What is LARP?

beckycraig

I know this may sound silly but could you tell me what exactly LARP is. I heard about it through a friend but im finding it difficult to get any information it.

Nevyn

Live
Action
Role
Play.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_action_role-playing_game

live action role-playing game (LARP or LRP) is a form of role-playing game where the participants perform some or all of the physical actions of the characters they are playing within a pre-determined space for a pre-determined span of time. LARP may be considered a form of improvisational theatre.

microgirl

beckycraig wrote:

I know this may sound silly but could you tell me what exactly LARP is. I heard about it through a friend but im finding it difficult to get any information it.

Ohhhh, the question to end all questions! Awful hard to answer, though many and varied people have made valiant efforts in the past (and some of them have even been relatively successful )

I will attempt to explain, but I'll probably do a woeful job of it. No doubt other, more helpful people will come along later though, so that's ok

Though first I really need to know how much (if anything) you know about roleplaying and RPGs in general, 'cos if you're familiar with the concept, that makes life *so* much easier

LARP (or LRP) stands for Live Action Role Playing, and is basically a roleplaying game where instead of the players sitting around a table describing the physical actions their characters are taking, they actually physically take on the part and action of their characters. In both tabletop RPGs and LARPs the players will interact verbally In Character (they will speak and respond as their characters, not as themselves) but obvious in a tabletop setting physical action is limited.

Game mechanics will be in place to moderate and mediate physical actions that aren't actually physically possible in the real world, but may be in the game world (flying, magic, superstrength etc etc) or are unadvisable for vandalism/assault reasons (kicking a door down/someone's face in).

The style of LARP most practiced in Ireland is the "political" LARP - this doesn't necessarily mean it features politics, real world or fantasy world, just that it's mostly verbal-action driven. LARPS here are either run at cons, or byt the Camarilla (an organisation that runs games set in a specific game world) and are of relatively short duration - 3-6 hours or so and combat is decided by simple game mechanics like paper, scissors, stone, or some other such system.

The most common style in the UK is what we here refer to tongue-in-cheek as "rubber sword LARP" (something of a misnomer as it would really only apply to fantasy games, and far from all LARPs are fantasy-based). These LARPS tend to run for longer (often over whole weekends) but the main difference is that combat in this style of LARP is actually acted out - with rubber swords and axes and the like in the case of fantasy LARPs (my only experience)

Not much of an explanation, but I hope it helps. There are other places to go to get more info. WARPS is one, if you're in UCC, and www.lorientrust.co.uk is another (the system I play in the UK).

Also, this thread isn't really the right place for this conversation. Should be in a new thread entitled "What is LARP?" or something.

Mods? Possible?

Nevyn

I would suggest that pming the mods might be the best way to get a swift response.

Rev Hellfire

Create a new topic and I'll pin it.
I could extract it from this thread, but a) I'm to lazy and b) I'm to lazy.

Raphael

Doned. Beats studying for the exam I have in....41 minutes.

TheViking

i would really like to watch or get into larp of some sort but i have no idea how ?

i am living in westmeath at the mo

Raphael

Well, Camarilla Ireland runs Mage, Vampire and Werewolf LARPS in Dublin city once a month for each, I don't know if that'd suit you or not. The other suggestion I'd make would be to go to a con, most of them will be running LARP events, that was how I first tried LARPing.

Sarky

Go to a few conventions. There's nearly always at least one Camarilla LARP, and a few one-off independant numbers too. Try a few, and find which ones you prefer. Personally I'm more fond of the independant ones, they can be a lot more varied, but if you fancy persistent ones with xp and long-running storylines, something like the cam is likely the better choice.

*ponders writing an Exalted LARP for Itzacon 2008*

Raphael

And if you'll excuse the blatant plug, Vaticon (9th and 10th of june, UCD) has 3 LARP events, one of which is a rubber sword type thingy.

TheViking

rubber sword LARP

sounds interesting

Raphael

SHould be fun alright, I could poke the LARP co-ordinator and get you more details about it if you like?

AL][EN

TheViking wrote: »

rubber sword LARP

sounds interesting

Indeed it is. It is very very fun.

you should def check out lorien trust and there events that are run over in the UK. I went to one myself 2 years ago i had an absolute blast. Over here in ireland, If memory serves there's a group that do rubber sword LARP most weekends in a park near clontarf?? i went there a few times with a few friends from my old job that's how i got into it.

Can't remember the exact details but if you want to know more info i'll try and dig it up for you

Raphael

SAint Annes park in Raheny, on Sundays. Think they stop during the winter though...

AL][EN

Yea thats it! St anne's park!

Its on a sundays during the summer if memory serves me correctly.

I havent really every tried the costume/political LARP'ing i dont really think id be any good at it. Once at a con but it was a pretty complex scenario so i just hovered in the background and did nothing.

But it shouldnt stop from trying it either mate. Both forms of LARPing are great fun

Hivemind187

The St. Annes park group you are referring to comprises (mostly) the Armengar Group (www.armengar.org) and have been there a few years now (they originally used Iveagh Gardens). A good bunch and one of the founders is currently the 1i/c of the Lions faction in the "Lorian Trust" game universe.

If you want to try it out I reccomend popping along in the late spring early summer when the weather is decent and get chatting to the folks there. Most of them will be happy to let you "have a go" as it were and will explain it all a lot better than I am currently capable of.

alessandra76

hi, I would love joining role playing games.
Please let me know if there is any team interested in having a new member playing in.


alessandra:):):)

Raphael

There is a camarilla LARP based out of cork, dunno a general email, but the vampire one is Requiemcork[at]gmail[dot]com. To my knowledge, Mage and Werewolf runs in cork as well, but I dunno emails for them. Drop an email to the requiem one anyway, they'll point you in the right direction.

Curtisin

Seeing as most people are running an advert towards "Anything Modern (Camarilla, Mage and so on)", I'd like to throw in my two bits.

It seems to me as if the whole LARP hasn't really caught on over here, but it is VERY big in the rest of Europe, particularly Germany and Denmark, as they both seem to be the leading marketers for these things.

I can speak of both in general terms, but I can go into detail of the Danish approach (seeing as I am danish, and was actually part of starting the biggest of the running campaigns there).

Denmark started with having lots of the Vampire campaigns going on, however, there was always a bit of the Fantasy flowing around, but it was always with custom (and home)-made weaponry, most of which looks like.. well, it didn't look that good, let's just say.

However, in the last 2 or 3 years, a couple of groups got together and started their Fantasy, which was ok, but their REAL success hit when they started their Junior Campaigns, which brought in HOSTS of players. (Yes, our campaign boasted more than 1000 players at times, which was just the attendees for that time, not the total of players signed up (of which there were more)).
A lot of the older players tended to look down upon it, but the kids loved it... And where as they did tend to beat the living daylights out of each other the first few times, most of them eventually started getting into the Roleplaying aspect of it. And what was just as important, so did their parents, which brought even more life to the campaign, as suddenly you started having a lot of adults in the game, who weren't just playing NPCs but also PCs. Which just turned the game into even more fun.

However, what all this rambling leads me to is this link, to the biggest LARP event in europe. On this page you should be able to get a good idea of what's going on, as well as to be able to find some gear, if you're interested in it : http://www.live-adventure.de/ConQuest/engl/start.php

But if you DO decide to go, I'd advice going in a BIG circle around ANYTHING involving the Dragon Legion or a guy called Midon... The Dragon Legion is a crazy bunch of danish, who're normally at the forefront of any drinking or fighting to be had, and Midon (who's part of them) is probably the worst plotter of them all. Don't trust anything he says. (And no, it's not me, as I won't be taking part this year).

Have fun.

Forsaken1

'AL wrote:

[EN;54536409']Yea thats it! St anne's park!

Its on a sundays during the summer if memory serves me correctly.

I havent really every tried the costume/political LARP'ing i dont really think id be any good at it. Once at a con but it was a pretty complex scenario so i just hovered in the background and did nothing.

But it shouldnt stop from trying it either mate. Both forms of LARPing are great fun

Are you ALL having a LARF!!
I played RPG, MERP,etc when I was younger and can understand that but this is toooo nerdy even for me!
And i don't mean good nerdy I mean sad-nerdy, but however, to each their own...

If it floats-your-boat then by all means...

Wait hang on... Am I getting it all wrong?! Is LARPing like the outdoor dress-up re-enactments or is it 5 dudes sitting around a table throwing 'die' and after they throw the die they then swing a cardboard broadsword around their heads?!?!

Nevyn

It can range from dress up like re encactments to 4 people playing quietly in a pub interacting as their characters.

Sarky

You're certainly confusing several types of activity, yes.

LARPing rarely involves dice. That would defeat the purpose of having "Live Action" RolePlaying.

Yes, re-enactment groups are a form of LARP. No, they don't roll dice to see if they get to swing their weapons. They might be better compared to a sparring match where hitting a limb puts it beyond use, first person to get x number of hits wins.

Even that's complicated for a LARP. Rock paper scissors suffices for a lot of games. A given game will have its own set of rules, which are generally simple enough to keep everything going as smoothly and quickly as possible.

The whole point of LARPing is to be someone else for a while, to really get into the mind of a character in a story, and play that role, as opposed to the kill-the-monsters-take-their-stuff approach, which has buggerall actually roleplaying element, stereotypically associated with pen and paper RPGs.

keladryel

I still can't get my head around why Ireland doesn't have more fantasy larps. I mean the scenery is beautiful. I would love to see some good organized larps like in Germany. They got at least one every weekend. Good its all over Germany but if you wanna go you can.

I was thinking of organizing some over here in Ireland to get it started maybe but first i gotta check if i even get enough people going or a cheap enough place to jsut start out with a couple dozen players and npc's

Forsaken1

keladryel wrote: »

I still can't get my head around why Ireland doesn't have more fantasy larps. I mean the scenery is beautiful. I would love to see some good organized larps like in Germany. They got at least one every weekend. Good its all over Germany but if you wanna go you can.

I was thinking of organizing some over here in Ireland to get it started maybe but first i gotta check if i even get enough people going or a cheap enough place to jsut start out with a couple dozen players and npc's

i think the reason might be because when it rains it gets very mucky and you could lose your dice in all that muck!
:pac:

Raphael

Since you just had what LARP is explained to you, I'm not going to try and explain why that comment was stupid, I'm just going to warn you not to do it again.

ireneeny!!

whats mooncup mean? confused!

Salubri

ireneeny!! wrote: »

whats mooncup mean? confused!

Even more confused... Who mentioned "mooncup"? I'd love to know what a mooncup is!?

Sarky

Sounds like an internet fetish. I don't think I want to know.

Nevyn

keladryel wrote: »

I still can't get my head around why Ireland doesn't have more fantasy larps. I mean the scenery is beautiful. I would love to see some good organized larps like in Germany. They got at least one every weekend. Good its all over Germany but if you wanna go you can.

I was thinking of organizing some over here in Ireland to get it started maybe but first i gotta check if i even get enough people going or a cheap enough place to jsut start out with a couple dozen players and npc's

The public liabilty insurance seems to be a stumbling block.

Nevyn

ireneeny!! wrote: »

whats mooncup mean? confused!

I suggest you have a look at this thread.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055312167&highlight=mooncup

El Nick

Thaedydal wrote: »

The public liabilty insurance seems to be a stumbling block.

I don't know if I agree with that.

To *my* knowledge there have been two semi-serious fantasy rubber-sword LARP attempts in Ireland. One was under the "LARP Ireland" banner, and the second was my "Heritage" game. LARP Ireland had public liability insurance and ran two games, one at a convention and one off their own bat. Heritage ran three scenarios, wrote a fourth - all at conventions - and had a Public Liability Insurance offer on the table before I shut it down due to a general lack of interest.

In my own opinion there's two things at issue for the fantasy rubber-sword LARP in Ireland. These are availability of "public" land, and population.

Looking at Germany, or Denmark, or the UK, there's a lot of land available for rubber sword gaming. Right of Passage on fields and forests allows small university clubs to arrange "linear" LARPs of varying sizes with varying degrees of success. In Ireland we don't have quite the same arrangement. Coillte own a large amount of land and the use of the land by rubber-sword groups is not easy to arrange. Speaking personally I've been involved in gaming without actually getting any permission from the authorities involved, and it resulted in having a Garda Armed Response Unit called. I am not kidding. Games I am aware of in other parts of the country have gone in a similarly disastrous manner.

These things are hurdles, to be sure, but with weight of numbers I believe you could fairly easily overcome them. Looking back at Heritage I think I could make the idea work with Coillte's permission and with public liability insurance if I ran five events a year and got 40-50 people per event. Unfortunately, in a country the size of Ireland we simply don't have 40-50 people who want to attend a game like that five times a year. What we have is 10-20 of those people, and they - like myself - are largely involved in UK LARP. And that's a situation which sucks (although the UK LARP doesn't.)

I think this is why we've become a bit of a home to the "political" LARP, and what the other people hereabouts have said is true - We have a number of political LARPs which generally run at gaming conventions. And the World of Darkness branded LARP - The Camarilla - is quite active in Ireland.

HAVING SAID THAT... I've been involved in LARPing since 1994 and I've written a lot of games, for a lot of different people in a number of different countries. If anyone wants to talk about LARPs and how to organise them, what to do, what pitfalls there are and how to avoid them I'm quite happy to talk. I'm less easy to contact here than on email. If you've got 40-50 people who want to play a game and would commit to it then I'd unpack my Heritage stuff in a heartbeat and get a game running.

kshandr (at) gmail (dot) com

Nick.

Homer

May be of interest to you guys...

El Nick

Homer wrote: »

May be of interest to you guys...

...do not feed the troll.

klausmaklaus

This is what it could be.






Very impressive for americans, who never had middle-ages period, I remember we used to train under the walls of a 15th century fortress.