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Camrath
Mar 19, 2004

The UKMT Fudge Baron


Gravitas Shortfall posted:

Empire kids are adorable




Triggered as gently caress.. One hand went straight to protecting my family jewels at the sight of that picture.

I do love monstering for kids plot, and as I'm tall and loud they enjoy fighting me. But oh god the pain.

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MikeCrotch
Nov 5, 2011

I AM UNJUSTIFIABLY PROUD OF MY SPAGHETTI BOLOGNESE RECIPE

YES, IT IS AN INCREDIBLY SIMPLE DISH

NO, IT IS NOT NORMAL TO USE A PEPPERAMI INSTEAD OF MINCED MEAT

YES, THERE IS TOO MUCH SALT IN MY RECIPE

NO, I WON'T STOP SHARING IT

more like BOLLOCKnese

Camrath posted:

Triggered as gently caress.. One hand went straight to protecting my family jewels at the sight of that picture.

I do love monstering for kids plot, and as I'm tall and loud they enjoy fighting me. But oh god the pain.

A pack of kids (i'm talking like 20 here) tried to crucify me as a monster once

Also kids are smart, they know that if they knock you down and physically sit on you, you can't get up and respawn to fight them again. Clever girl

The Lone Badger
Sep 24, 2007

Gravitas Shortfall posted:

Empire kids are adorable




That one on the left is going to gently caress someone up.

Banana Man
Oct 2, 2015

mm time 2 gargle piss and shit
yeah im pretty sure the one of the left was in a monster manual

Cage Kicker
Feb 20, 2009

End of the fiscal year, bitch.
MP's got time to order pens for year year, hooah?


SKILCRAFT KREW Reppin' Quality Blind Made



Lipstick Apathy

Banana Man posted:

yeah im pretty sure the one of the left was in a monster manual

Dire Human (Puppy)?

BiggerJ
May 21, 2007

What shall we do with him? A permaban, perhaps? Probate him for a few years? Or...shall we employ a big red custom title? You, the goons of SA, shall decide his fate.
So, is larping EVER anything but a bad idea? If someone wants to try larping, what should they avoid, and what should they keep in mind? Or is larping something literally nobody should ever do? (The answers to these questions would of course very depending on where one lives.)

Grem
Mar 29, 2004
Probation
Can't post for 27 days!
Is this all for real? loving hell.

Siivola
Dec 23, 2012

BiggerJ posted:

So, is larping EVER anything but a bad idea? If someone wants to try larping, what should they avoid, and what should they keep in mind? Or is larping something literally nobody should ever do? (The answers to these questions would of course very depending on where one lives.)
If you live in the Nordics, it can be pretty cool. Or so I've heard from people who I believe are not complete loonies, even though they LARP.

On the other hand, a lot of Nordic LARP seems to be high-concept stuff about exploring how miserable people can be while dressing up.

Gravitas Shortfall
Jul 17, 2007

Utility is seven-eighths Proximity.


BiggerJ posted:

So, is larping EVER anything but a bad idea? If someone wants to try larping, what should they avoid, and what should they keep in mind? Or is larping something literally nobody should ever do? (The answers to these questions would of course very depending on where one lives.)

I enjoy crewing, because I like the fighting bits, and the atmosphere of the big UK LARPs are pretty neat. It ends up like taking a weird sport vacation on the set of a mid-budget fantasy TV series.

Plus it's free.

Liquid Communism
Mar 9, 2004

коммунизм хранится в яичках

BiggerJ posted:

So, is larping EVER anything but a bad idea? If someone wants to try larping, what should they avoid, and what should they keep in mind? Or is larping something literally nobody should ever do? (The answers to these questions would of course very depending on where one lives.)

Like any nerdy hobby, what you get out of it will depend on how low you set your bullshit tolerance. Just don't put up with the crazies and you'll avoid 90% of the drama.

MikeCrotch
Nov 5, 2011

I AM UNJUSTIFIABLY PROUD OF MY SPAGHETTI BOLOGNESE RECIPE

YES, IT IS AN INCREDIBLY SIMPLE DISH

NO, IT IS NOT NORMAL TO USE A PEPPERAMI INSTEAD OF MINCED MEAT

YES, THERE IS TOO MUCH SALT IN MY RECIPE

NO, I WON'T STOP SHARING IT

more like BOLLOCKnese

BiggerJ posted:

So, is larping EVER anything but a bad idea? If someone wants to try larping, what should they avoid, and what should they keep in mind? Or is larping something literally nobody should ever do? (The answers to these questions would of course very depending on where one lives.)

I'd avoid anything World of Darkness related like the plague, which is mainly Vampire but less often Werewolf and Mage. The almost all the people I know involved in them are insufferable nerdy dickheads, anyone with an ounce of sense tried them and got out as soon as possible.

Fest LARP is cool, especially if you have a bunch of people to with as a group. One of the nice things about fest larping is that you can really do as much or as little as you want - I know a fair amount of people who treat it as a camping and barbecue weekend with the occasional break to beat up orcs.

Or you can be a tryhard like me and attempt to get in characters positions so your name can be on a wiki. YMMV!

Liquid Communism posted:

Like any nerdy hobby, what you get out of it will depend on how low you set your bullshit tolerance. Just don't put up with the crazies and you'll avoid 90% of the drama.

Yup. Also, like any nerdy hobby the moderation is important. Some systems will ban remorseless dickheads and will tell others to tone their activity down, while others are much more hands off and so tend to be populated by more griefers and arseholes.

MikeCrotch fucked around with this message at 13:55 on Apr 10, 2016

Darius099
Dec 18, 2005

Ogion went on a halfmile or so, and said at last, 'To hear, one must be silent'.
It's so funny to read all the poo poo in this thread being in the same organization as the OP was. There's a good chance I know them. (feel free to inbox me OP)

Some of what they say about the organization is definitely true, it's a bureaucracy heavy poo poo show and quite a few of the "lifers" (this is a term I've never heard before) are similar to whats described. The majority of people in the organization aren't really like that though, and it's far more of a revolving door of people these days because it's been mismanaged so long. I don't give it too long to live to be honest, maybe a few more years before it collapses, which is definitely for the best. I can't speak as to what their local scene was like but I could believe most all of it. How long ago was it the majority of this went down OP? It could be it was so long ago it was before I have as clear a picture of the club.

All the cautionary tale stuff is well, really kind of dependent on the person. I mean it can certainly feed personal problems and mental illness when you grasp hold of it and make it your world, I've known people like that before. But realistically, all of those people were kind of going to do that with something if they didn't address their issues first. Makes me sick to know I was in the same organization as one that facilitated such awful poo poo happening to you OP.

I don't really play anymore, maybe the occasional re-up and play a few games. It doesn't hold my interest as much simply because it's shed so many members it's kind of a joke.

But I'd also have a laugh at anybody who says universally that World of Darkness games are awful. Just depends on the people playing. Most of my first few years was an awesome group run by a couple of great people with very inclusive local players who never let people get mistreated out of character and with close to zero drama. Then again, the fact that they evaporated as a group over the years is the reason I don't much care to play, the people in the city I live in now pretty much suck and the same seems to be true many other places.

The caution I'd give for World of Darkness is like most things I'd give for LARP. Don't take it too seriously or let it overtake your other hobbies. Beware the people you play with because if they suck your experience playing will suck too. If they aren't the kind to have a beer afterwards and be normal or talk about other poo poo sometimes too, that's probably a big red flag.

The assistant DA you mention, if it's the same person I'm aware of (in Florida, and was an assistant DA), wasn't banned for six months. They couldn't pin the sexual harassment stuff on him so they got him for accessing people in the clubs email accounts without permission. He got a lifetime ban. See what I mean about the bureaucracy and stupidity of the club?

I can tell some stories too if people want but mine probably aren't as interesting as the people I hung around with generally were great people and well adjusted in life and are still friends that I do non-LARP poo poo with today.

Cyrano4747
Sep 25, 2006

Yes, I know I'm old, get off my fucking lawn so I can yell at these clouds.

LARP is like any other nerd hobby. There's usually nothing wrong with the thing itself, it's just the people who enjoy it that can be loving toxic.

You could easily have a thread titled "Ask me about how hanging out at a comic book shop in highschool destroyed my life and my soul."

Milkfred E. Moore
Aug 27, 2006

'It's easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.'

Cyrano4747 posted:

LARP is like any other nerd hobby. There's usually nothing wrong with the thing itself, it's just the people who enjoy it that can be loving toxic.

You could easily have a thread titled "Ask me about how hanging out at a comic book shop in highschool destroyed my life and my soul."

My Facebook feed has been filled with people histrionic about the fact they have 'post-LARP depression' after a weekend away.

Part of this sadness involved an 'epic' quest line where the final thing was one guy convincing another depressed character to commit suicide - for the good of their faction, you see.

mlmp08
Jul 11, 2004

Prepare for my priapic projectile's exalted penetration
Nap Ghost

Milky Moor posted:

My Facebook feed has been filled with people histrionic about the fact they have 'post-LARP depression' after a weekend away.

Part of this sadness involved an 'epic' quest line where the final thing was one guy convincing another depressed character to commit suicide - for the good of their faction, you see.

Ask me about Facebook destroying my life and my soul.

MikeCrotch
Nov 5, 2011

I AM UNJUSTIFIABLY PROUD OF MY SPAGHETTI BOLOGNESE RECIPE

YES, IT IS AN INCREDIBLY SIMPLE DISH

NO, IT IS NOT NORMAL TO USE A PEPPERAMI INSTEAD OF MINCED MEAT

YES, THERE IS TOO MUCH SALT IN MY RECIPE

NO, I WON'T STOP SHARING IT

more like BOLLOCKnese

Milky Moor posted:

My Facebook feed has been filled with people histrionic about the fact they have 'post-LARP depression' after a weekend away.

Part of this sadness involved an 'epic' quest line where the final thing was one guy convincing another depressed character to commit suicide - for the good of their faction, you see.

A lot of LARPers seems to suffer from Zak Snyder syndrome, where stuff can only have gravitas if it is DARK and GRITTY. Too many emaciated nerds who all want to be Batman.

I once went to an in-character party where you had a fill in a form at the door covering all the details of your DARK AND TRAGIC BACKSTORY. Like "Check the box corresponding to each of your dead relatives" and "Check this box if you are on a lifelong quest to recover a family heirloom".

Doctor_Fruitbat
Jun 2, 2013


MikeCrotch posted:

A lot of LARPers seems to suffer from Zak Snyder syndrome, where stuff can only have gravitas if it is DARK and GRITTY. Too many emaciated nerds who all want to be Batman.

I once went to an in-character party where you had a fill in a form at the door covering all the details of your DARK AND TRAGIC BACKSTORY. Like "Check the box corresponding to each of your dead relatives" and "Check this box if you are on a lifelong quest to recover a family heirloom".

Backstories are loving worthless unless you're an NPC involved in some plot that the players are trying to unravel. No-one cares about a tragic backstory except their own, it isn't needed for you to play your character however you want and Reasons I Invented For Why I'm Super Cool Vol. 795 is the worst topic of conversation both IC and OOC.

Half the fun is building a small mythos about your character with whatever you and your friends make up as you go along, and none of it is necessary for making your character cool and interesting and relevant in the present. Becoming a pirate captain in a series of bar games or getting on an entire faction's kill-list so you can play double agent for them while they try to murder you is much more fun to talk about if you actually did it.

Trojan Kaiju
Feb 13, 2012


So is the furry thread that inspired this thread in archives? I was really enthralled by all the stories in this thread and I'm super interested in checking that out.

Liquid Communism
Mar 9, 2004

коммунизм хранится в яичках

Trojan Kaiju posted:

So is the furry thread that inspired this thread in archives? I was really enthralled by all the stories in this thread and I'm super interested in checking that out.

It's all of a couple pages back.

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3725148

MikeCrotch
Nov 5, 2011

I AM UNJUSTIFIABLY PROUD OF MY SPAGHETTI BOLOGNESE RECIPE

YES, IT IS AN INCREDIBLY SIMPLE DISH

NO, IT IS NOT NORMAL TO USE A PEPPERAMI INSTEAD OF MINCED MEAT

YES, THERE IS TOO MUCH SALT IN MY RECIPE

NO, I WON'T STOP SHARING IT

more like BOLLOCKnese

Doctor_Fruitbat posted:

Backstories are loving worthless unless you're an NPC involved in some plot that the players are trying to unravel. No-one cares about a tragic backstory except their own, it isn't needed for you to play your character however you want and Reasons I Invented For Why I'm Super Cool Vol. 795 is the worst topic of conversation both IC and OOC.

Half the fun is building a small mythos about your character with whatever you and your friends make up as you go along, and none of it is necessary for making your character cool and interesting and relevant in the present. Becoming a pirate captain in a series of bar games or getting on an entire faction's kill-list so you can play double agent for them while they try to murder you is much more fun to talk about if you actually did it.

We once had a person in our group who had, no joke, 30 A4 pages of backstory. As you can probably guess, they were one of the most milquetoast, timid and risk-averse players I have ever met. They had a whole little clique who would spend fests literally sitting around talking about all the cool poo poo their characters had done outside of the actual game.

Camrath
Mar 19, 2004

The UKMT Fudge Baron


MikeCrotch posted:

We once had a person in our group who had, no joke, 30 A4 pages of backstory. As you can probably guess, they were one of the most milquetoast, timid and risk-averse players I have ever met. They had a whole little clique who would spend fests literally sitting around talking about all the cool poo poo their characters had done outside of the actual game.

I have one or two of those in my group at the LT, one of whom also flagrantly lies about what he's done/can do. To be honest if that's what someone enjoys about the game I tend to live and let live to a certain point.. With a harm-oil in my pocket for if they get too boring. ;p

One time I went to a lot of effort in my backstory (and spent several hundred quid on new kit), the character ended up dying after less than 24 hours. My normal method is to think up a three sentence-one paragraph character sketch and then make poo poo up on the fly as I get used to wearing their skin. So long as you're consistent with yourself and the game world most people won't realise or care that much anyway.

ScratchAndSniff
Sep 28, 2008

This game stinks

MikeCrotch posted:

Yup. Also, like any nerdy hobby the moderation is important. Some systems will ban remorseless dickheads and will tell others to tone their activity down, while others are much more hands off and so tend to be populated by more griefers and arseholes.

When I think griefer, I think of video games where fat ogres stand in doorways so nobody can pass or teamkillers in FPSs. Some are dumb and some are really funny, but they tend to be people going out of their way to get other players mad, particularly the ones who take the game too seriously.

Is this was a LARP griefer is? Or is it more an rear end in a top hat personality thing? Does anyone have any funny griefer stories?

mlmp08
Jul 11, 2004

Prepare for my priapic projectile's exalted penetration
Nap Ghost

ScratchAndSniff posted:

Is this was a LARP griefer is? Or is it more an rear end in a top hat personality thing? Does anyone have any funny griefer stories?

My favorite LARP griefers were the unintentional kind when this group who always larped inside the university student union building were role playing giving first aid or poison treatment or something to a wailing woman lying on the ground.

One of them yelled at like the fifth person to try to see what the gently caress was wrong because they were ruining their role play experience.

Then again, larping in a central foot traffic hub is just a bald plea for attention and oh so random.

Doctor_Fruitbat
Jun 2, 2013


LARP is absolutely not a spectator sport and the presence of, or desire for, an audience should set off blaring alarm bells in your head. If you want an audience, go join the theatre.

Captain Narwhal
Dec 4, 2002
Have you LARPers watched the movie Role Models? I loved the LARP scenes and from the way the community is described itt, it sounds like they got a lot right.



Some questions from the movie: Have you seen anyone ever show up at the boffer LARPs as KISS my anthia? How did/would that go over with other players if they did? Would they be kicked out as trolls or be allowed to do their thing as long as they take it seriously (as they do in the movie)?

Is the portrayal of the King and his cronies fairly accurate to the lifer-types (hanging out at Denny's in character, abusing power, etc)?

Are there any boffer/fest LARPs similar in the last-man-standing style? Winner becomes king or gets something special for the next LARP?

Camrath
Mar 19, 2004

The UKMT Fudge Baron


Captain Narwhal posted:

Have you LARPers watched the movie Role Models? I loved the LARP scenes and from the way the community is described itt, it sounds like they got a lot right.



Some questions from the movie: Have you seen anyone ever show up at the boffer LARPs as KISS my anthia? How did/would that go over with other players if they did? Would they be kicked out as trolls or be allowed to do their thing as long as they take it seriously (as they do in the movie)?

Is the portrayal of the King and his cronies fairly accurate to the lifer-types (hanging out at Denny's in character, abusing power, etc)?

Are there any boffer/fest LARPs similar in the last-man-standing style? Winner becomes king or gets something special for the next LARP?

That sort of game is very different from what I think most europeans would expect out of a LARP, but it's a fun movie and some of it does ring true.

As for guys turning up as Kiss? A few years ago at the LT, they could probably have made it work- there have been Star Trek away teams, a unit that came from the WH40K universe, scary clowns, one guy in a suit of home made Terminator armour (sadly it looked /awful/- however now he plays a Death Knight from WoW using cosplay-standard kit and gets mad props for it) and all sorts of other oddities. Generally if something looks cool and is entertaining then people would accept it. The game's got a bit more straight-laced in recent years though.

MikeCrotch
Nov 5, 2011

I AM UNJUSTIFIABLY PROUD OF MY SPAGHETTI BOLOGNESE RECIPE

YES, IT IS AN INCREDIBLY SIMPLE DISH

NO, IT IS NOT NORMAL TO USE A PEPPERAMI INSTEAD OF MINCED MEAT

YES, THERE IS TOO MUCH SALT IN MY RECIPE

NO, I WON'T STOP SHARING IT

more like BOLLOCKnese

ScratchAndSniff posted:

When I think griefer, I think of video games where fat ogres stand in doorways so nobody can pass or teamkillers in FPSs. Some are dumb and some are really funny, but they tend to be people going out of their way to get other players mad, particularly the ones who take the game too seriously.

Is this was a LARP griefer is? Or is it more an rear end in a top hat personality thing? Does anyone have any funny griefer stories?

LARP griefers are people who will kill people 'for the lulz' basically, which is particularly annoying in LARP since playing a character is both a financial and emotional investment, not to mention the fact that you might have spent some time trying to work your way to a position of power which is now wasted. Now for most games PvP is part of the system and being able to kill another player is an important check and balance on people getting too much power, so being killed in a contract hit or whatever is usually taken in good humour. Getting killed by some randomer who has no idea who you are and just wants to loot you (or not even that) sucks though, and really sours some people on a game.

Really it all comes down to how willing a playerbase is willing to put up with that sort of activity, and how willing event organisers are to letting it slide. Some systems will take particularly extreme measures, such as going to known PvP players (the LARP community, at least in the UK, is small enough to allow this) and basically telling them not to kill too many people or they will be banned. I've also heard of players getting killed in PvP and the event referees just telling them to go back on the field, since having too many PvP deaths can tank a system if they don't feel safe.

As for the funniest griefing story, at the penultimate event of a system called Maelstrom (notorious for having a tonne of griefing and PvP) I was in a short-lived group of snake dudes and chicks who were apocalypse cultists. We had a great time, going around banging drums, chanting and scaring the poo poo out of people by telling them the world was going to end, so we attracted a few stragglers whose characters had died and wanted some new people to play with. One such person had a bunch of awesome looking dragon props - wings, a head, tail, huge stuff. Turns out that he was originally playing a dragon character, for which the minimum costume requirement was an 8 foot long full body prosthetic with wings. As you can imagine that is not a cheap costume.

Dude had made his character for the first time that event, walked onto field in his cumbersome dragon gear only to get jumped and stabbed to death by some guy 6 feet inside the entrance to the playing area. RIP

Captain Narwhal posted:

Have you LARPers watched the movie Role Models? I loved the LARP scenes and from the way the community is described itt, it sounds like they got a lot right.

Some questions from the movie: Have you seen anyone ever show up at the boffer LARPs as KISS my anthia? How did/would that go over with other players if they did? Would they be kicked out as trolls or be allowed to do their thing as long as they take it seriously (as they do in the movie)?

Is the portrayal of the King and his cronies fairly accurate to the lifer-types (hanging out at Denny's in character, abusing power, etc)?

Are there any boffer/fest LARPs similar in the last-man-standing style? Winner becomes king or gets something special for the next LARP?

Role Models is much more about US LARP than European LARP, which tends to be more 'serious' and about immersion. While Lorien Trust (the system Camrath is talking about) would probably allow you to dress up as KISS (if not encourage it), a lot of other systems have strict costume and style guides, and you would get taken aside by a ref very quickly if you turned up dressed like KISS or something else inappropriate.

Here is an example of a style guide for what people would call a 'stricter' LARP. Other LARPs will just go with something like 'No jeans, no trainers, no brand t-shirts'. Some LARPs will just say gently caress it, we're all running around waving foam swords, who gives a poo poo what you wear?

Cocomonk3
Oct 21, 2010

Captain Narwhal posted:

Have you LARPers watched the movie Role Models? I loved the LARP scenes and from the way the community is described itt, it sounds like they got a lot right.



Some questions from the movie: Have you seen anyone ever show up at the boffer LARPs as KISS my anthia? How did/would that go over with other players if they did? Would they be kicked out as trolls or be allowed to do their thing as long as they take it seriously (as they do in the movie)?

Is the portrayal of the King and his cronies fairly accurate to the lifer-types (hanging out at Denny's in character, abusing power, etc)?

Are there any boffer/fest LARPs similar in the last-man-standing style? Winner becomes king or gets something special for the next LARP?

When people ask what LARP is I mention Role Models. It's not really accurate to what I play in Western Australia, but it's a starting point.

At the event I got home from this week in Melbourne, one of the groups wears a similar sort of facepaint, but they're well costumed and rad so nobody complains. If your LARP isn't too much up its own rear end, bad costumes are excusable, as long as you've tried/work on them.

Yes. Again, same event in Melbourne, whoever wins the final battle controls the town and sets rules for the event (in character rules, so they can be broken in character). A huge opportunity to be a dick there, and it was very nearly the case this time except that the people enforcing the rules acted like the nazis from Hogans Heroes. Easily distracted and confused.

And as well, the owners of the game (apart from one) are perenial assholes. Multiple complaints about rules breaking, harassment, and dodgy financial dealings. But since they comprise the entirety of the board who owns the event, there's nothing that can be done. Safety officers who call them on their poo poo end up not being safety officers any more.

Milkfred E. Moore
Aug 27, 2006

'It's easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.'

Cocomonk3 posted:

When people ask what LARP is I mention Role Models. It's not really accurate to what I play in Western Australia, but it's a starting point.

At the event I got home from this week in Melbourne, one of the groups wears a similar sort of facepaint, but they're well costumed and rad so nobody complains. If your LARP isn't too much up its own rear end, bad costumes are excusable, as long as you've tried/work on them.

Yes. Again, same event in Melbourne, whoever wins the final battle controls the town and sets rules for the event (in character rules, so they can be broken in character). A huge opportunity to be a dick there, and it was very nearly the case this time except that the people enforcing the rules acted like the nazis from Hogans Heroes. Easily distracted and confused.

And as well, the owners of the game (apart from one) are perenial assholes. Multiple complaints about rules breaking, harassment, and dodgy financial dealings. But since they comprise the entirety of the board who owns the event, there's nothing that can be done. Safety officers who call them on their poo poo end up not being safety officers any more.

I know the game you're talking about. Yeah, it's dodgy as hell. My favorite part is how the board members utterly nerf magic over and over again because they saw it as 'cheap'.

Great game, terrible board, terrible atmosphere, terrible sportsmanship. They make a shitload of money and very little of it ever came back to the players in any way.

They're very lucky they're basically the only game in town.

edit: IIRC, some of the dodgy financial stuff involves buying a plot of land out east for their big quest events with the goal of doing it up with facilities and building and stuff (in prime growth territory, too!) but did it in the name of one of the board members and they've run exactly one event out there and nothing has been installed and suddenly it's all: "Oh, no, we need to go to different places now".

Also, a lot of money gets 'stolen'. At one point, about $500 a week, IIRC.

Milkfred E. Moore fucked around with this message at 11:52 on Apr 16, 2016

Doctor_Fruitbat
Jun 2, 2013


Camrath posted:

As for guys turning up as Kiss? A few years ago at the LT, they could probably have made it work- there have been Star Trek away teams, a unit that came from the WH40K universe, scary clowns, one guy in a suit of home made Terminator armour (sadly it looked /awful/- however now he plays a Death Knight from WoW using cosplay-standard kit and gets mad props for it) and all sorts of other oddities. Generally if something looks cool and is entertaining then people would accept it. The game's got a bit more straight-laced in recent years though.

I'll be honest and say that that sounds completely and totally insufferable. I go LARPing in part to play out some kind of defined world and what you've described is some Family Guy level of asinine horseshit. Imagine any book, film, game, series that you enjoy and like to get immersed in that isn't straight-up parody. Now imagine KISS or a bunch of literal Star Trek redshirts turn up. If that doesn't sound awful then I don't know what to tell you.

I enjoy plenty of levity in my LARP. We laugh, we joke, we drop out of character and make modern day references, if it's funny and doesn't break the atmosphere of the game, which is obviously going to vary depending on whether you're having a drink at the bar or deep in a zombie-infested forest at the dead of night. But pre-planning something that meta to drop on everyone else whether they like it or not is just... gently caress. :psyduck:

Camrath
Mar 19, 2004

The UKMT Fudge Baron


Doctor_Fruitbat posted:

I'll be honest and say that that sounds completely and totally insufferable. I go LARPing in part to play out some kind of defined world and what you've described is some Family Guy level of asinine horseshit. Imagine any book, film, game, series that you enjoy and like to get immersed in that isn't straight-up parody. Now imagine KISS or a bunch of literal Star Trek redshirts turn up. If that doesn't sound awful then I don't know what to tell you.

I enjoy plenty of levity in my LARP. We laugh, we joke, we drop out of character and make modern day references, if it's funny and doesn't break the atmosphere of the game, which is obviously going to vary depending on whether you're having a drink at the bar or deep in a zombie-infested forest at the dead of night. But pre-planning something that meta to drop on everyone else whether they like it or not is just... gently caress. :psyduck:

I'm not disagreeing with you- there's a reason it changed over the past decade. The LT has become a lot more serious since the last rules-change, and I think it improves it.

There's a standing joke about the invasions of Darth Mauls and Legolas-clones back in the day, and the ensuing culls that took place.

Doctor_Fruitbat
Jun 2, 2013


Yeah, there'll always be a certain amount of inspiration/plagiarism in LARP - my faction is called the Jhereg, which is nicked wholesale from a book. And you're right, there were plenty of Legolas' for a while.

MikeCrotch
Nov 5, 2011

I AM UNJUSTIFIABLY PROUD OF MY SPAGHETTI BOLOGNESE RECIPE

YES, IT IS AN INCREDIBLY SIMPLE DISH

NO, IT IS NOT NORMAL TO USE A PEPPERAMI INSTEAD OF MINCED MEAT

YES, THERE IS TOO MUCH SALT IN MY RECIPE

NO, I WON'T STOP SHARING IT

more like BOLLOCKnese

Doctor_Fruitbat posted:

Yeah, there'll always be a certain amount of inspiration/plagiarism in LARP - my faction is called the Jhereg, which is nicked wholesale from a book. And you're right, there were plenty of Legolas' for a while.

In Empire you have the Navarr, who are the woodsy tribal tracker/archer nation. It's basically the Legolas Ghetto.

Gravitas Shortfall
Jul 17, 2007

Utility is seven-eighths Proximity.


MikeCrotch posted:

In Empire you have the Navarr, who are the woodsy tribal tracker/archer nation. It's basically the Legolas Ghetto.

Don't forget all the Warhammer knights in Highguard, purity seals and all. The League's brief might as well be "Hey have you read The Lies Of Locke Lamora?", and the Brass Coast is "Remember Antonio Banderas in 13th Warrior?". Marchers is the War Of The Roses Reenactor's Club, and Dawn is for Arthurian Romance nuts.

edit; still not as bad as the group in CP called the Tuareg, which is literally a North African Ethinic Group. Or the guys that dress up in bad psuedo-Chinese gear, complete with terrible accents.

Gravitas Shortfall fucked around with this message at 11:20 on Apr 17, 2016

ScratchAndSniff
Sep 28, 2008

This game stinks

MikeCrotch posted:

Dude had made his character for the first time that event, walked onto field in his cumbersome dragon gear only to get jumped and stabbed to death by some guy 6 feet inside the entrance to the playing area. RIP


In the stabber's defense, it sounds like this guy griefed himself. If I'm roleplaying a hero dude and a dragon shows up, that dragon is going to get stabbed and looted... That's what dragons are for, after all.

Edit: Are there any good pictures or videos of racially insensitive LARPers? Sounds hilarious.

MikeCrotch
Nov 5, 2011

I AM UNJUSTIFIABLY PROUD OF MY SPAGHETTI BOLOGNESE RECIPE

YES, IT IS AN INCREDIBLY SIMPLE DISH

NO, IT IS NOT NORMAL TO USE A PEPPERAMI INSTEAD OF MINCED MEAT

YES, THERE IS TOO MUCH SALT IN MY RECIPE

NO, I WON'T STOP SHARING IT

more like BOLLOCKnese

Gravitas Shortfall posted:

The League's brief might as well be "Hey have you seen the Borgias at all?"

FTFY

ScratchAndSniff posted:

In the stabber's defense, it sounds like this guy griefed himself. If I'm roleplaying a hero dude and a dragon shows up, that dragon is going to get stabbed and looted... That's what dragons are for, after all.

Edit: Are there any good pictures or videos of racially insensitive LARPers? Sounds hilarious.

Not videos that I can recall, but UK Larp facebook groups and forums periodically explode in racist arguments now and again. The most recent and infamous was 'Drowgate', which began with someone pointing out that maybe playing a drow, which involves wearing literal blackface, is not the most cool thing to do in TYOOL 2016. The argument pretty quickly spiralled out of control, with one side calling the other SJWs and the usual, and the other side saying literally every LARPer was racist. It was not the most dignified thing I have seen on the internet.

The worst thing I have seen in person is someone unironically calling my black friend 'half-caste', and then doubling down :whitewater:

Doctor_Fruitbat
Jun 2, 2013


I'd say that CP generally manages to avoid such Tumblr-esque spats, but on the other hand:

Gravitas Shortfall posted:

edit; still not as bad as the group in CP called the Tuareg, which is literally a North African Ethinic Group. Or the guys that dress up in bad psuedo-Chinese gear, complete with terrible accents.

Basically people are terrible everywhere you go.

Also Drow are poo poo and no-one should play them anyway.

trauma llama
Jun 16, 2015

Doctor_Fruitbat posted:

I'd say that CP generally manages to avoid such Tumblr-esque spats, but on the other hand:


Basically people are terrible everywhere you go.

Also Drow are poo poo and no-one should play them anyway.

ScratchAndSniff posted:

In the stabber's defense, it sounds like this guy griefed himself. If I'm roleplaying a hero dude and a dragon shows up, that dragon is going to get stabbed and looted... That's what dragons are for, after all.

Edit: Are there any good pictures or videos of racially insensitive LARPers? Sounds hilarious.

My game recently banned the Dark elf thing as well. Instead of removing them as a race they just changed the skin tone from "actually black" to "really dark grey." Which is a loving joke. Although a lot of people try and make their dark elves super weeaboo Japanese too. That is painfully embarrassing and some what poor taste.

There was another blow up this month regarding the gypsy race. Because you know: poo poo can get offensive. However, instead of removing the race or absorbing them into humans, the dumb fucks in charge just gave them an outrageously goofy name. They left all of the other gypsy stereotypes in.

As far as Larp in general resulting in broken people. I think it's like anything else. You have a spectrum of functionality. You get weird broken people like the OP who just happen to use Larp as their outlet. All the way to socially functional, conventionally successful people who occasionally enjoy dressing up as elves and beating people up with foam covered golf clubs.

Milkfred E. Moore
Aug 27, 2006

'It's easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.'

trauma llama posted:

As far as Larp in general resulting in broken people. I think it's like anything else. You have a spectrum of functionality. You get weird broken people like the OP who just happen to use Larp as their outlet. All the way to socially functional, conventionally successful people who occasionally enjoy dressing up as elves and beating people up with foam covered golf clubs.

I was one of these people. But eventually the game I was playing basically ran the more 'casual' players out.

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Liquid Communism
Mar 9, 2004

коммунизм хранится в яичках

Milky Moor posted:

I was one of these people. But eventually the game I was playing basically ran the more 'casual' players out.

Happens. A lot. Especially in games like the one I recognize trauma as playing, where you get on the field with people who have literally been playing the same character for 20+ years.

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