LARP Musings
I haven't been able to attend an OWBN game in several months, for a couple of reasons, mostly school and WoW, which I simply prioritize higher. I am still on the Vite-OOC list and some Nosferatu clan lists
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I am of mixed feelings on that type of thing, because again, those rely on Player aptitude, not Character skill. If you, toothlesshag, are excellent at logic puzzles, then your Character is an awesome computer programmer. But if you as a Player suck at thopse puzzles, then you really are unable to play a computer programmer with much skill.
I played in the original King's Musketeers back (too many) years ago. The mechanic for dueling with rapiers was basically Memory, with some cards that modified it. The two duelists would basically have to keep reciting a string of numbers (between 1 and 3) and tack another number on the end, representing blows and parries. When someone messed up the sequence, they were stabbed. While the Cards allowed for the Character's Abilities to influence the outcome, in the end, if you sucked at Memory, you wouldn't be a good Duelist.
I didn't think much of it at the time, but there were a few people who complained bitterly, because their PCs were supposed to be Master Swordsmen, but they sucked at Memory.
So it boils down to the age-old argument, are LARPs about Player skill or Characters? I can write a LARP - I call it "Basketball." I give out detailed characters. Of course, the mechanic I use is you have to actually be able to throw a Basketball into the Net. Is this a LARP, or a Basketball game where we are using Pseudonyms? :-p
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