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
"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?"
posted
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.
Posts: 3037 | Registered: Jan 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
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.
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.
posted
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*
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
| IP: Logged |
posted
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.
posted
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"?
posted
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.
posted
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.
Posts: 1002 | Registered: Feb 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
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.
posted
"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.)
posted
I like the trappings of SCA (the clothes, armor, weapons, etc.), but the LARP-iness of it is what turned me off.
Posts: 1002 | Registered: Feb 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
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.
posted
Pixiest -- that is one of the funniest things I have read in a long time. I'm sure glad you shared that link!
Posts: 9538 | Registered: Aug 2003
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[ROFL]](graemlins/rofl.gif)
