[ SECRET POST #1986 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #1986 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 05 pages, 119 secrets from Secret Submission Post #284.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0- not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ], [ 1 - take it to comments ], [ 1 2 - going to have to be a little more subtle than this ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

09. http://i.imgur.com/OUPlC.jpg

[b33fdove]

I've always thought it could be really fun!!! But whenever I watch youtube videos of it ... the people who partake don't seem like people I'd enjoy being around. It's the same reason I don't play competitive Magic anymore. :/

[cure_light]

I've always thought it was weird that cosplaying is readily accepted, but LARPing is treated like a plague. I mean, I could never do it myself (same with cosplaying, I'd be too embarrassed).
I can see the appeal, though.

[writerserenyty]

I think it looks fun. :) When I was in middle school we had a day every year where we got to go do fun things and one year my friends and I did an orienteering thing set up like Lord of the Rings and it was a total blast. Not really LARPing, but pretending to be in LotR while running around woods was fun.

[(Anonymous)]

My boyfriend once almost *simultaneously* bashed my ex for LARPing and asked me to play D&D with him and his friends. (Not just 'cause it was my ex, though - he speaks ill of LARPers almost any time he gets the chance.) I really, really, really, genuinely don't get it. The same stereotype of the grody, nerdy, unwashed masses applies to both, but that doesn't mean the stereotype applies to everyone within the realm. It certainly doesn't apply to my boyfriend and his friends, and it certainly didn't apply to my ex. Both of them are geeky dudes and both of them are actors. Their interest in their respective role-playing comes naturally.

Is it nerd-shame? Looking down on the inability to separate a game from real life? (<-- which is a bullshit criticism in the first place.) I don't know. But I feel you, OP. I don't do either, but it drives me up the wall. I hate when nerds get judgey on other nerds.

[sai_salamander]

It was weird, I joined the RP society at my uni for the D&D, but it turned out that most people LARPed all the sodding time, and the rest of them scorned D&D for being old fashioned/tedious D: Personally, while I would LOVE to LARP, I couldn't ever get past the acting side of it. I find it hard to be in character during D&D sessions, let alone having to perform actions and stuff. That's like... worst nightmare, right there.

Then again, I left that society after about 6 months anyway, cos they were mostly on the wrong side of nerd for my liking. Possibly gonna get me lynched? But I'm sure some people know what I mean (it was the same in the anime society alas, but I was on the exec for that haha, so I didn't even have an out!)

[mudousetsuna]

It's not the same as LARPs in fantasy settings, but lots of anime cons have LARPs. If you're interested in that too, Otakon in Baltimore has a particularly good one. It's been years since I participated, but it spans 3 days of the con, you can come and go as you please as long as you make sure you're LARPing in designated areas, and the people are a riot. Some of my best memories at that con were from the LARP.

Unfortunately, it's also only once a year. :(

[darnaguen.livejournal.com]

Finland, Denmark (in Denmark, I think, schools and kindergartens actually commonly used larping as a teaching method) and to some extent also other Nordic countries. Not sure is larping is considered "cool" nationwide, but it's common enough and not really ridiculed. And basically whenever someone thinks to mock larping here In Finland, we pretty much tell them it's their loss because our parties are wilder and girls hotter. :D

[raspberrydrink]

Depending on what kinda LARP you are looking for the best way to find games is online.

Assuming you mean boffer LARP (since that's generally the High Fantasy stuff as seen in the pic) there tend to be games in larger midwest cities. In fact there's a big on in the greater St. Lousi area, or there was when I still lived out there. Just do a search online for your biggest near by city + LARP or boffer LARP. You'll probably get more hits for World of Darkness larps though, since they are more popular.

Now, there are some things you should be aware of when it comes to boffer LARPS- one, most of the players are 30yr old guys that played D&D back when THAC0 was a thing, so snootiness, drunkenness and occasional creepiness can be a thing. But tbh it's not any more so then any group of D&D nerds- there is good and bad.

Also, since a lot of LARPers are also Rennies then can be pretty elitest on costuming and rules, but if you can hunt out the cool people you can have a hell of a time and they can teach you a lot!

[(Anonymous)]

AS far aS I can tell, anon, the magical place you seek is known as Boston. I don't know what it is but I've known several LARPers who started when they lived in Boston, and none of them even knew the stigma existed.

(Bostonians, back me up?)

[sabotabby]

It might be a question of "when" rather than "where."

In my late teens/early 20s, only neckbeards and vampire wannabes LARPed. You could be quietly into RPG but LARPing was crossing the line*. Now that I'm older (and more secure), I don't see the same level of stigma attached to it. I don't do it myself, but if someone I knew told me they were into it, I wouldn't raise an eyebrow, and there's been some discussion in my RPG group about dressing up as our characters and going out sometime.

* LARPers also brought this on themselves by LARPing at the goth club that my friends and I hung out at. Silly tourists.

[pelespen]

LARPing seems to be pretty widely accepted here in the SouthEast. Even by non-gamers. Once you explain sort of good-naturedly that it's basically dressing up in costumes, going into the woods, and hitting each other with foam weapons while roleplaying, the general reaction seems to be, "Hmm, that actually sounds... kinda fun!"

Which, ngl, kind of harshes the delusion I've been gripping that, "at least my (fanfiction) hobby isn't as dorky as my husband's (LARPing) hobby!" *le sigh*

[(Anonymous)]

I think the most fun that can be had LARPing is with people who do not take themselves (or the LARP) too seriously. I have been with some LARPers that get so into character that they will not answer to their mundane name when in costume.

On the other side of the line is the group that my daughter is involved with... who every Sunday afternoon have, what she refers to as: "Beat People with a Stick Day".

They get out their boffers and have battle games and you *can* be in character if you wish, but you do not have to be. They're a great group of people of all ages and lots of fun. My daughter has made some wonderful friends and lost weight and gained, not only muscles but confidence.

I can't say enough good things about this group.

[stainless]

I've always thought LARP sounded fun, too.

[(Anonymous)]

I would love to LARP one day. But I'd want to LARP something like Game of Thrones or The Walking Dead with paintball guns or...lol who knows.

I remember years ago, my bff at the time and I used to RP over the phone.

[(Anonymous)]

I live in a city with a goddamn castle, but I can't find any LARP groups.

FML

[arise]

In personal anecdote time, I know the reason a lot of roleplayers I know are sketchy on LARPs is because a couple of the big ones around here apparently bring out the creepers in their players. It's not really fair to judge an entire hobby by one bad experience, but having witnessed a (comparatively very mild!) display of said creepery, I can understand it.

Of course, that kind of creepery exists within tabletop, too. I guess it's just a lot harder to ignore in a LARP situation where you can't just suddenly break character and make a joke to defuse the situation.

Then again, most of the roleplayers I know are more Vampire The Masquerade, so uhhh I guess that attracts a whole different kind of creeper than D&D.

[(Anonymous)]

I've LARPed a little with some friends from college. I've also done something similar with some Renaissance festival knights who were practicing at a park near my house. Like table topping, it's something I only like doing every once in a while so I tend to only play one-shot characters.

If you have a great group, it can be lots of fun. Otherwise, only one or two characters get good moments while everyone else just kind of hangs out waiting for stuff to happen. Since most games last three hours or more, this can be boring.

My best game involved me playing a succubus agent trying to charm as much information as possible from the opposition during a conference between mages and vampires. I'm not a very flirtatious person by nature, but I felt save with my group. Everyone was wearing a sticker indicating how comfortable they were with physical contact. We also had hand signals to stop play if you wanted a break or make suggestions.

I am kind of bemused at how low LARPing is on the geek hierarchy. I won't deny that some people I've played with are way more into it than I am. It's like D&D people who talk about their characters way too much. However, most of the people I've met have been fun to talk to. Like most social activities, finding the right group for you can make all the difference.

[lit_wolf.livejournal.com]

I didn't even know that LARPing was a hated thing for the longest time. I only learned about RPGs in college, both table top and LARP. My friends at college lured me into their games and the RPG club on campus, which featured a wide variety of table tops and then one huge LARP for the whole club to participate in. All we fun, all were a blast, and I didn't even know that LARPing was looked down upon.

I find it especially odd that table top RPGers would dislike it. If you don't want to do it, that's one thing; but to actively hate upon it while you run a table top game? That's just weird.

[billybobfred]

Only in the RPing world does becoming a form of exercise make a hobby more geeky.

[(Anonymous)]

I'd really like to LARP (in a taking-how-ridiculous-it-is-and-running-with-it kind of way- I want an excuse to dress like a loon and be furiously hammy), but nobody here seems interested either.

I'm kind of worried if I did find people who wanted to do it, they'd thing I didn't take it seriously enough. :/

[(Anonymous)]

I really want to LARP! Considering my friends at college who are into making crazy films, playing D&D or the Serenity RPG, generally acting crazy, making costumes, and fighting/chasing each other around, there is no real stigma attached to LARPing at liberal arts colleges because it combines what everyone's already interested in.
I want to get into it but I've heard it can get kinda clique-y and I'd be such a noob I'd be pretty nervous.

God I wanna LARP Vampire the Masquerade sooooooo bad ...

[(Anonymous)]

Where in the Pacific Northwest are you? It's pretty well-accepted in the Portland, Oregon area, although it can be hard to find a group.

[omorka]

My experience here in Texas is that it's not seen as any more geeky than regular tabletop RPing. A con (whether anime, SF/Fantasy, or gaming) without a LARP of some sort is fairly rare. Having said that, we're typically less into dressing up in armor and running around with boffer weapons - it's usually too hot for that unless you're really, really into it, and most of those people end up in the SCA. We tend to do mind's-eye-theater-type LARPs - more talking, less combat, and you can stay in the A/C. In fact, we had a meeting today for prop construction for one I'm running in two weeks . . . which I should get back to working on.

[hornpile]

I think it woud be pretty fun to run around with a sword and armour and pretend to beat people up. But, you know, you need... a sword and armour of some sort. haha
And that's my insightful contribution.