NOTE: This post is a draft of the “Welcome to Diatribe” post to be posted, stickied, and locked by Ayesha in the General Discussion section and linked to from various places with “New to Diatribe or larp? Click here for your welcome and explanation” links. This is a work in progress.
[size=150]Welcome to Diatribe[/size]
NZ Live Action Role Playing (LARP) Community
Hey there! Welcome to the Diatribe forum, New Zealand’s home for larp discussion.
What is larp?
Live Action Role Playing (larp) is an activity where participants improvise the roles of characters in a fictional situation. There are many varied types of larp, and at Diatribe we support and encourage all of them.
Murder mystery evenings are an example of one type of larp, and games where players fight with soft foam weapons are another. What they all have in common is taking on roles and physically playing them out without a script. Sometimes you write your own character to play, and other times you are given one. Some larps involve a lot of costuming, makeup, set-dressing and props, and others rely more on the players imaginations. Some larps are purely for fun and laughs, and others involve more serious or dramatic roleplaying. There may be a lot of rules, or none. Some larps are one-off events, others are series of events in a continuous setting. Larps can be in any genre, from historical to modern psychological thrillers to futuristic, and can involve any amount of social intrigue or physical action. Some are very small, with only a handful of people, and others have thousands of people. Anyone can play in larps, and our community has people of all ages and from all walks of life. The largest larps in New Zealand so far have had around a hundred participants.
What is Diatribe?
Diatribe is an internet forum for the discussion of larp. On an internet forum, anyone in the world can post their thoughts and have them read by all. Whether you are already involved in running or playing larps or just interested in larp, you’re very welcome here. This is not a closed community, it is a pubic forum where lots of people happen to know each other through playing together at larps. You don’t have to be in New Zealand to post, but the discussion here mostly focuses on larps based in New Zealand.
Who runs Diatribe?
Diatribe is a project of the New Zealand Live Action Role Playing Society (NZLARPS). The Diatribe project was created by and is managed by Craig Neilson, who posts here with the username Exquire. However, if you have a problem and want to talk to someone you should either post in the Support forum or contact the administration user Ayesha. Ayesha is not a real person (but no less powerful a benevolent dictator for that), she’s a persona that allows multiple people to moderate and administrate this forum through a single logon. She’ll sort you out.
What is NZLARPS?
The New Zealand Live Action Role Playing Society Incorporated (NZLARPS) is a registered non-profit organisation created by larpers to promote and support larp in New Zealand. Members of NZLARPS receive many benefits, and NZLARPS also helps people to run larps. Diatribe is a project of NZLARPS, meaning that the society effectively owns Diatribe and supports it financially. However, all NZLARPS projects are under the creative control of their project manager, which means that in this case Craig gets the final say on all matters relating to Diatribe, with permission from the society’s committee if funds are required. The society’s committee is elected democratically yearly and has nine members who meet monthly.
How do I get into larp?
Sign up for a larp event you like the look of, and go play. Don’t be shy, most larps are eager for new players and will be more than happy to have you. You can find a list of upcoming events on the top right of the NZLARPS homepage. NZLARPS is putting together a “Show me the larp!” page with descriptions of all the ongoing larps and pictures from them, which will give you a visual tour of what’s happening where. When that’s ready there will be a post on Diatribe to announce it.
It pays to read any materials the larp has on offer in order to get the hang of things, but don’t be intimidated if there’s a lot of material and you can’t absorb it all at first. Just learn what you can about the larp then figure the rest out as you play. Some larps have requirements for costume or other equipment. Don’t be put off by this, they’ll be happy to help point you in the right direction for acquiring gear, and may be able to lend you gear or recommend a cheap approach for trying the larp out.
You may also wish to consider joining NZLARPS. Members get discounts on a lot of larp events and equipment and receive a quarterly larp magazine called Immersion.
How do I find my way around Diatribe?
An internet forum can be a bit intimidating if you’re new. Rest assured that Diatribe is full of friendly people that are more than happy to help you find your feet. Don’t be put off if you read arguments between some of the posters, that’s just part of the normal robust discussion on forums of this sort.
Diatribe is divided into a number of sub-forums that focus on different aspect of larp in NZ. On the home page these forums are listed down the page, with descriptions of each one. When you click on a forum name, you’ll go to a list of the topics that are being discussed in that forum. The mostly recently replied-to topics are at the top. Feel free to browse around, reply to topics that interest you, and start new topics. Don’t worry if a moderator moves a topic you start to somewhere else, it’s normal until you get the hang of where things go.
A lot of discussion happens in the “General discussion” forum, it’s the catch-all for discussion of larp that doesn’t fit into any other forum. There are more specific forums for discussing physical gear, ideas for new larps, and the larp society. The “Calendar” forum description has a link to a calendar that anyone can add items to.
The “Chit-chat” forum is an anything-goes forum where we discuss everything that isn’t larp. A great first place to post on Diatribe is the “Introduce yourself” topic in the Chit-chat forum, where you can tell the other posters about yourself and your interest in larp, and read about other people who post here.
Further down you’ll find a list of forums for the main centres of New Zealand. These forums are good places to post to announce or discuss larps in your area.
In the “Hosted Boards” section you’ll find a list of forums for specific larps and larp-related projects. These forums are the ideal place to post if you’re interested in playing in a specific larp. Each of these forums has a “Welcome to [project name]” post at the top describing what the larp is like and how to get involved.
At the bottom of the index is the “Support” forum. This is where you should post if you have problems using Diatribe, or suggestions on how it could be improved.
What are the guidelines for posting?
Post away and have fun. Try to post in the appropriate forum and on-topic, don’t make personal insults or use sexist/racist/homophobic language, respect the decisions of the administrators, and try to be constructive. Swearing is fine, but preferred as a spice rather than the main course.
I hope you enjoy your stay here at Diatribe, let me know if you need any help.
[size=134]Ayesha[/size]
Friendly neighbourhood dictator
