Shadowrun LARP Options

[Ravennus]

There are some inspiring pictures of a Shadowrun LARP at this page.

Man, sometimes I wish I lived in Germany, where Shadowrun is more popular than DnD!

[tete]

I would would try to find someplace to rent so you can just have it as a private party.

[Terminax]

I for one, would never run a game with prop weaponry as a feature. The only time it's appropriate is during a staged event. The risk to not only myself, my players and the community at large is just too great to screw around on this. Fantasy LARPs can get away with things that a modern setting cannot. It's one of those few hard rules I follow.

Costuming for me is an important function at a LARP and shouldn't be downplayed to just wearing dark trenchcoats. If you aren't going to dress up and ham things up, then why not just run a tabletop game?

[nemafow]

Man, I wish we had LARP like that here...

[Doc Byte]

Man, sometimes I wish I lived in Germany, where Shadowrun is more popular than DnD!

To be fair the orga of this LARP is one of the best LARP groups we have over here. Just have a look at this freaking car from their end time setting. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/eek.gif)

[AStarshipforAnts]

That is so cool that it isn't even fair.

[Aaron]

You're talking about ideal situations and proper procedure.

Cops, however, are human beings, not robots. That "trouble and confusion" you mention may determine if someone gets shot or not.

Unbearably true. When I was running a vampire LARP, there was an in-character confrontation between two small groups. It was out of doors, but not in any major traffic area. Still, a beat cop saw it and investigated, hand on weapon, because the body language was confrontational.

For an extreme example of a LARP gone horribly wrong, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Sage#De...ring_ROBIN_SAGE.

[Kyrel]

Screwing around with any kind of replica/prop/toy guns in a country where gun related crime is relatively common, is generally a BAD idea. Misunderstandings and confusion when it comes to lawenforcement officers that are trained to shoot you, if you are brandishing a weaponlike object and don't comply with their commands during a confrontation, can VERY QUICKLY get VERY ugly and fatal.

For the same reason I really wouldn't want to run a LARP game in a modern setting anywhere in the Americas or any other country with similar type of crime statistics.

I've participated in a great Vampire campaign with quite a bit of in-crowd happenings (not using the Law of Night rules from WW), and it was great. But I would NEVER want to try and use the same rules in the USA. They would be a lawsuit or police incident waiting to happen.

[Wounded Ronin]

Is there any conceivable way to NOT get arrested?

It would be awesome. Play paintball wearing 80s rocker clothes. Hell yeah!

[Terminax]

Getting away from prop weaponry debate, I think a Shadowrun LARP hardest hurdle is getting the people through the door. Tabletop games are one thing, LARPs are another beast entirely. Thankfully, Shadowrun is quite enticing visually speaking and has enough of a fantasy component that it grabs attention of people not automatically inclined towards cyberpunk. And the game doesn't have to be dark... you can play more angles than that.

I'll admit, I miss the Vampire LARPs I was involved with but I got tired of the scene, of the drama involved (including my own) and of the politics between organizations and within organizations.

[Wounded Ronin]

You never want to wave toy guns around in public, but why even bother with toy guns when you could have something much closer to reality and much safer in terms of cops not shooting you in paintball?

Does anyone know how to construct those handgun cartridges that shoot parafin balls? I know some police departments used to use that for training. Primitive simunitions. That would be even better for a LARP.

It's hard to convince people to dress up like 80s rockers and play a live action role playing game. But if you have that combative sport aspect, i.e. the ability to bean each other with paintballs, that would be a big draw. I'd happily pretend to be a Steven Kenson character if I got to engage in intense paintball firefights, or even if me and a bunch of friends got to chase each other around with some kind of simunition.

[Platinum]

I'd happily pretend to be a Steven Kenson character if I got to engage in intense paintball firefights, or even if me and a bunch of friends got to chase each other around with some kind of simunition.

Is that because you would like to see brown n1ppl3$ or because you would like to be a mary sue drake with a spirit ally that can be your motorcycle?

You never want to wave toy guns around in public, but why even bother with toy guns when you could have something much closer to reality and much safer in terms of cops not shooting you in paintball?

There are kids around that go play paintball on public woods all the time around here. Actually sometimes people chase each other around the neighbourhood with airsoft. When the cops are called they know that someone is horsing around with dangerous toys. They cops never have their guns out, but they usually do a great job of making you feel like a dummy.

It's hard to convince people to dress up like 80s rockers and play a live action role playing game. But if you have that combative sport aspect, i.e. the ability to bean each other with paintballs, that would be a big draw.

People my age are always looking for a reason to dress like someone from the 80's. Whether a theme party or bush party people are willing to roll back the clock.

[Terminax]

Obviously Wounded Ronin, your idea of safe play is different that mine. If you want to play with guns and the risks inherent to them, be my guest. Just don't expect me to be anywhere around you when you do. My view of LARP is interactive role-playing not shooting people. I'm there to play a character, not get battered, injured or worse.

[PBTHHHHT]

You never want to wave toy guns around in public, but why even bother with toy guns when you could have something much closer to reality and much safer in terms of cops not shooting you in paintball?

Does anyone know how to construct those handgun cartridges that shoot parafin balls? I know some police departments used to use that for training. Primitive simunitions. That would be even better for a LARP.

It's hard to convince people to dress up like 80s rockers and play a live action role playing game. But if you have that combative sport aspect, i.e. the ability to bean each other with paintballs, that would be a big draw. I'd happily pretend to be a Steven Kenson character if I got to engage in intense paintball firefights, or even if me and a bunch of friends got to chase each other around with some kind of simunition.

Thinking of the potential liability issues has me running for the hills.

[Wounded Ronin]

Well I mean it goes without saying that everyone would have to adhere to safe simunitions or paintball procedures.

Then you should be fine.

Alternately, if you don't want to get shot with paintballs, just LARP Riddle Of Steel. Get a 500 dollar practice blunt sword from Albion, put on a three weapon fencing helmet and lacrosse gloves, and go to town. Even safer than paintball! Probably more athletic, too. Sword fighting is a blast! It's like a health conscious version of boxing because there is a lot less head traums that can spontaneously involve full on grapplinf.

If someone wants to portray an asian katana character you can use bokken and high quality wasters from New Stirling Arms. Keep your protective gear on and everyone can play.

[Wounded Ronin]

See, here's a little background on wax bullets as used for training: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wax_bullet?wasRedirected=true

[Wounded Ronin]

Is that because you would like to see brown n1ppl3$ or because you would like to be a mary sue drake with a spirit ally that can be your motorcycle?



There are kids around that go play paintball on public woods all the time around here. Actually sometimes people chase each other around the neighbourhood with airsoft. When the cops are called they know that someone is horsing around with dangerous toys. They cops never have their guns out, but they usually do a great job of making you feel like a dummy.



People my age are always looking for a reason to dress like someone from the 80's. Whether a theme party or bush party people are willing to roll back the clock.

Brown nipples, permed hair, and dragons occurring within the same framework are the real meaning of life.

[Doc Byte]

Alternately, if you don't want to get shot with paintballs, just LARP Riddle Of Steel. Get a 500 dollar practice blunt sword from Albion, put on a three weapon fencing helmet and lacrosse gloves, and go to town. Even safer than paintball! Probably more athletic, too. Sword fighting is a blast! It's like a health conscious version of boxing because there is a lot less head traums that can spontaneously involve full on grapplinf.

Did you ever watch Huscarl fighters from Scandinavia, Poland or Russia in action?

[Wounded Ronin]

Did you ever watch Huscarl fighters from Scandinavia, Poland or Russia in action?

I'll have to look it up on youtube.

[Doc Byte]

I didn't find a good example on youtube. This battle's in Germany and everyone's wearing protective gear, helmets and behaving nicely. Scandinavia or Poland's a step further. More like this. That's full contact (but probably no Huscarl and with full plate armour) and definitively no choreography. If you want to see great technique and not a brawl, have a look at these guys' exercise, but this has nothing to do with Huscarl. Personally I prefere to wear my armour for serious action.

[Saint Hallow]

As someone who LARPs in the USA (East Coast), there have been a number of successes with Steampunk larping here. Some folks wear old Victorian clothes, and use modded NERF guns for the ranged weapon/firearms aspect. The weapons look clunky and fake, but not toy-ish.

[img]http://www.jeremyclough.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/steam2.jpg[/img]

Like so...

SR LARP would function the same way, i would think. Folks dress up in costume (leather jackets, long coats, goggles, Star Wars/Star Trek props for electronic gear), run around some private property (a rented campground, someone's summer home, a warehouse), have ref's in orange vests or the like, and combat would be real-time, with cyberwear such as enhanced reflexes and such providing protection against being hurt. Say Wired Reflexes lets you "dodge" 1 NERF dart hit that actually hit you. For those who boffer larp, using those same combat rules in regards to melee combat and such would be good as well.