Do you like LARPing Elves?
0 voters
Something Ryan mentioned inspired me to start this poll, since I was bored anyway.
What do larpers think about playing Elves? Why do we like 'em or dislike 'em so much?
lord of the rings, and in particular elrond in the movies, are why i hit the “yay elves” button. if youre talking little fae then i cant say i do
I like Elves so much that I make my own latex eartips.
I’m indifferent, but I’m probably on the “sick and tired” side. I find them tiresome in larp because they nearly always mean extra rules and special abilities that sometimes just aren’t warranted by necessity or by adding much to the setting.
I think every fantasy game should have elves. Hobbits as well.
I ran an RPG where the players were orcs who had been sent to find a Hobbit who’d knicked a magic ring. They killed swags of elves and hobbits and in the end made Froddo into salami.
The game wouldn’t have been the same without elves in it.
I voted against them purely because no one ever does anything interesting or new with them. Just same old tired LOTR rip offs.
I voted against because Elves are, almost as a rule, pretentious and haughty characters, who are often also very boring.
I dislike elves in fantasy larp because they have “generic” written all over them, and they look stoopid to people who aren’t classic fantasy fans.
The problem with them being generic is that if you have elves, why don’t you also have: dwarves, gnomes, beholders, katana, ninjas, insert-god-from-random-source-here, Cthulhu-inspired stuff, monsters-from-every-classical-source, anything and everything from Tolkien, stuff borrowed from other fantasy sources at random, etc. As soon as people see elves, they drag in every other irrelevant thing they’ve ever associated with elves. Fans of elves seem especially prone to doing this compared to other fantasy fans.
Basically elves say “D&D” to many people, and D&D says “throw everything you’ve got at me and see what sticks”. Generic fantasy is like mixing all the different icecream flavours into one big bowl. You can kind of make out the different flavours, but overall it tastes kinda brown.
If you want generic fantasy, have elves. Elves in Skirmish, no problem. I find generic fantasy silly and fun, and I don’t mind a dose of brown now and then if it’s done well.
But given the choice of settings to play long-term in, I’ll go for the ones that don’t have elves every time because I like settings that have their own distinct flavour. Same goes for dwarves, animal-people, etc. I want some larps that taste like really rich coconut gelato or mango sorbet or something, not “hey, is there some mango in this brown stuff?” I want settings that feel self-complete and don’t remind you of every other fantasy setting.
Needless to say, I didn’t realise this until after Mordavia already had it’s races laid down.
I voted indifferent.
Part of my problem with elves is that everyone wants to play one.
I always saw elves as a rarity amoung humans, but some many games I play the elves outnumber the humans.
What is it about elves that people like playing them so much?
Can you not try something else for a change…
I also depends what you mean by Elf. For example, I always considered Elric and Corum as Elves - inasfar as they are culturally and racially distinct from humans - whereas Erekose and Hawkmoon were definitely Human.
But, yeah, I agree that the generic Elf concept smacks of D&D Basic Edition ™. So, I like the Moorcock Elf model more than the D&D/Tolkien Elf stereotype.
Or maybe I just like having pointy ears around…
Depends on which elves. I really like Terry Pratchet’s elves.
I think it’s the ears. They’re purty.
Also, at the last Mordavia game, the Iron Will racial characteristic was very useful to my Vampire Hunter.
My 2c:
I personally think Elves (if you have them immortal or long lived) is that they should be something far more alien to your average human than often (always) seems to be the case. Almost always they seem to be played as nothing more than pretentious/ verbose humans (with pointy ears) with some extra abilities when they should be sooo much more.
I for one would find a being who has lived for >1000 years rather scary and intimidating and wouldn’t trust it’s motives. Quite frankly I dont think such a being would want anything to do with such a primitive/uneducated/immature creature as a human.
I love the elves for all of the already mentioned stereotypes. I find that when you make a complete, indepth character then the stereotype only works against it adding more conflict and character development. With elves the stereotypes are so strong with both the high brow and the anti that making a wholistic character is that much harder, for me that makes it that much more rewarding.
My thoughts inexactly. I wouldnt like the elves if they were real…
My first character was a quiet, timid, scared shitless elf. But that probably had more to do with the fact i didnt know what i was doing
They should come across like they are pre-school teachers and the other races are 3yo children.
“Now, I want everyone to sit on the mat with their hands on their heads. Johny, please tell everyone why we don’t play with black magic?”
Elves are wise, strong, beautiful, very close to nature. They are immortal. They are warriors and craftsmen. They sing and dance. Which of this should make anyone disgusted?
Ok, my idea of elves is strongly tolkienistic (and no associations with D&D - sorry Ryan 
), but that’s one of the mostly known ones. Also, the LotR movie definitely influences the whole fantasy idea - and elves as part of it. This can’t be ignored, people who saw the movie can easily become elves-fans.
Now, about playing elf: ears, beautiful clothes, noble-like speech style, kindness, courage, not even mentioning elf language, elven runes, and other romantic stuff like that. That is all interesting to play - so people play. I’m not sure whether I understand correctly what generic means, but i don’t think elves are generic. Otherwise you can say it pretty much of any other type of character. It’s a matter of playing, not of race, I think. Elf or anyone else can be played generically or specifically.
Nicely played elf would be interesting to others as well as nicely played vampire, or orc, or human… He wouldn’t irritate others (which, I got impression, sometimes happens and makes people feel negative about elves in games). Even if he wears always-white robes
[quote=“Derek”]They should come across like they are pre-school teachers and the other races are 3yo children.
“Now, I want everyone to sit on the mat with their hands on their heads. Johny, please tell everyone why we don’t play with black magic?”[/quote]
'Cos that’s what the red commonist fools do, sir!
(Commonist is not a typo.)
I often find that elves in books/ movies/ roleplaying whatever tend to be far too driven. If you are immortal you simply would not have the drive to achieve things in the same time period as a mortal. The reason why elven arts are often deemed to be sooo good is that they have sooo long to work on them. If you worked on a piece of poetry or smithing a sword for 100 years I’m sure it would be fantastic!
Perhaps the endless councils and deliberations mooted by elven players would be classified as good roleplaying
These are all traits linked to a particular sterotype of elf, not that some people wouldnt find that interesting to play. Not all fantasy elves are noble or well spoken or kind or couragous…some are nasty 
I didn’t say everybody would want to play that. And never would say it, especially after reading all those negative opinions on two pages of this thread However, the question was - why people like playing elves, so I explained it from my point of view, and I’m sure there are people who would agree. As well as those who disagree, and those who agree but with other reasons, and those who disagree but under certain conditions…
Well, it’s interesting to know different opinions anyway 
Once again, my mind is desperately poisoned by virus of tolkienism (and I never tried to hide it), but of course I accept the idea that someone can disagree with Holy Silmarillion .
May the Force be with you, whatever Side of it you prefer.