Author: Tadeusz (---.isdn.net)
Date: 03-13-2001 23:32
My first LARP was a conversion of the James Bond game. I walked up and down a hallway a lot of times in near dark conditions until the GM yelled "A tiger jumps out at you!" For a half-second, I imagined seeing a 450 pound orange striper, and I moved real quick. Gouged the GM in the ribs too.
Generally, the LARPS I've been in have been considerably less immersive than the typical round the table group.
1) In my latest table game, I just started, the game is fun, the RPing is deliberately slim, and as a consequence of the second I cannot associate the PC names w/ the guy sitting there. I even do not remember all the PC names. Eventually, i hope to get into it a bit more. But what about if there were fifty people w/ half trying to be arrogant and mysterious vampires, and the others doing other personality traits. This is possibly a major reason costuming is used in LARPing.
2)If in a Dark Ages vampire game the PC's are heading off to the castle of a Vampire Baron PC, then i might have little idea of which direction this "castle of air" is supposed to be. maybe i was told once or thrice over the course of weeks or months, but it really helps a game to have a clear, authoritative answer on tap to questions of geography.
3)The Judges and Storyteller in a LARP are often hard to get too. I am not a terribly shy person, sometimes quite bold and politely blunt, but i find it quite difficult. i hate to imagine a shy person w/ a cool idea that has to wait two and a half hours to even get an audience w/ a judge.
4)I think Scott has talked about how the information is more pervasive in LARPs. Maybe so, but it is slower and thinner. this can be compared to bandwidth with similar results.
So, therefore the forrest you walk in is more of a few sketchy details instead of a richly described and imagined, and much more immediate setting.
LARPs(Vampire) in my experience have two big problems, that i can think of right now. The pals of the GM are demigods thing, and slow information flow. This flow is part and parcel of the 50 player in a city park setting. if i have to hike across the park to get a ruling...
Many times i have thought of LARPing as the cocktail party of gaming.
I like LARPing(when its not driving me insane), but tabletop roleplaying seems better. BTW, i plan to run a Vampire LARP sometime w/i the next 18 mos..
Tadeusz
|
|
