|
|
|
Wag
 
Group: Basic Members
Last Login: Yesterday @ 9:50 AM
Posts: 1,483,
Visits: 2,106
|
|
chalicier (2/22/2008)
Oh, and Matt - does "atmosphere" encompass what you were trying to say? The problem with Allen's coat is that it invokes the wrong kind of atmosphere, while Guinevere's invokes the right kind? It's certainly another good word. There just doesn't seem to be a word that describes how a piece of costume fits an LRP setting.
Marios is right that consistency is a big part. Don't turn up in full plate to a game of vikings, it doesn't look right for the game. I guess the point is that it has to be "realistic" but that's realistic for the setting not realistic to reality. Reality is useful in providing some kind of credibility check, but like history or the collected works of Tolkien and Lewis it's not necessarily all applicable. Since most LRP games use a fairly loose setting (well Maelstrom does), most good looking costume from the pages of history works, but so can lots of other things as well. Modern costume like the Robin Head leather jacket never does. Of course if they redid Robin Hood in a post-apocalyptic setting then it could have worked.
Marios
Was it cool because you could see lots of boob (I forget how much) or because you could see lots of boob and it looked like a stereotypical Celtic Warrior Woman garb?
I don't think so. I don't actually recall Keira Knightly having a lot in that department, but I don't recall looking in all honesty. I'm more of a nicely toned athletic figure than a breast man. Lucy Lawless for the win. I think she looks good in the film (albeit probably ridiculous for the setting) because I don't look at the film like a historian, I look at it like a LRPer. And I think "If I were running a game, I'd be well impressed with her kit".
Fidelity is a good word. You're right that the point is to be true to something, it's just not history or reality you're trying to be true to. Either in costume, or in fighting style, which is the point of the thread.
I definitely agree with Kessboy that a key goal is to design your rules to try to produce the game you are trying to run. D20 open system is just a bad idea all over. One size does not fit all.
History is an important source for LRP. Along with other works of fiction.
|
|
|
|
|
Wag
Group: Basic Members
Last Login: Yesterday @ 9:50 AM
Posts: 1,483,
Visits: 2,106
|
|
MattJ (2/22/2008)
On principle I don't mind a dagger fighter "drumrolling" (I'm not really a dagger fighter myself) as IMHO when using daggers you're sacrificing reach for speed. The problem is definitely (as Ick stated) that you get dagger fighters that won't react to the first blow as the come in so therefore it is not a challenge to get up close and personal. If systems regimentedly enforced their "react to blows policy" then I really wouldn't have much of a problem with drumrolling.
Personally I dislike this approach to system design because I don't think I roleplay being hit in combat. It's not because I'm a PGT, but because I just can't keep it all in my head in a fight. Counting my hits is more than I can manage in LRP (just fall over when you are hit three times simplifies a lot), trying to be IC and hit the guy and count my hits and so on is as much as I can manage. I find it very difficult to roleplay being in pain convincingly, I have no idea how to react credibly to being hit with a sword (I presume I fall over and bleed to death with my chest sliced open, but what does this mean if I have four hits left?). Basically I'm just no good at roleplaying this kind of thing, so I either over-compensate and die at the first hit or I just stop worrying about it and concentrate on taking my hits and hitting the other guy.
I'm obviously not saying you shouldn't roleplay in a fight, of course you should. Fights are seminal moments in LRP, some of my most intense experiences have been in close LRP fights and you want to be as immersed in the character as possible. People who roleplay "fully" in fights are to be applauded. I just find it very difficult to do that and so I don't like systems that make the entire play balance of a fight contingent on something I know I can't do very well if at all.
History is an important source for LRP. Along with other works of fiction.
|
|
|
|
|
Live roleplaying's greatest cheerleader...
Group: Basic Members
Last Login: Thursday, December 18, 2008 2:16 PM
Posts: 1,244,
Visits: 10,807
|
|
@ Matt P - A bit of flinching is nice even if there isn't a yell of pain?
_____________________________________________________
RL: Mr Sofar
Curved core weaponry and bespoke stuff.
ShelfordFX
|
|
|
|
|
Wag
Group: Basic Members
Last Login: Yesterday @ 7:00 PM
Posts: 2,006,
Visits: 8,543
|
|
Matt Pennington (2/22/2008)
I don't think so. I don't actually recall Keira Knightly having a lot in that department, but I don't recall looking in all honesty.
I'm afraid all I can remember from the film is a few vague images and my immense hatred for Yankee Arthur.
Matt Pennington (2/22/2008)
Fidelity is a good word. You're right that the point is to be true to something, it's just not history or reality you're trying to be true to. Either in costume, or in fighting style, which is the point of the thread.
I've seen people argue that such-and-such a fighting style is appropriate/inappropriate for a given character but I'm afraid the style of actual fighting almost never makes an impact on me - the uniform, the weapons, the formations/lack of them - pretty much everything _except_ what people do between deciding that they are going to try to put in a blow and the blow landing. It lands or it doesn't land - they are decent fighters OOC or they aren't.
Ritualised fighting is different - duels which aren't to the death one would expect to be about earning 'style' points with regards to what your co-culturalist onlookers would deem 'honourable' fighting - but I'd expect fighting to kill to be quite distinct (one doesn't duel peasants - one _hews_ peasants).
Ditto, I know Romans were unusually anal about Law and respect for the civitas - I'd find pre-Christian Romans who said 'slavery is wrong' painful - but I don't know anything at all about how Romans react when struck with a mace. I have no interest in how heavy maces were, what the mean impact momentum of a standard mace would be or the mean mass of an armour clad Roman. I'd find a game which strove for accurate combat physics no more interesting than one which strove for accurate underwear.
Marios
|
|
|
|
|
Wag
Group: Basic Members
Last Login: Yesterday @ 9:50 AM
Posts: 1,483,
Visits: 2,106
|
|
Marios (2/22/2008)
I've seen people argue that such-and-such a fighting style is appropriate/inappropriate for a given character but I'm afraid the style of actual fighting almost never makes an impact on me - the uniform, the weapons, the formations/lack of them - pretty much everything _except_ what people do between deciding that they are going to try to put in a blow and the blow landing. It lands or it doesn't land - they are decent fighters OOC or they aren't.
I didn't mean fighting style in the sense of individual characters, I meant in terms of the flavour of the system. Hyborian Tales uses mechanics to create a style to their fights that tries to recreate the feeling of the Hyborian Tales world. That's a very different intent to Maelstrom which is why it's good and sensible that they have different rules. The rules strongly influence what fighting methods will work and what won't and that sets the "style" for the game.
History is an important source for LRP. Along with other works of fiction.
|
|
|
|
|
Wag
Group: Basic Members
Last Login: Yesterday @ 7:00 PM
Posts: 2,006,
Visits: 8,543
|
|
Matt Pennington (2/22/2008)
I didn't mean fighting style in the sense of individual characters, I meant in terms of the flavour of the system. Hyborian Tales uses mechanics to create a style to their fights that tries to recreate the feeling of the Hyborian Tales world. That's a very different intent to Maelstrom which is why it's good and sensible that they have different rules. The rules strongly influence what fighting methods will work and what won't and that sets the "style" for the game.
'Different rules support different games' is, I think, reasonably uncontentious. That said, I don't think you can rule directly for 'stylised' fighting - no one has ever clearly stated what they mean by heroic fighting except in an unhelpful "we do it _properly_ not _wrongly_". I don't think that's a failure of articulation any more than an Indian who can't neatly summarise what is to be Indian is inarticulate. I get the impression that you turn up at the event and you watch people very carefully to see what sort of behaviour gets approving nods/disapproving scowls (quorum sensing).
The relationship between unwritten rules and written rules is, I think, complicated and very dependent on the distribution of forceful/popular personalities but even when there aren't explicit no-drum-rolling rules social sanction can suppress incidence. In that sense, I think it might be misleading to compare big multi-ethnic larps with small mono-ethnic larps with regards to 'rules supporting play style' - in multi-ethnic larps you need explicit rules to override local conventions (pidgin) - mono-ethnic larps don't require that.
Marios
|
|
|
|
|
Wag
Group: Basic Members
Last Login: Yesterday @ 9:50 AM
Posts: 1,483,
Visits: 2,106
|
|
Shelford (2/22/2008)
@ Matt P - A bit of flinching is nice even if there isn't a yell of pain?
I have to admit that I'd feel a bit of an idiot consciously flinching if someone hit me with a broadsword. It seems so understated as a response. Ooh... that tickles...
I'm not trying to suggest that you shouldn't roleplay when you get wacked, of course you should, I just think it's harder for everyone to do it well than some people assume. I personally find it very difficult because I don't have a good sense of what I'm aiming for as a valid response, I don't have time to work it out (I should flinch if you miss me, I should bellow in agony and fall over and writhe around on the floor dying if you actually hit me and somewhere in all that there is the system rules) in a fight and I'm focussing on counting my hits and trying to go down when I supposed to do.
History is an important source for LRP. Along with other works of fiction.
|
|
|
|
|
Live roleplaying's greatest cheerleader...
Group: Basic Members
Last Login: Thursday, December 18, 2008 2:16 PM
Posts: 1,244,
Visits: 10,807
|
|
Well that's useful to know Mr P. I've never really thought about it before but it kind of comes naturally to me. Maybe I'm a natural victim? i suppose it can be difficult to roleplay getting hit in thick of combat, but saying that i usually forget/don't notice hits so fall over prematurely anyway.
_____________________________________________________
RL: Mr Sofar
Curved core weaponry and bespoke stuff.
ShelfordFX
|
|
| |