# Fellow Larpers!



## bobss (May 18, 2008)

Hey, barely a few days back I was introduced into the world of LARP (Live Action Role-Play) which to me is pure fucking-awesomeness.

I was wondering if any of you guys larp`d and if you could show us videos of yourself, as well as any pics of weapons/armour you have:victory::laugh:


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## Varakir (Sep 2, 2009)

Good for you mate, hope you've found a good group.

The problem with LARP for me has always been that there is a very thin line between awesomeness and looking like a complete tit. You need to find a group that realizes the importance of good costumes and weapons but is game for a laugh, as apposed to the people who spend 30 mins making a costume and believe they actually are a wizard.

I've been exposed to LARP a few times, but it's always fallen on the latter of the two....so no pics from me i'm afraid.


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## Azkaellon (Jun 23, 2009)

A friend keeps trying to get me to larp, thing is when there's a bunch of 35 year old and higher people arguing about fake "people" all day it even creeps ME out (third person did not help...) Then one old fart shot me with a nerf pistol -_- he never got the darts back Hehehhehe (I Cut them to ribbons in front of him, then told him if he shot me again the gun would be up his ass for the rest of his life)


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## Capt.Al'rahhem (Jan 24, 2009)

I've been in a Medievel Fantasy LARP for going on 10 years. We call our realm and game Darkon, http://www.darkon.org/ , a foam "boffer" combat LARP with classes and spells thrown in. It's one of the largest on the east coast of the US, based in the Baltimore/Washington DC Metro area. There has been a widely circulated Documentary made about it, call Darkon, it's availiable on Amazon, Netflix and has been on IFC. I'm the King of the country of Albion, a Knight of the Realm and currently the President of Darkon for 2010.

One of the best pics of me










My country Albion










Pic of me and one of my guys fighting










A video of one of my Noble Tourneys


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## bobss (May 18, 2008)

* Dubble post, lol *


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## bobss (May 18, 2008)

@ Varakir, I can really understand what you mean. From some Videos Ive seen, as well as other types of Role-play iim in, its obvious how people cheat, or God-Mod (Basically create extremely powerful characters) with often poor cotumes, and generally a WoW attitude towards it.

(For example, me and my mate are going to be making Chaos Warrior/Dark Elf costumes, which are ALOT more complicated than some foam and gaffer tape, and will cost alot of money and time...)

@ Capt`Alrahhem, nice costume  and a good community at that, often none-fantasy/more medievil themed events have less cheating/spell spamming?

Another Q. Are there any, especially Warhammer Larp-groups in Britain? I know its big in other countries like, Denmark, Sweeden etc.


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## deathbringer (Feb 19, 2009)

It looks entertaining to say the least and though I would never ever criticise it just reminds me of what me and my mates used to do with bin lids and tubes from the inside of wrapping paper in days gone by.

It looks entertaining and i would applaud anyone that could get into it and make it work
Some of those costumes look equisite but its definitely not for me
However I would love to see more photos

@Capt Al'rahhem: What were the rules i was watching and the people kept kneeling was there a judge that judged when you died or was it at your own discretion... curiosity was gnawing at me?


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## fynn (Sep 19, 2008)

well, larping is fun, i use to go larping every year, but have since given it up due to fittness issues(i.e fucked knees, fucked back and fucked shoulder............lol) and due to larping geting more expensive every year.
i used to play in the lorian trust system, which was easy to use (untill they started rules up-dates and screwing up low leval characters), but overall, was always a good time, even with the few arseholes that turned up in order to try and realy hurt some one (i.e useing illegal weapons).
any way heres a couple of pics of me back from the old days of 2000 and 2001, as my character Fynn O'leary, clan chife of the Clan O'leary

















As for kit, it can be as expensive or as cheap as you want it to be, depending on what you playing, my kit, not including weapons, cost about 20 quid to make, a good shirt and some cloth for the kilt, and i was done. weapons can be pricey, depending on which trader you buy em from. the batlieth in one of the pics cost me 75 quid to buy, and that was 10 years ago, and the sword cost about 40 quid


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## NoiseMarine (Jun 8, 2008)

I think it's fun... It's just the majority of the players are terrible fighters and in horrid shape... Real challenges are few and far between. :cray:


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## bobss (May 18, 2008)

Does anyone know where I can purchase Dark Elf Larp swords? Or generally Fantasy larp swords?

Though better, does anyone make, or know anyone who makes larp swords to your own preferences?


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## fynn (Sep 19, 2008)

try here http://www.eldritch.com/
and here
http://www.adventurersmart.co.uk/

you should be alble to find what your after there


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## bobss (May 18, 2008)

Thanks Fynn!!

Only just briefly looked through it, but seems like some _good_ stuff.

Anyway, from a non-larp perspective (it will become obvious soon), someone has agreed to - for a reasonable price - agreed to make me REAL Dark Elf armour... (check my avatar... the concept art of Malus Darkblade)


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## Zanrian (May 31, 2010)

bobss said:


> Does anyone know where I can purchase Dark Elf Larp swords? Or generally Fantasy larp swords?
> 
> Though better, does anyone make, or know anyone who makes larp swords to your own preferences?


Depends on the price range you're looking for. Because I know a couple of weapon builders. But http://www.palnatoke.com/ is one of the best in the business.


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## Horgh (May 22, 2010)

http://www.blades-uk.com/


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## rodmillard (Mar 23, 2010)

@ Horgh: Unless foam-and-latex versions are lurking in the depths of the site, the weapons from blades-uk will get you a life ban from any UK larp event, because they are made of METAL.

Great props for stage and/or Cosplay, but people should be warned before shelling out cash for a weapon they won't be allowed to use.


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## Oldenhaller (Nov 28, 2008)

LARP, cross country pantomime...

...I think not

~O


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## andygorn (Apr 1, 2011)

For nearly 10 years (on and off), I used to do non-contact (only touching with consent) LARP based on modern day vampires and werewolves.
I got forced out by someone being a di*k (but that's another story), but I enjoyed every minute of it..my first character was the longest-serving PC character in the whole system (about 6-8?years).
The mechanics meant that my PC's had a chance to get involved in fights (and get beaten up in turn), but it also meant the PC's weren't limited by what the players could physically achieve.
No disrespect to people who play those kind of games, but I think the non-contact way is a much better thing, as it emphasises the 'Role Play' -rather than the 'Live Action'- element of LARP plus, I'm not getting a heart attack for anybody.

I was also a little querying about the more medieval/fantasy styles, as you could spend £XXX on a weapon and some basic armour and maybe a cloak, but then your PC gets killed, so did you just spend it for nothing?
Or would you keep having to play the same kind of PC until you can afford to get different stuff?
Or do people tend to buy a range of stuff at the start so then you at least have some gear to play as most kinds of PC?
Not everyone can afford the big stuff like LARP heavy/plate armour, so does this then restrict those characters to the people who can rl afford the gear...as opposed to letting people have freer rein (within the constraints of whatever the GM's / system / background / etc allow)..?
It's not a criticism, I'm just trying to understand stuff, so grateful for experiences, too.


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## Capt.Al'rahhem (Jan 24, 2009)

Welcome to the Cosplay/Larp/ReEnactment section of Heresy, Andygorn. I'm glad I made the effort to come down to this section of the forum today because LARP & 40k are the hobbys most near & dear to my heart.

I've never played a Vampire type LARP, know people that do and it's crossed my mind every now and then but Medieval LARPing is what I got into. I like the physical aspect of Medieval LARPing as it gives me a reason to get off the couch & stay in a bit of shape but at 35 10+ years of combat are starting to wear on my body. As I said I wouldn't know cause I haven't tried but I think the abstract nature of non-combat LARPs would annoy me, especially if someone had such high level abillities & powers that I couldn't effectively do anything to them. I know that's an extreme example and unlikely but I think it annoy me, maybe that's just 10 years of problem solving by combat talking. I do understand how this does lead to much more RP and your are mostly corect about most Medieval LARPs being more Live Action and less Role Playing, at least in my experience.

I will attempt answer your queries as best I can, from my experience in 3 different Medieval LARPs that are prominent on the east coast of the US (Darkon, Dagohir & Amptgard).

In the LARPs I play, the ones with characters and classes (Dag is more just a combat battle game, with the only real character being our style of garb and how you act) the is no real mechinzem for total Charactor death, basicly your Character never truely dies. When "killed" you spend a prescribed time out of the game then you re enter (usually with no knowledge of events within 5 min of your death). Which leads to some interesting and absurd RP problems, like killing a thief for his crime, then him coming back with no knowledge of the crime or the punishment. Amptgard does have a number of"lives" per character that if you run out of during a quest you can not continue to play in that quest but after the quest and at the next event you can play again as normal.

So there is know really issue with buying armor & garb then not getting to us it. Most people with multipul characters (you can only play one at each event) attempt to have differing garb, weapons & armor of each one, if they can. They're are also those that play one character but change classes as different aspects of that character.

In the LARPs I play there are no equipment requirements for classes, some classes can not use certain weapons, such as a rogue can not use pole weapons (spears, halberds, two handed axes, ect.) or heavy armor. So you could play a fighter class with no armor and a dagger, you'd be some what more effective with plate armor, a shield and long sword though. Some fighters do very well in light armor with light weapons, using their speed and agility to fight circles around heavy fighters. All the games I play use foam (boffer) weapons so it's relatively safe for armored and unarmored people to fight in the same combat.

In the end how much you spend on garb, weapons & armor is up to the players budget and how much they're willing to learn to craft on their own. I can help someone make a relatively effective suit of plate (half-plate in D&D terms) for under $200. It'll make them more survivible but not truely a better fighter, a better fighter will still be able to beat them, it'll just take longer. Most people start off with basic equiment, a tunic and whatever weapons the want to use, then add stuff over time. It spreads out the cost, much like slowly buying a wargame army. I've spent thousands over the years on gear, some of which I use all the time, some given away, some gathering dust on selves and in closests.

Hope I've answered some of your question and haven't rambled to much, I can talk about LARPing for hours and hours.


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## andygorn (Apr 1, 2011)

@ Capt.Al'rahhem = Thanks for the info. - very useful.

BTW: I'm not trying to convince anyone about the characteristics of the system I played (I loved every minute of it, but glad to be out of it now 'cos of people's OOC evil as no one threatens my family), just 'sharing the knowledge':

Yes, I did encounter a couple of the "I'm invulnerable people" (mainly 'cos I -sort of- was one myself for a little while -lol), but they generally only came out to play in big events.
Also, the mechanics of the system meant that the 'big guys' could still be affected by 'little guys', as it was based on rock-paper-scissors (with more powerful/skilled people getting re-tests for various things). I remember my PC nearly got killed by a new vampire he'd made a few minutes beforehand, despite x times more skill, powers, retests etc. ago. <epic fail>. Sure, it was hard to do, but not impossible.

We used to have a couple of different games:
Each area held their own 'domain-level' game where it's just the PC's of that area meeting up every fortnightly/monthly LARP and doing their own thing. So these were oportunities for people to do things on a local level in terms of finding out news, building up businesses, taking out rivals, learning new skills, investigating local occurrences, and generally conspired and plottted against each other on a regular basis.
But people were pretty restrained and mainly knew not to annoy people in that the big stuff is NPC's (not PC's) who have to be justified (i.e. they kicked ass + ask for stuff when needed and for a reason, but not just 'cos they could, or until they'd been stopped).

Other people in other local games could travel to local ones (and had to be approved by the local GM each time they turned up), so local players also got a feel for wider effects (e.g. if they wanted to set something up between domains like large businesses, smuggling runs, etc).
Alongside local plots in that domain, each region (eg the North of a country) would have ongoing stories and an annual event which might cross from one domain to another...e.g. someone from another area comes to your local game and says "watch out there's these guys on the loose and they might come here"...part of the nearby local games might then be to investigate whether anyone's seen them around, or reinforcing borders and contact networks to get advanced warning in case they show up (or investigating hideouts if they're already here). Also, if the bad guys from one area got their butts handed to them in one domain, they might just die out an fade away, or they may come to another domain which wasn't as well-protected to start up again, etc.

Over and above these would be a national event and national storylines runnign throughout the year (e.g. a domain situation got ignored by the locals, so it spread to other domains who also did nothing and it escalated into a regional, or even a national problem which may then needed a lot of people to get together to solve as -bascially- a load of other poeple had ignored it).

The national events would be where the big guns came out to play (again, mainly NPC's as these are the guys who really held the power), but also kick-ass monsters, too.
However, the people who were dangerous nearly always reined it in and didn't abuse their powers (i.e. if you were new and ended up annoying the wrong guy -or whatever- there are a lot more sanctions they could use on your PC other than getting into a fight and you always got in- and out- of character reminders about consequences of what you were doing, so that you had a chance to apologise/walk away/etc).

Also, the more powerful PC's/NPC's had badges and were recognisable as such and there was a system of status where people have titles etc so, even if you as a player or as a PC had never met them before, you already had some information about people's rankings, likely levels of ability and who to avoid/be nice to.

Anyway, nice to hear other people's experiences and glad it sounds better than I'd initally thought (I'm not prejudiced about anything -let alone larp- but maybe I was 'afraid of the unknown' I guess).

I know it depoends on which system etc, but do people find there's plenty of non-fighting stuff to do?
E.g. If I wanted to play something like an alchemist, herbalist, or a priest/healer, are there generally plenty of things to keep busy/occcupied? (I don't mind things like "sit here and make potions for an hour" or some such, as I adore learning and I find these things interesting).

Maybe I might try to do the more medieval/contact larp stuff, as I need to get some focus and some activity into my life (lol).
I got a pair of proper larpsafe/approved meat cleavers around here somewhere, so maybe it's time to dust them off and 'get back to the war' (or whatever).
Thanks for the inspiration.


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## SilverTabby (Jul 31, 2009)

fynn said:


> well, larping is fun, i use to go larping every year, but have since given it up due to fittness issues(i.e fucked knees, fucked back and fucked shoulder............lol) and due to larping geting more expensive every year.
> i used to play in the lorian trust system, which was easy to use (untill they started rules up-dates and screwing up low leval characters), but overall, was always a good time, even with the few arseholes that turned up in order to try and realy hurt some one (i.e useing illegal weapons).
> any way heres a couple of pics of me back from the old days of 2000 and 2001, as my character Fynn O'leary, clan chife of the Clan O'leary
> 
> ...


Wow, there's a blast from the past... I do the Lorien Trust, have done since 2000 and there are people in those photos I still RP with at events :grin:

The LT redid their rules about 3 years ago, the power levels are back under control now and it's much easier to get into. I'd recommend it as a UK starting point any day. 

There is a huge LRP community in the UK, doing everything from high fantasy to colonial and scifi. There's even a 40k and a Firefly game. If anyone is interested in trying it out, I can point you in a direction to suit what you want. 

It is unfortunate that the only stuff you generally see is from idiots who give the hobby a bad name. But then, tabletoppers and wargamers get that too, from the image of the sad fat 45yr old who paints and lives in his mums basement :wink:


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## SilverTabby (Jul 31, 2009)

The systems I play are not full-contact as there's no grappling allowed, but are full contact with weapons. However, there's more to it than just hitting things. Our faction has more story and interactive plot going than one player could possibly handle. It's like tabletop, you can either do a pure dungeon-bash where all you do is hit things, or you can talk, interact, solve puzzless...

LRP is what you make of it. It's not as simple as those on the outside believe :wink:


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## SilverTabby (Jul 31, 2009)

For those interested in UK-based LARPs, there's a new one starting this Easter: Empire.

http://www.profounddecisions.co.uk/empire-wiki/Main_Page

I'm not starting til event 3 in July (the trials of getting 2 kids under 5 to an event are - interesting), but levels of Keen are building already. 

If you are interested in trying out the LT, they have finally got online booking up and running: http://www.lorientrust.com/events/

Or if you prefer trying out a system without forking out for weapons, kit and the costs of playing, then come monster a smaller LT event! I am doing two in early april, and can point you at the event organisers who are always looking for more monsters. Try out the rules, have a laugh, and if you like it, come back for more later...

And if you are interested in the smaller events, such as Serenity, 40K, etc, drop me a PM and I can point you at those running them...


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