LARP: Interview 2: Mark A

Excellent photography supplied by John Kearney

So here is another interview from a guy who always seems to have a blast at LARP.  

Though we have never actually role-a-ma-played IC at an event, everything I hear about his group “Squad D” is good.  He is has been a LARPer for 4 years or so, so a much different perspective hopefully than the aging frame that is myself.

1.) So for the audience tell us a bit about yourself in the mundane world.

Hello, my name is Mark Allport I am 26 years old and work as a Learning Support and Personal Care assistant for a 22 year old guy who has Cerebral Palsy. I have been working with him for almost 3 years now and I love it. I have always been into video games and other various nerdy role playing ventures.

2.) How long have you been LARPing and how were you introduced to it?

I have been LARPing since October 2010. My first event was the Lorien Trust Lions faction Winter event October 2010. I am a big fan of the film Role Models and had just been watching it in the Summer of 2010. After it finished I started to do a little research into it searching mainly for LAIRE, being the system they play in the film. I only managed to find a few American websites and systems though so my research dwindled.

Shortly after I met a friend on a night out and we somehow got onto the subject of LARP (Being a little intoxicated I cannot recall how exactly the seemingly random subject came up at the time). I remember showing her the tattoo of Elvish writing I have on my leg which spurred on the conversation and she introduced me to my now very good friend Fozz, who took me under his wing and introduced me to the Lorien Trust LARP system.

3.) What systems do you current play at present?

I currently only play Lorien Trust but I have monstered for Outcast a few times and would certainly be open to trying more systems in the future

4.) What is your favourite current character?

My only current character and so of course massive favourite of mine is Spaff an Ogre Mage in the Lorien Trust Lions faction.

5.) What is your favourite character or monster role you have ever had?

My favourite monster role to date would definitely be a 50 total body hit point crush stick wielding Ent who was sent to attack the Lorien Trust Harts faction at the time, there were a few of us Ents and we were accompanied by little fairies. Our brief was once the fairies were killed the Ents went into a frenzy which was a lot of fun.

6.) What do you think are the best parts of LARP?

Personally the escapism is pretty much the biggest appeal to me. Being able to forget the real world for a few days at a time and role play another character is great fun. The massive social aspect too getting to see and role play with all my mates is great, especially since we all live all across the UK so a lot of the time LARP is the only chance we get to see each other! Of course then though the actual gaming itself is always great fun being able to fight and cast spells at other people etc all in a safe environment feels awesome!

7.) Many people consider that money is the major barrier to LARP, what are your opinions on this?

When it comes to money I wouldn’t necessarily see it as a barrier as such more of a hurdle to hop over. Any large scale hobby you want to get into will cost you money and sometimes a fair bit of money. It is an investment though once you get the base layers of kit, costume and weapons then you are set, you can modify and add to your gear over time to look and feel even cooler as time goes on. I feel ticket prices are fair and when you think about it you could pay £40 for a one night concert whereas you’d pay that for a whole weekend’s LARP. Even bigger festivals you’d pay £200 plus for one weekend whereas for similar you can get tickets for all 4 main events at the Lorien Trust. If it is something you really want to do, you will find the funds!

8.) What would be your single piece of advice for someone coming into the hobby today?

All the new people, faces and rules can be a bit daunting at times but remember that basically everyone in the field with you is like minded. We are all there to have fun and enjoy ourselves. Anything you are not sure on feel free to ask people questions. LARPers love to talk about LARP and are usually always happy to help. One thing to bear in mind though and I was reminded of this myself as a new player if someone seems angry or miserable or doesn’t want to talk to you 9 times out of 10 that will just be the character they are playing and are usually the nicest of people out of character. So don’t worry! Above all enjoy yourself and get stuck in!

9.) Do you think that LARP in the UK reflects well compared to LARP in other countries or do you believe we need to up our game?

I haven’t seen a great deal of LARP in other countries but certainly from what I have seen there are aspects of UK LARP that could be different or maybe even improved on. In my opinion and again from what I have seen I think UK LARP beats a lot of US LARP. There are European systems though that do seem to have much higher expectations for kit and costume which does make the game world a lot more impressive to look at. Every system is different though.

10.) What is your favourite LARP anecdote? (NSFW if you want)

I shall regale a more recent experience which happened at the Lorien Trust Spring Moot at the beginning of May this year (2014) After a year of tough role play and character development I had decided at this event to try to be a bit more Ogrey as Spaff, since he has to be fair been known to be pretty friendly and civilised thus far, as Ogres go. I was stood near the ritual circle area with Spaff’s Hobgoblin friend Mayhem and the bell’s started tolling from the ritual circle (They are loud and can be heard pretty much all across the site and usually signify something real nasty is about to come pouring out of the void gate within the ritual circle) We had two options, start to run like most of the people or go investigate. As I mentioned I was trying to play a more tough and Ogrey Ogre so thought, fuck it let’s get stuck in and so we marched through the crowd of people fleeing to see what was going on. I heard a call that some followers of Dracos (a big bad guy) were coming to perform a ritual and they wanted volunteers to help protect the Watchers within the circle. So without a second thought Spaff (me) and Mayhem jumped into the circle along with a guy from the Tarantula faction IIRC and stood our ground. The Dracos followers turned up a fight kicked off and during which promises were made by the Dracos followers not to hurt Erdreja with their ritual and so because the watchers have to be neutral and impartial we were asked to step outside the circle while they performed their ritual. Once it was over and the ritual circle seal dropped we all dived back in to smash the Dracos followers faces. Once they were all done I spoke to one of the watchers, Zuur who then wanted to get through to the guild area nearby to find and speak to the other watchers. Big and tough mode kicked in and me and Mayhem stomped our way through the crowd shouting at everyone to move out of the way. The crowd of players all parted creating a clear path for us which felt awesome. Afterwards Spaff and Mayhem were commended by the Watchers and later by our faction for our bravery. It felt great and goes to show getting stuck in and not letting the potential fear of character death hold you back all the time can lead to some awesome fun roleplay!