Is there any conceivable way to NOT get arrested?

Yeah. Play at a 'con.

Or a gamestore and use obviously orange tipped or orange painted weapons, sure it looses some of the coolness factor but it's a better alternative then getting shot. Other things that the vamp larpers use around here is to have those in charge wear blaze orange vests that say 'Ref" to clue innocent bystanders in that a game and not a hostage situation is occuring.

Depends on what country you live in and the laws there - and what you plan to do.
Usually it s a good idea to inform the police in advance so if concerned neighbors call them, they already have a grasp of the situation.

Own the building your inevitably going to break into?

Use some kind of candy as your character's mind-expanding pharmacuetical of choice instead of, you know, a real pharmacuetical of choice...

Call the cops.

Seriously, let the cops know you are holding a costume party where folks may be dressed like marcs/gangers with costume weaponry. They will appreciate the heads up so they know it's not a problem, and not to come in guns blazing when a passerby reports an armed incursion at that location.

They may even send a couple guys to observe.



-karma

If you have the resources, play on private property away from bystanders. If you have access to a large location like a warehouse or commercial garage or even something like an indoor paintball or lasertag arena, you can play with as realistic weapons as you like (that are not sharpened/shooting dangerous projectiles) without anyone being the wiser. I had a friend who owned a dance club that was closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, and he used to have laser tag games during those days with his friends.

To be honest I wouldn't really want to try and run a Shadowrun game as LARP, but if I were to do it, I'd suggest that you either cut out the actual runs and have them happen "off screen", so to speak, and then focus the LARPing on the legwork, planning, and negotiation stages.

Alternatively I'd suggest that you find an area you can close off to the public and control, and then depending on the exact nature of the game and in-game area I'd give serious considderation to also informing the local police of the event.

Local laws, police forces, and the inhabitants in the game area can also constitute a greater or lesser "problem", which one should be aware of. I.e. if you are going "in-crowd", be very careful about carrying any form of weapons and acting as if you are dealing drugs. The drug part can in particular be an issue if you are in an area where said trade "belongs" to some of the local inhabitants, if you get my meaning. Trying to explain about your LARP game to a local real world gang or drugdealer whilst being held at gunpoint is not advisable.

I don't see a Shadowrun LARP being any harder to run than the old WW Mind's Eye Theatre LARP was. Costuming would be a challenge but a good group should be able to manage with some advanced preparation. Weapons or replicas are a big no-no in any case. Just do without and use weapon cards and you will avoid most of the issues that such present. Any LARP should be performed away from the general public, if you're on private property all the better but most urban games take place on a college or university campus and in that case, the local police, security or what have you should be informed of your activity.

Back when I was involved in LARP I was lucky that our game for much of it's history had access to a nice sized theater space to play in (Market Hall, Peterborough, Ontario Canada). It was after we moved out of the space that we started having issues because it was much harder keeping people away from the public. In comparison, games in the USA that I visited frequently often played in funky locations where one had to be allot more aware of the surroundings. One of the games, played in a game store which had once been a beauty parlor that I kid you not, had these interior balconies which you COULD go up on but weren't ideal for horseplay and more than once someone nearly fell over the rails and it was a good five to eight feet drop depending where in the network of catwalks you were. Also, the game tended to spread into the rear parking lot... which sometimes got freaky because so did the local crack/meth dealers

A long, long time ago, my LARP organization had a set of spy rules in addition to our fantasy rules. A substantial portion of the rulebook was devoted to not getting shot/arrested or causing paranoid mundanes to freak out. A sample of the safety rules:

Incendiary Words and Actions:

Don't use words associated with firearms (gun, rifle, pistol, etc). Use the term "squirter" instead. [the preferred weapon was squirt bottles, which are harder for even the most brain-dead cop to mistake for a real gun than a water pistol].

Don't use any words associated with explosives. Use the term "Wrecking" for explosive-related skills. Explosive devices are "balloons", their arming is "inflation", their detonation "overinflation", and their disarming "deflation". [The game actually used literal balloons to represent bombs--if someone planted a bomb on your car, they'd tie a balloon to the antenna with a tag that showed how hard the "bomb" was to spot.

Avoid words that identify a poison or drug. [They recommend saying "potion" instead, but you could probably get away with the names of some SR drugs, as long as they don't sound like real ones.]

Actions which will not be permitted include:

Pointing a finger in a coat pocket at someone as if you had a gun;

Physically struggling or roleplaying physically struggling when the opposition captures you;

Any sort of physical contact in the course of a game combat;

Game actions in sensitive or secure areas;

Waving your toys (weapon reps, etc) around in public;

Duplicating a legal document as a game document to such a degree that it might be mistaken for an actual forgery

Anything to do with killing someone was referred to as "sanctioning", and kidnapping/capturing was "inventorying".


Clearing things in advance with the authorities was also considered Very Important. And this was in a much less paranoid and trigger-happy age. All of it together probably won't keep you from get tased, shot, or at least put on a watch list now. Our organization found it too much of a hassle for the fun involved and dropped it to run fantasy games exclusively. We run the fantasy stuff in parks mostly, and get surprisingly little hassle over our swordfights.

The Scramble happens every year at GenCon; 4 hours of table 4 hours of LARP. Also look at things like Terrorwerks and even some bigger airsoft orgs, there are people who have places to play and do things like this at different scales.

I cannot see a shadowrun larp being much different than a milsim with airsoft weapons or paintball guns.

As people mentioned let people around know. Let the cops know. Try and stay away from the public. Post game in progress signs.


btw Peterborough, Ontario Canada +1

Yep agree with the above comment, same as a milsim game, do the nessecaries and you should be fine.

If I was to run a Shadowrun LARP, I'd break it down in three-four teams, playing every two weeks. Each week, one of the teams would be the "primary" team, who'd see most of the action, and the other teams doing the stuff more appropriate for office hours and acting as the opposition and NPCs for the primary team of that week. Rotate every two weeks to another team so everyone has time to be in the spotlight and time to do their personal things and all contributing to the back end. A larger game would require allot more coordination and possibly multiple teams, a smaller game runs into the difficulty of not having enough people to act in support roles. Interaction between teams would be limited in my setup but not impossible and people can move from one team to another as story develops.

Nah, I see all those vampire trenchcoats pulling double duty here.

My advice. If you can't do it on private property that you have permission to use, don't do it. Even if you inform the police, they're still going to have to come out and check up on you if someone calls in. They can't assume that the people being reported are you, they have to verify it. Beyond that the called in complaint can very well be an ordinance violation of some sort.

The thing is, if you inform the cops that you are playing a game, they are less likely to over react, or will look for proper markings before they decide to shoot you.

Also, you could at that point get some advice as to whether your activity is legal or not.

Why in the world would cops come up and shoot you? That would be out of protocol and ludicrous. They would come up, tell you to drop your weapons and then tell you to get on the ground if they aren't clearly marked. Comply and it would be easy enough for them to determine they are fake weaponry. The point is, they do not know for sure that you are the people that called in. They HAVE to come out and verify that you are the people that called in about the activity and regardless, if you have fake weapons that look like real weapons, they will behave as if they are real weapons until they can confirm they are fake. This is going to happen regardless of whether you're in public or private areas.

This is why I dislike LARPing in public places. It's too easy to get in trouble. Get a private property to play on or don't do it, simple as that.

Protocol or no protocol, there will be a distinct difference in the thought process and reactions of a cop that

A) walks into an area where all he knows is that there was a report of a group of armed gunman,

or

B) walks into an area where he got a report where knows there's supposed to be a legit group that is pretending to be armed gunmen.

In situation A, if even one of the LARPers gets confused or possibly thinks the cop is just another LARPer, and instead of immediately dropping his costume weapon tries to argue, or worse actually accidentally points it at the cop, a very bad tragedy is far more likely.

There's no good reason NOT to inform the local law enforcement ahead of time of any large activity you might be planning involving costumed weapons. It's just a matter of safety.



-karma

What if the LARPer confuses the REAL cop for the Star?

In situation A, the law enforcement officer comes out and behaves as though there may be lethal firearms on scene.
In situation B, the law enforcement officer comes out and behaves as though there may be lethal firearms on scene.

To do otherwise would be negligent to himself and anyone else in the area.

A law enforcement officer will not arrive on scene and behave any differently on approach. The -only- difference is after first contact where he theoretically knows about faux weapons in the area and that helps avoid trouble and confusion. It does nothing to keep you out of trouble if you behave like idiots and point the faux weapons at the cops after they know they are faux weapons and otherwise argue with the cops.

I still say play on private property and avoid public spaces.

I like Terminax's idea: Have 3-4 teams of players, and cycle the "active" team each event. Have the off-duty teams run NPCS/security guards, etc. That way you wouldn't need too many GMs. You could probably get away with only having 2-3. Incentivize the inactive teams with Karma for good play, or throw in adversaries.

Challenges:
- Costuming. But heck, that's half the fun of LARPing to begin with, so let the players go nuts. The GMs would need to have some minimalist costuming for equipping security guards, Star, etc.
- Dealing with Hacking. Easier with 4e and AR, but it still won't be that easy to do. Particularly in real-time.
- Props. I think you'd need a lot to sell the game.
- Dealing with enhanced reflexes. About the only way to do it would be to go to a turn-based combat system, but some LARPers absolutely hate those.
- Location(s). You'd want a space that is reasonably secluded, and that could also be reconfigured to present different types of targets.
- Security cameras. You'd need them to make the game at all realistic, but they could get expensive.
- Drones. Maybe something you'd use GMs/inactive players to simulate.
- Trolls.

The cool thing is that you could easily do parts of the game "in-crowd," like meeting the Johnson in a restaurant, mall, etc. The actual "run" would need to (generally) be at a private site. Meets with contacts/NPCs could be done in either.

That being said, if you did it well, and were willing to spend the money, it could be seriously cool. I'm there.
Fun other ideas, but probably too expensive:
- Use iPhones for the Commlinks. Custom code an app that does all of the rules behind-the-scenes for AR/hacking.
- Heck, use iPhones/Droids for all the rules adjudication and messaging. Wee!
- Get some night-vision goggles for the characters with LLV.
- Lots and lots of walkie-talkies. Guards would have them (effectively), GMs need them.
- A few RC cars, helicopters (with wireless cams, of course) to be drones.

Sigh, if only I had a few million and didn't care if it all got flushed...

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.

Imagine this situation. A cop enters a hotel that is hosting a game convention where the LARP is taking place. He gets to the LARP area and someone in a trenchcoat with what appears to be an automatic weapon bursts out of a door and takes aim at him. The cop yells to drop the weapon but the trenchcoat guy, thinking this is part of the LARP, merely yells at the officer to suck it.

At this point the human factor comes in. Will the cop shoot or not? He's got clear reason to. There's apparent clear and present danger to both him and the surrounding people.

The knowledge that there is SUPPOSED to be guys playing a game with faux guns in this hotel WILL make a difference in how willing the cop is to open fire, regardless of procedure. It may mean a hesitation of seconds, but those seconds may be critical in establishing if this guy is a real threat or not.

As I said, there is no good reason not to file a notice at the local police station. It's just good planning.

And a cop getting a report of armed gunmen will enter private property just as easily as public, so that won't always help.


-np

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!

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

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?

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

I'll have to look it up on youtube.

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.

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.