Larping Through a Field of Daisies

Hey. You.

How's it going, bro?

This is the official birth of OGAOP (of gore and oil pastels). That last post? Psht, that was just the intro; things shall be juicer henceforth. 

A lot of things have happened since I last posted (which was what, two hours ago?). Like: I got my first beard hair. 

Just kidding. 

What did happen though was that I decided what this oh so hated blog will be about: everything, and teaching you about this everything. It'll be about my love for the random and disgusting, the bright and the dark, the stupid and the serious. You name it, I'll research it and show it to you. 

I was lucky enough, actually, to run across a couple of videos I recorded when my friends and I last went to Wichi-con, an anime convention of epic proportions. After bathing in a tub full of cynical wisdom, I decided to have them be the content of this first post.

On to the first lesson:

Larping (lahr-peeng):a type of game where a group of people wear costumes representing a character they create to participate in an agreed fantasy world. Uses foam sticks as swords, foam balls as magic and other props to create the games world; fighting with hand-made pretend weapons. Yada, yada.

Upon searching the interwebz thoroughly, I found that LARPing started out in the 70's, and that larpers were inspired by table-top games such as Dungeons and Dragons and Traveler:

Instead of keeping the game strictly to the board, players started to bring the worlds to life to try and experience the settings themselves. I could quote a whole Wiki page on the subject, but I'm not going to.

 Play ranges from blow-your-mind-away-it's-so-fantastic-look-I've-got-elf-ears, to educational purposes, to create past or futuristic worlds, or to simply smacking each other with foam, handmade swords; in the latter case, this is done simply to humiliate your opponent...wait, never-mind, that's a personal reason. 

I've never larped myself, actually. I tried once. ONCE. The result? I wacked my best friend over the head with a swimming noodle covered in duct tape. She retaliated by taking a make-shift foam axe and slamming the bajesus out of me. All in all, larping is a cup of tea that some enjoy and others would rather watch from afar. It's a step beyond a board game, and a footstep away from another world as well as beating the crud out of someone in a funny costume.

Now for that Wichi-con video. I must say thank you to Sam Crabtree and Kris Isaacs. I knew I had dated Kris for a reason:

Thanks for providing me with funny videos to humiliate you with.

Let the larping begin.