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I`m over 40 and according to my weight-obsessed sister, I`m overweight. But my weight goes up and down. I just met a couple of lovely young ladies at an event last weekend so my guess is it`ll go down again this year. I`m also 6ft, 5inches. Few people say nasty things to my face when I`m out in the field wearing steel armour and holding a big axe. Those that do are either older than me, bigger than me, or seventeen and trying to impress the girls by dying heroically.

If you`re letting your age and waistline bog you down, then maybe you should lower your expectations regarding the appeal of the women you`ll attract, because it`s not going to improve based on your hobbies.

Apart from that, I`m not hugely into big breasts. I think an obsession with big breasts is a sign of immaturity.
(Sorry Ian. )

You must have been in a really deep dank dungeon when the nerd-chic revolution took place if you didn`t notice it happening. It started with the internet hype. Suddenly it paid off to have computerskills. Apparantly having lots of money is cool. And since those computer-geeks read comic books and played RPGs - the scene was heavily dominated by IT students, as was LRP at first - these things became cool by association.

As for the fake mail and fake broadsword remarks: More and more LRPers are switching to real mail for cost-effectiveness (fake mail will only last a few weekends) and most`ll do with a fake longswords (broadswords are so 17th C). But not everywhere, witness Ukrainian LRP:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGQctnmwEKQ
And regarding 'powerwords' (Pokemon still has them?) witness this German group:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvPiEkg-N5s
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HWGQpDFlJE&feature=related

I, for one, never took much pride in national sports. The players on those teams succeed, but
why should I cheer for the team in Chicago over the team in Los Angeles? Those players hardly
come from that area, though I suppose I could cheer the scoreboard if they also included how
much tax revenue and job income they were generating for the city.

"Oh yeah, the Bears are outperforming the Giants in jersey sales today!" *high fives half naked
man painted in blue and orange*

A sports team successes are real, but our involvement in them is somewhat imaginary. A
game character's or army's successes are imaginary, but our involvement in them is a
bit more real. Some people prefer one to the other, and who am I to argue their decisions or
feel that my way is better than theirs?

malfred wrote:and who am I to argue their decisions or
feel that my way is better than theirs?

Because you're on the internet and thus believe you're entitled to belittling and feeling superior to others?

@Allen Stroud
Did you create an account just to defend LARPers in this topic? All 4 of your posts have been in this thread.

Lavlin wrote:

Apart from that, I`m not hugely into big breasts. I think an obsession with big breasts is a sign of immaturity.
(Sorry Ian. )

Define obsession....

Platuan4th wrote:

malfred wrote:and who am I to argue their decisions or
feel that my way is better than theirs?

Because you're on the internet and thus believe you're entitled to belittling and feeling superior to others?

Malf is on Tier 1a. You're on Tier 2c where most everyone else is. He doesn't need to feel superior to others.

Oh yeah....LARPing hotties!

Platuan4th wrote:

malfred wrote:and who am I to argue their decisions or
feel that my way is better than theirs?

Because you're on the internet and thus believe you're entitled to belittling and feeling superior to others?

Oh yeah, that.

As you were.

While I'm certainly going to concede that LARPing is a pretty bloody geeky activity, it has a couple of uses. It gets people outside and actually exercising - which is something that video games and wargames never will. There's a LOT less morbidly fat people in combat LARPs than at the 40K tables or MtG tourneys; they can't keep up. Moreover, I've found it personally and professionally useful; I'm an actor and an acting and stage combat instructor. Find me a better place to practice creating and staying in-character for long periods of time, and I'll eat one of those spell beanbags. I've yet to hear a negative comment from my students about it once they've actually attended an event with the assignment to actually "act" for 3 days straight. It's wonderful practice for prospective theatre-types (to say nothing about the people who want to go into costume design, or special effects, or set-building, or...).

Finally, it's one of the most cost-effective stress-relief activities there is. People talk about going to SCA event and getting dressed up in armor and beating the snot out of each other with rattan sticks and how it relieves stress. The issue comes in that you're dropping, realistically, $300 on a helm and another $200, minimum, in combat-worthy armor (at least, by MidRealm's protective standards). You can do a foam sword and costume for maybe $50, get 80% or so as much stress relief out of the weekend, and have that $450 to go take a girl out to a nice dinner 10 times or so.

Sure, it's geeky. That doesn't mean it's a waste of time, or actively bad, as the people who equate LARPers to pedos implied. You want to see that? Have a random underage chick in a Daemonette or Witch Elf costume show up at a Games Day or GenCon and watch the players scramble to hit on her.

FoxPhoenix135 wrote:@Allen Stroud
Did you create an account just to defend LARPers in this topic? All 4 of your posts have been in this thread.

Nope. I created an account because this topic on this forum was pointed out to me I read the arguments and realised I didn't agree with them. Subsequently I've browsed the other areas of the forum and if I like it (and think of something that needs to be said) I will. If you'd prefer a discourse on the virtues of painting Empire Knights I could probably coment as I'm working on my seventh for my fourth WHFB army. I could also recommend undercoating Flagellants in Graveyard earth if you like, but I don't want to stray off topic here...

Okay Nurgleboy I had a quick trawl through one of the UK games photo websites. See if you can find something you like.

http://www.disturbing.org.uk/images/lrp/pd/

I just remembered, I once dressed up as a Klingon for a Star Trek/Star Fleet mega game. The whole crew of Klingons did it.

In my honest opinion, everything is fine if you take it in moderation, i mean sure wargaming seems nerdy, but people still play it because its fun and sometimes a stress relief from the modern world, i tell myself that my gaming hobby, in most eyes is nerdy but i do not mind, i enjoy it and thats my right. people who find things nerdy are rude, if people enjoy it then let them be. Well anyway, i enjoy the game - but people must remember that don't take things too seriously its good to have a social life .

Allen, were those pics intended to defend LARPing or reinforce our opinions of it?

LARPing Furries?





First rule of LARPing, never get caught picking your nose with your weapon!

Wait, furries? The guy in that first pic, second to the left wearing the black mask, just looks like a samurai to me. Didn't they wear masks like that or am I imagining things again?

Also, why no war reenactment on the list? I mean, the Perry twins did it....

Because for the most part (and I'm speaking here mostly from a US perspective, I can't speak to the UK and other parts of the world) it's far more accepted by the mainstream and many people on the outside regard it as performing a useful function. (honoring the vets, education in regards to history, etc) About the only negative opinions I have encountered at public rrenactment show battles are related to why a reeactor would chose to play a German. Every Axis reeactor eventually gets "the question" from a member of the public. My answer is always the same: "Hey someone has to do it. Without the bad guys, it would be a pretty boring war, right?" besides, the Germans have cooler kit, right?

As to the fellow a couple of pages back who alleged that real soldiers generally have a negative view of airsoft, it have been my epxerience that that simply is not true. Granted, you can go over to online forums like "Light Fighter" that are populated by real world military and contractor personnel and see alot of riducule heaped upon airsofters. However upon closer examination you will generally find that their hatred is actually aimed at posers. That is to say those airsofters who attempt to pass themselves off as the real deal, those who try to pass airsoft pictures off as real, and those who think that their participation in the hobby makes them some sort of high speed "operator". My local airsoft group has a high percentage of serving and former military folks and many other groups I have been in contact with around the country are the same. It's been my experience that the idea of real soldiers having a negative view of airsoft as a hobby is largely a myth.

TR

Thou dost besmirch mine honor, twas but a scratch!

The only problem with war reenactment groups is the high amount of oversized BIG people trying to pass their selves off as highly motivated 101st Screaming Eagles or Waffen SS, this while they strain to get out of the bloody jeep or window.

Nurgleboy77 wrote:Allen, were those pics intended to defend LARPing or reinforce our opinions of it?

Actually neither. This conversation's becoming a bit tough when I have to point out everything...

You said.

Nurgleboy77 wrote:
I had a friend who was in it and I thought his armor/weapons were kinda cool, then I decided I might actually want to be inside a woman at some point and passed.

So I said

Allen Stroud wrote: I'm surprised if you genuinely think that LRP would preclude this. Any hobby that encourages people to get out and meet other people means you have an active social life. I met my partner at an LRP event. In the UK, LRP has a large proportion of female participants. Could you give an example of how specifically LRP would stop people meeting members of the opposite sex? If you put a lot of people in a field and give them a reason to talk to each other they are going to make friends and have relationships. I can't really comment on what one individual system would do to deal with extreme problems, but I can say at Eos, we take our events seriously. We won't serve alcohol to people under 18 and don't let under 16's attend. Regarding how far people take "In character relationships" well, in our case, after the proviso's give above, that's up to them.

Then you kinda ducked the questin (or conceded the point) and said.

Nurgleboy77 wrote:Apparently LARPing is much different in the UK. Over here (from what I've seen) it's much sillier (although your videos still scream silly) and mostly attractive-girl-free. Sure you can put a mediocre girl in a costume and she becomes "hot" but out of the cosplay/corset she's still trying way too hard to be Lady Death or something...

So I said.

Allen Stroud wrote:Now you want it to be an attractive woman on your terms? Jeez your a hard audience... and cheetos as well? lol.

Then there was a preamble where you posted up a photo of a highly unattractive lady (in my view -poor lass), so I posted you a link from a website that had HUNDREDS of photos and said.

Allen Stroud wrote:Okay Nurgleboy I had a quick trawl through one of the UK games photo websites. See if you can find something you like.

And these are the examples you come up with? Glad I'm not your wingman. Then again, I guess the offspring of the daemon lord of pestilence has odd taste...

The point being people from all walks of life play all types of games listed in this thread. I wasn't trying to find you a date, just trying to give you an idea of the cross section of people that play. Count up the ratio of male to female. Then compare it to a wargaming tournament. I think you'll find its in LRP's favour.

Tell you what, while your at it, why not post up some pics of wargamers at play?

Nurgleboy77 wrote:Allen, were those pics intended to defend LARPing or reinforce our opinions of it?

LARPing Furries?

It's me I'm the guy second from the right. Samurai from the clan fox. See my screenname? That's right.

Badger clan, surely?

stonefox wrote: Samurai from the clan fox.

Kitsune Clan, not Clan Fox(see my sig).

Nurgleboy77 wrote:Allen, were those pics intended to defend LARPing or reinforce our opinions of it?

LARPing Furries?

Not a furry (ew) but this isn't wrong:

FoxPhoenix135 wrote:Alright. Fair enough. A debate then.
If you add into the equation the fact that many boys do LARP-ing for the prospect of 'getting laid' (as said elsewhere in this thread), I think that would definitely be indicative of sexual desperation or repression.

Hey, I do lots of things in the hopes of getting laid, hell, when I was younger, EVERYTHING I did was in some way geared towards hoping to get laid! And I am in no way sxually repressed or desperate. Nothing wrong with trying to get laid, that is a lot more normal for a young guy than dressing up as some kind of rodent ninja and playing reptend!

Although the pictures of those dudes in the masks is just so, so, so not cool! I could just imagine people pretending to stay in character in a big feather mask...what exactly is that meant to be anyway? Hahah, reminds me of the Skeksis from dark crystal, just a lot less scary

Reecius wrote:Although the pictures of those dudes in the masks is just so, so, so not cool! I could just imagine people pretending to stay in character in a big feather mask...what exactly is that meant to be anyway? Hahah, reminds me of the Skeksis from dark crystal, just a lot less scary

The LARP I attended had something like them, too. They're bird people(although ours were more along the lines of humans evolved from birds, so they just looked like humans that grew Feathers instead of hair). Our anthro races were actual anthros, and not furries, too.

What's the difference? Furries have human-like hands, feet, and bodies, Anthros are literally animals that walk on their hind legs(they either lack opposable thumbs or thumbs that lack the dexterity to grip things properly).

I'd like to make a slight input from the Swedish LARPscene. I have done this comparaision with americans and britts a couple of times before, so this will be written relative to how your LARP-cultures look.

Swedes, and all other scandinavians, focus on the dramatic telling of a story, more interactive theatre, less fighting with padded weapons. Majority of conflicts during the game can be described as social, and information and instructions given to the participants is open ended and promotes creativity in handling your spot in the saga.

Almost every larper is a hobby tailor, and most spend considerable amount of time and money on their gear. Authentic materials, colours, dresscodes, and manners matched to the fictive world. I've got friends who can start with a sheep and end up with a new set of woolen clothes, only using medieval methods along the way.

There are 4 big larp-areas in sweden where enthusiasts have built small villages in medieval material and techniques. One of these I've spent a lot of time in, it can house and feed around 200people. Here you can see the main street and about 1/3rd of the houses in the village. It looks a lot nicer with people around of course :-)



Most LARPS I go to only use metal weapons, we don't really hit eachother with them... unless we practiced it first. They are however much less of a majority since the last 10 years. Some people like to make and fight with padded weapons, and there are some larps that cater to their needs. Most swedish Larpers are interested in social intrigues, good food and good music.

In the swedish hierarchy of geeks and nerds, the larpers are pretty high up. Good social skills, lot of "usefull" skills such as tailoring, housebuilding, singing, blacksmithing, carpentry and theatrical skills.

Also, "Furrie" is the new "gay" when it comes to social witchhunting on the net. The best way to build a feeling of "us" is to define "them" and then tell each other how good "us" are that are not like "them". If you do it large-scale enough, you get nazism. As for me, I'm a pretty wellmannered furry-fan, but don't step on our collective tail (yes, pun intended) or I'll bite (mhm, this one too) :-)

Ooh! Ooh! Godwin's Law! Sorry Mellon, you lose the thread, LARPing is officially the nerdiest.

Actually, You misunderstand Godwin's Law.

Wow, I am seriously learning a lot from this thread. That village is fething nuts! They built that thing by hand using medieval techniques? That took some serious dedication!

Platuan, there is a difference between furies and anthromorphs? SCA and reenactors? Hitting and no hitting? Bird ninjas and fox ninjas? Damn, this is a really stratafied subculture.

Well, hey, feth it, as long as people are enjoying themselves and not hurting anyone, who cares what they do.

I read comics and play with toy soldiers, as well as love bicycles and cycling in general and triathlons. I am really no one to point a finger at anybody else!

Speaking of which, I just picked up a new Mange series (as if I need to get into any more graphic novels) called Gantz, sweet book by the way, I really recomend it.

Anyway, they make fun of Cosplay in it, which made me laugh and think about this thread.

Genshiken.