This new larp from White Wolf, Long Live the King, looks interesting. Might be good for introducing new players to larp.
This might be a good game for the society to buy and lend out to members to run. A “larp lending library” could be another useful resource that the society could provide to members.
It’s a fixed scenario, but it sounds like it has plenty of re-play value. It scales from 5 to 30+ players. And it would suit all this medieval and courtly costume we have, if we wanted to dress it up.
My flatmate is in the process of acquiring a copy. I shall write you guys a review when we get it, if you like.
Obviously I am reading a different set of rules.
This is Live Role Play how?
[quote=“Alista”]Obviously I am reading a different set of rules.
This is Live Role Play how?[/quote]
In that you physically represent your character with your body.
Not all LARP/LRP involves live combat. Like Vampire and various other larps it uses an abstract resolution method. Cards, in this case. That doesn’t mean it’s not a larp. Then again, I have a very wide definition of larp that stretches to include a lot of improvisational theatre and some very unusual larps played in various corners of the world.
I haven’t read it closely yet and I have heard some people call it larp-like. Be interested to hear what makes it seem not like larp to anyone.
According to the definition of Larp just given, multiplayer Magic the Gathering is LArp.
I’ve read it closely now and I still think it’s a larp.
However, it’s a very structured and gamey larp with no room for creative play apart from how you portray your characters. The rules are set in stone, there is no GM or player fiat apart from the GM/King’s ability to give people Favour points for good roleplay or deduct them for not portraying status well.
It’s essentially a roaming card game that you play in character. The results rest on diplomatic vote-mongering a la the reality show Survivor. There are seven rounds, each consisting of a freeform diplomacy phase and a very structured council voting phase. I think I’d find the voting phase a bit too structured and want it over with quickly, but hard to say without playing it.
Do people roleplay their characters in Magic the Gathering? Do they physically portray them by getting up and doing what their characters are doing? If so, then yes it’s a larp in my book. But I don’t think they do.
If you want a more specific definition of larp, I’d go with this from the NZLARPS website:
larp n. an activity where participants improvise the roles of characters in a fictional situation.
Note that I assume “improvise” in that definition to imply “by physically portraying the character”.
From my experience, no one roleplays at all in Magic the Gathering. It’s more about exploiting the rules then playing a character.
I Roleplay in Magic the Gathering. It is fun. A few others do to.
Occasionlly we play a game in Yu-Gi-Oh mode where you have to exclaim each time a card is played and explain all your moves in great details. It irritates the hell out of the other players.
[quote=“Alista”]I Roleplay in Magic the Gathering. It is fun. A few others do to.
Occasionlly we play a game in Yu-Gi-Oh mode where you have to exclaim each time a card is played and explain oll your moves in great details. It irritates the hell out of the other players.[/quote]
Nice. I’ve seen people roleplay in Monopoly too.
The boundaries between different sorts of game are pretty fuzzy. If you’re sitting down speaking as your character in a game of Magic while you play, then I’d say your game is crossing over into “descriptive” roleplay of the sort usually associated with tabletop roleplaying.
Unless you’re getting up and acting out what your Magic character does, I don’t think its crossing over into larp. In Long Live the King you are encouraged to dress up, use multiple rooms in a house to portray a castle, and talk and move in character in real-time. That’s a lot of larp-like stuff, which is why I think its a larp.
I think Magic could probabaly be a larp too if you played it that way.
I suppose that is what we have actually considered the difference between LRP and LARP. In LRP you do it, in LARP you say you do it, then go paper/scissor/rock.
In Auckland it seems there is a lot of LARP but much LRP. Who is doing LRP now?
[quote=“Alista”]I suppose that is what we have actually considered the difference between LRP and LARP. In LRP you do it, in LARP you say you do it, then go paper/scissor/rock.
In Auckland it seems there is a lot of LARP but much LRP. Who is doing LRP now?[/quote]
Actually, the Auckland scene is dominated by live combat events. Even the Cthulhu (Nightmare Circle) up here is live combat. There are a few abstract resolution events like Stargate and Vampire and some freeforms. I’d say the mix is about 65% live resolution and 35% abstract resolution in terms of person-play hours.
If you want an abstract resolution-dominated scene to despise, you’ll have to look at Wellington. They have next to no live combat at present.
In my philosophy, it’s whatever turns you on. Personally I prefer live resolution. I like actually running and convincing people to do stuff, and fighting for that matter. I like only having rules for things that you can’t physically do. But I’ll happily try the other sort too, and I don’t consider it any less LRP or LARP.
I disagree strongly with using LRP/LARP to differentiate live resolution and abstract resolution. In the international scene the two are used interchangably almost everywhere except in England, where some some people are still opposed to the name LARP.
LRP = LARP. Same thing.
I tried for a while to get my friends to roleplay Magic, even getting into some fairly heated arguments as to why you shouldn’t have a deck with Phyrexian Debasers and Serra Angels in it because it didn’t make sense flavourwise 
. I’m curious to know exactly how ‘you’ roleplay Magic, because I always thought it would be a good concept.
I tried for a while to get my friends to roleplay Magic, even getting into some fairly heated arguments as to why you shouldn’t have a deck with Phyrexian Debasers and Serra Angels in it because it didn’t make sense flavourwise . I’m curious to know exactly how ‘you’ roleplay Magic, because I always thought it would be a good concept.
One of the concepts of Magic the Gathering is that you are a God like entity with a pool of powers. Just be that god like entity and forget the numbers, just play the game. Then you can bluster, bluff, threaten and generally have fun with the other player as if you and they were these supernatural entities. Just remember it is a game. If you start believing that you are actually a super natural entity I’ll bring around my commons deck and squash you.
As to the other issue. I must admit I have been playing LRP since long before there was a LARP thing. we always called it LuRP. I just think the labelling of it all LARP is an Americanisation and an attempt for someone else to ‘own’ an amateur activity. Sorry about, that my predjudices are showing.