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and the magic ability to somehow think that they aren't the bottom head on the nerd totem pole.

Ah, but our magic ability doesn't consist of prancing about screaming "lightning bolt!" "Lightning bolt!"

Miniatures gaming was invented by H.G. Wells and used by the German General staff to train their officers ("Kriegspiel")

LARPing was invented by Chuck and Danny in their basement while wearing mom's pantyhose and whacking each other with duct tape and foam and arguing over who gets to be the wizard.

...Pretty much speaks for itself, dunnit?

Commissar Molotov wrote:

and the magic ability to somehow think that they aren't the bottom head on the nerd totem pole.

Ah, but our magic ability doesn't consist of prancing about screaming "lightning bolt!" "Lightning bolt!"

Miniatures gaming was invented by H.G. Wells and used by the German General staff to train their officers ("Kriegspiel")

LARPing was invented by Chuck and Danny in their basement while wearing mom's pantyhose and whacking each other with duct tape and foam and arguing over who gets to be the wizard.

...Pretty much speaks for itself, dunnit?

Not really. Improvisational acting and theatre dates back thousands of years, as do social games and role playing scenarios. Selectively attempting to justify a ridiculous and sad hobby by mocking another one isn't really helping anything.

ShivanAngel wrote:I will admit, i have seen some majorly hot chicks LARPing, have yet to be wowed by a chick playing tabletop games

Methinks "majorly hot" equals "decently attractive."

"Occasionally uses conditioner."

"Weighs less than an elk."

That kind of thing.


I kid, I kid.

Still, if you're scoring truly "majorly hot" women at LARP events, then you should have the required skill set to score even more majorly hot women at clubs, etc., which is where you'll find about 10,000x greater concentration of majorly hot women. So why LARP to score?

I'm going to pretend there are no gay bashing undertones there and post the following for the sake of amusement from Urban Dictionary:

Faboosh

1. A dumb word which is supposed to mean "fabulous", used tackily by Perez Hilton.
"OMG....Lady Gaga is FABOOSH!"

2. The name of a fabulous vendor who sells fun accessories both online and at various markets in Vancouver, BC

3. A smelly haggis eating scottish girl whom likes sleeping with her managers (regardless of age, gender or sexuality)
Person one: Did you hear about elle?
Person Two: I know! That faboosh slept with the rare values manager just to get a promotion.

4. The sound made when you accidently poop your pants.
I was walking behind my grandmother and heard "faboosh" and I decided not to say anything.

gorgon wrote:

ShivanAngel wrote:I will admit, i have seen some majorly hot chicks LARPing, have yet to be wowed by a chick playing tabletop games

Methinks "majorly hot" equals "decently attractive."

"Occasionally uses conditioner."

"Weighs less than an elk."

That kind of thing.


I kid, I kid.

Still, if you're scoring truly "majorly hot" women at LARP events, then you should have the required skill set to score even more majorly hot women at clubs, etc., which is where you'll find about 10,000x greater concentration of majorly hot women. So why LARP to score?

Never said scoring, just seen from random larp video's and what not.... Course they could have been paid to help the cause!!!!

ShumaGorath wrote:Not really. Improvisational acting and theatre dates back thousands of years, as do social games and role playing scenarios. Selectively attempting to justify a ridiculous and sad hobby by mocking another one isn't really helping anything.

Wow. You're claiming that LARPing dates back "thousands of years?"

...I've touched a nerve with you, haven't I? Methinks you're getting a bit defensive about LARPing. Don't worry - your secret is safe with US!

Thanks MGS I haven't seen this vid in ages and being a DnD player it brought back memories of some of the characters I've ran into.

On the note of LARPing vs Wargaming. Honestly are they that different? one spends excessive amounts of $$$ on one thing or the other.

Anyways peace, I got a date with beer and the pool.

Commissar Molotov wrote:

ShumaGorath wrote:Not really. Improvisational acting and theatre dates back thousands of years, as do social games and role playing scenarios. Selectively attempting to justify a ridiculous and sad hobby by mocking another one isn't really helping anything.

Wow. You're claiming that LARPing dates back "thousands of years?"

...I've touched a nerve with you, haven't I? Methinks you're getting a bit defensive about LARPing. Don't worry - your secret is safe with US!

I've never larped in my life and I stated that improv theatre dated back thousands of years. Since, y'know, it has. If you're going to pretend that german generals pushing figures around a table and making battle plans is the equivalent of how your space marines beat up some dudes tau than my improv example works just as well. I think my big issue is that I don't generally like war gamers, not that I generally like larpers. I really have almost no exposure to larpers outside of knowing one or two in my life and seeing things on youtube.

That looks like it actually hurts, he is beating the gak outa them

ShumaGorath wrote:Miniatures wargamers aren't allowed to make fun of other hobbiests for their hobbies. It's like a clown making fun of a fething mime.

Uh... why wouldn't one? Clowns are pretty soundly superior to mimes, although obviously neither can compare to a magician.

Orkeosaurus wrote:

ShumaGorath wrote:Miniatures wargamers aren't allowed to make fun of other hobbiests for their hobbies. It's like a clown making fun of a fething mime.

Uh... why wouldn't one? Clowns are pretty soundly superior to mimes, although obviously neither can compare to a magician.

I've never seen a clown manage to get out of an invisible box. Dude wouldn't know what the feth to do.

Well of course they wouldn't, you can't catch them in the first place. Their tiny bicycles are much too fast.

To me, it's all in how much a person lets any of this stuff take over their life. If someone is constantly into LARPing, role playing, or miniatures gaming to the exclusion of almost all else, then they are a pretty sad speciman.
Lots of successful people on the other hand, do this kind of thing as a hobby.

Live Action Role Playing and Wargaming similar...lets not.

Wargaming is similar to Chess, as it requires strategy.

LARPing is similar to running around with plastic swords, and yelling "FIREBALL, ICEBOLT"

I think we can go ahead and cut the difference there.

LARP-ing. LOL

Since it seems that I'm the only one reading this thread who has tried LARPing (Part of an effort to say yeah I've done that), I must say that it is theater meeting RPG gaming like Shuma says. You've never really seen something strange until you see two grown men stand-off in full costume like they are going to wrestle but them crouch down and pull out dice to see who won their fight, the guy who won here was at least a foot shorter and 60 lbs lighter.

Then you have people who are more into the realistic stuff and play combat like they are actors at a renesance fair, I have to admit the boffer thing gets interesting. I never really understood the 'wizards' it seems too much like cowboys and indians "I got you first!". The wizards are the only ones I've seen problems with in the few times I've attended.

The thing that gets me the most about that community is the social order and enforcment of rules. Where we as TT gamers fight over petty interpertations of written rules they as a community agree on things that have never been discussed, whats more is that when there is a disagreement about their world they don't fight or argue like we would it's like the most inteanse peer preasure you can imagine from anyone who is not involved to resolve things peacefully or through their 'fights' and people don't take sides or do anything to split up the group.

It really is increadible to see for anyone who is interested in culture, for others though it does seem a little cultish. And yes they are always a little out of character around outsiders luckley for me the one who 'brought me in' was pretty well respected and I got to see the real thing.

One more thing there are without a doubt more hot girls at any one LARP gathering then all of the rat hole downtown clubs full of proj-rats 'gittin dur dayance ong' and looking for some poor dumb sap to buy them $10 drinks all night. Or trying to get two guys she has no intention of going home with to fight over her before she gets her trashy self dragged out by what ever friends they didn't alienate that night. As long as you like the cute nerdy ones, which I really do, then LARP is only topped by art conventions and one or two annual hippy festivals.

Enough of these equivocations.

Karon wrote:Live Action Role Playing and Wargaming similar...lets not.

Wargaming is similar to Chess, as it requires strategy.

LARPing is similar to running around with plastic swords, and yelling "FIREBALL, ICEBOLT"

I think we can go ahead and cut the difference there.

Not really. Chess doesn't require strategy, it requires the ability to think and react. Something all people can do. The interesting difference between chess and 40k though is that at its highest levels chess players think six moves in advance, in every step engaging the enemy. In 40k the ard boyz winners use a bunch of collossi and cheap ass chimeras and just table the opponent turn 2 without interactivity.

It's amazing how much the war-gamer will seek to aggrandize his hobby when he seeks to defend it rather than deal with it realistically.

ShumaGorath wrote:deal with it realistically.

And in what does this consist?

Manchu wrote:

ShumaGorath wrote:deal with it realistically.

And in what does this consist?

Of.. you are missing an 'of' in there somewhere. 'In what does this consist', just sounds strange...

My guess though, would probably involve not painting your miniatures, and not caring that anyone else took the time too either. I am not sure why Shuma has taken it upon himself to be the threads knight in shining armor though... that confuses me a bit.

Re-enactments are on another level man...



My main problem with larping (and I guess I have more than just a few), is the fact that most of the costumes are flat out dumb. Not dumb like a kid who made their own costume for halloween, because I think that is awesome; dumb like having literally no style and looking like cheap-ass costumes. Which is whatever, I'm not hating, just stating my opinion, and it is definitely not one in agreement that larping is fun or cool.

If I were to do anything related to larping, I would probably just get into acting again, or get involved in some re-enactments.

Manchu wrote:

ShumaGorath wrote:deal with it realistically.

And in what does this consist?

Well a realistic approach would be the understanding that a fictionalized dice driven scenario game using little tanks and men you paint isn't particularly dissimilar between a dice driven scenario game that uses full sized men in costumes you make. Both are abstractions of reality inside of social settings to allow for collective fantasy role playing. Objectively the 40k player is by necessity more of a shut in than the larper given the pre conditions of his hobby. By contrast the larper is usually more extroverted, though both can be equivalently awkward and prone to a lack in social graces or basic hygienic care. Both are forms of escapism and hobbyism, and both are trapped by the same general loci (fantasy, sci fi, starwars, vampires, etc). A realistic approach by a wargamer in reference to a larper would be to understand that the hobbies are both equally unacceptable by a more general social consensus. The wargamer must understand that while he is not going outside and looking ridiculous while interacting with strangers or the odd passer by, were those people in the wargammers basement they would no doubt think that the aging man or the pimpled teen looks equally awkward all alone with his big pile of toys.

A realistic approach would be to get some humility.

My guess though, would probably involve not painting your miniatures, and not caring that anyone else took the time too either. I am not sure why Shuma has taken it upon himself to be the threads knight in shining armor though... that confuses me a bit.

I started posting in here while I was at work. Printing 48 300 dpi documents on an old inkjet involves spending 15 minutes instructing everything to print than waiting six hours for it to actually do so.

My main problem with larping (and I guess I have more than just a few), is the fact that most of the costumes are flat out dumb. Not dumb like a kid who made their own costume for halloween, because I think that is awesome; dumb like having literally no style and looking like cheap-ass costumes. Which is whatever, I'm not hating, just stating my opinion, and it is definitely not one in agreement that larping is fun or cool.

Those peoples costumes are basically the LARP equivalent of dipped miniatures.

Okay, that sounds fine.

Shuma wrote:Those peoples costumes are basically the LARP equivalent of dipped miniatures.

After spending about an hour or so looking into larp costumes, since this thread opened, I will flat out disagree with you.

Those are not only standard, but better than average. There are many really cool costumes (truly awesome really), but they are far, far, far from being any sort of standard. The average costumes appears to consist of curtains or a bedsheet turned into a cape, along with some sort of face-paint. I would say that most larpers are not in it for the aesthetics, or that their tastes in design stray a long distance from what I would consider cool.

Re-enactments share the fact that the cool costumes, are almost always bought and paid for, but larping doesn't seem to have any standard at all. Which again, leads me to believe that larpers just don't care about their costumes all that much; at least on average.

Here is one of my favorite costumes though, and it appears to be a WHFB design. I doubt that this is used for larping, but I find the influence radiated from the awesomeness, that is the Warhams universe, quite funny. The average Warhams costume is much more awesomer than the average larp, and I support my nerd-hybrid brothers, in their effort to purge the non-believers.

Perhaps playing a game with professionally sculpted miniatures is equivalent to LARPing with well-made costumes, and playing a game with nickels and Lego men is equivalent to LARPing with a pot on your head for a "viking helm"?

At any rate, here are the rankings as I personally see them:

Magicians > Wargamers > Good LARPers > D&D Folk > Normal People > Pepsi-box LARPers > Clowns > Wargamers Who Play Tau > Mimes > Twilight Fans > Chairman Mao > Furries > People Who Liked Avatar

That guy in knights armor looks like a badass. Damn, who thought being a nerd could look so fething cool. I love body armor.

@Orkeo: Ah, but what if Chairman Mao did card tricks?

And you've told me that Stalin could make people disappear.

Manchu wrote:@Orkeo: Ah, but what if Chairman Mao did card tricks?

And you've told me that Stalin could make people disappear.

Shh, don't link that comment to me or he'll come af

I used to LARP for quite a while when I was a young lad of 16/17 - it was based around Vampire: The Masquerade. We did it in a room above a pub, and it was actually a pretty good laugh - and let me tell you, I got super-laid. There is usually a SERIOUS amount of fanny at those sorts of things. Chicks who like vampires like shagging. True story.

I would echo Shuma in that I have yet to meet a wargamer IRL, who wasn't at least partially a tool. I was actually surprised that so many people on here were fairly cool.

Commissar Molotov wrote:

ShumaGorath wrote:Not really. Improvisational acting and theatre dates back thousands of years, as do social games and role playing scenarios. Selectively attempting to justify a ridiculous and sad hobby by mocking another one isn't really helping anything.

Wow. You're claiming that LARPing dates back "thousands of years?"

...I've touched a nerve with you, haven't I? Methinks you're getting a bit defensive about LARPing. Don't worry - your secret is safe with US!

No matter what you say, you always touch a nerve in shuma, apparently has a nerve for everything.

Soladrin wrote:

Commissar Molotov wrote:

ShumaGorath wrote:Not really. Improvisational acting and theatre dates back thousands of years, as do social games and role playing scenarios. Selectively attempting to justify a ridiculous and sad hobby by mocking another one isn't really helping anything.

Wow. You're claiming that LARPing dates back "thousands of years?"

...I've touched a nerve with you, haven't I? Methinks you're getting a bit defensive about LARPing. Don't worry - your secret is safe with US!

No matter what you say, you always touch a nerve in shuma, apparently has a nerve for everything.

Like I said previously, I generally dislike war-gamers and had time on my hands.