Martial arts and larping?

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Kungfudemon

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Hi! I have wanted to try larping for years now, I have all the base gear I need included home made and store bought safe weapons. A costume and a character idea!
My worry comes from the fact I have trained with weapons since I was 18, we train 3 days a week for 4 hours For the last 7 years. It is fair to say I have fair grasp on how to handle a weapon. My question is will I be able to have fun martialy at a lARP? Will npcs/players be scared of me? I know how to pull my punches and I won't hurt anyone, I am just way faster then most people expect and very precise.
So basically should I try my first lARP as a caster and avoid melee all together? Or go in as a wandering warrior idea?
 
As long as you can "turn off" the training to some extent, I wouldn't worry about it. I've seen several people come in with martial arts training, weapons training, stage combat training, SCA experience etc, and it has yet to be an issue as far as I've seen.

I will say it's a significantly different style of "fighting" than anything you'd do in actual combat. We go for light taps, not actual hits, and we have rules against body contact or even getting too close to other people in boffer combat. Believe it or not, the guys who've been larping for 6 or 7 years will almost definitely be better at larp combat than you are at your first event - you don't have to worry about coming in and walloping everyone you meet in combat. Even if you're a boffer prodigy and you're better than absolutely everyone else, characters stats will definitely come into play - if you do 2 damage per hit and your opponent does 20, you're going to have to land a lot more hits on him than he does on you. What you will have to do is make sure you don't fall into the habits you've developed in your usual training and adapt to our style of combat. Our game has some fairly strict rules about combat safety and from what I've seen the biggest issue people with actual combat training typically have is mentally turning all that training off and just playing the game.

If you're worried about it, try to get someone who already plays and try out the combat a bit before your first game. If you know someone who plays or you can show up to your first game early, a little bit of time practicing our style of "combat" will give you a better idea of whether or not you'll have fun with it and could help you decide what you want to do with your character.
 
Thank you for the reply, I will have to try going in a few hours in advance then. And indo have an off switch parsay, I can play swashbucklers with my sisters kids all day and no one gets hurt aside my horriable death at the end. But my on switch is harder for me, if some one comes towards me playing an Orc or goblin and is acting really serious able the role and is givin off that kind of energy I have a harder time not responding in turn if that makes sense. My biggest worry is smacking people on the side of the head or wrist too often... Or machine-gunning i think it was caled in the rules
 
The advice that I give to practically everybody is to consider NPCing for their first event. As an NPC you get to experience a broader range of the rules than a PC does, and you don't spend as much time in character. I think that second point might be something for you to consider, given what you've said about dialing yourself down. You can start out with small cards and lots of lives so there's no real pressure and you can get a sense of the speed, strength and style of boffer combat. I would get in touch with the staff of the chapter you're planning on attending to learn more about the specific game you'll be going to; speed of combat can be quite different in the different regions.
 
I know where your coming from. Im a black belt and studied using the bo staff and the way alliance uses a staff is much more,striped down, I guess would be the best term and I know I couldn't use it without trouble. Face shots and nut shots will happen,its part of the game. No matter how much experience you have in boffer fighting. You said the best thing u can do. Get there early,get ur stuff checked for safety and ask to spar. You'll learn how to swing fast with no power in no time. Best of luck to you.
 
I personally believe that if you have some extra training, you should absolutely use it within the limits of the rules. That means

1) Attacking legal zones safely.

2) Being able to call your attacks clearly.

3) Drawing your arm back to a 45 degree angle before attacking.

4) Switching targeted zones with repeated strikes.
 
Kungfudemon said:
Hi! I have wanted to try larping for years now, I have all the base gear I need included home made and store bought safe weapons. A costume and a character idea!
My worry comes from the fact I have trained with weapons since I was 18, we train 3 days a week for 4 hours For the last 7 years. It is fair to say I have fair grasp on how to handle a weapon. My question is will I be able to have fun martialy at a lARP? Will npcs/players be scared of me? I know how to pull my punches and I won't hurt anyone, I am just way faster then most people expect and very precise.
So basically should I try my first lARP as a caster and avoid melee all together? Or go in as a wandering warrior idea?
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As Kyle alluded to, LARP combat is its own style of fighting, its own 'martial art'. While you are certainly free to use whatever training you may have, you are only allowed to use what is allowed within the rules of combat and the game.

For example: Weapon hooking is not allowed. Punching and kicking are not allowed (no physical, body-to-body contact is allowed). "Swinging through" someone blocking your attack is not allowed. Shield bashing is not allowed (nor is striking a shield with any part of your body).

Primarily, you will be using your footwork and self/body control training in combat (and your cooler head).
 
My partner did SCA rapier for 7 years, and has found it helpful to just... not fight with long sword. They use double short sword most of the time because they have less intense training in it and it helps in slowing down and avoiding throat/head shots. So maybe consider a weapon style that isn't too close to what you're trained in?
 
Thank you all for your replys! Ya I might have to try a different weapon going in with my sword might just not be fun. Maybe try something like your partner did, going with a different weapon. I was thinking of playing a character that has a damaged arm, think Aron from final fantasy. A handi cap like that might make it fun for me, I know myself and to find a way to make it challenging will keep me around. Thank you all for the words of advice
 
Would one be allowed to teach while at a larp? Like real sword tactics and duels? All of them using the same safe weapons but in a more real style? Cause my roommate just suggested if I wanted to go the cripple route with my arm that I could be wanting to pass on my knowledge. Would that be something I would have to ask my chapter about if I wanted to teach real world skills?
 
That's a totally legit way to use the Teacher skill.
 
Kungfudemon said:
Would one be allowed to teach while at a larp? Like real sword tactics and duels? All of them using the same safe weapons but in a more real style? Cause my roommate just suggested if I wanted to go the cripple route with my arm that I could be wanting to pass on my knowledge. Would that be something I would have to ask my chapter about if I wanted to teach real world skills?
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Here's the thing - the stuff you will likely do in teaching real-world combat skills will probably violate the combat rules of Alliance. For instance, teaching someone to close in on their opponent in order to remove their ability to strike effectively is against the combat rules of Alliance. You can talk about it in-game as if you were actually teaching someone to fight, but there needs to be a super-clear understanding between both you and your student that what you are teaching should never actually be done at an Alliance game. More importantly, even if you and your student have a really nice handshake or even signature agreement that it's okay to kick one another while sword fighting as part of your "training", at an Alliance event, you almost absolutely should not actually kick one another, even if the two of you were wearing redman suits under your armor. Doing so would probably violate the insurance policies of the chapter, and open the chapter up to litigation if someone decided after the fact (or if their parent decided after the fact) to make a Big Deal® of whatever happened.

Using an Alliance-approved weapon in a non-Alliance approved method of combat can be grounds for warning, removal from the event, or worse.
 
Don't take this the wrong, but you probably aren't as skilled as you think you are. Alliance combat is different enough from real weapon combat that your skills are unlikely to fully translate. It is sort of the difference between karate and boxing. They are both ways of fighting, but if a karate black belt is thrown into a boxing ring, stuffed into those giant gloves, and required to follow all the rules of boxing, that black belt will probably get beaten by someone who is only moderately well trained in boxing.

You will likely be in the same boat. On the east coast, for example, I can name about a half dozen people who are absolute masters of LARP combat (a few them teach in-game and out-of-game at the same time). Of those masters, best I know, not a single one has significant training of any other type of LARP combat. At the same time, there are a number of black belts in our game, and while most of them are proficient fighters, none is top tier. The skills simply don't translate well enough.

Your suggestion that you need to give yourself a handicap is actually moderately insulting, though I am sure you don't intend it to be. You are effectively assuming that no one in the game you are joining has taken the time to master the craft they enjoy. Many have. I'm sure showing respect to your opponent was part of your training at many points. I suggest that you show that respect by engaging before judging and by experiencing the battle system before assuming that you are better than those who have played for years.

As I said, I don't think you intended to insult, so I am taking none. Also, please understand that I am trying not to insult you with this suggestion.

-MS
 
I also have a significant martial arts background and I'm a much better packet chucker than I am melee combatant. LARP is a totally different style of body movement and you'll need to learn new reactions and styles just to block, let alone hit and hold you own in a one v. one or group battle. Additionally, martial arts does not account or train for the combination of archery, spells, and gasses being thrown at you.
 
My Sister was trained in the art of swordsmanship and all it did was make her slightly faster than the average player and a constant head shotter. We've had plenty of martial arts folk cycle through and they weren't anymore intimidating than any other athletic new player. The rules of LARP combat are so drastically different that an actual martial background is a hindrance, more than a help. Sure, you'll be faster and in way better shape than a lot of folk but you will also instinctively trap weapons, attack too hard, attack illegal striking areas, because that's what your muscle memory is trained to do. Some of our best IG fighters wouldn't stand a chance in a real world fight.

Just take it slow and don't come in with the "I can beat everyone" attitude and you'll do great.

You know the real terrors? Former baseball players who play bow characters. My friends Andy and Jamie used to wreck faces with bows, almost day one.
 
evi1r0n said:
You know the real terrors? Former baseball players who play bow characters. My friends Andy and Jamie used to wreck faces with bows, almost day one.
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Yeah, HQ had a player who was a pitcher on a college baseball team. He is the only player I ever heard of that had his CASTING privileges revoked. (I once heard those packets hit the wooden wall next to me. I was TERRIFIED of that casting arm)

-MS
 
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