LOL, low be it for me to disagree but.......I do!

Army kit is dirt cheap and last for years unlike £200 frock coat torn by bramble!

Sites...whats wrong with scouts, we use em all the time!  as long as you clean up and use bio bbs...jobs a gooden Besides there are a pile of airsoft sites dying to make an easy £300 quid when they haven't got a game on so more sites actually are availible out there than you may realise.

Big q here...have you actualy done airsoft?  cause it doesn't sound like it!

Hmmm I do agree with peeps not wanting to get shot, but the springer rifle out their now are fantastic and dirt cheap again, also the chinese rifle are about £100 and you get everything you need.  I have done and run larp for 17 years and Airsoft is cheaper but £100s of pounds!

To be fair the main point you have there buddy is do I want to get shot or go bang!  That IS!! a big facter when deciding what your games gonna look like and feel like.  Not sure about latex and plastic meeting either!  all it takes is one axe knocking goggle off and whole game SHOULD be stopped!!

Sorry about spelling and grammer...I a knob when it come to writting and can't be bothered to cut this into word..spell check it and post it back...christ...I could have done it by now...what a....l.

Not quite sure what led you to think otherwise...

Not sure about the army kit lasting for years (looks at splitting crotches on his DPMs.) And it entirely depends on personal tastes as to weather you want to buy a frock coat or a set of gear, which TBH is not all that cheap and unless you know where to go you'll end up with grade 2s from the local surplus. And it has to be said unless I'm playing a game where it is appropriate (ie. Stargate) I can't say I'm exactly blown away by the idea of everybody tramping around looking the same. 

I'm surprised at a positive reaction from the scouts, I'm curious as to which sites you have spoken to (other than candleston) and were they conducive to subsequent bookings? My experience when scouting my local airsoft sites were decidedly to the negative for a larp. They wanted too much money, had no facilities and there were several security issues and safety factors that stamped a big red NO on them as prospects.

While the chinese invasion has certainly made airsoft cheaper (my F2000 is currently my favourite gun with the M249) You do appear to be forgetting that it is not a case of just going to a store or website and buying a gun anymore, there is no such thing as the casual player now. Someone who is prepared to skirmish regularly in order to buy a gun is probably not going to be satisfied by that springer or fifty quid Both Elephant gun by the end of it. Your casual interest larper is going to get put off by the idea of the degree of commitment and final expense required. And anyway you can't honestly suggest that putting someone with a cheapo springer up against ohh for example someone with a M249 Para with systema internals, 120% spring, running off a 10.8v battery with a powered box mag is in anyway a fair or enjoyable way of spending a weekend.

Which hobby is cheaper is purely a subjective and ultimately worthless debate as it is entirly predicated upon what one person considers to be cheap and how much a person is prepared to spend on kit.

I'll comment that ASFAIK the individuals that tend to champion airsoft as a system as airsofters themselves, similar can be seen from laser taggers. It's alright for us, we've got the kit and know the score, but the market is limited, you ain't going to end up with the scifi equivalent of maelstrom.

If you want to set up a game with airsoft as a mechanic then fine, you'll attract the player base you attract. To force the mechanic into a pre existing system will ultimately loose players.

At the end of the day people come to a larp to larp, I don't like the idea of a combat system becoming such a dominant factor, it should just be the most effective and inclusive facilitator available. Airsoft as a mechanic is, by it's nature exclusive and raises far more issues than it solves, not to mention the fact it restricts your options in terms of weapon effects, capability and propping.


___________________________________________________________

SINergy: Denton Mandell, Captain Drake Alexandrovich Musaveni

SGUK: Maj Richard Calvin (RN)

Not neceserily true, the airsoft mechanic could be used as a mechanism to work out if an attack hits but you do come back to the problem of player communication.  At the end of the day, while i think that this is indeed a downside of using airsoft mechanisms in the game (reducing the flexibility of the system) I believe that the dynamic elements added to the combat system do compensate somewhat for this.

The trouble lays in weapons becoming "generic" (single barrel shotguns and spring/gas rifles spring to mind) with the actual in game effect of the weapon needing to be represented by the mechanical use of the weapon (tripple barrel shotguns representing buck etc)

This has been one of the biggest stumbling blocks when we've come to looking at airsoft sites. While we can work around things like "poor facilities" somewhat if the funds are there, the combination of high site fees and poor facilities though dont give many options.

well, to be honest that realy only applies if they play a single Modern/future game.  Airsoft weapons make excellent props for a variety of different games and are perfectly safe if unloaded and dont have batteries/gas available.

now this i can empathize with, but realy?  hundreds of 6mm bbs?  I'd say lowcaps (midcaps at the very least) are the order of the day.  Only proper support weapons should realy have anything near "hundreds of bbs" and even then, i'd say 250-300 rounds in a boxmag should be enough for anybody with a M240 or smiliar.  After all, we want to encourage reloading, this is larp after all

To be fair, i've never heard of a weapon being damaged at nexus, but i think if you are doing airsoft larp system then gun fights needs to be the emphasis, close combat should realy only be with "tools" (aka, axe handles, trenching tools) or knives/shortswords.  mind you, this is based on the concept of a "modern" setting rather than a more scifi one.

------------------------------------------------------------
Maelstrom: Wynne the Younger
Serenity: Ref

Just to let you know that as a laser tagger, I'll be replying from the point of view of a Laser tagger, just as you seem to be replying as a point and shouter. Why would we publicise a game or system just so we can gloat about our kit? We like every other Larp group, are merely trying to bring in new players. New players that will be loaned kit of the same standard as the regulars use.

"At the end of the day people come to a larp to larp, I don't like the idea of a combat system becoming such a dominant factor, it should just be the most effective and inclusive facilitator available."

At the end of the day we Taggers also like to Larp, as do, i assume the airsoft Larpers. What is it with this attitude that because we roleplay with guns it isn't roleplay? The reason we use Laser tag kit is realism, its nice to aim your gun at someone and get an actual response from the target without having to shout, " Excuse me I've just shot you with a shotgun +1, what is your armour class?".Again I assume the same for airsoft Larp. At the end of the day both tag and airsoft are weapons systems, nothing more, whether you are playing a Colonial Marine grunt or the cheif tax collecter for the Alpha quadrant.


A-wop-bop-aloo-bop-a-wop-bam-boo.

• Airsoft works as a combat system, it's a combat system I've enjoyed immensely and has stood the test of time.
• There is the perceived issue of money providing a gameplay advantage due to kit. I can't remember the last time someone moaned about a player spending a load of cash on a suit of armour and gaining a load more hit points as a result. I'm at a happy point in my disposable income right now that £100ish is what I'd expect to pay for any Larp weapon, foam sword or airsoft gun, I suspect I'm not alone in this.
• We seem to have a few preconceptions of game design that confuse the issue of agreeing on a system. You get shot you fall over, you get shot at long range you need a medic, you get shot up close you need a preacher. That system will work and will be enjoyable, no need for character generation or character advancement through XP, please submit character backgrounds at first convienience. There are hundereds of other possibilities, use additional rules to shape the way combats run to the vibe you want to convey.
• There may be a desire not to be hit with BB's, this is cool. Providing an IC safe zone which borrows a point and shout system is a common solution and perfectly workable. Also opens up the game to people who don't want to shell out on Airsoft weapons, alright it doesn't open up all aspects of the game, but they can still take part.
• Combat is roleplaying. Unless I suddenly stop being Danton and go back to being Jon whenever someone points a blaster at me? One of the best things about Hyborian Tales was the opportunity to wear a dress and get involved in a good old fashion mosh across the hills and valleys, there was something about a Demon and a Sorceror and something too.

I'll stop there as that makes five points and I don't think I have enough to go up to ten just yet.

__________________________

"Plan B is we swear fealty to the Dark Lord."