quote: 18-year-olds who tell recruiters they play the popular fantasy game are automatically given low security clearance. “They're detached from reality and suscepitble to influence,” the army says.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Odd. Almost every U.S. serviceperson I know plays D&D. And the article seems to be describing homebrewed LARPs instead of D&D, anyway.
[ March 09, 2005, 12:27 PM: Message edited by: TomDavidson ]
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
Almost every U.S. person that I know plays or has played D & D...
Posted by Ryuko (Member # 5125) on :
But Tom, with you it's just that the people you know are more likely to play D&D.
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
I just saw that article - I suppose the IDF has its reasons.
Of course, the US military actually tried to incorporate a DnD-esque fantasy approach to one recruiting campaign - the Marines, I think it was.
-Trevor
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
I have never played D&D. AJ
Posted by AntiCool (Member # 7386) on :
...yet!
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
How many non-gamers would understand, never mind appreciate the difference between a homebrew LARP and DnD?
Well, d20 now.
-Trevor
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
"How many non-gamers would understand, never mind appreciate the difference between a homebrew LARP and DnD?"
Anyone who's not an idiot, I'd imagine. It's like asking "how many non-alcoholics would understand the difference between spring water in a plastic bottle and a keg of Budweiser?"
[ March 09, 2005, 12:39 PM: Message edited by: TomDavidson ]
Posted by TheHumanTarget (Member # 7129) on :
I have never played D&D, and don't know anyone in the (relatively) large group of soldiers I know that play D&D...
I'll take an informal poll later.
Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
quote:It's like asking "how many non-alcoholics would understand the difference between spring water in a plastic bottle and a keg of Budweiser?"
*laugh*
And it doesn't even matter which one is which.
Posted by Mrs.M (Member # 2943) on :
I guess that makes me an idiot, because I've never heard of a homebrew LARP. I also never played D&D or knew anyone who did until I went to college.
I also know many servicepeople and none of them have played D&D, either. Maybe it's a regional thing.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
That you haven't heard of a LARP isn't surprising. Live-action roleplaying is far, far less popular than pen-and-paper roleplaying, and it's been my experience typical boring human beings -- by which I mean non-gamers -- are lucky to have even heard of ONE pen-and-paper RPG, namely Dungeons & Dragons.
Which is the key.
Dungeons & Dragons is the most popular pen-and-paper RPG out there. There are hundreds.
There are also dozens of different live-action RPGs out there, none of which are Dungeons & Dragons; I also know people who have adapted the Dungeons & Dragons rules to live-action play, but this is rather pointless and considerably more difficult than just using a system written for live-action gaming.
The rules are different. The style of play is different. The player base is different. Was Kasparov an international Candy Land champion? And the reason this analogy is relevant: imagine if an article announcing that the Israeli Army was slow-tracking chess players included not only pictures of Candy Land but descriptions of how Candy Land is played (saying that "some people play chess on a board of small 8x8 squares, while others move colorful figures between regions with fanciful names like Gumdrop Lane,") and mentioned that some people believe that chess is a game for pre-verbal children and mentally-deficient adults.
Note: that said, I have nothing against LARPs. In fact, I think a lot of people LARP already and don't know it, given that paintball is basically LARPing.
[ March 09, 2005, 01:08 PM: Message edited by: TomDavidson ]
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
Tom, you're preaching to the choir.
But I've also met a number of people who start to glaze over and start freaking when I tried to explain the differences.
I do realize that may be a telling commentary on my ability to explain something.
However, to continue your analogy, it might be similar to trying to explain the different types of wine to, say, a non-drinker. Or the variations of types of beer.
-Trevor
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Except that LARPing and PNP are considerably less alike than chardonnay and chablis.
I understand that they know nothing about it, but people who know nothing shouldn't write articles. *grin*
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
*snort* Tell me about it - I still groan at the "machinegun toting police officers" caption.
-Trevor
Edit: Worse, they know nothing and still write about it.
Worse still, they don't bother to research.
Worst yet, the article is being read by people who do understand the finer points.
Edit 2: And you should watch my buddy's face when he tries to explain the finer points of wine to me.
[ March 09, 2005, 01:10 PM: Message edited by: TMedina ]
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Duh. (Edit: Duh, I'm an idiot - I neglected to define the terms for our audience.)
LARP
Live
Action
Role-play
People dress up in costumes and wave fake weapons around while following a set of rules. You can think of it as improvised theatre or playing "cowboys and indians" but with rules.
[ March 09, 2005, 01:16 PM: Message edited by: TMedina ]
Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :
The comments the people made about that movie tell more about them than it does the LARPers.
BTW, LARPing is a LOT of fun. It's one thing to roleplay around a table, it's a lot more interesting when you're actually doing it.
Oh, and there were quite a number of women where I used to LARP so these gentlemen's assertion that the LARPers in the movie would "never get a girl" is unfounded. btw, do they know any words other than "fags"?
[ March 09, 2005, 01:23 PM: Message edited by: The Pixiest ]
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Except when you're badly out of shape like me. Posted by KarlEd (Member # 571) on :
Hey, "round" is a shape!
Posted by AntiCool (Member # 7386) on :
LARP weirds me out. It goes waaay over my geek threshold.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
I've only done one (not counting paintball a couple of times). It was a Shakespeare LARP, and my friend Sean and I were Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. We were specifically allowed to bring in stuff from the Stoppard play. We had a bag of coins for flipping, for example.
We also had a batch of Eslinore Pilsner, which made everyone who drank it think they were the King of Denmark. We slipped it into two generals' drinks right before a big battle.
But really, we were both there to hit on the girl playing Hamlet.
Dagonee
Posted by Mrs.M (Member # 2943) on :
This thread makes me feel like Amy Poehler in the SNL spoof of Regis and Kelly.
"What is that, Regis? I don't know what that is."
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
*wonders if bunbun has ever LARPed*
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
LARPing sounds like dress-up make-believe "let's pretend" play for grownups.
I should look into this, sounds like my kind of thing! Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
Yeah, pretty much.
Posted by AntiCool (Member # 7386) on :
I was once asked to participate in some Vampire:Masquerade LARPing. Vampire LARP seems exponentially geekier than normal fantasy LARPing. I declined after my head a-sploded.
Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :
Uh.. I went to a V:TM LARP once. it was Really... Really... bad...
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
It is, but do a meet-and-greet with the people participating first.
Personalities, game styles and whatnot may differ drastically from one group to the next.
I wouldn't consider LARPing with the bunch of nuts I knew who did play, but I'm sure there are sane people out there...I just don't know many of them.
-Trevor
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
There were some Vampire LARPers at the OSC signing we went to in Cincinatti. They were a little scary. When we were asking people if they'd heard of Hatrack one of them asked if it was a LARP. Sadly all of the LARP people I've known are the vampire types. I think that the SCA though is basically a giant LARP and I feel pretty comfortable with them, though I've never joined.
AJ
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
"Vampire LARP seems exponentially geekier than normal fantasy LARPing."
It is actually, in my experience, considerably less geeky. But it's insular and creepy in its own unique way, mainly involving eyeshadow and underwear.
I will say this much, however: if you want to meet Goth chicks, Vampire LARP is not a bad way to spend an evening.
(And, yes, the SCA is probably the world's largest LARP organization.)
[ March 09, 2005, 01:54 PM: Message edited by: TomDavidson ]
Posted by AntiCool (Member # 7386) on :
I like the trappings of SCA (the clothes, armor, weapons, etc.), but the LARP-iness of it is what turned me off.
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
Lightning bolt!
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
Subtle differences - the SCA wears combat-ready gear and take great pleasure in smacking each other.
Most LARPs are little or no contact.
The guys I knew used little packets of beans or sand to denote "spells" - to cast a spell, you had to fling a packet and connect with your target.
As Tom has pointed out, paintball could be considered a LARP, although there is very little roleplay or rules or spells.
-Trevor
Edit: And the SCA generally doesn't involve orcs, dragons and the trappings of DnD in that respect.
Anyone want to call a Civil War reenactment troupe and call them LARPers?
[ March 09, 2005, 02:06 PM: Message edited by: TMedina ]
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
quote:*wonders if bunbun has ever LARPed*
Not since I've known her. Don't know about before that, though.
Posted by AntiCool (Member # 7386) on :
Trevor -- all of those things differentiate those groups from Fantasy LARP.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Actually, Civil War re-enactment is a PERFECT example of a LARP. Except of course that the outcome in most re-enactments is fixed, meaning that there's no element of luck or free will -- making it more like improv theater than a game.
[ March 09, 2005, 02:12 PM: Message edited by: TomDavidson ]
Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :
Thanks, ThePixiest, this is the funniest new-to-me strip I've run across in years.
[ March 09, 2005, 03:24 PM: Message edited by: aspectre ]
Posted by Telperion the Silver (Member # 6074) on :
Clerics are the best.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
PVP is new to somebody?
But yeah, Pix, that was beautifully apropos. *grin*
Posted by AntiCool (Member # 7386) on :
PvP is new to me.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
I wouldn't say that all the people I met while in the service played DnD, but a whole ton of them did, that is for sure. At every post I was at a significant number of them currently played (other than Basic Training, of course.. ), and most of the others had played in the past.
Also most of them loved to play board games, usually war-based ones like Axis and Allies, or Risk.
Kwea
[ March 09, 2005, 08:40 PM: Message edited by: Kwea ]
Posted by FlyingCow (Member # 2150) on :
Friends don't let friends LARP.
Posted by Eduardo_Sauron (Member # 5827) on :
Ahhhh, LARP... it's so fun... I've played Vampire Larps, D&D Larps, 7seas (a Renaissance-based scenario) Larp and a Legend of 5 Rings (an Oriental scenario) Larp. For me it's tons of fun. To tell you the truth, the first time I met my current giflfriend (who's been my friend for many years before we started dating) was LARPing.
How about an Ender Game's LARP? I just think it would be kinda hard to emulate the Battle Room.
Posted by skeptic (Member # 5273) on :
There _are_ military-based RPG's. I wonder how similar they are to the war games the military uses for practice. I had never heard of a LARP before, but it sounds like what I imagine military war games are. Would the Israeli Army downgrade or upgrade folks who play these?
Full disclosure: I play D&D and Star Wars in NJ, though my group has not met for months now. I'm dying for a game.
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
Depending on how stringently you apply the definition, there are plenty of people who LARP.
I recall a story about a bunch of geeks who dress up in military gear, right down to authentic gear and play wargames measured down to the last detail - including mission orders, securing (abandoned) buildings and so on.
Instead of paintball guns, they use amazingly realistic replicas that use CO2 cartridges to fire little plastic pellets.
I'm just waiting for one of these idiots to get in a whole mess of trouble because having had the opportunity to examine a similar replica, you can't tell it's a fake weapon from a distance.
-Trevor
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
Would Civil War Re-enactors, or Rendevous/MountainMen people count? How about classic car people who dress up to match their cars?
Is there a such a thing as a VARP? (Virtual Active Role Playing)and don't they congregate on another end of this forum.
A friend of mine was in the military about 10 years ago. At that time, in Germany, D&D was very hot. I bought a set of original AD&D manuals at a used book store, because he knew military people who collected them. Unfortunately his term was up before we could close the sale. Now I have a closet full of first addition AD&D. I have to hide it or die of geekiness.
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
Sure - the more traditional LARPs are more free-form and the outcome is determined in-game, whereas Civil War re-enactors tend to follow the course of the battle rather than tamper with history, but they still dress up and play make-believe.
As Tom noted much earlier in the thread - I just felt the need to repeat his entirely accurate observations.
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