Has anyone ever LARPed WoD? I'm just curious to hear of some experiences, the youtube videos I searched of it made it seem.... kinda strange
I've never larped before but im really just curious about this series only
Just like a regular game, it depends on the players. If they're spergs, the game will be spergy. If they're drama ridden backstabbers, they're probably playing Vampire, but still. I met my GF at one, so take that as a sign that they're not always horrible.
>>43601314
I've never seen videos of these WoD LARPs, but apparently it's some terrifying shit (in the cringy way). What sort of things do they do?
>>43601467
Ive never even played WoD or LARPed, im just curious... does the DM play all the NPCs? Is only the dialogue acted out?
>>43601492
They just look kinda nerdy and its like watching nerds talk, not too bad.... just kind of boring and not very attracting
>>43601737
I know someone who does WoD LARP and got the impression that they have several people that work together to do NPCs, sometimes players take on NPC roles too.
>>43601314
My first LARP was VtM. It took place in some abandoned villa during the early 1990's during the night. NPC's were played by members of the organization team. Characters all had a background story and some players were somehow involved in a main plot. This plot centered around a mysterious illness spreading among the local vampire population, the return of the Tremere clan and some kind of secret cult. I don't remember the story exactly as it was like 22 or 23 years ago. But I do remember that my character was part of that cult, and that I was charged with protecting some artifact - a mask. After a while, the illness started to spread among the vampires who were locked inside that residence and couldn't flee (don't remember why). For reasons I have forgotten, some guy and me betrayed the secret cult, and with a group of surviving vampires used the artifact and maybe another one too to fight the infected vampires or the BBEG.
A special rule was that each character had a secret name. If you knew someone else's secret name, you could do something to him, but I don't ask me what. Maybe each clan had some kind of power that could be used. In the cult we knew each other's secret name making betraying the group quite risky.
For the ambient, there were as few lights turned on as possible. Wherever possible, light came from candles and lanterns. There was also some music playing. The mixtape was a mix of classic music (György Ligeti, Johann Sebastian Bach), movie OST (The Omen), gothic/dark wave (Goethes Erben, Das Ich), and industrial music (Einstürzende Neubauten).
>>43601737
>Is only the dialogue acted out?
Non-contact is the order of the day for most WoD LARPs. I'm not sure what the rules are like in whatever books are used for nWoD stuff, but the old Minds Eye Theatre books stressed the non-contact element. Combat was handled via a rock-paper-scissors system, bidding traits, and it was generally a bit of a clusterfuck.
The games I used to attend (years ago now, yikes) used to have NPCs handled by the people running the game and their assistants. Combat was relatively infrequent, although nearly all games tended to have a social element that provided a reason for a bunch of characters to be in one place at one time, and then assistants and STs would run more combat focused things for people in another room. I think this was partly to deal with the wildly disparate power levels of characters, and partly because combat is slow and awful in MET and running a fight with ~20 people in it would be fucking crazy.
>>43601314
I did two games, both V:TM.
Number one was cringy to the max. Spergers, edgelords and general horrible people. Games were boring and the off game drama was insane. Ventrues were fat guys in ill fitting suits, Malkavians a bunch of ADD-riddled autists, ST could not into plots and nothing happened. Plus the venues sucked usually. Nothing luck an old room on top of a decrepit pub to make you feel like you are wasting your time.
Second game, hands down bestest game ever. Setting was on all the time, you wore a small, inconspicuous button after nightfall to indicate if you were available. Limos were rented, NPCs, people invested in costumes, locations were plush and insanely decadent when belonging to high clans, dingey warehouses on some occasions, players were highly selected and characters were veto'ed or approved off beforehand. Never met another insane synergy like this. Nothing beats a game where you get an IC text message "Tremeres gathering at x cemetery at 01:00, be there" and you get out of you nightwear, put on dark clothes and jump on your bike to go spy on the Tremere players who had indeed gathered at said cemetery.
>>43601314
Mind's Eye Theatre gets a bad rep for attracting every edgelord and wannabe Ventrue since the 90s. And it is mostly deserved.
My personal experience is limited to a few sessions back when it came out where I was a guest. I'm sure there was some plot behind it all, but Vampire being what it is, a conglomeration of secrets, lies, and innuendo, it all came down to a bunch of people standing around in a park at night wearing silly coats and doing nothing. It was incredibly boring.
The quality always depends on the organizer's efforts and the players' enthusiasm. There are some pitfalls other games do without, but that doesn't mean it can't be good. Generally I'd make sure to play a character that is part of the main story. If you're not, there's no goblins you can go hunt, you'll just be waiting for one of the main PCs to draw you in.
>>43601467
>>43605475
>>43605927
By the mid to late 90's, basically follow any kid in all black for a few days and you'll end up at a LARP.
My experience was much the same. WoD's setting is perfect for LARPing. The only trick then is to get good organizers and the right players. That means being elitist and highly selective but there's no way to avoid that. Some of the best and worst players I've met have been vampire LARPers.
The very worst game was one where the players were all neckbeards and landwhales. Two of my friends begged me to join their game, so I drove an hour and came in playing a Ventrue... It was awful. Our clan was in some kind of feud with another clan. So far, so good. I suggested undermining the other clan's ties to the mortal world, plotting intrigues. The primogen smiled and said those were good ideas, but what we really needed was a dump truck full of dynamite to blow them all up!
Guns were mysteriously not available to PCs because the GMs wanted to de-emphasize combat. Instead, it ensured combat because the risks were low if you knew you had higher physical disciplines. The players were stupidly unsubtle. My friends actually apologized for suggesting it, they were hoping I'd be a good influence because the storytellers were at their wits' end.
OTOH one of the best games I've ever been in was a vampire LARP. Tons of wheels within wheels. The GMs spent plenty of time working the off-camera NPCs and setting details to make that work, and the game was invitation-only and very selective.
Mage isn't really suited to LARPing. Werewolf wasn't back in the day, but I think it is now thanks to the foam weapons games that have become so popular and made physical gaming more workable.
>>43601314
Interesting question.
Unfortunately i don't have the answer
>>43601314
if you LARP anything, ever, there is no going back. You will never be a social creature ever again, outside of the LARP.
>>43609377
That's totally true. I started larping 10 years ago and that's just the beginning. Then you want to learn how to craft items, then how to sew your cloths, then you might even try to get better at pretend-swordfighting where comes the slippery slop for actual swordfighting and at the bottom you will get reenactment.
LARP, not even once!
