I’m mostly immune to movie violence when it comes to hack 'n slash, but anything to do with horror and suspense, I find really hard to handle. If there’s psychological tension building up in a movie, with violence as the implied outcome, I will be hiding under the seat and gibbering!
So, I think for me it’s less about the weapon, and more about the weilder and their approach to how best to f* ya’ll up.
[quote=“Moo”]
So, I think for me it’s less about the weapon, and more about the weilder and their approach to how best to f* ya’ll up.[/quote]
You are all class Moo. But your point is valid.
As far as what would make me shudder (aside from also being wholeheartedly on the bandwagon of “anything that hurts/threatens children”), it’s probably more likely to be something that hurts instead of kills. 'Cause I’m scared of pain. Death, eh, I don’t imagine it feels like much of anything. I can climb a (small) mountain and be perfectly okay, but sometimes looking out the window of a merely tallish building will make me lightheaded. So yeah, anyway, breaking fingers/limbs in creative ways, torture by bamboo under the fingernails, maybe being flayed alive. Or “dirty” weapons. Pretty much anything with dried and crusty blood and gore will get me. Like, if the weapon itself doesn’t kill me, the infection I’m likely to get from it will, but will take a lot longer and hurt more.
[quote=“Jared”][quote=“Moo”]
So, I think for me it’s less about the weapon, and more about the weilder and their approach to how best to f* ya’ll up.[/quote]
You are all class Moo. But your point is valid.[/quote]
Dude, I don’t think you can classify someone’s fears as “valid” or not…even if it doesn’t scare you, doesn’t mean it doesn’t scare her, y’know?
Like a couple of other people have said here, I can sit through people being machine gunned down by the legion, but the slow, meditated, infliction of pain onto another person will freak me the crap out. Tigger and I watched “The Bank Job” which is a movie about a bank robbery and one of the characters gets kidnapped by the local mob boss and tortured with a heat gun paint stripper. All you see is the heat gun being demonstrated on a bit of wood, they hold him down and say “We’ll start with your foot and work our way up”, then it all happens off screen…but you hear the screaming. For thirty seconds. I almost ran out of the cinema it was so awful. I felt sick for the rest of the night and despite the fact that it was a very good movie, I’ll probably never watch it again for that two minute sequence.
For me it’d have to be things that look cobbled together for the pure intention of doing maximum damage without care for form. A katana is a thing of beauty. I’d still be horrified if someone ran at me wielding one, don’t get me wrong. But still …
Whereas something like this: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c … g_star.jpg - this is horrible. Made from scraps, the spikes scream “lockjaw” to me. It looks grubby and brutal and maximised for brute force and efficient harm by an untrained hand. That says ‘savage brutality’ to me. That says ‘I don’t care about honour or technique or duty. I just want to splatter your brains out and will do so by any means.’
So in terms of larp weapons - things that aren’t elegant. Things that are big and clunky. Things that are painted to look rusty, or jagged or improvised out of scraps/tools/etc … This might give you some of the ‘wtf’ or ‘runnnnn awaaaaaaay’ moments you’re after?
[quote=“Anna K”][quote=“Jared”][quote=“Moo”]
So, I think for me it’s less about the weapon, and more about the weilder and their approach to how best to f* ya’ll up.[/quote]
You are all class Moo. But your point is valid.[/quote]
Dude, I don’t think you can classify someone’s fears as “valid” or not…even if it doesn’t scare you, doesn’t mean it doesn’t scare her, y’know?[/quote]
Dudette, totally misunderstood me! I wasn’t validating her fears, I was saying that the setting/person holding being important was valid. But maybe I shouldn’t have used valid… maybe another word. Maybe just that I agreed with her.
To me it’s always the realistic depiction of violence. For example ‘Once were warriors’. The assault on Beth and the rape scene are much more horrific than the Lawn Mower scene in Brain Dead.
The only difference between good people and others like Gacy and Geins and Bundy is intent. They have the same number of arms and legs and heads as anyone else. But they have no empathy for other people and will not stop harming people when it is apparent that they are causing harm. A very large number of politicians have been diagnosed as having the same personality type. (Real fact, not joke.)
I have some ideas for larp weapons that would allow a more realistic portrayal of violence for later period games, common household objects like claw hammers, scissors, baseball bats, fire extinguishers etc. Essentially, items that are not “weapons by design”, so much items that are frequently turned to violent ends. So, for various horror larps, rather than having to justify yet another eccentric old man with a sword collection, players can raid the garden shed / kitchen drawers when the zombies attack.
Nice, I do like this idea. 
Spades and shovels too. Garden forks would be great, but probably quite hard to make, too narrow. Let’s see, what else do I have in my garden shed… a saw, hedge trimmers, sledgehammer…
Personaly I think the most brutal of weapons are the ones that:
- You have to get close to use.
- Disfigure alot (break bones or strip flesh) but you realy have to go to work on someone with to actualy kill them with.
Examples: Ball peen hammers, bottles, chains, lead pipes, wrenchs, hot poker, cut throat razors, shivs, 2x4 or base ball bats with nails.
Look at the “Corn feild scene” in casino (dont if your squeemish)…that my friends is going to town on someone.
The 2nd point in mind…I think the shockingness of it goes with what the attacker and beater does when the victim drops.
- Victim drops, lies still. Attacker moves on, like he was trick or treating.
- Victim writhes, clutches wounds, cries, pleeds for mercy. Attacker keeps wailing on them.
Remember 0 HP doesn’t mean dead, people…it means your GOING to die if nothing is done and you effectivly cant do anything, Doesn’t mean you cant gargle and scream and slowly bleed out for a bit if its dramaticly appropriate.
[quote=“Derek”]I have some ideas for larp weapons that would allow a more realistic portrayal of violence for later period games, common household objects like claw hammers, scissors, baseball bats, fire extinguishers etc. Essentially, items that are not “weapons by design”, so much items that are frequently turned to violent ends. So, for various horror larps, rather than having to justify yet another eccentric old man with a sword collection, players can raid the garden shed / kitchen drawers when the zombies attack.
][/quote]
Yep, quoted for truth.
I like this quote, I think it should be part of the larpers handbook, if we had one. 
Most of us are inclined to scream once and “fall unconscious” at 0HP. Perhaps a little more - gurgling, trying unsuccessfully to crawl away, flailing, wailing, clutching at legs/arms/innards - would add to the battlefield atmosphere.
Possibly a bit of whining and begging, “please don’t kill me, I have a wife and 2.4 children, think of the children!!!” 
More fake blood would be good as well. Just not the maple syrup recipe because it’s really sticky and messes up costumes really badly.
We used to have a larp-safe spade. Also a big black iron skillet.
i’m pretty sure that spade is still around, aswell as that i’ve got a larp safe wine bottle (from the wine maker in St wolfgangs) and that thing can work as a sap if needs be.
The larp safe wine bottle was very cool. Sister Abelade of St Wolfgang’s has a larp-safe rolling pin too.
i think the scne that violence is set in too is pretty influential in how scary it is. being attacked alone is far worse than in a group. just for me, humans are more scary than zombies or monsters or animals. the most wince inducing scene i remember is when the grandmother chews on metal in ‘im an android and im ok’ and that’s self inflicited violence, which is awful to watch. meow meow meow violence is great