Vandlar said:
Alliance LARP Ohio was in our local Sunday paper. A full page review with 3 photos, although the online story only has one photo.
http://www.reviewonline.com/page/conten ... 03583.html
Mike V. I will be sending you a copy of the actual paper tomorrow.
Great! We can always use new quotes for our web page, and you can always use new members!
Here's the article for anyone who wants to read it!:
While many players of role playing games are content sitting around a table or in a computer chair, some take it one step further, actually acting out their characters with others in a gaming method known as live action role playing, or LARP.
Game organizers concoct whole worlds and in-depth storylines, while the players create characters with detailed back stories and motives. Those characters then create alliances, struggle with each other for power, and fight with weapons constructed from PVC pipe and foam.
One such local group, Alliance LARP Ohio, holds weekend-long events at Camp McKinley in Lisbon in the winter and Lewis Aboretum in St. Clairsville in the summer.
Co-owners and organizers of the local chapter, Michael Webb and Matthew Boyd, said that it can take some explaining for people to understand what LARPing is all about.
"Some people just think it's weird," said Boyd, adding that he usually tells people that it is similar to a war reenactment because in many ways it's like a medieval war reenactment.
"Once I actually explain it to people, they seem more interested than anything," Webb said. "Once people see it's more than just a bunch of geeks sitting around a table."
Both said that they have brought friends who were initially skeptical but were won over to LARPing in the end.
Boyd said that some of them were afraid of the foam weapons at first but at the end of the weekend were saying, "Man, this is the greatest time I've had in my life."
"I guess it's all just a matter of perspective in what you like to do and what you don't," said Webb, adding that he was initially drawn more to the theatrical element of LARPing rather than the combat. "It's kind of an improv theater. You get into the story and make it up as you go along. There are twists and turns in the story that you can affect," he said.
Webb no longer plays a character regularly, instead focusing on keeping the story on track and "making sure everyone enjoys themselves."
The local events draw about 30 people a weekend, but Webb said some of the winter events can attract more than 75 because they are one of the only chapters who run in the winter.
Boyd said players come from as far away as New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Michigan. "You make a lot of friends doing it," Boyd said, adding he occasionally visits friends from New York he made LARPing and that he talks in and out of game to players on Alliance message boards.
"We get a really wide variety of people there," said Webb, including doctors, lawyers, paramedics, and policemen. "It's really neat."
Boyd said that he, Webb, and a staff of people come up with the storylines but don't write them out to a conclusion. "If the players choose a different way, we go from there," he said, adding they can "write as we go."
The writers can also accommodate players who prefer the fantasy element or are more focused on the combat. "Anyone can have their own personal plot," Boyd said.
Boyd said one of his favorite plots involved a portal being opened and monsters coming out to attack a nearby village. The characters then had to fight the monsters and work out a way to close the portal.
A rule book, which the chapter has a contract with Alliance to use, lays out the rules for the creation of characters, which can range from human and ogres to dwarves and elves. The players then choose a class for their character, such as fighter, rogue, or scholar.
Weapons are made from PVC pipe covered with foam by duct tape. Foam is also placed on the tips of weapons. "They're completely safe," said Boyd, adding they perform a weapons check before every game to ensure the players safety. While most players make their own, some play merchants in the game and sell weapons to other characters.
Players also dress the part, making costumes and wearing everything from make-up to feathers or prosthetic ears to portray their characters. Dark elves, for example, use black make up on their faces and hands and wear white hair and eyebrows.
Boyd said some of the players start out afraid to role play and think they may get made fun of. "After a while you get used to it and you realize that you're all friends," he said.
The weekend events typically begin Friday night and last through Saturday night to Sunday morning. There is also usually one long weekend event a summer that will last till Monday morning.
Webb said that with the popularity of fantasy films like the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings franchises, as well as online games like World of Warcraft, LARPing is becoming more mainstream. "It's really grown and become more of its own entity. You can't go anywhere without tripping over a LARP group," Webb said, adding that it is especially popular in Ohio and that there are about 30 different groups in about a five-hour drive of the area. Webb said Alliance, which began as the New England Role Playing Organization and then split into two different groups, has 12 chapters across the country.
Despite its growing popularity, Webb said they would still like to see more people come to their events and give LARPing a try. Webb said anyone interested can find more information on the Alliance Web site,
www.alliancelarp.com, and contact information on the local chapter at
www.alliancelarpohio.com
