Looking to get back into LARPing
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Doom
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Looking to get back into LARPing

Post by Doom »

Hi folks!

I've been out of LARPing for a long time now, but have really missed it. Things just didn't line up to make it possible after the group I was in imploded (IFGS - Columbus, OH chapter). Things were great for several years with them, but as with many things, it got political and most of the good people left. I'm still not going to have a lot of time on my hands because of my job, but I'm hoping to sneak in some mayhem here and there.

I've read a bunch of the posts where people have asked a lot of good questions. You all seemed to be very accommodating to new people which should make joining easy. I only have a few costume pieces left over so I'm in the process of getting some new garb. Regarding that, IFGS just used color patches for armor, but some of you all appear to wear real armor or close facsimiles. Please give me any information you can about that. Should I be buying a chain vest and some grieves? If I do and it doesn't work out, I can still wear them to the Ren Fest right? :-) I just want to fully understand what to be prepared for.

I'm mainly interested in the weapons though. I still have several boffers left in good shape and I can go over them and replace foam/tape with no problem. What I was interested in was whether you all allow the new latex weapons. I remember back in the mid 90s when we first saw them, we were amazed. They looked so awesome compared to the boffers! Problem? The latex disintegrated if you even looked at them too hard. I've been doing a lot of research though and there seems to have been a lot of improvement to them in the 15+ years I've been out of this. So the main question is, do you allow them at all? Are there maybe only certain companies you allow them from?

Also, for the event on Oct 18-20 out at Chelsea campground, is there anything I need to do before coming besides making a character? I'll be clothed and armed (one way or another) but do I need to sign up anywhere or do anything else?

Looking forward to meeting you all!

Mike
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Re: Looking to get back into LARPing

Post by dier_cire »

(from a player perspective)

Armor is all about how much you want to wear and what kind. While you can "wear" heavy armor with no phys rep, you will take a hit on how many armor points you are awarded. The number of points you get is based on your skill level in the armor skill you have with modifiers based on coverage and/or whether it looks good. We do have a natural armor skill which is just tougher skin and requires no phys rep as well. Over the years we've had everything from cardboard and duct tape to cut up sleds to full blown plate so don't feel shy about trying things. If you want to do something on the cheap, I think Crunch did most of his with only things from the thift store. All in all, yes we use armor phys reps, but we are not snobby about it at all.

As for weapons, we do allow latex weapons and the new ones are much higher quality than the ones years ago. There are some that are fairly firm which I believe are allowed as long as you show restraint but the softer ones are fine. I've never seen us have a list of companies but if you are thinking of buying one, it's never a bad idea to post a link first.

Hope to see you in a few weeks!
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Re: Looking to get back into LARPing

Post by NPC Kees »

We allow pretty much any latex that has been certified by someone else. I know that's vague but it is pretty much the truth. The best way to gauge whether or not a weapon is safe is would you like to get smashed in the face with it. If the answer falls under that would break me, don't use it. If it's more of owwie ow ow, it's probably safe.

Just fyi, the weapons marshal will probably test your weapon in a similar manner.

That said, hope to see you for the evil undead killing event.
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Re: Looking to get back into LARPing

Post by Anya »

You only need to sign up if you want in on the food plan. That's $10 and you will actually get all your meals provided in October. Normally the food plan only does the 3 meals on Saturday, but October is Chilifest so lunch is going to be chili that everyone is welcome to bring a pot of. There's another thread on the forums that deal with all that information.

We have cabins for sleeping, but you will want to make sure you bring a good sleeping bag and pillow. Some of the cabins have working heaters, some do not, so keep that in mind. And we have real bathrooms! Since you have LARPed before, I am sure you already know about the extra socks and rain gear, but it is October, so no telling what weather we will have this year. Could be 80 or 15. >.<

Hope to see you at the event! :)
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Re: Looking to get back into LARPing

Post by Doom »

I do love killing me some undead!

My most funny but cool physrep armor was for a samurai team we put together from clan Mitsubishi. I took foam gardening pads and made a mostly full O-yoroi suit with them - front and back plates, shoulders and legs. I also had this ridiculously huge curved Nodachi, like 60 something inches long, weighed a ton and planed like no ones business. Everyone made their own suits up depending on class, but we tied them together with back banners displaying the Mitsubishi three diamond emblem. The suit won the event and yearly awards for best costume.

I'm not sure what type of character I'm going to play yet, so I'm still tossing around ideas. While I am on the Asian theme, do you all have a race/region that has an Asian theme?


That Chilifest sounds awesome. I'll look for the other thread. Thanks Anya!
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Re: Looking to get back into LARPing

Post by Damara »

No idea on the Asian themed race. But here's the link to the chili fest topic: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=42730
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Re: Looking to get back into LARPing

Post by dier_cire »

Doom wrote:While I am on the Asian theme, do you all have a race/region that has an Asian theme?
We have pandas! Er wait, nvm, that's what killed WoW.

There is no particularly Asian themed race, but we have had multiple people play Asian inspired characters before. For the most part, culture hasn't been tied to the whole of a race in the world and many races have quite a few sub cultures, in fact.
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Re: Looking to get back into LARPing

Post by Crunch »

Fortunately armor is something that is easy to get into after a few games so you could start without it and add it at your discretion. I would encourage playing with cheaper stuff before throwing a bunch of money at it. If you need help with armor you can PM me on the forums here. I do a LOT of armor work and relatively cheap so I can give you advice. But It wouldn't hurt to do an event without armor to see what you want to do before you invest in it (hard to be a sneaky guy or a caster while wearing heavy armor)
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Re: Looking to get back into LARPing

Post by GM Evan »

The Kingdom of Alleria (neighboring kingdom to Silverthorn, where the campaign is primarily set) is Asian themed. Different provinces vary from Japanese to Chinese to Korean to a mish-mosh of general asian themes.

The thing with Alleria is that its a mageocracy (mages rule, only mages can become nobles, etc) and Silverthorn is very much the opposite (mages are policed heavily, rarely hold actual noble title, and are generally feared, mistrusted, and kept at arms length by the ruling class). So while Silverthorn and Alleria are not openly at war, they are VERY much opposites both in culture (Silverthorn being a more traditional european society, and Alleria being Asian) and in ruling philosophy.

With all that said, I am by no means trying to discourage you from playing an Allerian character. I would simply "encourage" you to have at least a basic background explanation of why you left Alleria (especially if you are playing a mage, since you would basically be giving up at least minor nobility when you come to Silverthorn). We can help fill in details of why you might be in Midway (the current game town) but the leaving part would be up to you. :)

If you have any questions please feel free to let me know.

-Evan

P.S. Just remembered that I did an overview earlier this year on Alleria and it is in our Races and Nations forum, here is a link to it for more detail on Alleria:

viewtopic.php?f=66&t=36619
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Re: Looking to get back into LARPing

Post by Doom »

X-GM Evan wrote:The thing with Alleria is that its a mageocracy (mages rule, only mages can become nobles, etc) and Silverthorn is very much the opposite (mages are policed heavily, rarely hold actual noble title, and are generally feared, mistrusted, and kept at arms length by the ruling class). So while Silverthorn and Alleria are not openly at war, they are VERY much opposites both in culture (Silverthorn being a more traditional european society, and Alleria being Asian) and in ruling philosophy.

Thanks Evan! That would work perfectly for me to write up a background as to why I was in Silverthorn given the character I was thinking about. If I decide on that one.

I have a question about characters now. Is there a limit to how many characters you can have as long as their costuming/attitudes are completely different? Can you play multiples over the weekend or just one? Is there an extra charge if you play two?
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Re: Looking to get back into LARPing

Post by Hawke »

You can have up to three.
You can only swap characters at a repop (game on, 6am Sat, 6pm Sat) excepting explicit verbal GM approval.
No extra cost.
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Re: Looking to get back into LARPing

Post by GM Evan »

Hawke would be correct with the small caveat that GM's can Veto character changes even at re-pops, so please check with staff before changing characters. They may have something planned for your character that re-pop, or you may have angered an NPC or other PC's and they could be coming after you. Basically, dont use it as a way to avoid repercussions for your actions. It is VERY rare that staff says no you cant change, but its appreciated if you check just to make sure.

-E
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Re: Looking to get back into LARPing

Post by X-GM Brian »

Evan and Hawke speak ze troof!
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Re: Looking to get back into LARPing

Post by dier_cire »

It's still the rule you can only apply all points earned from an event to a single character though, correct? I'd find the posts where this was discussed last but apparently the search tool thinks "character" "event" and "points" are all common words and thus unsearchable.
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Re: Looking to get back into LARPing

Post by Hawke »

My understanding was that points were assigned to a player, and I could assign them to my characters any way I want, even if I didn't play the character this moon. The restrictions about changing characters is about not abusing in-game mechanics, not leveling up an alt a little, so you don't have to walk in as a 100 point character.

I think there might be caveats about playing the character once per fame tier, so we don't have completely unknown Legendary famous heroes running around, but when you're talking about 20-50 points an event, it takes multiple events for that to be a concern.
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