LARPs Can Change the World

In the midst of all this drama, I think it's important to point out some of the wonderful, positive benefits that LARPs can show us. So, as usual, we should take a look to the Norwegians, who have recently appointed a long time gamer and LARPer to the position of Minister of International Development. Here's the article.

Not only is this guy totally in the open about his hobby (which, admittedly is easier in Norway), but he's actually using strategies and tactics from various LARPs in his work as Minister. He claims that "LARP can change the world, because it lets people understand that humans under pressure may act differently than in the normal life, when you’re safe." Then he talks about a LARP project where they are trying to have Israelis and Palestinians in each others shoes, in hopes of building bridges.

It's pretty easy for people (including ourselves) to focus on the surface of what we do without looking at the deeper impact and value that LARPs provide. I, for one, cannot wait until the day when we can feel proud to say "I'm a LARPer" and actually have our hobby make a difference.

How about you? Are you proud and open about what you do, and have you ever used concepts from LARP, and not just skills acquired at LARP, in the professional world?

YouTube Friday: Larping Around

Once again, I'm bringing a gem that I got from the UK Grand Expedition. Here's a video from the UK that does a great job of explaining what a LARP is.

I really want to play some Eurolarp.

Enjoy!

Why "Competition" is Good

There's been a lot of commenting going on based on Bill's last couple posts. Really, I couldn't say it any better than a lot of the points made. We all know, logically, that diversity is a good thing.

But at the same time, when new LARPs have come up, people tend to have a knee-jerk reaction and view these upstarts with suspicion, if not outright hostility. These games, even if not the same type or theme, are seen as out to bring down "their" game. They are full of people who can't play, who play to hard, or who just don't get it. They are, in some way, inferior, and a threat to our good time.

From what I've seen, though, people don't make LARPs to bring others down, or because they like controlling people and telling them what to do (mostly). At least in the beginning, people make LARPs because they have a vision of a way to create a new, fun way of creating the LARP experience and they want to share it with like-minded people. They have a dream - and the dream is not, in general, to be High Supreme LARP Overlord. :) That may come later, of course, but at the heart, everyone just wants to play a fun game.

Unfortunately, those who see other games as competition aren't totally wrong. LARPers are only a small percentage of the overall population, and it's very difficult to have multiple, successful, large games in the same area. Or is that just in Ohio? :)

So how can you both support diversity and ensure the survival of your particular brand of LARP?

Support these other games. It may not make sense in a business model, but LARPs aren't really there to make people money. Or at least, I don't think they should be, and I don't think that most do a very good job of it. So instead, games should act more like a club or a hobby - and you don't see different Girl Scout troops trying to cause the other to fail (or at least, I didn't :) ). No one wants their hobby to have a negative, hostile atmosphere - even if it's directed at the other team. No one wants to feel like they're bad people for playing another game. Why not be a knight one weekend and a space marine the next?

And, as anyone who's a fan of capitalism knows, competition can create a lot of good things. If you don't have to try to succeed, things get stale, and old. I'm not saying to change for the sake of change, but certainly be open to it. Competition brings new ideas, new ways of doing things. It challenges us to keep up, to do better. With our friendly competition here, I'm not advocating that we constantly try to outdo each other and prove how we're better - that just leads right back to hostility and everything else. But certainly there could be a little of that, deep inside - I mean, we've all got our pride, right? :)

We can all learn from each other to keep up a good quality game. What is that game doing that people like? Why do certain players play there, and how can we get them to also play here? What cool prop-making have they thought of?

On a personal level, it can be really nice to have somewhere to go where you can just have fun. If you run a game, you can "vacation" at the other one without feeling responsible. If you're heavily involved in one game, playing others can create a break and freshen your outlook.

I've been very impressed at how our 3 big NERO chapters have been working together recently (at least outwardly). They seem to support decisions made, they try not to schedule over each other, and they maintain a positive atmosphere. And I think it is working - I know I'm more encouraged to play different chapters, because I feel like I'd be welcome.

And once you work together, it makes you a stronger force. When one chapter goes against National, it's easier to ignore than 3. And when several games group up, they can share information and players, but also have a force in the community. They can do demos, go to fairs, and so on - and the more people you have, and the more diversity, the more likely you are to suck in new players and break the stigma.

So maybe what I'm talking about isn't really competition. Maybe what I'm saying is still "diversity is good," and we shouldn't circle the wagons when we hear about new LARPs. Try them out, learn a few things, keep an open mind. Bill is right: We want to be a community made up of many voices that make all of our hobbies stronger and better.

YouTube Friday: LARPers (Vimeo)

Today's video comes from a indie project to make a show about LARPers. I don't have a lot of details regarding the show itself, but here is the email I received from Will Sampson, one of the creators of the show.

Hi there,

I wanted to reach out to you for your support in getting the word out on a television pilot my roomates and I are assembling. We would love it if you could post a link to our Indiegogo page on your blog. We would be happy to answer any questions or conduct an interview for your site. We also have some exclusive material I could send your way should your site choose to support us.

Thank you!

Will Sampson

After having a further discussion with Will, the show is going to be shot as a documentary fiction, ala "Parks and Recreation" and "The Office." Their goals seem to be in-line with what I would like to see in a LARP show, so I'm definitely excited about this project. So if you're interested in seeing something like this, stop over at their Indiegogo page and contribute!

http://www.indiegogo.com/LARPers

It would be really cool if the Ohio (and Indiana!) LARP communities could single handedly get this thing off the ground, so spread the word!

YouTube Friday: Documentary and Nature Magic

Because it's Friday, I've got to throw up a video. This is a documentary from Brighton University about LARP, and despite the less professional quality of the video, I think that the people in the video sound like average, everyday people who happen to LARP. I love content like this.

Enjoy!



-----

So I've promised to talk about the pros of the Nature Playtest from WAR/NCN. So here we go!

1. Straight Forward Goal
A lot of playtests don't have a clear goal when they're submitted. Goals are important, because it lets everyone start on the same page. If someone submitted a playtest with a goal to improve production skills and in the text unbalanced melee combat, I would know that I could change the melee combat part without affecting the goal of the playtest. Additionally, if someone submitted a playtest to make hoblings better, I know that I could drop the playtest right away, as the goal of the playtest doesn't fit the balance goals of NERO.

Nature magic had the goal of adding another school of magic for two reasons. First, it added additional variety to magic in the game. Second, it targeted some common fantasy archtypes that didn't really exist in the game at the time. This is why the animal spells were adopted into the core rules by National.

2. Balance
Undertaking a new school is tough. There's so many things you have to worry about. How many takedowns are in the school? Does it obsolete something? Are there worthwhile spells to cast at every level? Is the formal magic worth it? What about Cantrips?

Other than a handful of mechanics (most of which I mentioned in the earlier post), the system was actually pretty balanced (before the last revision). And that's after having played with it in one form or another for almost 4 of the 11 years I've been playing.

3. Completion
Some playtests don't handle all the collateral damage they create. They tend to have glaring errors that leaving gaping holes in the rules that are up for interpretation. As a whole, Nature Magic is complete. It covers battle, cantrip, and formal magic. The new effects that are used are included in the playtest. There's very little that is up to interpretation.

Don't get me wrong, Nature still has a way to go before it could become a National Playtest. It's under a particularly high amount of scrutiny, due to the fact that it adds a lot of effects and is a new build purchased skill, rather than a playtest that modifies an already existing skill. But hopefully people can take away some lessons from this when writing playtests for 9th edition.

And yes, we'll be setting a way for people to submit playtests. We just have to get it through the proper channels.

YouTube Friday: Senior Prank

Despite the fact that it's still a rather small hobby, it's interesting to see how many people actually know what LARPing is. While we have to deal with the fact that we're often misrepresented, this is definitely the first step to breaking the stigma of LARPing.

Today's video comes from a Senior prank at Southern Regional High School. They decided to have an impromptu LARP Fest on school grounds. Now, before you watch the video, it's important to note that people who take their LARP seriously might be shocked at the rag-tag kit used by these students, but don't let that fool you. At the end of the video, they ask a few students how it went, and they all enjoyed themselves. See, even when people are making a parody of LARP, they can have a ton of fun.

Anyways, Enjoy!

YouTube Friday: Tough Gig

I found this little gem last week. It's a rather old TV program where Dara O'Briain immerses himself into a group, and then tries to do stand up comedy focused on their group. In this episode, he chose LARPers.

He does an amazing job of being honest about his feelings, including when he feels uncomfortable. And he enjoys it and seems to finally embrace it at the end. As I've mentioned many times before, I love stuff like this.

Enjoy!

LARP on the History Channel

LARP has a long running tradition of looking bad in larger scale forms of media. On the other hand, there's been plenty of local editorial pieces that have been very kind, providing informational content on games without making the players look like weirdos.

There's an opportunity going around the internet, regarding a show that the History Channel will be making. It's a show about LARPs, probably covering different groups around the country.

People are afraid, and rightly so.

You see, the casting director is the same person who did casting for Wife Swap. And anyone who has watched Wife Swap should know that they don't have a habit of painting the participants in a good light.

However, the same group has also done casting for shows like Pawn Stars or Missouri Truck Stop, which aren't too bad. And the show is going to be done by the History Channel.

I personally think that we should do our best to put a good foot forward and try and participate, while asking them what they intend for the program (without being too pushy).

If anyone is interested in contacting the casting director, send an email to LARP.Ohio@gmail.com and I'll give the contact info.

New TV Project Will Feature Role Playing Groups From Across The Country!

To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Danielle Gervais. I'm a Casting Producer based in New York City and I'm currently casting an exciting new tv project that will be dedicated to Live Action Role Play and the groups and individuals who participate in it! We're searching the country for the most dynamic, interesting and dedicated groups of players and we're open to all types of live action role play, both fantasy and historic. If you'd like to learn more, please don't hesitate to contact me!

I look forward to speaking with you!

All My Best,

Danielle

NEW TV PROJECT IS SEARCHING FOR THE ULTIMATE HISTORIC and/or FANTASY LIVE ACTION ROLE PLAY GROUP!

From the Producer’s of History Channel’s Pawn Stars comes a brand new show dedicated to Historic and/or Fantasy Role Play and the people who love it (and live it!)

We’re searching the country for a passionate and talented group of Historic and/or Fantasy Live Action Role Play participants to feature on this new series, which will follow them as they battle their way from city to city. If you or someone you know would be interested in participating in a TV Project dedicated 100% to Historic and/or Fantasy Live Action Role Play, we want to hear from you!

Please email us with some photos, a brief description of yourself and your group and why you’d be perfect for this show! Don’t forget to include your contact information.

You Are A Character IRL

So I've been doing some thinking since I watched Jesse Schell's presentation from DICE 2010. I'm wondering the best way to make a LARP integrated into the social structure, while still being immersive. This is a difficult task, but I think there's one way to achieve full immersion and social integration of the game.

Make a LARP where you play yourself.

I know that one of the big draws of LARP is that you get to be someone else, but you can make it so that you are still playing yourself, but you have more when you're in the game.

I was thinking about this, because Jenn and I both got each other the Supernatural Role Playing Game for our anniversary (God Bless Nerds). And that, like WoD Hunter, is something where your character can be you, but also be more than you.

Yes, you are a normal person. But occasionally you go on hunts, and you have skills and such that make you useful in those situations. That way you can talk about the game to others without breaking immersion. Hell, you can facebook about it, or check facebook while you're playing it, and no one would feel ripped out of the immersion.

This could also work with a number of other concepts, where there is some trigger where you can do more inside of another world. Maybe you're really a superhero, and when you put on a special mask you get powers that let you fight evil. But you're still you, and you can talk about it all you want to others without breaking immersion. And the mask thing explains why you don't go around punching zombies every day and still have to go to work/school.

Now, the obvious downside of this is that it dances on the thin line of being too real, and then you get the Mazes and Monsters effect, which looks pretty terrible from any outsider. You don't want people telling others on facebook that they themselves (not a character) is a wizard who summons the dead. That could go bad pretty fast.

What do you think? Would you participate in a modern-ish type game where you are playing yourself, except you have some means to special powers (think the rings from captain planet)? What if you didn't really have special powers, but you still did adventures and such, like the hunters from Supernatural?

YouTube Friday: RDCCDX LARP

Forgive me, because I don't remember who posted this on Facebook, but I dig it. There's really to things about this though.

First, this video, and the rest of the Ronin Dojo Community College DX is hilarious. Second, the guys who made this will shortly be making a show for Cartoon Network called Level Up, which has loose ties to LARPing. In that show, 4 friends are going to have to deal with video game characters that are leaking into the real world.

For more information, you can visit their blog at www.fortaxreasons.com.

I apologize to anyone who is offended by this video ahead of time. For the rest of you, Enjoy!

YouTube Friday: Impromptu LARP

This might be a little deceiving due to production level and what's going on, but it's actually really amazing. In this video, a group of kids (not sure the age group) are presented with the opportunity to try LARPing and are not turned off. None of the common stereotypes are preventing them from taking the opportunity to take some shots on their friends, and as the person who shot the video said, he was well aware that they were LARPing.

This is something that's special about low level rules games like Dag, Bel, and Amt. It's so easy to learn the rules that people can be playing after a minute of explanation. And when given opportunities like this, you can get people to LARP without having to talk about hit points or making them dress up. Bravo to the group that arranged this.

Enjoy!



PS: If you know what group did this, post in the comments, as I'd like to give credit where credit's due.

Why Gaming Is Awesome

So this post is not specific to LARPers, but is totally worth talking about anyways.

A while back, I talked about a few youtube videos that I got from TED (via Ruthless Diastema) about how we can break the stigma if we use games the right way. Turns out, one company did just that.

Foldit is a company that takes real world algorithmic puzzles and turns them into a competitive online gaming environment. I know it sounds like it wouldn't ever be worth anything, but preliminary reports show that they have helped make major steps in the war on HIV.

If you have a lot of empirical work to do, make it seem fun and get people who spend hours on gaming do the work for you. Games build pattern recognition in gamers, which is something that's still somewhat hard to do with computer programming.

As a note, this is exactly what Jane McGonigal talked about at TED.

PS: Here is the full document in regards to steps made in protein structure predictions.

YouTube Friday: Splash Woman

Today's vid is a video from one of the artists that was at the concert on Wednesday. Random AKA MegaRan is an ex-Middle School teacher gone nerdrapper. He raps about video games because those are what kept him out of trouble as a kid.

If you consider yourself a fan of either Mega Man or of hip-hop, you should give this video a try.

Enjoy!

Nerdy is the New Normal

I know this isn't particularly LARP related, but I think it's worth mentioning.

I had a chance to go see the mc chris show at the Grog Shop in Cleveland last night, and it was amazing. Four different rappers, all singing about different things. But what united them was that they all recognized that they were nerds, whether they were rapping about comics, video games, or Shakespeare. And you know what? They were actually really good.

The world is finally coming to terms with the fact that pretty much everyone has something they're nerdy about. Now all we need is a Nerdcore rapper that raps about LARP.

Get Your Theory On with Knutepunkt

I know it's been said before, but I'll say it again. Europeans are leaps and bounds more advanced than we are at LARPs. For one, they have an academic conference every year (since 1997) called "Knutepunkt."

I just recently discovered this, and I'm honestly suprised I haven't found it sooner. They've got all kinds of great information about the theories behind LARPing as well as techniques for running games and opinions on the LARP scene in general. And it's all free for download here.

If you consider yourself an academic when it comes to LARPs, I highly recommend giving it a try.

Google Is My Bitch

As of yesterday, here were LARP Ohio's standings in Google (searched by me while logged out).

Search for "LARP":
Results: About 6,310,000
LARP Ohio standing: 36 (Page 4)

Search for "Ohio Blog"
Results: About 253,000,000
LARP Ohio Standing: 15 (Page 2)

Search for "LARP Blog"
Results: 1,290,000
LARP Ohio Standing: 1 (Page 1)

I am quite astonished by our standing in "Ohio blog", since it has no references to LARP whatsoever. Maybe this will help it become mainstream?

Anyways, I wanted to give my heartfelt thanks to all the readers for making this happen. That's all on you.

YouTube Friday: Hit Hard, Take Light

I always like it when I stumble upon a decent foam fighting video. I find that a lot of them either play everything in slow motion, play crappy music, or show a lot of down time.

This Dag video does none of the above.

This is the kind of video that someone might watch and think might be a lot of fun. I would be proud to show this video to someone who doesn't know what a LARP is.

Enjoy!

YouTube Thursday: Knights of Baddassdom

I know, I know. YouTubes are supposed to be on Fridays now. But I've put this post off long enough. Any longer, and I'd be behind the times.

For those of you not in the know, Comic-Con is one of the biggest geek conventions in US. Every year, people go to San Diego in hopes of finding out the next great fantasy/sci-fi/comic book thing, whether it be graphic art, literature, and especially movies.

If your movie hopes to rely on nerd culture at the box office, then your best bet would be to get a strong buzz at Comic-con. For independent films, it's make or break.

Now, there's a movie I've been tracking for the past half a year in hopes of finding a trailer. I heard the concept of it and wanted desperately to see/hear more. And that movie is Joe Lynch's "Knights of Badassdom," a movie based on LARP. And that movie just made it's debut at Comic-con, in a big way.


Now, I didn't get a chance to go to Comic Con myself, but I have been reading all the reports of who's hot and who's not. And apparently between the release of the trailer and a spectacular panel in Hall H (one Hall to rule them all), KoB is definitely what's hot.

For those of you who aren't in the know, this movie is about a couple of guys who kidnap their mundane friend and bring him to a LARP. Then it's all fun and games until someone accidentally summons a Succubus, and the LARPers have to take care of the situation. And it packs some major star power for an independent film, including Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones), Ryan Kwanten (True Blood), Summer Glau (Firefly), Steve Zahn (Sahara) and Jimmi Simpson (Loser).

Based on the trailer alone, I think this movie is going to be a great representation of a LARP game, set in a horror movie. Unlike The Wild Hunt, the LARPers don't go crazy and aren't devil worshippers (even though they accidentially summon a succubus). I think this movie has just enough Horror to make it with people uninitiated with LARP while leaving people with the feel good feeling about LARP as we got from Role Models. And depending on how campy the horror is, it could end up supplanting the Evil Dead series as the pump up movie for a lot of LARPers I know.

The movie is currently in post production, slated to come out next Spring. Since it is an independent film, you should do your best to spread the buzz about this film publicly, in hopes of it hitting theaters near you.

Verily, you should like the YouTube video and join the Facebook group.

I know I can't wait. I would be more than happy to write a review if I could get my hands on an early copy of this movie.

Enjoy!

YouTube Friday: World of LARP

So what could be better than a video about LARP?

Why, a mini-series about LARP, of course!

Seven Kingdoms IGE is either putting together or working with a film crew to put together a mini-series called World of LARP, which I assume will be following some of their players around documentary style. As always, this can be either good or bad for the game, depending on who they follow and how they portray it.

Also, I think that guy was being a drama queen about that nut shot.

Enjoy!

Your Very Own Press Kit

In the latest LARPcast, Dan Comstock talked about the importance of a press kit, and how you can use it to get local media engaged in advertising your game. I thought it would be worthwhile to go a little more in-depth on the subject, including everything that should be included.

1. Cover Letter
First and foremost, you need to have a cover letter. This document should do a good job of explaining who you are and what you do. Try to sound as professional as possible and explain all the basics behind LARP. Remember, this person may not know about gaming, let alone LARPing. Try to put it in terms of entertainment value, not necessarily in terms of game mechanics.

Conclude the cover letter by thanking the person for taking the time to read your press kit, and give them your personal contact info or the contact info of a PR person that they can talk to if they have more questions.

2. Game History
Attach a small essay on the history of your game. If your game is part of a franchise, touch on the history of the franchise. Altogether, this probably shouldn't be more than 250 words. You're trying give this person an easy article. If you give them a life story and make them edit it, it's going to make their job harder.

3. Media
Find some high resolution digital pictures that wouldn't be out of place in an article. Make sure you get the rights to use it from the players in the picture as well as the person who took the picture. Pick no more than 5 or so that you think would fit the article. Again, giving too many pictures gives more work to the person writing the article - something you want to avoid.

I would try and avoid video, since most videos associated with the game are low quality. If the news outlet really thinks this is a great opportunity for a video article, let them bring their equipment out and take their own interviews.

4. Contact/Game Information
Include a small paragraph about how an average person could get in touch with your group. Email, phone, and website (the shortest website name possible). Include location, cost, dates of games. Also make those things readily available on your website, but that's another story.

When done professionally, those four things could get you free advertising in the newspaper or, even better, the local news station.

Anyone have any experience with making a Press Kit for your game?