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beige_alertAs many of you know, I went to my very first Live-Action Role-Playing game recently. In Germany. My German is not so good, so this indeed turned out to be quite the adventure. I'll post some more thoughts about that later, but first I'll share some comical LARP stories.
Having no idea what I was doing made everything a fresh new adventure. At some point during the first night an orc attack was planned, and someone asked me if I'd like to play an orc. Sure, I said, whatever an orc is. Some kind of monster, I guess. So we went up to the room where we non-player-characters got ready for such things, and I got a rubber sword, a shield, a suitably orc-like fur vest, and the rubber orc mask. So I take my eyeglasses off. Can't see a thing. I put the rubber mask with the eye holes that don't quite line up with my eyes on. Really can't see anything. We go outside, into the pitch-black night. Really can't see anything. We go up the stairs. I didn't know there were stairs. (Stumble) People are yelling. In German. Now, imagine that you had a real weapon and were in a real fight. We can't simulate the fear using rubber swords. But you'd also be confused. Sure, you'd have a plan, but no plan survives contact with the enemy. You'd loose track of your partners, be unsure what your adversary was up to, feel unsure of your plans and tactics. You'd just be all around confused. Bingo! We simulated that perfectly.
So eventually we storm down the stairs toward the house, where thebrave Sir Robin brave heros...refused to come out of the house to fight us. So the house itself, which was magical, you see, fought us off with (rubber) bricks and such thrown down from above. Dodging foam roof tiles is fun, actually. Eventually, the house killed me, and I pretended to be dead. Now, I'd never done this before. How long was I supposed to be dead? What was going to happen next? No idea. Eventually, some people came out. I couldn't see them, of course. They spoke. In German. Someone who I couldn't see said something to someone about death, but I couldn't understand what. It turns out he was asking me if I was actually completely dead. Now, aside from my difficulties understanding in the best of circumstances, I also was not expecting to be asked any questions. I was dead, after all! But that got cleared up, and so ended my first battle as an orc.
Another adventure was joining four other NPCs on a trip into the woods to, as one apparently does in these sorts of games, wait for the player-characters to show up on the trail. So off we went down the road in costume, as the mundanes drove by and waved. Up the trail into the woods we walked. It's really a beautiful spot, and the weather was lovely, and it was a nice little walk. We settled in to wait for the PCs to show up. My companions chatted. In German. They were walking about their children, but beyond that I could not understand. We waited... It was a lovely spot on a lovely day. Did I mention that it was really pretty? Eventually, the dozen players did indeed show up. We walked down the trail to meet them, rubber swords in hand. I stayed in the back, since I had no idea what we were doing. As the two groups neared each other, they began talking. In German. They said something about the dark elves. But I don't know what. They said something about the emperor. But I don't know what. There I was, with my rubber sword. Were we going to have a fight? I sure didn't know! Again, if you were doing something like this for real, you'd be confused. Perfect! In the end, we didn't have a fight, and the two groups passed peacefully, having exchanged information that the rest of them, at least, could understand.
Now, as an attacking orc, with my rubber sword, I assumed we were playing the rubber sword game. While I wasn't exactly sure of all the rules, it seemed simple enough. It turns out, though, that some of the characters were also playing the magical spell game. No one told me about spells. Now, thinking about it, I was, in theory, aware that these sort of games often include magic of various sorts, but in practice I hadn't really thought about it, and since there was no hope of understanding anything anyone shouted in a noisy field, I wasn't paying any attention to anything anyone said in battle. So it wasn't until the last battle than I figured out that that guy waving his arms at me and saying weird things was casting spells on me. But how I was supposed to react I hadn't a clue. Now, if I'd been doing this in America I'd probably have figured out what was going on much sooner, but I'd still not have known what exactly the spell was or what I was supposed to do. As it was, though, it turns out that gamers are, perhaps obviously, creative people, and they just figured they were facing an unusually powerful orc who was immune to magic. Which just goes to show that gamers are awesome people.
One of my nicest experiences of the weekend didn't actually have much to go with role playing. Late at night we were gathered around talking, drinking beer, and singing. It was here that I discovered what's now one of my favorite beers, Köstritzer. Very late at night, after drinking nearly a liter of beer, they insisted that I ought to join the singing and sing something. No songbook with me and somewhat drunk, I needed something I could remember and sing, a cappella, for a room full of German LARPers. Well, there are only a few I can remember, and so I sang Der Phoenix, which, after all, I'd had to practice a great deal to learn in the first place. I don't think they were expecting the American to have a song in German memorized. That was wonderful fun.
Having no idea what I was doing made everything a fresh new adventure. At some point during the first night an orc attack was planned, and someone asked me if I'd like to play an orc. Sure, I said, whatever an orc is. Some kind of monster, I guess. So we went up to the room where we non-player-characters got ready for such things, and I got a rubber sword, a shield, a suitably orc-like fur vest, and the rubber orc mask. So I take my eyeglasses off. Can't see a thing. I put the rubber mask with the eye holes that don't quite line up with my eyes on. Really can't see anything. We go outside, into the pitch-black night. Really can't see anything. We go up the stairs. I didn't know there were stairs. (Stumble) People are yelling. In German. Now, imagine that you had a real weapon and were in a real fight. We can't simulate the fear using rubber swords. But you'd also be confused. Sure, you'd have a plan, but no plan survives contact with the enemy. You'd loose track of your partners, be unsure what your adversary was up to, feel unsure of your plans and tactics. You'd just be all around confused. Bingo! We simulated that perfectly.
So eventually we storm down the stairs toward the house, where the
Another adventure was joining four other NPCs on a trip into the woods to, as one apparently does in these sorts of games, wait for the player-characters to show up on the trail. So off we went down the road in costume, as the mundanes drove by and waved. Up the trail into the woods we walked. It's really a beautiful spot, and the weather was lovely, and it was a nice little walk. We settled in to wait for the PCs to show up. My companions chatted. In German. They were walking about their children, but beyond that I could not understand. We waited... It was a lovely spot on a lovely day. Did I mention that it was really pretty? Eventually, the dozen players did indeed show up. We walked down the trail to meet them, rubber swords in hand. I stayed in the back, since I had no idea what we were doing. As the two groups neared each other, they began talking. In German. They said something about the dark elves. But I don't know what. They said something about the emperor. But I don't know what. There I was, with my rubber sword. Were we going to have a fight? I sure didn't know! Again, if you were doing something like this for real, you'd be confused. Perfect! In the end, we didn't have a fight, and the two groups passed peacefully, having exchanged information that the rest of them, at least, could understand.
Now, as an attacking orc, with my rubber sword, I assumed we were playing the rubber sword game. While I wasn't exactly sure of all the rules, it seemed simple enough. It turns out, though, that some of the characters were also playing the magical spell game. No one told me about spells. Now, thinking about it, I was, in theory, aware that these sort of games often include magic of various sorts, but in practice I hadn't really thought about it, and since there was no hope of understanding anything anyone shouted in a noisy field, I wasn't paying any attention to anything anyone said in battle. So it wasn't until the last battle than I figured out that that guy waving his arms at me and saying weird things was casting spells on me. But how I was supposed to react I hadn't a clue. Now, if I'd been doing this in America I'd probably have figured out what was going on much sooner, but I'd still not have known what exactly the spell was or what I was supposed to do. As it was, though, it turns out that gamers are, perhaps obviously, creative people, and they just figured they were facing an unusually powerful orc who was immune to magic. Which just goes to show that gamers are awesome people.
One of my nicest experiences of the weekend didn't actually have much to go with role playing. Late at night we were gathered around talking, drinking beer, and singing. It was here that I discovered what's now one of my favorite beers, Köstritzer. Very late at night, after drinking nearly a liter of beer, they insisted that I ought to join the singing and sing something. No songbook with me and somewhat drunk, I needed something I could remember and sing, a cappella, for a room full of German LARPers. Well, there are only a few I can remember, and so I sang Der Phoenix, which, after all, I'd had to practice a great deal to learn in the first place. I don't think they were expecting the American to have a song in German memorized. That was wonderful fun.
