comes across you and your mates in the woods.

In summary - harmless fun for a niche audience.

 

[Jesterscup]

Not as much as I'd like. There aren't that many that happen that I get the chance to attend, and most of those that do are very traditional ( orcs & elves types). However one I do get to attend is the ornithocracy ( a Parliament of feathers).

http://ornithocracy.blogspot.co.uk/

But then this is me, any chance to dress up, be fabulous and generally be the centre of attention....

Generally I'm a Duck ( think venetian courtier ), I don't often do that much really, my presence is usually enough to make the other agents worry, and as my outfit is usually spectacular, I often get one or two extra abilities, which gives them reason to. I love the 'court intrigue aspect, everyone expects me to be aloof, devious, backstabbing and plotting, I play up on that....

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

I feel that, with the right group, I'd be into it. The situation has never arisen. I guess I haven't been looking though.

"But its just like running around like you're a child playing pretend..." -Naysayers

"...so? Fun is fun." -Me

Imagination rocks and the older you are, the more expensive toys props can be brought into the experience.

I've been meaning to put together some cosplay stuff anyway so I guess it could happen? Depends on who is involved and how comfortable we all feel but I don't see myself having the time/resources to do it in the next few years anyway.

 

[CannibalCorpses]

I nearly tried it when i was a child but even then it all seemed a bit pathetic and childish. Each to their own, i'd rather get a real sword and chop down some idiots so who am i to judge?

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

Hmm. When my friends and I were young teens, we used to run around the bush pretending that sticks were guns and would shoot each other. It was never taken particularly seriously though and resulted in many shouts of "Boom, you're dead" only to be met with cheeky replies of "No, you missed!"

Other than that, nah I've never really done it. I'd feel really idiotic and embarrassed if I attempted it today.

 

[Fasckira]

When I'm tabletop roleplaying, I'm sitting there and able to imagine whats going on very clearly. I can picture the scene the GM unfolds, I see how the other characters interact and so on. While playing a mage character, I could picture the balls of flame errupting from his hands and arcing towards his target ...

While playing a mage during LARP, I pointed out my target and said "Phys 15". My target then hit me with a foam sword. Its just not the same.

Dont get me wrong, I've had fun when I LARPd in my younger days but the fun came from hanging out with friends and mucking around, not the actual LARP. As far as I'm concerned, while cosplay can be fun and tabletop roleplaying can be a great exercise of the imagnation its a sad truth that LARP is just a load of old bollocks.

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

I larp as often as I can, my girlfriend got me into it and convinced me to come earlier this year.

Believe me when I say I sounded exactly like the people in this thread, I thought it would be lame and pathetic, that the roleplay would be boring and excruciatingly embarrassing, and that mages would sound stupid.

But she chose a larp system without combat magic, which was good because theres not a single person with tennis balls or yelling silly things, that definitely made me feel better about it, I was also told theres literally no need to roleplay massively, I can just be a guardsman with a bow who gets paid to sit around and shoot players who play as bandits. Seemed fair to me.

I am an archer by hobby, and when I brought my actual competition bow down I was informed it was totally ok to larp with. This definitely scored some points with me since to be frank it looks (and kinda is) a powerhouse, sitting JUST below the power limit for bows at these larp events.

I was handed a butt load of arrows, given an arbitrary character name and shunted in with my girlfriends group before a big battle. A woman in full platemail just told me to shoot people holding banners or holding big shields and they left me to it. I basically got to stand there, while people battered eachother in full plate and with foam swords and shoot people with arrows from my 35 pound ish bow. EXTREMELY satisfying. Truly. Its monstrously easy with some archery experience to hit a slow dude in plate from a good 50 yards and watching someone drop to the ground after you nail them in the back is pretty satisfying.

I cant comment much on the melee combat or the very small amount of spell crafting but I honestly just go to larp to shoot people with my bow and some padded arrows. Its just stupidly fun that now I can practice shooting people legally with my bow. Honestly watching some people roleplay seems boring as shit, and when Im thrust into it sometimes I just stand back and nod. But hot damn I just get to shoot people, and my girlfriends family provide food and comfortable camping. Cant complain.

Theres some dude there with what must be 300 pounds of the most ornate plate mail I've ever seen in real life. He just walks around with an axe and wades into every melee and to be honest I feel like me and him are there for the same reason. Theres a bit of it that seems like a tonne of wankery but once you find the aspect of it thats fun as fuck it gets fun and you can utterly ignore the bullshit.

Also acting as a scout was awesome. Its a 1000 ish player event so I just leg it across fields and through woods with my bow to each camp to ask how stuff is going, I get given a couple of ciders from each one and end up walking back tipsy every time. People just up and give you things, REAL drinks, its great!

If you opt to play as the bad guys you go for free (With food costs if you wish) and dont have to do a single bit of roleplaying. I was cast as a bandit 8 times in a single event that cost me 20 quid for cooked food for a few days and I basically got to harass people in the woods with a bow and some arrows until the players got wise and sent some people to hunt down and kill me. Definitely recommend this for people who find it hard to get immersed in the story. They arm you, let you look like you paid to have a cool armor set, and let you go hit some people with zero thought to story or roleplay. If youre a zombie youre expected to shamble a little though which is fair game.

People were less cliche and stereotyped than I imagined too. Theres definitely a few of the archetypes you would expect but I met a doctor (Who actually had a medical degree) and we had a conversation about treating blunt trauma and breaks, which technically was still roleplay, and as a biomed student it was a great networking/interesting conversation opportunity.

LARP has a HUGE negative stigma (at least here in the UK it seems less bad) and i bought into it to, but my girlfriend does it and shes just a normal german student so I ignored them for a single opportunity to see if it sucked. Almost none of the tihngs I expected (and others in this thread say they expected) were true. The gender split was about 60/40 too which surprised me greatly.

 

[Uriel_Hayabusa]

Nope, and you'd have to either threaten to kill me (or one of my loved ones) OR pay me a considerable amount of money before I'd even consider it, same goes for tabletop roleplaying.

 

[Uriel_Hayabusa]

LARP has a HUGE negative stigma

Wait just a minute.

I'm guessing that what you refer to as a stigma is little more than people finding the idea of LARPing stupid and/or being dismissive of it. It might shock you that pretending to be a woodelf isn't everybody's idea of fun, it doesn't mean that the think less of you as a person or consider you a target for harassment from then on out.

My point is that there will always be people who don't care for or outright hate whatever it is you're passionate about. Be it comic books, model trains, Russian ballet or polka; LARP is no different. And chances are there's certain pasttimes out there that you find boring as hell, guess what: there's people out there who are passionate about whatever hobby you're dismissive of.

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

Wait just a minute.

I'm guessing that what you refer to as a stigma is little more than people finding the idea of LARPing stupid and/or being dismissive of it. It might shock you that pretending to be a woodelf isn't everybody's idea of fun, it doesn't mean that the think less of you as a person or consider you a target for harassment from then on out.

My point is that there will always be people who don't care for or outright hate whatever it is you're passionate about. Be it comic books, model trains, Russian ballet or polka; LARP is no different. And chances are there's certain pasttimes out there that you find boring as hell, guess what: there's people out there who are passionate about whatever hobby you're dismissive of.

Its not that people dont like the sound of it, thats fine and obviously a thing that exists (im above 5 so I am familiar with the concept) its that when people describe "the sound of it" it comes across entirely at odds with what I've seen.

"It might shock you that pretending to be a woodelf isn't everybody's idea of fun" - Im not an idiot. Yeah larp might be terribly boring for you for a host of reasons, but lets be honest almost everyone imagines a fat dude throwing lightning bolts in the cringiest way ever and I take umbridge with the fact that this isnt necessarily the case. No one enjoys their hobby being mis characterised in a way that makes it sound terribad and thus makes you look like an idiot for enjoying it. Itd be like if it was a common opinion that train collecting was waving the trains around screaming "CHU CHU".

It irks me that when I say I larp people imagine me throwing tennis balls or whatever and yelling stuff when all I actually do is shoot at people with my bow and drink cider in armor my girlfriend lends me. This is why I cant ever use the word, theres a negative image attached to it that makes me seem like an idiot - Stigma. Although blunt/padded arrows are a load of fun with mates in some woods outside of roleplay, i totally recommend them to archers, loads of people have fun with that.

I cant imagine how you took my post to mean "Everyone should enjoy X and youre wrong if you dont".

My post was meant to sort of educate people about the things they say turn them off of larp or stigmatize those who enjoy it, when in my experience these simply werent things I encountered or could just not partake in. Dispel some of the misconception of what it's like at these things. I thought people might be interested to see how it went with their misconceptions. Im far from a hardcore larper, ive spent all of 20 quid on some arrows I wanted anyway and ive been like 3 times. Im just sharing my impressions to people who thought like I did, that it was unbelievably lame in every possible way.

Larp definitely isnt for everyone, thats for sure, but a lot of the reasons people state are outright mischaracterisations of the people who go there or what it even is. If you think it sounds boring as fuck thats fair play to you but cmon:

Frankly my mental image of LARPers is mind-numbingly negative.

I shared a little bit of this attitude before I started, it undeniably is pretty common opinion.

My Uncles a blacksmith by trade and an ex archaeologist who moves in a lot of these circles. I might ask if theres any sort of historical re-enactment stuff that goes on, that seems to be viewed a lot less negatively and probably contains a lot less of the bullshit people, and me too to a degree, tend to dislike.