An Tir Dearg

So, I had a kind of random train of thought the other day, and it was role play related. I've always hated when our group gets called a LARP, and that debate is old and stale for sure. But every time I tell a non-fighter friend I'm going to an event I'm likely to hear "oh, that larp thing you do?"

So, this is just my train of thought, it's sort of anti-larp/rp, but since it deals with that side of things I thought this forum was most appropriate. Just looking for some help sifting through my brain.

So, what makes a LARP? Well, LARP is short for "Live Action Role Play." And I really don't have any problems with the terms live, action or play (though one could argue that role play is a single word at this point) it's really "role" I have an issue with.

See, role implies that you are trying to play as something else. I never feel that way. Just like any other stick jock I'm a dude swinging a chunk of safety coated fiber glass that we call a sword because it looks like one and "safety coated fiber glass" is a mouth full. I'm dressed in some funny clothes, but so are football players. I don't see too many people walking around in jerseys and stretchy pants (thank god.) See, role play to me sounds like you're attempting to be something else. You're trying to play another role, one you don't usually have. I'm not doing that. I'm not emulating a knight, or a viking, or a barbarian. I don't feel a suspension of disbelief that I'm in another time period. I don't care about another time period. I mean, I love the medieval stuff for sure, I just don't associate with Belegarth.

Now, what really sparked all of this is garb. In garb, I find there are 3 kinds of really really really broad groups. 1. Historical. 2. Fantasy. 3. Other. I'm definitely in the "other" category. When period people want garb ideas they go look at historical stuff and such. When fantasy people want garb they go look at movies and books. As a member of the other category, when I want new garb I go look at old event pictures.

That's the real issue for me. I'm not trying to emulate a historical or fantasy persona, I'm taking what I see in the sport, keeping what I like and throwing away the rest. I did a presentation for a class once on Belegarth culture, and if you look around there's a lot of it. Garb is pretty key here. There are historical kits, and fantasy kits, but there's a shit ton of stuff that falls into this "other" category. Now, not everyone agrees with all of it, I know that. Under armor for example. But at the same time you see hakama mixed with European style tabards. You see tunics with their bottoms cut at a 45 degree angle. This is belegarth style, and it's unique.

Now, I think of belegarth as a sport. The reason I do is that games are never things I want to get better at. They're things I do casually to kill an afternoon and then put away. Once you work to improve your abilities it's no longer a game to me. And the common arguments are "you don't keep score, what are you trying to win, you're dressing up in funny clothes and hitting eachother with swords."

Now, not everyone keeps score, I agree. And not every lay on is tallied somewhere, agree again. But score is kept all over Belegarth. Numinor has a banner with the names of the winners of their tournaments at each oct'fest. I can tell you for sure that Dunharrow won a realm battle at each major IL event last year (SW,'Geddon and Oct), people talk back and forth about what the capture the flag "score" is after each battle. And above all else, we know when we've had a shitty event fighting wise. Everyones come home at some point and gone "Man, my fighting was craptastic this event."

Then there's "What are you trying to win?" Every super major sport has something you get for winning the big game. A trophy, a ring, that kind of thing. But it's not like it has value without the win to back it up. And often team members get nothing but pride for winning in their sport. Sure, the TEAM brings home a trophy, but dude c on said team doesn't always get anything. In all sports, their are people that play "for the thrill of the game." They play for the win, just to know they did awesome. Belegarth is like that, I'm trying to win satisfaction.

Now, everything up until now has really been just kind of on the fly. When all this was thought up the first time, this is where I started, and I worked my way backwards. The statement "we dress up in funny clothing and hit eachother with foam swords." is kind of the backbone of a lot of our recruiting. I mean, it does really boil down what we do. And this statement is often what makes us most sound like a game. But all a baseball player does is dress up in funny clothes (his helmet only covers one ear, that's WEIRD!) and whack at a ball thrown at him with a chunk of wood, then run in a circle. In Football they fight over a chunk of inflated leather, and that's not even the weird part. When that piece of inflated leather hits the ground they all stop, and then line back up and start over. And don't make me mention the stretchy pants again.

All sports are silly silly games. They all have you dressing up in outfits that aren't normal, using equipment that is outside of the everyday norm and have you do things that taken out of context seem really weird. I'm doing that same thing. I'm not trying to play a role, I don't care about what some dude was wearing in 1394 on the southern shores of what is now the UK. I care about that fuckin sick tunic that Goat has (The one that used to be Bhakdar's) or the way that Morbian's pants have those cool colored parts at the bottom of each leg that match his knights colors. I like the way under armor looks when it matches garb (although, again, I understand that it's not garb.) The way we practice combat doesn't feel to me like we're trying to be ancient people fighting ancient wars, I can only assume that the way I feel is the way a fencer feels when someone tries to tell him he's role playing.

I am not role playing.

I'm not attacking role playing. I'm not trying to rain on anyones parade or poke anyone with sharp sticks. I really just kind of had this floating around inside my head and thought I'd throw it down on paper and see what people could do to expand it or argue it. This just seemed like the best forum since it's sort of aimed at role playing. Also, that isn't to say that there isn't a place for all spectrum of fighter in Belegarth. Just, the next time someone calls what we do a LARP, I want to be able to give them a well rehearsed line of reasoning that hits them like a donkey punch about how they're wrong.