IF, on the off chance, that someone suggested in the month of April we all dress up as our favourite LARP character and go to a nice and public mundane restaurant to scare the locals, which restaurant would that be?
i wouldhave to suggest someplace thats thatssin as that would happen to get the most attention, alas i’ll be in waiouru on course if this is to happen in april.
Somewhere big and kinda Loony already. Makes getting served easier.
I’d suggest Prohibition, on Ponsonby Rd. Just opened this year, and fully 20s themed. They encourage people dressing up! Wee bit on the expensive side if you’re watching the budget, but great atmosphere. They have a room upstairs that could probably fit 20 people for a dinner party (if you wanted to arrange booking).
bit pointless as we would be out of the public eye and it doesnt really catre to every one’s budget.
Lets try somthing more lowkey like Denny’s.
Its cheap, we can do it anytime of the day anyday of the week and they have a fairly good menu for any taste but its a cut above mc donalds or burger king. (just)
i agree a more fast-food we want your cash type place is more likely not to kick out a bunch of weirdos. real keen to go to Dennys
What’s with wanting to “freak mundanes”? Being friends with a number of so-called mundanes, and being fairly mundane myself most of the time, I’m fairly sure the response to random costumes in a restaurant will be either “that’s lame” or “that’s a loud costume party”. Sorry if this is seen as thread-pissing, but “freaking the mundanes” has always struck me as unfunny. Want to make an impression on the general public? Organise some sort of public performance art. Want to attract people to larp? Run games that looks cool. Want to throw a costume party? Sweet as, “mundanes” do that all the time - at this time of year town is full of costumed work parties. But freaking mundanes? They’re not freaked.
Hmm… I’m regretting this post already.
if you regret a post dont do it - o wait you like flame wars - moving on.
I really think this is a great idea - we did this in canterbury to promote Skullduggery and it worked pritty well 
Tho there is alot of background pr for that game as we have a good contact in the local paper…
I have to agree with Ryan on “freaking the mundanes” being not a good idea. On the other hand, if we do it as larp-promotional action, and have flyers for NZLARPS with us to give to people who get interested - that would be nice. Otherwise we make a bad public image of us as larpers, and that’s exactly what we are trying to avoid. Or am I wrong?
Showing off for the sake of showing off is not always appropriate.
Showing off for a reason makes sense.
[quote=“Ryan Paddy”]What’s with wanting to “freak mundanes”? Being friends with a number of so-called mundanes, and being fairly mundane myself most of the time, I’m fairly sure the response to random costumes in a restaurant will be either “that’s lame” or “that’s a loud costume party”. /quote]
Actually its a quote from a Mercedes lackey Filke called freaking the mundanes, its about her life as a re enactor going out to have a drink with her friends after an event. Thus it was intended as a joke.
While i realise that it my be an inside joke i feel insulted that some one would feel that i am that insensitive and further humourless.
thus i have retracted my comment so that my lack of humour will no longer cause offence.
I wasn’t directing anything at you or anyone else in particular, David, and I’m sorry if I caused offence to anyone with my wording. I don’t have any problem with costume party/dinners, where-ever they might take place, and it’s not like my opinion has any special importance. I was just commenting on the act of “scaring the locals” and “freaking the mundanes” in general, especially the usual implication that the public will be somehow amazed by people in costume/character. Unless it’s a cool performance of some sort designed with the public in mind (i.e. performance art), they’re really not amazed. If they were amazed, it might be funny, but they’re not. It’s an aspect of larper/reenactor subculture that I’ve always thought could do with reconsideration. It’s only my opinion, and I don’t want to derail this thread any further, so I’ll butt out now with apologies for the intrusion. Happy to discuss in PM or another thread.
If you want to do this to attract people to larping… Might I suggest something like getting cosy with a restaurant owner, and running something like a Murder Mystery Night or something that you could drag random people into as well. i.e. A couple of ‘english coppers’ running around asking people if they have seen anything suspicious… (person dressed as a robber skulking in the background) with people in costume dress who can talk to random people and give them bits of information to pass on… I dunno, people with more experience at writing would have way better deas and concepts, but thats the sort of thing that would have brought me into larping if i hadn’t been married to someone that knew someone who larps.
I sence that the original poster was just after an excuse to dress up, not so much promoting larp, so if this post is off topic, i’ll edit it out But my thought for a restaurant would be Dennys - They already see randomly dressed people all times of the night and day
I got no problem if someone wants to turn this idea into a promotional thing. They’d better organise it though, since I’ll be away for most of the beginning of the year.