Conquest of Mythodea (World's Biggest LARP)

Necron 99 · Post January 19th, 2019, 10:41 am

Well, it looks like I found our next reason to go to Germany, lol.

I was scouring the net for some other random stuff related to GaryCon and ended up finding this youtube vid. I'm not big on LARPs personally, but I would be down for trying this at least once. It just looks like a good time.

Ancalagon · Post January 19th, 2019, 3:02 pm

Let's hope nothing like that tries to take root at Gary Con. Heh.

When I saw the size of that event the first thing I thought of was "Where are the toilets and how many are there?" Just sayin'.

I think Maximilain the Mad used to participate in the foam weapon combat events but don't know if magic, etc. was part of it or not. Maybe he'll chime in and share his thoughts and experiences with a compare / contrast to what was seen in the video.

Captain_Blood · Post January 23rd, 2019, 8:13 pm

Looks like it could be fun, but I don't think it's my kind of fun. I wouldn't mind a visit, but I'm not sticking around for the whole event.

Maximilian the Mad · Post January 30th, 2019, 11:58 am

The largest LARP type event I've attended was Ragnarok, a Dagorhir event that was at the time in Ohio, but now is in Pennsylvania. There were about 2000 people there. No magic in Dag, just fighting.
The restroom thought was spot on. I've seen a Turdis mounded above the seat rim with poop.
The SCA holds a bigger event yearly at the same site as Ragnarok. More like 10,000 attendees. It isn't a LARP per se, it's way more historically accurate. Not just combat, they have medieval/renaissance arts and crafts, period correct dance, music, food, and such.
I illustrate the difference between other LARPs and SCA with the Saturday feast; At a LARP I once got a grocery store rotisserie chicken. At an SCA event it was all Viking themed period correct food, and in my seat there was a 27 page essay with the historical background and recipes for everything served, including the homemade mustard.

Ancalagon · Post January 30th, 2019, 8:27 pm

Max! Great to see you on the board!

Necron 99 · Post January 31st, 2019, 5:30 pm

Maximilian the Mad wrote: ↑January 30th, 2019, 11:58 am The largest LARP type event I've attended was Ragnarok, a Dagorhir event that was at the time in Ohio, but now is in Pennsylvania. There were about 2000 people there. No magic in Dag, just fighting.
The restroom thought was spot on. I've seen a Turdis mounded above the seat rim with poop.
The SCA holds a bigger event yearly at the same site as Ragnarok. More like 10,000 attendees. It isn't a LARP per se, it's way more historically accurate. Not just combat, they have medieval/renaissance arts and crafts, period correct dance, music, food, and such.
I illustrate the difference between other LARPs and SCA with the Saturday feast; At a LARP I once got a grocery store rotisserie chicken. At an SCA event it was all Viking themed period correct food, and in my seat there was a 27 page essay with the historical background and recipes for everything served, including the homemade mustard.

That sounds pretty cool. Always fun to hear about events like this.

rredmond · Post February 15th, 2019, 9:36 am

I always wanted to get into the SCA (actually checked it out in college when I went to CMU) but never thought I'd be into LARPing.
Anyone here has done it and would like to share what they thought?

Necron 99 · Post February 23rd, 2019, 4:59 pm

rredmond wrote: ↑February 15th, 2019, 9:36 am I always wanted to get into the SCA (actually checked it out in college when I went to CMU) but never thought I'd be into LARPing.
Anyone here has done it and would like to share what they thought?

Well, my experience was definitely limited, I don't really do LARPs, though back in the 90s with my original 2e group, several members were members of the SCA. I tried my hand at it once or twice, but getting slapped around by rattan weapons wasn't quite my idea of fun. I've seen the end result on a couple of my buddies when things got intense and they would walk away with bruises all over that lasted for days. It's more of a realistic fighting than an actual fantasy LARP which tends to use foam or padded weapons. There is an underlying RP aspect dealing with Kingdoms and the like, I generally found it to be more about getting onto the field and going at it through medieval fighting.

The local members would meet once a week, on Sundays, in the park near our University and spend hours out there. There were also some larger events with large scale battles to which they would travel. They seemed to enjoy the social aspect a great deal and the fighting even more, it just wasn't my cup of tea.

Before I left for the Army in '95, a couple of my SCA buddies and I went to an event in north Georgia for the LARP, Solar. This one was actually more fun, imo, it had more RP, foam weapons, themes, events and such going on, plus is was your more standard "fantasy" styled adventure. There were players who acted as monsters roaming the camp grounds, there were players as PCs, there were cabins specifically for feasting and "general goods" purchase. It was much different (better I guess) than some of the cheese ball LARP things you see with local high school or college kids on Youtube.

I would actually consider doing this again with the right group of friends here and there, though it wouldn't be something I'd want to do on a regular basis.

Captain_Blood · Post February 26th, 2019, 12:08 am

Reading this latest post has reminded me of how much trash the Plycon crowd gave the local LARPs in Valdosta. I remember one occurrence when Brian (I think) wanted to crash the local Vampire LARP dressed as Starfleet. Something about "setting phasers to holy," and shooting them with super-soakers. Lots of laughs, but I'm glad nothing ever came of it.