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Good question. :-) Since I have quite a few new followers and all, I figured I might as well explain that. Well, try to at any rate. ;-) I won't promise anything. I've been doing this since 2001, and I am still not sure what the hell I am doing. X-D
For starters, LARP stands for Live Action Roleplaying Game.
Wikipedia is always a good place to start though, and reading about LARP there can be a good idea to have a small grasp on it. I think they have managed pretty well, actually.
About Live Action Roleplaying Game on Wikipedia
So, basiclly LARP is not just about vampires. Just like any kind of roleplaying, it can be set in any setting. Historic, fantasy, scifi, horror... what have you.
I usually explain it when asked as such.
You have a role, just like in a movie or on a stage in a theater. You know everything about this role. Where he/she comes from. His/her experiences, knowledge, family, history. The works. Hence you'd know how he/she would react in certain situations. What his/her goals would be. BUT! You have no manuscript. You have no idea what will happen during the night, weekend or week (depending on what kind of LARP your at). You can only react according to your character. And the only knowledge you have, is that of your character (so even if you know that Darth Wader is Luke Skywalkers dad, your character might not, and you have to act accordingly).
But no manuscript? How can that work, you ask... Well, there is a manuscript. Sorta. But not everyone knows about it. Only the GM's. The GameMasters. These are the guys (or girls) that decide what role you can have in there LARP and these are also the guys that create the manuscript or story for the LARP. Since they can't predict how all the characters might react, they can't have a strict story, but a pretty wide one, so no matter how certain characters react someone might reach the goal of the LARP. Kill the bad guy. Find the treasure. Win the competition. Overthrow the evil empire. Or what have you. It can be anything. But the players who play the characters don't know. ;-)
Right. Now we have sorta figured out what Live Action Roleplaying Game is. But why vampires then, eh? Well, first of, I like vampires. :-D Reason enough in and of itself to join a vampire-LARP, right? The vampire-LARP I am a part of is the oldest LARP ni Sweden, no matter LARP genre. It has been going on for... 11 or 12 years now, I think. Some of the members that started it, are still active although they don't play the same characters of course.
It is a goth-punk-horror game, recommended from the age of 16 and up. Think the Saw-movies, Nightmare on Elmstreet, Dracula, IT, anything by Stephen King etc and mix it all together. It is based on the old pen-paper roleplaying game Vampire: The Masquarde using the LARP rules that were made for said game that is called Mind's Eye Theater. A clever name. Since even though my character might shop your character to tiny, tiny bits every so slowly while your character is alive.... I am definitely not doing that IRL. X-D We are using our minds eye to do it, imagining it, and talking about it, in a secluded corner and then I can walk around the rest of the evening having my character be damn smug about it. ;-)
The world is very much like your everyday world. Things that happen in RL happen in the game to. BUT! With a darker twist. The shadows are longer. The police-force is ruled by vampires, or the mob (usually ruled by vampires to). More drugs. More violence. More weapons. Just a darker variation of the every day world we have around us, with added vampires. It is a lot of fun to explore. A lot of What If's, if you know what I mean. ;-)
So bad guys then... Why is it so damn fun to play the really twisted and evil bad guys? I found a qoute yesterday when discussing just that (of course you can play the hero/good guy to, but thats just not for me).
To qoute Morgan Freeman:
I seriously couldn't agree more.
Ehr... Right, so... I don't know how to wrap this up, but... you have any questions, feel free to ask away. And to link this around, if you feel like it.
For starters, LARP stands for Live Action Roleplaying Game.
Wikipedia is always a good place to start though, and reading about LARP there can be a good idea to have a small grasp on it. I think they have managed pretty well, actually.
About Live Action Roleplaying Game on Wikipedia
So, basiclly LARP is not just about vampires. Just like any kind of roleplaying, it can be set in any setting. Historic, fantasy, scifi, horror... what have you.
I usually explain it when asked as such.
You have a role, just like in a movie or on a stage in a theater. You know everything about this role. Where he/she comes from. His/her experiences, knowledge, family, history. The works. Hence you'd know how he/she would react in certain situations. What his/her goals would be. BUT! You have no manuscript. You have no idea what will happen during the night, weekend or week (depending on what kind of LARP your at). You can only react according to your character. And the only knowledge you have, is that of your character (so even if you know that Darth Wader is Luke Skywalkers dad, your character might not, and you have to act accordingly).
But no manuscript? How can that work, you ask... Well, there is a manuscript. Sorta. But not everyone knows about it. Only the GM's. The GameMasters. These are the guys (or girls) that decide what role you can have in there LARP and these are also the guys that create the manuscript or story for the LARP. Since they can't predict how all the characters might react, they can't have a strict story, but a pretty wide one, so no matter how certain characters react someone might reach the goal of the LARP. Kill the bad guy. Find the treasure. Win the competition. Overthrow the evil empire. Or what have you. It can be anything. But the players who play the characters don't know. ;-)
Right. Now we have sorta figured out what Live Action Roleplaying Game is. But why vampires then, eh? Well, first of, I like vampires. :-D Reason enough in and of itself to join a vampire-LARP, right? The vampire-LARP I am a part of is the oldest LARP ni Sweden, no matter LARP genre. It has been going on for... 11 or 12 years now, I think. Some of the members that started it, are still active although they don't play the same characters of course.
It is a goth-punk-horror game, recommended from the age of 16 and up. Think the Saw-movies, Nightmare on Elmstreet, Dracula, IT, anything by Stephen King etc and mix it all together. It is based on the old pen-paper roleplaying game Vampire: The Masquarde using the LARP rules that were made for said game that is called Mind's Eye Theater. A clever name. Since even though my character might shop your character to tiny, tiny bits every so slowly while your character is alive.... I am definitely not doing that IRL. X-D We are using our minds eye to do it, imagining it, and talking about it, in a secluded corner and then I can walk around the rest of the evening having my character be damn smug about it. ;-)
The world is very much like your everyday world. Things that happen in RL happen in the game to. BUT! With a darker twist. The shadows are longer. The police-force is ruled by vampires, or the mob (usually ruled by vampires to). More drugs. More violence. More weapons. Just a darker variation of the every day world we have around us, with added vampires. It is a lot of fun to explore. A lot of What If's, if you know what I mean. ;-)
So bad guys then... Why is it so damn fun to play the really twisted and evil bad guys? I found a qoute yesterday when discussing just that (of course you can play the hero/good guy to, but thats just not for me).
To qoute Morgan Freeman:
I was talking to Bob Hoskins when we were making Unleashed together. We were talking about the joy of doing bad guys. And he confirmed exactly what I was thinking. With bad guys you get to let it all out. All those dark places in your psyche? You can let 'em go. When you play good guys, it's kind of boring. It's one note.
I seriously couldn't agree more.
Ehr... Right, so... I don't know how to wrap this up, but... you have any questions, feel free to ask away. And to link this around, if you feel like it.
