sna: The Technology of Larp

Malor (

sna) wrote,
@ 2008-03-28 13:25:00

Current location:	Krimpen aan den IJssel, the Netherlands
Current mood:	inquisitive
Current music:	Cradle Of Filth - Malice through the Looking Glass
Entry tags:	larp

The Technology of Larp
Lately I've been going through stacks of older larp pics, mostly looking for kewl pics of friends to put on my wall. I also love all the nostalgic feelings and 'no shit, there I was...' moments that come flooding back.

But that is not the subject of this post. It is cool to see an upward turn in things such as costumes and weapons, but that is a fairly natural thing as the hobby itself 'matures' (pun intended). What I do notice is the increasing use of technology and theater experience in larps I attend. Part of this is also due to the increasing level to which technology is integrated in our own lives, but Vortex for instance is no longer unique in having dedicated electrical and special fx people. I hear things being discussed such as 'lighting plans', and people toting around notebooks with maps of the grounds and where all the electrical resources are.
Looking at EE we're toting around several laptops, mix sound and music for certain larps, make vigorous use of desktop publishing programs for physreps and have become quite good with images and video. I'm pretty used (spoiled, one might say) to having internet where-ever we go with EE, and the Symbols grounds have their own wireless network for the sound fx when they are there, too. We've done stuff with lasers, beamers, smokegenerators and several smaller electricals, to the point that we have to be careful not to overload the local electrical net. And we're no exception, nor the forerunner in these things. Symbols makes heavy use of such things, going far beyond what they started with. And ambitions keep growing. Many other larps also heavily use those, especially in the last two years. Lex, being modern age and an extreme example, sees more equipment being dragged to the location then I've ever seen anywhere, mostly due to JW and Simon who want to have their Foresight Security Suite...

Where does it go? What do we think will be used next? Are we talking holographic generators in a few years time? I open the floor.

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nathreee
2008-03-28 12:44 pm UTC (link)

My opinion: the new technology is certainly a useful tool. But we have to think about when to use it and when not to. Larp is a game of imagination, and I think it would not enrich my larp experiences to have special effects for everything. Charm XIII opened the Friday evening with a vision of an epic battle between a villainous necromancer and a powerful priest. There was much shouting of incantations and mystical hand-gestures. No special effects were used, and I think none were needed. A smokegenerator and the right lighting can help generate atmosphere, but we must be careful not to want special effects every time someone casts a spell and switch off our imagination entirely.

I have seen discussions on forums where players asked whether they could bring music for their rituals. I think IC music with real instruments contributes to our the larp experience, but boomboxes with Enya don't. Even if you hide the machinery well, my barbarian would IC start to wonder where the music is coming from and why it's there. There are things to be said for low-tech. Singing or playing an instrument yourself is harder, but much more of a rush.

Edited at 2008-03-28 12:47 pm UTC

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	maglok 2008-03-28 01:50 pm UTC (link)
	I say go with special effects whenever possible in a timely manner and in the confines of a budget if it doesn't interfere with the game and only adds to it. Go definition skills! (Reply to this)

	selmaika 2008-03-28 06:55 pm UTC (link)
	i think there will be a day that Jw is bringing so much stuff for foresight that i wont fit in the car anymore ^_^ good thing that i've got my drivings license now (Reply to this)(Thread)

	hermanismijnkat 2008-03-28 09:19 pm UTC (link)
	Actually, that allready happened on lex5... Now if you can get a car to we can slap a foresight sticker on it ;) (Reply to this)(Parent)

	wannabe_bitch 2008-03-28 07:41 pm UTC (link)
	Denk eerder dat JW zijn auto het niet mee trekt en door der assen zakt ;) (Reply to this)

	twilightbanana 2008-03-28 08:39 pm UTC (link)
	Hmm...maybe not holographic projectors. But would it be possible to use a slide projector to cast an image on a smoke cloud? Could be good foor 'demonic summoning' or 'advice from beyond the veil' kind of things. People feel less inclined to argue with giant floating translucent heads ;) (Reply to this)(Thread)

speaktothevoid
2008-03-28 10:21 pm UTC (link)

Hey, cool idea. I've seen them do that on Men in White, projecting a film of someone talking on a mist of water vapor, and it did look pretty cool/freaky (they were trying to set up a haunted house in that episode). I think that would look totally cool... though I'm easy to please when it comes to creepy apparitions, and just a person in some fog and eerie lighting would pretty much do the trick for me as well.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

	maglok 2008-03-31 09:25 am UTC (link)
	Oh we got that setup at Symbols already, it's just a bit hard to produce a solid 'cloud' to project on. (Reply to this)(Parent)

watzalikzeggen
2008-03-29 07:46 am UTC (link)

Ik ben een keer naar de musical Aïda geweest in het Circustheater en dat was een show die van technisch vernuft aan elkaar hing: om de vijf minuten veranderde met veel bombarie het decor, kwamen er schepen aanvaren, werden er kastelen gebouwd en dat alles met een fancy lichtshow en de meest waanzinnige kostuums en figurantentroepen. Maar dat kon niet verhullen dat het verhaal rammelde aan alle kanten. En de muziek lang niet altijd even boeiend was. Om nog maar te zwijgen van de slordige Nederlandse vertalingen.

Alles wat je toevoegd aan een larp, moet naar mijns inziens ook functioneel zijn. Een rookmachine aanzetten omdat je een rookmachine hebt slaat natuurlijk nergens op. Overigens vind ik ook dat de nadruk niet persé hoeft te liggen op techniek: ik heb zelf wel eens gedacht om bijvoorbeeld decorbouwers te vragen voor een larp om de omgeving eens mooi aan te kleden.

Mijn gok is dat larps in de toekomst zeker verder zullen professionaliseren en op zich denk ik dat dat alleen maar goed is. Het enige nadeel wordt dan waarschijnlijk alleen dat het voor nieuwkomers moeilijker wordt om te starten, gezien de hogere drempel.

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songsoverruins
2008-04-01 10:12 am UTC (link)

Interesting topic. Guess it all depends on the setting. SF and cyberpunk obviously can't do without and present-day settings will also need it. I guess the lives you have organised are a clear example of that.

Still, the majority of LARP events play in a low or high fantasy setting, and I guess that's what you're trying to address here. Imagination and the willingness to suspend disbelief on the side of the players are vital, but I see nothing wrong with tickling that imagination. Basic pyrotechnics, lighting, sound&FX, smoke machines... all are excellent ways of doing that. If employed wisely and sparingly they can really enhance the atmosphere and sometimes genuinely surprise or frighten people.

I actually was the dedicated "soun&FX" man for a horror-special of Charm. Must have been in 2004 I think. The idea to incorporate it formed when me and Eric drove home after a charm live and he told of his plans to do a horror live. He liked the idea of trying to genuinely scare the shit out of people; beyond the point of "hihi, you gave me a good scare there but it was sort of funny". We really wanted people to startle people, make them feel uncomfortable, hell, make them cry! >: )

Don't know if we succeeded, but I had a great deal of fun. The location was perfect, a scouting building somewhere in the south of the Netherlands, with a large central room of which half was split into two levels. The upper level was a storage room and had one large door opening, for easily getting large objects in and out, directly overlooking the rest of the room. The setting was high-fantasy, but the idea was that the inn in which everybody was residing would be separated from the real world and connected to another dimension by a bunch of necromancers as a sort of initiation ritual (if I recall correctly). That of course opened the door for a lot nastiness >: ) So over the course of the evening I was to gradually increase the level of uneasiness as the inn started to drift deeper and deeper into another dimension. Starting with some minimalist drone music that very slowly increased in volume, I worked my way through some dark ambient and (martial)industrial, topping it off with some power electronics and insane classical music.

Probably the best part was when a bunch of wraiths was to enter the room. We wanted to have a shock effect so went all out on that effort; lights out, stroboscope on, have four people in black garments run into the room and push people over, and play white noise at maximum volume. The whole sequence was to last no more than ten seconds to prevent habituation to such extreme stimuli. Yes, biologists are evil! Before people had time to properly respond things were back to normal, as if nothing had happened. the Pavlovian startle responses during the next hour as soon as the light shortly flickered gave a certain sadistic satisfaction : P

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