Welcome to Gaia! ::

Wow, first off I didn't think that this would get very far, most of my posts just die very quickly.

Second, if anyone lives in or around the Chicago area (or Indiana or Wisconson for that matter) and wants to know about local LARPs, feel welcomed to hit me up in PMs and I will give ya all the info that you need. ^_^

Then again, if LARPing is as defined, we've probably all LARPed upon several occasions. Ever played "House?"

Convention LARPs are SO scary. People come up and hug you! Oh, wait that happens anyway. xd

I loved LARPing for the 2 years I did it. loved the ability to continue the LARP over IRC, email, etc as well. met a lot of people from all over the world.

Alright, I'll describe a story for you that I was in. Ahem, after the general disclaimers.

Yes, yes you could easily feel silly. This is why I always felt better that I was with friends, and that they all happened to be female (like me). However, later when I LARPed with a male friend as well there was nothing awkward about it, but by then I was used to LARPing. The strange thing about it, though, is that I was always more uncomfortable in drama class than in LARPing, which you think would be practically the same thing. But there are no lines to forget, and if you feel like you've messed up it's ok because every one else is LARPing with you, pretending there's a fire place in the middle of the room for instance. I've noticed that when I LARP with my friends, all of us tend to fall back on our favorite, most-used characters, because that way we have the advantage of having to think less about what they might do. It makes every thing run a bit more smoothly, but you have to expect to feel silly sometimes.

I suggest you find a few nice people to LARP with if you want to try it, people you know who are willing to help you get into it.

Now, a story of mine....

I once played in a LARP centered around a bunch of kids that were being experimented on by the government, who had a mind to escape. The government was trying to learn how to create super soldiers by testing things on the kids first. None of the kids were quite normal to begin with because of the front of the organization. What was interesting about this is that we all purposefully chose characteristics that were unlike all of our most common characters, everything from personality to eye color. I personally played a young girl who phased out from the world and was therefore hard to talk to (which normally wouldn't work so well in an RP situation) but would occassionally talk to her best friend, a boy that took care of her sometimes. My character would say weird things about fairies, holes in the walls, and claiming that she didn't feel any pain when she stepped on something sharp. We got as far as them escaping, and then the next time we played we skipped ahead in time to them a bit older, trying to figure out how to reverse the damage that was done to them.

Thank you! I can kinda see how it would work. If I ever get the opportunity, I'll give it a try. ^__^

That's pretty much what I was talking about, except we usually don't swing sticks-- Because we're girls. Girls go right for the sharp knives apparently, since an RP partner of mine nearly hamstringed another while I wasn't there. It was funny because the nearly-hamstringed girl thought it was funny. Er, Safety first! I know I don't take then out of the sheaths! Apparently she thought it was a stage knife!

And you're welcome. ^.^

Yes, at a con it can be very important NOT to hug someone without asking first (or glomp, or hit or touch in any excessive way). Cosplaying (costume playing) can be LARPing depending on how into it you are and how seriously the other people at the con take you, but it can also be very different from what I used to do because it can be very loose and informal.