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Dulahan
Joined: 01 Mar 2008
Posts: 7
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 Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 12:04 pm Post subject: Types of LARPs |
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| Ok, I've seen three different types listed here, but I can only remember two. There was demonstrative (boffer larps basically), and salon (like MET). What was the third, and could there be others as well? |
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Caerwyn
Joined: 01 Mar 2008
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 12:07 pm Post subject: |
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At the risk of being pedantic, it seems you want a list of LARP resolution systems (typically task resolution, rather than conflict resolution), not types (of which I would say there are hundreds).
Maybe the Live Steel stuff is a middle ground between boffer and salon resolution: pre-resolved outcomes acted out with nearly full speed maneuvers and blows?
Dunno... just tryin' ta help!
David |
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HNO3
Site Admin
Joined: 29 Feb 2008
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 12:11 pm Post subject: |
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There are lots of different ways to slice and dice the hobby into different sorts of categories. I'm not sure what the answer to your question is.
Perhaps you should read the Wikipedia article on larp and see if that helps you narrow down your question a bit.
One shot in the dark at a possible answer - Blackbox? Though Blackbox would generally be considered a subtype of salon/theatre style, it's different enough from WOD and Cthulhu Live type games that it might be the label you're looking for. |
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Argenon
Joined: 29 Feb 2008
Posts: 8
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| Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 12:13 pm Post subject: |
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I generally plot larps onto two axes: the interaction axis and the mechanics axis.
In short:
The interaction axis: the focus of interaction
Player vs. Environment (adventure style): The players tend to be a united whole who encounter npcs, monsters, puzzles, and traps, and the focus of the game is the players vs. those sorts of things
vs.
Player vs. Player (theater style): The players are not a united force and their motivations and the plots of the game focus on the interactions within the player base rather than with the environment.
The mechanics axis:
Live combat (boffer): Live combat has a high degree of verisimilitude, and can make you feel more in the game, but the close you come to player abilities = character abilities, the more constrained you become about the types of characters you can have and the genres you can represent.
Simulated Combat (rps, dice, cards, &c): Simulated combat is much more flexible than live combat, but it is intrusive, taking people away from the action and ripping them out of character. |
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tim
Joined: 29 Feb 2008
Posts: 10
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| Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 12:15 pm Post subject: |
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Measuring mechanics based on whether combat is acted-out or simulated is very simplistic, IMO.
I've played in a number of freeforms/larps where combat not only doesn't happen, it's almost unthinkable. Regency-period social dramas, for example.
These games tend to be very light on mechanics in general (one that I wrote, very bad things, had two stats and one resource). The challenge of achieving objectives in these games is met through networking skills ("How can I convince the right people to give me what I want?") more than game-manipulation skills ("How can I gain an adequate numerical advantage?"). |
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zenten
Joined: 01 Mar 2008
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 12:17 pm Post subject: |
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| there are the larps where you get to hit people, and all the other ones. |
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Argenon
Joined: 29 Feb 2008
Posts: 8
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| Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 12:19 pm Post subject: |
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I'm wondering what the stats and resources were needed for.
And demonstrative LARPs in my experience cover more than just combat. If you want to steal something, you steal it. If you want to build something, you act out building it. You want to pick a lock, well, there was a legal method for that too that involved something similar to picking it. And if you want to convince someone of something in character, you convince them.
In MET on the other hand all of that would be covered by tests/whatever the new version is called. |
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