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metallifan wrote:

Kanluwen wrote:So actors in a historical film are LARPing too?

You might say that, yes. Isn't LARPing just acting something out? Cameras and a Script don't really change things. I would say that yes - films and plays are a form of LARPing. There's just no wierdo with a wizard hat running around yelling out 'spells'.

The big difference is precisely what Mannahnin said.

The actors/participants are playing a role--but it's not a game for them. A large number of them do it as a hobby, but some are professionals and appear in films, documentaries, etc.

metallifan wrote:

Kanluwen wrote:So actors in a historical film are LARPing too?

You might say that, yes. Isn't LARPing just acting something out? Cameras and a Script don't really change things. I would say that yes - films and plays are a form of LARPing. There's just no wierdo with a wizard hat running around yelling out 'spells'.

Harry Potter?!

I suppose I can't disagree with you on the film element (Save for Indie filmmakers), though I think the earlier Civil War/Rush Town example I gave sticks just fine.

There is a difference between a game (like D&D) and an acting job. A historical re-enactor can be sort of like a LARPer, but generally they’re not playing a character with defined game stats the way a gamer is. In a LARP you have a rules structure in which the characters interact, and under which one can kill another, or gain new abilities or levels, or accumulate treasure, or whatever. In a historical re-enactment you may have a character, but it's much more like a character in a play. You interact with other characters/actors, but it's a purely cooperative activity with no competitive aspect, and if there were to be a conflict between your characters (like a battle scene at a Civil War event) it'd be scripted. If I were to fight another player at NERO, we'd have strict combat rules, our weapons would do a defined number of damage points, and we'd each have a certain number of hit points/armor points. Then we'd actually fight it out within those rules.

metallifan wrote:Well, they're roleplaying a Civil War battle aren't they? And it's in Live Action. To me, that's Historical LARP.

yea Civil War geeks are geeks to, not professionals, unless by professional you mean fat balding guy who's really really redfaced from huffing about. great fun to watch and participate in I'd imagine. But great fun to watch.

Manchu wrote:Enough of these equivocations.

Not the furries again.
That's one of the problems when you live in Pittsburgh...
Well that and the fact that there are only 45 days of sunlight
each year, and that Jack Frost always covers the city in about
five or six inches of snow.

Orkeosaurus wrote: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

Orkeosaurus is my hero.

Okay, so it's wrong to frown on anything except furries? All in favor?

They need to set a drunk redneck with a shotgun loose in that fury convention...

THAT would be entertainment!

ShivanAngel wrote:They need to set a drunk furry with a shotgun loose in that redneck convention...

Now THAT would be entertainment!

Mannahin wrote:Started off with Vampire: The Masquerade-type stuff, and did that off and on through most of the 90s. As Albatross pointed out, there is a significant chick factor in vamp larps, or at least there used to be. Overall the folks are a trifle pretentious and dramatic (though a bit less so than the main goth and fetish club/social scene), but there is a strong connection to improvisational theatre and to traditional roleplaying games. You do run into folks who take it too seriously...

Hells yes, this. There was one guy who started coming to our group who claimed to be a 'wizard' and used this to groom young girls - like 14/15. He was in his early 30s, IIRC. He claimed he was mentoring them in 'the dark arts', teaching them rituals etc. I stopped going not long after he joined. He was a creepy fether.
But for the most part, I had a wicked time doing Vampire LARP. It was great fun - it even has it's parallels with tabletop wargaming, in that there were 'cheesy' ways to generate your character. A disproportionate number of our group members played Gangrel with Protean at at least lvl 2, because you get claws, and in our system claws caused Aggravated damage (agg) which was the easiest way to kill another character. Me? I was more 'fluffy'. I played Ventrue or Tremere, even though they are les powerful at lower levels - simply because they are the political class, and thus should be more common at Elysium.


Wow, it all just came flooding back! I actually quite miss it! Saying that, I bet it would be FULL of Twilight fans - and as far as I'm concerned they can gag on my nuts.

I do non combat LARP... does that count?

Putting a kilt, going to castlefest, eating only meat for 3 days, and drinking only mead and beer. And listening to some awesome folk bands and such... and buying weapons because I can...

Daemon-Archon Ren wrote:LARPers are funny, SCA at least have some nads, but sand-bag lightning bolts and fat-buggy horses are just hilarious.

It cuts both way with SCA people. I've seen some fairly impressive fighters, but I've also seen the guys that are happy to be on welfare while they sit home all day making themselves chainmail out of coathangers while quoting lines from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Oh, look, THIS topic again...

I'm consistently impressed by how mature all these wargamers behave in looking down on another group of people doing what they love and enjoy. It's like we're all in High School all over again.

Get over yourselves and realize that to the average person, you're just as(and in some areas even more, thanks to LARP being recommended by some acting classes) nerdy as LARPers.

Solidarity, not division.

I'm consistently impressed by how mature all these wargamers behave in looking down on another group of people doing what they love and enjoy. It's like we're all in High School all over again.

Most wargamers never truly leave highschool. They get their diploma and stop going, but they end up hanging out with the same people in the same town anyway.

ShumaGorath wrote:

I'm consistently impressed by how mature all these wargamers behave in looking down on another group of people doing what they love and enjoy. It's like we're all in High School all over again.

Most wargamers never truly leave highschool. They get their diploma and stop going, but they end up hanging out with the same people in the same town anyway.

That's part of why I'm glad I married my wife, actually. She's an USAF officer, so in addition to the hot wife, I got a ticket out of Louisiana.

Everyone's got their own standards of geekness but imo and probably for most people/geeks; LARPing is on another tier of geekdom than wargaming even for pencil and paper veterans in a similar way that video gamers may view tabletop wargamers. At least everyone can poke fun at the furries though.

Kinda like being a fan of a sport. Some will casually watch, play fantasy leagues, some heckle the players/fans/etc, others buy a jersey, get autographs, others collect everything they can, and some will show up to a game half-naked covered in paint while getting drunk to the point of running on the field.

Cane wrote:. At least everyone can poke fun at the furries though.

/thread

metallifan wrote:Are US Civil War reenactments not LARPing? If so, that seems pretty mainstream in the south. Sort of a double-standard then, no?

Here in BC we have a number of old Gold Rush towns that have been turned into... well, for lack of a better term, Museums. They employ a wide variety of people to work in the shops and pretend to live in the various houses. These people dress up and act like it's the 19th century. No one considers it LARP, but isn't that what it is?

Technically that is acting.

Kilkrazy wrote:

metallifan wrote:Are US Civil War reenactments not LARPing? If so, that seems pretty mainstream in the south. Sort of a double-standard then, no?

Here in BC we have a number of old Gold Rush towns that have been turned into... well, for lack of a better term, Museums. They employ a wide variety of people to work in the shops and pretend to live in the various houses. These people dress up and act like it's the 19th century. No one considers it LARP, but isn't that what it is?

Technically that is acting.

Isn't LARP just acting though? The folk in those gold rush towns don't run off scripts - it's all improv. Unless I'm mistaken, isn't LARP just people doing improv in a medieval setting rather than a 19th century one?

LARP is role playing. You want to BE the person. An actor acts the role from a script, a character invented by an author, a LARPer makes his own alternate personality. Thats where it gets creepy.



I could stand to help mentor some hot college age coeds in the Dark Arts though....

Marshal2Crusaders wrote:LARP is role playing. You want to BE the person. An actor acts the role from a script, a character invented by an author, a LARPer makes his own alternate personality. Thats where it gets creepy.

Wrong.
LARPers don't want to BE the person, they are merely acting in the character for a period of time, in the same way tabletop roleplay works. LARPers don't make their own alternate personality, they create a character according to a set of rules and employ those rules during game encounters like combat or spellcasting. LARP sits midway between tabletop RP and Improv theatre.
As I've said, I went to The Gathering, held by the Lorien Trust, about 10 years ago. It was a great event, held over the August bank holiday weekend, several thousand people there. Kind of like a fancy dress music festival with plots and incidents and factions. There were families there and about 60/40 mix of men and women. Taking part in the battles required a level of physical fitness and mingling with that many people required a level of social competency.

Don't delude yourselves that collecting toy soldiers and arguing about dice rolls puts you higher up on the 'acceptability of nerd' scale than the people I met there, you'd be quite wrong.

MeanGreenStompa wrote:

Marshal2Crusaders wrote:LARP is role playing. You want to BE the person. An actor acts the role from a script, a character invented by an author, a LARPer makes his own alternate personality. Thats where it gets creepy.

Wrong.
LARPers don't want to BE the person, they are merely acting in the character for a period of time, in the same way tabletop roleplay works. LARPers don't make their own alternate personality, they create a character according to a set of rules and employ those rules during game encounters like combat or spellcasting. LARP sits midway between tabletop RP and Improv theatre.
As I've said, I went to The Gathering, held by the Lorien Trust, about 10 years ago. It was a great event, held over the August bank holiday weekend, several thousand people there. Kind of like a fancy dress music festival with plots and incidents and factions. There were families there and about 60/40 mix of men and women. Taking part in the battles required a level of physical fitness and mingling with that many people required a level of social competency.

Don't delude yourselves that collecting toy soldiers and arguing about dice rolls puts you higher up on the 'acceptability of nerd' scale than the people I met there, you'd be quite wrong.

I dont put myself on any 'nerd scale' and I dont consider other hobbies 'inferior', I just think its kind of creepy to pretend to be Lord Skornax of Lackadaemon, Avenger of the Gods every third saturday of the month, and have his 'traits' and 'personality' carry over IRL. Of course I did watch Darkon, and that reallly soured my views on LARPing. Role Models made up for it though, and made it actually look fun. I used to play scenario paintball, and STX lanes are essentially RP, so Im not unfamiliar with it, I just didnt take it so serious to consider it a massive part of my life. I play 40K for the tactical challenge (I use alot of homegrown rules and scenarios), not because I imagine that I am on the field. Though I do like to write backstory, but then again, I like to write for schittzengiggles anyway.

Marshal2Crusaders wrote:and have his 'traits' and 'personality' carry over IRL.

I've only ever seen this happen ONCE to someone, and it wasn't a LARPer, it was an internet roleplayer(he thought he was actually a Gargoyle and jumped out of a second story window to try to fly and broke his leg). The vast majority of these people can separate fantasy from reality(and in fact, most of them sit around and talk OOC most of their downtime to begin with, probably only half a LARP event is even spent "In Character"). That's a phenomenon that happens in ALL forms of acting and RP, NOT just LARPing. Learn the facts, don't just stereotype because you think that's how it is because of a movie.

metallifan wrote:

Kilkrazy wrote:

metallifan wrote:Are US Civil War reenactments not LARPing? If so, that seems pretty mainstream in the south. Sort of a double-standard then, no?

Here in BC we have a number of old Gold Rush towns that have been turned into... well, for lack of a better term, Museums. They employ a wide variety of people to work in the shops and pretend to live in the various houses. These people dress up and act like it's the 19th century. No one considers it LARP, but isn't that what it is?

Technically that is acting.

Isn't LARP just acting though? The folk in those gold rush towns don't run off scripts - it's all improv. Unless I'm mistaken, isn't LARP just people doing improv in a medieval setting rather than a 19th century one?

Not true. Alot of the historical sites that have actors on the premises have set 'scripts' to follow, depending on the time of day.

They have guidelines, but the dialogue with visitors is improv. I've been to one - Barkerville, and the most they have for script is that each person gets issued the background of someone that once lived there during the rush, and that's it. Everything else is improv. All they really work off of is background. There are some scripted 'shows' that the town puts on from time to time, but a lot of it is just people role-playing inhabitants of the town.

And if the South Park episode "Super Fun Time" is any indication, they never break character while it's open.

EVER.

Platuan4th wrote:And if the South Park episode "Super Fun Time" is any indication, they never break character while it's open.

EVER.

Nope, they sure won't. Tried asking this smokin' hot girl that was playing a wife in one of the houses wher she was from and she said "We came all the way here from Fort Nelson in the bloody dead of winter with an HBC caravan. It was the longest damned trip I've ever been on. You couldn't get out either, because you'd end up with a skirt full of snow, and then the soldiers would laugh at you."

Right then I decided that I wouldn't get a straight, out of character answer from this girl so I forgot trying

Platuan4th wrote:

Marshal2Crusaders wrote:and have his 'traits' and 'personality' carry over IRL.

I've only ever seen this happen ONCE to someone, and it wasn't a LARPer, it was an internet roleplayer(he thought he was actually a Gargoyle and jumped out of a second story window to try to fly and broke his leg). The vast majority of these people can separate fantasy from reality(and in fact, most of them sit around and talk OOC most of their downtime to begin with, probably only half a LARP event is even spent "In Character"). That's a phenomenon that happens in ALL forms of acting and RP, NOT just LARPing. Learn the facts, don't just stereotype because you think that's how it is because of a movie.

Dont ever tell me to 'learn the facts' again, when clearly, as was documented in the DOCUMENTARY, that players in the Darkon club, use the club as a means of advanced escapism from everyday life. The stay at home dad, the main character, specifically mentions that he likes being his character because of his 'leadership role'. The main 'bad' guy said that playing his alter ego has helped him become a better business owner and man. The one girl with the kids said she prefers it because it lets her have unprecedented control over her own life. That wasn't just 1 random case from across the world, that was THREE fething PEOPLE in the SAME CLUB, with more in the movie!!!! I didn't watch Role Models and stereotype LARPing, I watched a movie that did a damn good job of going out there and trying to show LARPing as detailed as possible, flaws and character flaws and all.

Using actors who get 'stuck' in character really doesn't hold, as actors(the ones that count at least) are professionals, their job is an art, and is far different from someone refusing to come out of a character THEY made up. Actors act from a script, written by a writer, who writes, for profit, to make MOVIES, or PLAYS. A LARPer LARPs for a good time, not because its their professional calling. Its recreational.


And your fething example was a guy who jumped out a window because he thought he could fly? And you saw it happen? Really?

Marshal2Crusaders wrote:

Platuan4th wrote:

Marshal2Crusaders wrote:and have his 'traits' and 'personality' carry over IRL.

I've only ever seen this happen ONCE to someone, and it wasn't a LARPer, it was an internet roleplayer(he thought he was actually a Gargoyle and jumped out of a second story window to try to fly and broke his leg). The vast majority of these people can separate fantasy from reality(and in fact, most of them sit around and talk OOC most of their downtime to begin with, probably only half a LARP event is even spent "In Character"). That's a phenomenon that happens in ALL forms of acting and RP, NOT just LARPing. Learn the facts, don't just stereotype because you think that's how it is because of a movie.

Dont ever tell me to 'learn the facts' again, when clearly, as was documented in the DOCUMENTARY, that players in the Darkon club, use the club as a means of advanced escapism from everyday life. The stay at home dad, the main character, specifically mentions that he likes being his character because of his 'leadership role'. The main 'bad' guy said that playing his alter ego has helped him become a better business owner and man. The one girl with the kids said she prefers it because it lets her have unprecedented control over her own life. That wasn't just 1 random case from across the world, that was THREE fething PEOPLE in the SAME CLUB, with more in the movie!!!! I didn't watch Role Models and stereotype LARPing, I watched a movie that did a damn good job of going out there and trying to show LARPing as detailed as possible, flaws and character flaws and all.

Using actors who get 'stuck' in character really doesn't hold, as actors(the ones that count at least) are professionals, their job is an art, and is far different from someone refusing to come out of a character THEY made up. Actors act from a script, written by a writer, who writes, for profit, to make MOVIES, or PLAYS. A LARPer LARPs for a good time, not because its their professional calling. Its recreational.


And your fething example was a guy who jumped out a window because he thought he could fly? And you saw it happen? Really?

So those people listed the things they had gained, in part, from taking part in a social activity and you think that's weird...?

What does that have to do with 'being stuck' in their character? I don't get it.

Just watch it, brother, it'll make more sense. Taking skills learned from a social activity, and doing it how they did it are two different things.

All roleplaying comes from wanting to be different, for some reason or the other, they just take it to a weird level.