To LARP or... not?

[Rayken]

So I was at my town's film festival thing Cinequest, and I saw this really interesting documentary called Monster Camp, the subject of which was LARP.

It got me thinking.  The whole thing looks really cool- very immersive- but I've got some doubts.  The combat system in NERO, the game played in the film, looked to be similar to sparring.  I believe instead of rolling to strike, success is based on player skill.  This bothers me somewhat, but I suppose it is necessary to avoid having to stop the action at every attempt to make a move.

Also, the majority of the game shown in the film was combat.  Combat is about my least favorite thing in any RPG, from D&D to Planeshift.  It's possible, though, that this is because showing people standing around and talking IC'ly doesn't make for a very interesting movie.

So, has anyone tried this sort of thing?  How is/was the experience? I realize it is going to vary from game to game / chapter to chapter, but is there a lot of IC dialogue, or is it mostly just fighting?  Were the people involved, how to put this delicately, tolerably geeky and not overly so?  I'm considering contacting my local NERO chapter, but if anyone has any advice on the subject, I'd hear it first.

[emeraldfool]

My friend used to do that somewhere. From the sound of it, there was nobody terribly 'geeky' ('course in North County Dublin those are fairly rare ). What happens generally reflects on the people, really - my friend is a professional actor, so I imagine there was some pretty interesting RPing, at least on his part.
If a martial artist was there, there might be more combat. If I was there I'd probably be a psychopath or something and derail the entire RP

Anyway, I'm not quite sure on the specifics. Maybe I'll ask him...

[Nikodemus]

Of course every LARP is different and it mostly depends from the people, then plot and some rules/system at the last. This are my experiences.
IF there are enough people who can play well talking characters, people in that field of interest will have fun. If there are people interested in battles, fighting and stuff, alike people will have fun too.

It is much more about the player skill (almost entirely), than the character. While in computer RPG you may know near zero about fighting, but your character be a soldier, in LARP it won't work at all. You need to have good condition if you are going to catch a thief or running away enemy. Exactly the same is about talking talking. If you aren't good actor, with i don't know... face expression, emotions, knowing the right words/almost language for the setting you play in. Your character will suck in it too.

The Plot may be really good, but it may happen there won't be enough organizators (like GMs visualising the world) for tens of people looking something to do. If course you may somehow gather players who are all capable of creating world, each will know some plot and the whole thing will be somehow going... But fact is most people aren't best in it and for enjoable gameplay organizators are needed.

Rules. There definetly won't be any dice rolling in the middle of a fight ;P Although characters may have some skills, which used at a certain moment may change result of this what has actually happened. Like you are normally wonded if you get hit, but if you hit your enemy right after he hit you, he is wounded instead. There is no probability for some action, there are only certain results depending on the player skill and some character skills.
Of course some people may decide they really need the dice rolling and there will be certain situations when they do so... but it generally doesn't work well.

The last thing is people respecting the rules. There are no GMs on every step and there is not much you can do if some guy just won't like the result and run away. It's all about people. It decide if the LARP will be fun or not.