larping
Latest
Free for All: A surprising evening of roleplay in RuneScape
Roleplay is often treated as the odd cousin of the MMO family. You know the kid I am talking about... your Aunt comes to visit and your mother tells you to hang out with him, and he ends up vomiting in your room. (Did it only happen to me?) The truth is that the odd cousin is often just misunderstood and generally a lot of fun. It might take a small leap of faith and perhaps some time, but roleplay can be a very rewarding experience. RuneScape might not seem like a prime spot for roleplay. I hardly even heard of roleplay in the community, but I knew that the playerbase was made up of individuals from all age ranges. I thought of trying to find a good roleplay clan or trying to attend a roleplay event or two, but I didn't find the time to investigate. It began to look like roleplay was not something that happened in the game. That was until last night. I stumbled upon some sort of spontaneous roleplay session, and it was mostly thrilling. I even interviewed a few players to see how the whole thing worked. Click past the cut and I'll tell you what I found out!
CCP reveals World of Darkness details to bloodthirsty fans
Details about CCP's World of Darkness are popping out of White Wolf's The Grand Masquerade in New Orleans this weekend, and they're definitely worth draining for every last sweet drop of... information. While the game is still in pre-production -- and as such, nothing is set in stone -- the devs weren't hesitant to dish out a lot of the ideas and features that they hope will make this the best vampire MMO to date. It's CCP's desire to emulate LARPing (live-action roleplaying) as much as possible with World of Darkness, with plenty of metaplots running inside the game and without. Players will begin as a mortal human who can make the choice to become a kindred (vampire) or stay mortal for the duration of their characters' lives. There's a very real danger that characters might experience "final death" -- permadeath -- if they take too many risks. If you get in over your head, you can retreat to your character's Haven for safety. The entire game will take place at night and on one server, and CCP is definitely aiming it toward the hardcore set. Nudity, gore, and insanity effects are all par for the course. If players push outside of the acceptable boundaries too often, they'll lose "humanity" points and could become flagged for constant attack by other players and NPCs. Play your cards right and you may become the prince of the city. The game will change over time with dynamic events, and CCP promises that there will be real consequences for player decisions. Look for our World of Darkness interview with CCP coming later this week. [Thanks Pilgrim for the tip!]
Super Meat Boy is good for a LARP
Remember Gary Bigham, the (professional) live-action role-player who took on a real-life version of Minecraft? Well, he's back, this time tackling the evil Dr. Fetus in an all too real version of Super Meat Boy. If you absolutely must try this at home, remember to watch out for warp zones.
15 Minutes of Fame: Making the RP-LARP connection
15 Minutes of Fame is WoW.com's look at World of Warcraft personalities of all shapes and sizes -- from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, from the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about. Those silly LARPers ... Everyone loves to poke fun at a guy in costume, right? We uncovered a group of WoW roleplayers who have been dipping into LARP (Live Action Role Play) on the side -- and we have to say, the only fun being poked is the excellent variety on the blades of their weapons at their local events. If you're not familiar with the concept, LARPing is a form of roleplaying in which players physically act out their characters' actions. With elaborate costumes, weaponry and character histories, players engage not only in combat but also diplomacy, scouting and simple in-character socializing over a good drink. While fantasy is by far the most common genre of LARPers, historical, western and sci-fi groups get their fair share of attention, too. "I find LARP both a relaxing and strenuous past-time which stretches me physically and creatively," says Skulleater of EU The Venture Co, leader of roleplaying guild The Shatterskull Marauders and experienced LARPer. "This in turn was to have a distinct impact on my roleplaying in World of Warcraft, and Live Action Role Playing has helped create a solid foundation for ideas and rules for events in which members of my guild have had the chance to participate in. People who began roleplaying in WoW have found enjoyment in participating in Live Action Role Playing with us, while many LARPers I know of have begun roleplaying in WoW as a result of their enjoyable experiences at LARP." It seems other players would agree. "In a small community, it's very easy for things to become stale, but because of his unconventional inspirations from other forms of RP (DnD, LARP, etc.), Skulleater has become something of a breath of fresh air," wrote tipster Samuel. "I met Skully through WoW and have since met him in real life. He's a great bloke and would have convinced me to try LARP if it weren't for a recent surgery that prevented such activities. I'll definitely be trying it next year."
Turbine recruits new operations of VP into its fellowship
News on the wire is that Ken Surdan has been appointed as Turbine's new VP of operations, and will oversee worldwide operations of Lord of the Rings Online, Dungeons & Dragons Online and Asheron's Call. His previous gigs include senior vice president for technology for TripAdvisor, chief operating officer at Smart Bargins and a member of the "Lord of the Rings: One LARP to rule them all" group. If we had to guess, we'd say Ken probably played as Gandalf -- because that guy managed just about everything.Okay, in all seriousness, Surdan is bringing quite a lot of operations experience to Turbine. For a company that seems to be looking at expansion in the coming years, it's a very smart hire. The only thing we're not entirely clear on is whether or not he's replacing anyone or is filling an until-now empty position.
Replica Energy Sword for all your LARPing needs
We've reported before on real-world Halo creations, but this one certainly takes the cake. Being about as accurate as a fake energy sword can possibly be, this replica recreation actually has real blades, though the extent of their sharpness isn't exactly detailed on the website. The tempered steel sword looks to be perfect for all the live action role-players out there looking to step up their fantasies a notch and get rid of their homemade cardboard plasma swords. Strangest of all, the thing's base price is less than that of a full priced 360 game ...[Thanks Vinny]
24 hours of Tabula Rasa: Hour 9
Hoo brother, we are already at hour 9 of our 24 hour launch day giveaway (to celebrate the release of not only Tabula Rasa, but this here blog that yer readin'), and the prizes are starting to get interesting. Yes, this hour, we'll be giving away the best part of Tabula Rasa -- that fetching redhead that shows up in the intro movie. Well, not her exactly, but a cardboard standup of her. You too can do a little TR larping, and, well... actually, we don't want to hear about what you do with this thing. Your business, not ours. If it involves dressing up and running around the room carrying it and screaming about Logos and killing the Bane, we'd just rather stay out of it, thanks.And if you don't win the standup, you might win a poster, because we're giving away one of those, too. Just live in the US, be 18 or up (official rules be here), and put a comment on this post before 5pm EST. We'll pick two lucky winners-- one gets the girl, and one gets a poster.Good luck, as always! And if you don't like the prizes (although who wouldn't? come on, it's a life-sized standup!), sit tight, because there'll be yet another contest next hour. We would say that this new blog is the gift that keeps on giving, but it's actually more like the blog that keeps on giving... away great prizes every hour!
