(Untitled)

[serpentstar]

From oxfordgirl 's blog:

'I find it hard to get into tabletop RPGs. Especially since I discovered and identified exactly the sort of high-immersion, character-driven adrenaline-junkie all-IC-all-the-time LARPing that really hits the spot for me, I've been wondering if the style simply... wasn't for me. A nice way to spend an evening, but on a par with "

Comments

[ed_fortune]

Several hobbies have the term 'rpg' in them, however, that does not mean they are close.

Certainly, MMORPG's and Table Top Games are very different, so why do we expect LRP and Table Top to contain similar thrills? (Because lots of us do.)

I like table top, but it's a basically a house meal with friends without decent food and set conversation. It's also, as a DM, a really easy way to find a creative release: It's much easier to do than writing fiction, I find.

[serpentstar]

It's a good point, and one I don't entirely disagree with.

[sarahlascelles]

I never really saw the attraction of table top. For me its all about the live bit. This is why I also struggle with games that are too complicated in play.

[_grimtales_]

What makes tabletop for me is that one can move beyond the bounds of the physically possible. One is immersed within one's imagination and one can play beyond the bounds of self without constantly coming up against the issue of one's own physical limitations or the discontinuity between physical props and imaginary ideal.

In tabletop I can literally be whatever I want. In LARP I am limited, largely, to the bounds of my own capabilities. I cannot be a master swordsman without training myself, I can't fly and so on and so forth. LARP requires immersion which is frequently interrupted when you want to move beyond the bounds of the self while tabletop you go into with imagination fired up and less expectations in terms of physical verisimilitude.

So tabletop is far and away my preference, then 'salon' style LARP and physical LARP last.

[serpentstar]

I find the immersion that LRP "requires" to be one of the main features, rather than a bug!

[_grimtales_]

It's more that in my imagination I can create a fully-featured ogre or whatever, but when confronted with a gangly dude in a mask there's a disruptive disconnect that can be hard to get around. The same happens when rules intrude (as they must to take your abilities beyond your physical bounds).

I guess it's a matter of expectations being different.

[serpentstar]

There are LRP games out there (the ones I prefer, certainly) in which rules don't intrude, and in which the ogre looks like an ogre.

I don't find it hard to believe that this guy is undead, for example:

http://www.disturbing.org.uk/images/lrp/pd/declaration/_F5T0066.jpg

Or this one a demon:

http://www.disturbing.org.uk/images/lrp/pd/declaration/_F5T0151.jpg

[chess]

Crossposted from my comment on oxfordgirl's post

[serpentstar]

Mm, the latter is solvable by playing something like Amber or Nobilis, where any 2 or more players can easily keep playing without a GM for an almost indefinite amount of time, if the GM is occupied.

[chess]

Really? I found when playing Nobilis that the GM was constantly required to make rulings on what level a certain miracle was, or update the world state, or play NPCs interacting with the Familia, or at least keep an eye on conversations so they could be properly reported to the enemies of the Familia by the Chancel Bane listening to their every word...

[chess]

The only 'tabletop' game that I've been in which has had the 'things go on without the GM' quality is Ars Magica, where wizards often have council meetings and similar interactions where no-one is casting anything and nothing external is likely to interrupt, and having a side-conversation is do-able.

But doing that was much more like playing a Mind's Eye Theatre style LARP (which from my limited experience going to a couple of local games seems to be a 'halfway house' between a tabletop RPG and a full-contact LARP) than playing a tabletop game.

[serpentstar]

Awesome new Gaga icon. :D

Well -- the latter point is kinda obvious, but true.

On fear, I've had the occasional really good GM give me quite a scare in tabletop, but I don't think anything quite compares to *actually* creeping through a pitch-black dungeon, desperately trying to escape after it's all gone horribly wrong, knowing there are monsters out there who are more powerful than you and actively searching for you.