Larping (Live Action Role Playing) - Page 5

I will now open myself up to a life time of e-scorn. Me and my friends used to take PVC and wrap it in pipe insulation and duct tape and go beat the shit out of each other in the woods or where ever. It was a LOT of fun, just basically going to town with fake swords and the like. There were two types of people who did this, those who wanted to enact a live action RPG or pretend they were Westly from the Princess Bride and those who were active, aggressive, did not like organized sport and who often were involved or would become involved in traditional martial arts. Many an excellent night was whiled away between beers, punk rock music, and controlled violence. Sometimes there would be a large group of folks that would gather and break into teams. A few times there was actually enough organization to get a keg of beer as the "treasure" that one team had to go get. Yes it was dorky, but it was a lot of fun. Commence the laying upon of your scorn and derision.

Nice, SCA was a lot of fun, but there were a ton of wankers as well. Did you get into the fighting side of it? I briefly touched on Masquerade as well. Lots of hot, and sluty, chicks in both groups.

Indeed, it's all about who you're playing with. It is, after all, about the most social hobby there is (nothing else than the interaction between the people here matters in the end).

Yeah, had a couple one on one fights and half a dozen group skirmishes. I fared pretty well.

I think I have something to say in this thread, but I'm not ready yet.

Those the guys who do broadsword fighting? Always thought it was great that someone kept that going. This series was great until it go canceled, sadly. http://www.tv.com/conquest/show/19663/episode.html ~ H

I was a teenage LARPer.

I must have gone a dozen or so times when I was 16/17, around 1993.
I can't remember where I heard about it, maybe from the guy who ran the model shop I used to go to. I always went with a few friends.

We'd all meet in town on a Sunday morning, then drive out to the woods. Occasionally we'd go to another city nearby. We'd divide into two groups - monsters and adventurers, then set off on the days activities. This consisted of following the games master's instructions which meant moving around different areas to different pre-planned encounters with the monsters group. The monsters could play friendly characters who would give information or just attack you depending on the scenario. The equipment was a mix between home made, theatrical props and custom professionally made things like the rubber weaponry. The combat system was simple - if you took two hits to any body part, that body part was disabled and you could not use it (cheating was fairly common). Any armour on the body part would give you protection from further hits. you could be healed by bandages or magic. Magic was not used in combat as I recall.

Even at the time my feelings were mixed. I was aware of the stigma attached, and didn't tell anyone in my school what I did. I can vividly remember the burning sensation of shame I felt as people walking their dogs or enjoying a walk in the woods would pass. If only I had a real invisibility cloak!

But it was great fun. I will always remember the thrill of being ambushed by half a dozen 'monsters' dressed in fur rags and rubber masks, snarling, shouting and trying their best to whack the stuffing out of you. it is a powerful feeling of fear and excitement to have to instantly fumble for your sword to defend yourself in real time.

As for my fellow LARPers, they were a mixed bunch. There were a few creepy guys - one who played a wizard who looked like your typical bedsit occultist - pale, unshaven, one long fingernail on one hand who barely talked in or out of character. my mother's fears of hanging around with devil worshippers were probably justified in his case...
It was my first encounter with goths too, there was only one in my entire school, the year below. There were also a few travellers who'd turn up in their caravans playing dub and trance, and a few rock dudes who probably wore their leather trousers every day. Some, but not all of these people were overweight, but at least to my teenage eyes there were a few attractive females.

Looking back it was the way I found out about contemporary sub cultures, as my school was very straight. It was also positive to engage in a social activity with adults and be treated as an equal, taking part in enjoyable banter.

I got myself a girlfriend at 17 so I had to give it up the LARPing, obviously. I looked into it again when I went away to university, but the guys there were really all just snotty nerds who I didn't want to be hanging around with.

Funnily enough, I was briefly living in the second city we used to travel to a year ago, and was walking in the woods when I bumped into a group of LARPers in the car park. I got talking to them and it was the same group I was with 12 or 13 years back, and they knew some of the people I remembered who were still doing it. I was tempted to go along one time for old times sake, but ended up moving again soon after, probably for the best.

I'll admit that I played MTG and Ultima Online very regularly. But larping...that was too high a level of loserness. Here is the scale of loserness (biggest loser is 100):

Video Games: 5-15
Computer MMORPGs: 20-30
Card games (Magic: The Gathering, Pokemon, etc): 35-45
(Advanced) Dungeons and Dragons: 50-60
Larping: 80-90
Playing all of the above listed: 100

This is an overlooked quality about LARPing. It's so common for me to find most people I meet boring, but there are few dull people in LARPing. Yes, the devil worshipers were common where I was too!

I also knew people who held Vampire: The Masquerade(Modern day Vampire pen and paper LARP) swinging parties. Everything was done in char. Some of the most out-there people were known as "Rennies." They were people who traveled around the country constantly, be it by train, car, hitch hiking, just to go to renaissance fairs, work for the duration of the fair, then use what little money they had earned to travel to the next. They were often vegans, and supposedly it was a free love type atmosphere with them, so STDs were common. One in particular I met had a mangy cat he traveled with that would perch on his shoulder like a parrot.

There were also a lot of stoners. There was one group in particular that would show up high, have the mid day break in a van getting high, then discus where to get high after they left, mostly MJ for normal battle practices, but at events they would take all sorts of psychedelics. Their camps were far away from the rest of ours so they would have privacy and not spoil our good reputation.

There were also a few psychos. The John Rambo types who just never fit in conventional society. There was one woods battle in particular that was just the perfect storm for a breakdown. Some asian kid climbed a tree to drop down and attack from and happened to pounce on a Vietnam vet right as the vet's team mate jokingly yelled "Charlie in the tree! Charlie in the tree!" and the vet had a flash back and started to choke the kid out.

I went to visit a friend up in Rochester NY a few years back. I somehow got roped into doing this. They kept describing it to me with all this enthusiasm. Somehow they got be thinking this was a good idea.

Next day I find myself out in the woods with a bunch of nerds doing this and realized right away just how goofy the whole thing was.

Thankfully I brought my camera and entertained myself adding commentary to the nerd battle.

I'm a paladin and you're glue! Everything you say bounces off of my bubble and sticks to you!

*runs away crying*

i often see larpers when i go to san luis obispo

ive seen them mostly on saturday mornings and i NEVER have my camera on me when i do. Next time i will photograph it. Goddamned i feel so geeky just driving by em