It’s no secret that people all over the country like to dress up in medieval gear and spend a weekend whacking things in the woods. But here’s the proof. An esteemed colleague and former collaborator over at the Boulder Daily Camera sent me this excellent, respectful introduction to LARPing by Aimee Heckel.
Celebrities: Gaming Nerds Like Us
Gamers have officially entered America’s zeitgeist. World of Warcraft had more than 11.5 million subcribers — the same number as the total population of Cuba — at the end of last year.
It’s old news that Ted Raimi of Superman and more importantly, Xena: Warrior Princess fame is set to direct a WoW movie. But more and more celebrities are coming out of the closet as hardcore gamer geeks.
This Daily Beast gallery (full disclosure: I contribute to the Beast’s Cheat Sheet) of famous gamers has a few surprise appearances — Dave Chappelle, Robin Williams, Curt Schilling — as well as well-known gamers such as Vin Diesel and Elijah Wood.
Yes, I Want to Date Your Avatar
The inestimable Felicia Day, star of such fan-boy bait as The Guild and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, recently put out a new music video “Do You Want to Date My Avatar?” And the answer to that question is, yes, Felicia Day, I do want to date your avatar.
Science: Zombies Could Over-Run Us
If zombies roamed the earth, humanity’s only hope would be to “hit them hard and hit them often,” according to a team of Canadian mathematicians. “It’s imperative that zombies are dealt with quickly or else…we are all in a great deal of trouble.”
Call Him Dirty Harry Potter
Move over Twilight. The underworld’s Philip Marlowe is on the case. This piece looks at bestselling author/LARPer Jim Butcher’s Turn Coat, the newest in the supernatural detective series the Dresden Files.
Jedis on TV
Check out this awesome story on the Jedi exercise routine from my buddy, the inestimable Vidya Rao. Well done, Ms. Rao — a fine use of the force.
Giant Spiders Jumped Me On My Way To Bed
I spend last weekend medieval camping in the wilds of Sparta, New Jersey at the Knight Realms LARP as part of my book research. Well, not quite medieval camping — I and around 60 others huddled in heated cabins that had electricity, but we wore medieval style dress and lugged around boffers.
My First Stint As a DM
My husband and I are trying our hands at DMing. For those of you who aren’t familiar, a Dungeon Master, or DM, runs a table top role playing game or a LARP.
Introducing the Massive LARP Calendar
There’s no single source of good LARP events on the web, in my experience. Sure, Shade’s LARP List has a lot of links, but many of them are dead or lead to groups that are no longer active. So I decided to start my own calendar of LARP events and conventions across the US, and to make it searchable via Google. But this behemoth is only as good as my information.
When the Game Carries Over
That in-game emotions sometimes spill over into the out of game world is one of the hazards of LARPing. Say someone kills your character in-game, knowing that in doing so, they’re causing your character to lose stats. Would you bear them ill-will once the event is over? I always thought my answer would be no. After all, it’s the risk of conflict, penalty and the unknown plot point that makes LARP exciting. But a few months ago I learned otherwise.