Sorry your browser is not supported!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23877430

Something I always wanted to do as a kid.

You need people with a shared mindset for this to work. I remember that role-play thread we had going for a while here, set in the Viet Nam war or something. It was totally stupid, it quickly became a contest about who can save the day in the most insanely impossible way. Everyone wants to be the hero, and that just ruins it.

The closest I've gotten to LARPing is playing on the Mount & Blade Roleplay server. It's a lot of work to even get started on there and learn the ropes. I had some fun and there were a few interesting situations but I found there were only a few people who actually knew what they were doing (myself not included) and most of the time it was fairly dull. I gradually got bored of it since although it was interesting and fun the payout for the amount of effort didn't seem worthwhile. I also didn't like how the overarching game elements of it worked. I'm sure if I'd gotten more immersed into it and gotten to know the people better it would have become worthwhile, but it's a heck of a lot of effort to put in up front without knowing what the payback is going to be.

A girl I worked with was into the Star Trek roleplaying scene. I checked out the site and there was just reams and reams of history and schematics and all kinds of crazy stuff. I don't really understand how you are supposed to join something like that, do they expect you to read everything first or is it okay to be ignorant? That's the difficulty I have with RP, if my character is a person in this world then he/she should know a lot about it.

I used to do LARP. I miss those days.

It was appealing when I was a kid too, but a couple of years ago (and I'm 32 now btw), I was walking the dog in the forest and came across some people LARPing. It was somewhat cringe-worthy in all honesty. I couldn't see how they could immerse themselves in it without anything but some bad looking costumes and some picnic benches for props!

I reckon LARPing would be good if you had some really good props, maybe a good location like castle ruins, and people who had some traning in using their melee weapons. You know, a load of kendo students doing it could have some pretty epic fights, but from what I saw, a skinny 15 year old flailing a foam sword in a camp fashion (and winning) did not make the reality very appealing.

I'm with you Fallout, the idea is good, but the execution...well, yes, can be cringe worthy. This is why I tend to prefer reenactment, whilst I'm not an enthusiast, but I have done it and enjoyed it, the advantage is there's plenty of authentic gear out there to lose that cheap feel. Given they use actual swords, axes and so on, it doesn't feel as lame.

If there was a little more invested to larping, I might even be tempted to LARP a Monk and put my martial arts training to use.

However, I still enjoy roleplay, but I leave it to MMORPGs, which can also at times be cringe worthy,but people tend to be better writers than actors. I run my own group of role players on Final Fantasy XIV and it's a lot of fun.

Honestly, I think its beyond ridicoulus But hey, I'm sure some would see an adult like me making small videogames just as ridicoulus.

I'd say that if you have interest in LARPing you might be better off joining the local theater group? You could act, maybe even organise a medieval/fantasy play? Every city I'm frequent in has places where you can do that.



-Wolf

well the best part about LARPing is the workout. It doesn't look like it, but it is. Especially when you come into an opponent you can't beat, but he can't beat you too somehow. For me I said "If magic or anything ridiculous is involved I'm gone." Before I did it I just wouldn't stop laughing when magic was involved or some long boring storyline that requires long acting scene involved. I liked the intense nonsense action.

did it in the 80s (I also have had a few freinds that attended the original treasure trap at Peckforton Castle, which I think may be the worlds first larp club), being a teenager helped as your in that sort of mentality. went and tried it again in my early 30s, but its hard to let go and immerse as as an adult you have too much going on in your head. It seems a haven for people bored with their day jobs and lives, so they create a fantasy world they can be 'someone'. It was more about powers and skills and rules, less about atmosphere and emotion, in between games you hear endless discussion on powerups and powers, which sounds a bit sad. Also the average person does not look like a Frazetta painting of a hero, I do, lol as an ex bodybuilder from back in the day and being Italian gives me the Roman look, but students, accountants and geography teachers that live off convenience food dont exactly look the part.

I may try it again, some of the foreign clubs look better. The big Scandinavian fests have some good gear, with a lot of film quality costumes. The Italian linear clubs look like they have great locations, which is more important than costume, you can wear what you want, but when you can see Asda car park in the distance its game over. But an abandoned medieval town in rural Italy, or the beautiful countryside of Sicily and your already in the zone. Plus the foreign clubs are more historical based, so the kit is more believable. The British are eccentric and are too fantasy and eclectic, it kills believability when you have one guy dressed as a goth pirate and another as a ninja. I dont really think they can make the money to run a good club in the UK, they tend t run from scout clubs and the rent is super high, so they cannot make any profit to buy good gear. Typical for the UK, you must pay and pay and pay in rip of Britain. Gets no where at the end of the day.