LARPING

[saulfenky2470]

DEAR LRR FORUMS,

im trying to get a LARP together in the fox cities area of Wisconsin.

anyone live/willing to travel to that area want to come/help me set it up.

if you wanna help me set it up please live with in 15-20 mins of appleton and or green bay

eather reply or email on here if you up for it....if i dont get anyone with in the next few days ill just forget it no worries

[JustAName]

I'm not in the area, but you should probably mention genre, if there will be rules or if it's more improv based, and if it's self-costuming or if there will be some costuming provided. That's always useful info.

[Jillers]

Yeah, everything Fayili said. What kind of LARP is it, what's the fighting system, what's the setting, is there an armor system or just hit points, etc...

...yes, I ran a LARP once.

[Elomin Sha]

Damn LARPERS get off my roof.

[theDreamer]

A way above my head
I saw a fearful sight
A LARPer on the roof
Who roleplays day and night
He roleplays when it rains
he roleplays when it snows
I've never seen him rest,
yet on and on he goes

What does it mean this LARPer on the roof
Who rolesplays every noon, and roleplays every night
why should he pick so curious a place
to roleplay his nerdy fights

[saulfenky2470]

wowowow hold on guys back up...your wayyyyy ahead of me. thats why i wanted someone to help to help me deside all this stuff.. the last LARP i went to had FFFFFed up rules and really bad location. i was hoping to have someone who has eather helped put on a LARP or has LARPed enough to help put one together.

for your answers i was think classic mid-evil DnD style larp.. ya know dwarfs elfs ect....also i was thinking self costume but if you dont have one then thats ok... a few rounds of free for all and a few of team{nation) style with kill the king or capture the flag or both...also kind of a spur of the monment kind of thing

for magic users you must provide your own spell(bean bags or duck tape balls ect) also you are responsable for cleaning up your stuff... for weapon users same thing you must provide your weapons...if you dont have any a simple pool noddle on a PBC pipe will do...

thats all i got so far....i still need help...also people

[JustAName]

You're gonna need a lot more structure and planning if you want to draw anyone. First off, I'd recommend getting some basic costuming things just in case. At least have an easy way to determine sides, if you're going to be doing CTF. If you want anything with actual roleplaying rather than people just being themselves, be sure to run a few workshops beforehand, one about playing characters versus being people, and maybe one about etiquette (seriously).

I always found it unfair that magic was based on the player's skill at throwing. In my group, everything's a lot better (at least in my eyes). It has a greater potential to screw up, I suppose, but we've got a good community. Everything's improv-based for us, so all of those rules apply. When in doubt, act it out; yes, and; make your partner look good; etc. Basically, if it would make for a good scene, do it. This creates a lot more awesome storytelling, and little to no rules lawyering. We still have a little bit of the deadly diseases; mostly Ironhiding (acting like you haven't been hit), but very little TYWMS (taking you with me sydrome, pronounced "tombs"), and no HIGYS (hey I got you syndrome).

I mean, if you're mostly thinking CTF with swords, you don't really need story or planning or casting, which is what we do, but if you want something more immersive, it takes a LOT more work.

[Jillers]

wowowow hold on guys back up...your wayyyyy ahead of me. thats why i wanted someone to help to help me deside all this stuff.. the last LARP i went to had FFFFFed up rules and really bad location. i was hoping to have someone who has eather helped put on a LARP or has LARPed enough to help put one together.

What was wrong with the rules? What didn't you like? How would you change it? Start from there.

for your answers i was think classic mid-evil DnD style larp.. ya know dwarfs elfs ect....also i was thinking self costume but if you dont have one then thats ok... a few rounds of free for all and a few of team{nation) style with kill the king or capture the flag or both...also kind of a spur of the monment kind of thing

Alright, you want high fantasy. How are you going to incorporate different classes and races? What are the differences in playing them? Do they have any special features that would attract people to playing one over the other? How do those races feel about eachother? (This could be a very easy way to get a person to actually care about war games, or CTF).
As far as costuming goes, for high fantasy, like you're doing, there should be a minimun costume requirement, even if that requirement is "No jeans, and no logos" because that'll also help with the RPing.

for magic users you must provide your own spell(bean bags or duck tape balls ect) also you are responsable for cleaning up your stuff... for weapon users same thing you must provide your weapons...if you dont have any a simple pool noddle on a PBC pipe will do...

thats all i got so far....i still need help...also people

I would recommend making spell packets myself. They're bits of cloth tied up with birdseed inside to give it weight. They fly really well, and when they break you don't have to clean the contents since you'll likely be playing outside, and the bitds can eat them. Bean bags hurt when you're hit with them, and they don't fly so well. Duct tape balls are ok to use in a pinch, as are tightly balled up pieces of paper, but should be avoided if at all possible. You can also purchase little foam balls. They're secondary to Spell packets.
For weapons, you should also have some sort of standardization. Are you expecting boffers? If so you should have some and know how to make them. Pool noodles on PVC won't be good because the foam is too thin and compacted, it'll hurt when struck.

Also, what makes a difference between warriors and mages besides magic? Is there armor or just hit points? Are there different spells for mages, do those spells have differnt effects? What about skills for warriors? Are those the only two classes you're going to have?

This isn't really getting ahead of you, this is trying to explain the logistics of things you need to be thinking about when making a game.

The best way to figure this stuff out, IMO, is to write down everything you're interested in implementing, get some friends together, try it out, and see what doesn' work, and what does, and what needs to be added (you know, playtesting).

I would say look at different LARPs and their rules and see if you want to adapt anything to your rules. These are the LARPs I've been a part of.
The Dreaming - the LARP I ended up GMing in college (defunct)
The Last Age - the LARP I helped playtest in college (defunct)
NERO - New England Role-play Organization, who have pretty much set the standard for a lot of LARP rules. High Fantasy.

[saulfenky2470]

guys guys guys your still not getting me.. i said i need help with location and things like that before i even start thinking of getting people to come to this thing...so if anyone who lives in the fox cities area(includes green bay in my book) of wisconsin wants to help hit me up

[theDreamer]

saul saul saul

You're not getting them.

They have experience with this, and are all suggesting you're going about this backwards.

[King Kool]

Why would any of that faze him?

[Jillers]

guys guys guys your still not getting me.. i said i need help with location and things like that before i even start thinking of getting people to come to this thing...so if anyone who lives in the fox cities area(includes green bay in my book) of wisconsin wants to help hit me up

Before you can start thinking about a location, you need to know how you're going to use the space. This means you need to know the rules of your game. Or at least what type of game you're going for here. A LARP with storylines that relies more on RPing than anything else needs a different space than a CTF LARP, needs a different space than a wargame.

[JustAName]

Precisely.

[theDreamer]

Why would any of that faze him?

Maybe if you say something enough, it just sinks in?

Though, it's hard when he just swoops in and then out, and nothing changes.

(I feel like an abused wife or something...)

[tak197]

Technically, Humans Vs Zombies is a LARP of sorts. It seems really stupid to me, but my friends enjoyed it a ton.

Remember, make it simple, and it will be more user friendly.

[saulfenky2470]

ok first off im offending that saying i cant "take in" good advice..its just mean guys what ever happened to people being "nice" on this site..

second i was a location before i start thinking of that stuff for a few reasons.

ONE:i dont want my local people coming to get all excited for the event if it turns out it doesnt happen

TWO: if i know what kinda space i have then i can make the games and game rules around that. exp..im looking at a few parks and a local smallish guy. one park has a brush of trees that would be good for a "forest" type of fight the other park is very open which would be good for "attack the castle" if you will.

also third: i have no money..kinda sorta.. so im looking for a space so i can find (if any)what i would charge(again if any)

also 4th: i said fox cities that includes all the way from fon du lac up to green bay pretty much so we have a wide range of cities to hold the event.

so what i shoulda put in the first post is this question

at this point with no rules or full location found out
would there be anyone who would be intrested in going to this event...

i should ask how many people on here are from wisonsin. then take that number and see how many of them would want to come

[King Kool]

Saul, read the following words as carefully as you can.

Two people on this forum, that I know of, are from Rhode Island, a state consisting of one million people. One of them is TomBrend, the other is me.

The LRR boards are a microcommunity with a few thousand people spread out all over the world. There might be a few people from Wisconsin (I think octopimposter is, or somewhere in the Midwest) on this board.

If there is ONE LRR message board member from Wisconsin, and if they're interested in LARPing, it would be unusual. And Wisconsin is a BIG state; they might not live close enough to participate even if they DO want to.

Furthermore: Why would we, people from all over the world, know more about local spaces for LARPing than a local?

Everyone trying to help you is attempting to save you some grief by telling you you're going about this the wrong way. And you are. If you want to go set up a LARP and defy the advice of experienced LARPers, you do it at your own peril.

[saulfenky2470]

ok thank you king kool thats what i wanted to know

[Lord Chrusher]

Having said that there are over densities. There are a lot more people from Victoria on these boards than you would expect given the size of the city.

[Jillers]

ok first off im offending that saying i cant "take in" good advice..its just mean guys what ever happened to people being "nice" on this site..

second i was a location before i start thinking of that stuff for a few reasons.

ONE:i dont want my local people coming to get all excited for the event if it turns out it doesnt happen

TWO: if i know what kinda space i have then i can make the games and game rules around that. exp..im looking at a few parks and a local smallish guy. one park has a brush of trees that would be good for a "forest" type of fight the other park is very open which would be good for "attack the castle" if you will.

also third: i have no money..kinda sorta.. so im looking for a space so i can find (if any)what i would charge(again if any)

also 4th: i said fox cities that includes all the way from fon du lac up to green bay pretty much so we have a wide range of cities to hold the event.

The best way to go about making a game, any game, is to get together with your friends on a small scale.
You want to make a LARP.
You want to make a LARP that is fun for you and your friends.
You and your friends should get together in each other's backyards and find what kind of game you want to play.
When you find the kind of game you want to play, then you can expand it from there - including all the rules Fayili and I have been trying to get you to think about, and the actual location.

I would highly recommend you look up any sort of laws in place for holding a LARP (well, in this case, a large, semi-private, sporting event) if you want to use public property. There's paperwork you'll have to fill out to hold an event, and that make cost money.

so what i shoulda put in the first post is this question

at this point with no rules or full location found out
would there be anyone who would be intrested in going to this event...

i should ask how many people on here are from wisonsin. then take that number and see how many of them would want to come

How. Can. Anyone. Be. Interested. In. A. Game. With. No. Rules. Or. Setting.

A known location is not going to change that.

And writing game rules around a location is harder than fitting a location to game rules.