In article <
57823e5b-22a7-4933...@googlegroups.com>,
Peter Trei <
pete...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>Imagine a bunch of people playing D&D, but playing the characters themselves
>instead of using minifigs. Sometimes done at cons, but more often by organized
>groups who meetup for weekends at private estates and forests. Both my daughters
>LARP, usually as NPCs (Player characters have more autonomy, but have to pay
>for the privilege).
>
>Most LARPs are aimed at adults, but non-prurient.
DunDraCon hosts a number of LARPs, limited only by the amount of
space available for them. (The Committee has been searching for
years for a larger hotel than the one we've got; we'd prefer to
stay with the Mariott chain, which has been very good to us, and
it's got to be within the greater San Francisco Bay region. So
far, no luck.)
Here's a set of rules for making LARPS safe and fun, originally
devised by a LARP publisher and slightly revised for specific
DunDraCon purposes some years ago.
>These are the basic rules from Mind's Eye Theatre regarding how
>the players should behave towards one another. This particular
>set are paraphrased from the Oblivion book published by White Wolf.
>
>The Only Rules That Matter
>
>1. It's only a game.
>
>Even if everything goes into hell in a handbasket and your
>character can never be played again, it's still only a game.
>Don't take things too seriously, as it will spoil everyone's fun.
>If the line between the player and the character starts to blur,
>the players needs to step back a bit and take some time off. The
>Storyteller and other players should constantly be on the watch
>for this.
>
>2. No touching.
>
>No touching means no touching. None. Ever. There's simply too
>much of a chance that someone will get excited in the heat of combat
>or some other stressful situation and proceed to hurt themselves
>or someone else, however accidentally. This rule also applies
>to running, jumping,swinging on chandeliers through sheets of
>plate glass and other overly energetic behaviours that can result
>in injuring someone. The core of the game is imagination. If the
>players can imagine themselves as someone who's been dead for 20
>years, it's within their power to imagine running when you're
>really walking.
>
>3. No weapons.
>
>This is a rule strongly enforced by convention security. Props
>are a wonderful thing; however, real weapons or anything that even
>looks like a real weapon (sword canes, peace-bonded claymores, rabid
>trained attack gerbils, matte-black painted waterguns or sword-shaped
>toothpicks from a martini) are forbidden. There are too many
>paranoid people who will see a prop gun and mistake it for a real
>one, or see a costume dagger and will start screaming for the police.
>Plus there is the ever constant danger of 'someone could get hurt'.
>Leave the real thing at home, no matter how much it fits the character.
>If you bring it, it's inevitable that the one time you unsheathe it
>to show it off, some idiot will come pelting around the corner and
>neatly skewer himself on it.
>
>4. No drugs or drinking.
>
>Drugs and alcohol deter from the imagination the live action
>thrives on.Why go through all the trouble of creating another
>person to inhabit if the player will only wander out of the
>persona in a haze? Also those impaired by drugs or alcohol
>represent a danger to those others in the game, both in character
>and out. Not to mention the legal issue.
>
>5. Remember, not everyone is playing.
>
>While freaking the mundanes is part of the fun, the game can be
>unnerving to those just passing by in the hall on the way to their
>own games. Players must be considerate of nonplayers in their
>vicinity and allow access to anyone if the gameplay is in a public
>area. Gameplay should not block access to anything from anyone.
>Nor is it permissible to randomly grab a passerby as a 'midnight
>snack' when all they wanted to do is go play another session of
>Warhammer. Gameplay should not be so loud as to disturb those
>around to the point of calling security. Explaining to a policeman
>at 3 AM that a player wasn't really beating up anyone on the
>lawn, he was just dragging the other's soul down to the Void, is
>often an exercise in futility, no matter how tolerant the hotel is
>to the convention.
>
>In addition, two DunDraCon-specific rules:
>
>A. The Pacific Room, which has recently been made available for
>LARPS, is accessed through the restaurant. The rule about not
>unduly freaking the mundanes goes double here, where people are
>not only not playing, they are eating. Let the doors be shut
>upon you before you let your plots and your characterizations
>unfold.
>
>B. The general DunDraCon rule against wearing masks, which you
>can find on the back page of the program book, is bent slightly
>for LARPs. You can wear masks, where appropriate, inside the
>LARP room; when leaving the LARP room for any purpose, you must
>doff your mask and your characterization as you pass through the
>door.
>
>Most of the LARPers will be aware of these rules, or a variation
>thereof. The GMs should most definitely be aware and will be on
>the lookout for instances when these rules are broken. However,
>with a 20 to 50 person game running as far as the convetion grounds
>will take them, there is always the possibility something will be
>missed.
This is probably much more information about penguins
^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^HLARPS than most of us care to have. However,
you may note that, slightly modified, the rules apply to any
form of con-going.