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[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

[_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

[_grimtales_]

Such instances are the exception in my experience.
You don't run into the same issue with modern setting material so much.

[serpentstar]

Sorry, which instances -- the top-notch attention to immersion via high quality costuming, props, etc., as well as minimal rules? If you pick the right games, that stuff comes almost as standard.

[_grimtales_]

Sorry, wasn't intending to make you feel the need to defend. Just explaining why there's the disconnect there. I prefer my imagination. The disconnect and the reality jarring is just part and parcel of the overall issue.

[serpentstar]

Huh? Why did you think I felt the need to defend? I just assumed that you were ignorant of the current standard of LRP in the UK.

[_grimtales_]

Oh? It came across defensive. Another apology for misinterpretation then.

[serpentstar]

No worries.