Leary of it? Why?
I haven't kept up with White Wolf's series of games since - well, about the time they nuked their original World of Darkness. I know they had both a regular RPG and a LARP (live action) one. Looking (quickly) at their website, it looks like Requiem's the RPG - so nothing more disturbing than rolling a large pile of dice should probably happen.
Um, hm. That's kind of a jump.
If I were you, I would make the transition from board to tabletop before I would try anything like LARPing.
See, there are several different KINDS of role-playing games.
Passive RPGs - These are RPG genre video and computer games. You become your character, but the plot is already written out for you and (in most cases) your character is made FOR you. Like Chrono Trigger. <3 <3 <3 Love that game.
Text RPG - This is when you're writing, like in a forum, in a chatroom, or via email. It's more like writing a cooperative story with others. Sure, you get into your character, and you can be a lot more descriptive than you otherwise could be. There are really very few structured rules. It's kind of an honor-system.
Tabletop RPGs - These are like Dungeons and Dragons, GURPS, BESM (Big Eyes Small Mouth <.<
, and others like that. Everything is determined by dice and the mathematical values of your character's statistics. There are STRICT rules and guidelines and formulas for you to build your character, but they're very personalized nonetheless. You may not be able to be exactly the way your character is written, but you can work around that with the options you have.
EXAMPLE: My text RPG character, Essex, is a robot with the body and soul of a child. In a tabletop, (D&D is what I know best) I would make her using the books from the Eberron campaign, giving her a few levels of Warforged Scout (a small-sized sentient construct, though they aren't truly awakened. Her outer body can be customized to LOOK right.)
Every level, you take levels of a class. So you can have a level 10 character that is four levels Sorcerer and six levels Rogue. So I would level Essex up in the Warforged Scout class until she met the requirements for a prestige class - Whatever the name for the awakened warforge would be. Since the awakened warforged has true sentience, it can begin takin any class levels. Now this means I would be a little late starting up my healing class, but the end result would be fairly similar to what I've done in text and CoX.
Now, take that to the next level.
Vampire: The Masquerade is a LARPG.
Live Action RPG (LARP) - This is similar to tabletop, but without the table. You have dice you roll to determine things still, but instead of being in a central location, you're actually walking around and acting like your character. I haven't gotten very into this, though a friend of mine makes PVC-pipe and foam weaponry for people who do this. These are the people who throw tennis balls at people for Magic Missile and stuff.
9_9 *looks up at huge explanation*
I hope that helped at least a little bit. T_T
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
<----- *is soooooooo lost*
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
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Vampire: The Masquerade is a LARPG.
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Vampire: The Masquerade was a series of RPGs, one component of which was a LARP. V:TM was *also* a regular - what you're calling "tabletop" - RPG. (I tend to see "tabletop" as something like Warhammer or Battletech, where people have miniatures.) They put their LARPs under "Mind's Eye Theater."
Thier side list:
Getting Started
RPGs
World of Darkness
Vampire: The Requiem <--- What he's asking about
Werewolf: The Forsaken
Mage: The Awakening
Promethean: The Created
Exalted
Dark Ages
Orpheus
Sword & Sorcery
Arthaus Games
SAS (Storytelling
Adventure System)
LIVE-ACTION GAMES
Mind's Eye Theatre <---- The LARP.
Long Live the King
Edit:
And just to followup:
Welcome to Undeath
Join the revival of the Storytelling tradition. Vampire: The Requiem invites you to tell your own stories set within the world of the Kindred. This book includes rules for using vampires in World of Darkness chronicles, covering everything from the five clans to covenants to Disciplines, bloodlines, storytelling advice and a complete spread of game systems governing the undead. Hardcover. Requires the World of Darkness rulebook for play. U.S. Page Count: 288
.... it needs the WoD rulebook and mentions the storyteller system, so this is not the LARP. Bring drinks, chip in for pizza or arrange a taco feed.
Last but not least, it looks like they have a "demo" version so you can see what happens. Make your own decisions 
Lawl, Devious, I made YOUR brain explode this time! 
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Looking (quickly) at their website, it looks like Requiem's the RPG - so nothing more disturbing than rolling a large pile of dice should probably happen.
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Gah! *fidget fidget* You're probably right... I haven't gotten into that genre TOO extensively. Listen to the one who knows what they're talking about. T_T But it just goes to show you! Do your research!
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
I wouldn't touch this this a ten foot pole.
Good thing Essex is willing to.
Ahh so there are others out there with there friends doing live action. I use to do live action Roleplay with a group of my friends, but over the years they moved away. Personally Id say at least try it and if you don't like it. well ya, but the vampire might be a little much that early but its always worth a shot.
I can't wrap my head around the new batch of WoD games. I guess a part of my problem is that I was already so vested into the original WoD... I still wish I could've played Hunter: the Reckoning. They make it out to be some kind of "fight the monsters" concept, but when you actually sit down and read what you've got to work with, you find they put a horror movie into game form, and you're playing the victims with a few neat tricks...
From my esperience, a lot of RPers tend to look down on White Wolf games. I'm not entirely sure of the reason, maybe the whole LARPing scene with people dressed as vampires and such is weirder than LARPers who dress as knigths and wizards (is the satire getting through here?). My personal look at it, though, is that any RPG, just like any game, is what you make of it. With the right amount of imagination, anything is possible, and that's how I like to view RPs.
Me, I haven't been able to really indulge my roleplaying passion for a few years, now. This community I'm in? Yeah... Things like that are considered a waste of time when compared to drinking copious amounts of alcohol, listening to loud, badly thrown together music, or rewatching DVDs you've already seen many times over (My friends tend to refer to this as Real Life, which is why I shudder every time I see that or RL said on this game or in the forums). The conversations are pretty good, though. It's just nothing that can be repeated in polite conversation.
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
Yeah... I miss D&D. Since I moved out here for my job, my whole troupe is on the other side of the state.
I probably would never get to play if my fiance didn't live over there too. <_<
But yeah. Listen to Grey and Memphis. :3 I've only experienced V:TM third-hand.
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
<.<
>.>
If a CoH LARP ever happened, I would probably stick a few styrofoam spines in my shirt near my wrists, and whack people on the head with them, shouting 'LUNGE!' at the top of my voice.
When they mention that I wouldn't know how I would hit without rolling, I would say 'I got Tactics!'
...Yeah, I am a complete dork.
I'd advise against a Vampire LARP. Something about drinking blood is a bad idear. I don't LARP myself, though, so that's just intuition...
If you want to own people in real life and use some actual skills, play paintball, heheheheh.
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<.<
>.>
If a CoH LARP ever happened, I would probably stick a few styrofoam spines in my shirt near my wrists, and whack people on the head with them, shouting 'LUNGE!' at the top of my voice.
When they mention that I wouldn't know how I would hit without rolling, I would say 'I got Tactics!'
...Yeah, I am a complete dork.
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Can I make a blaster that runs around yelling "HEAL" "HEAL" every time I aggro something?
HaloInc
Triumph:
Heroes: Lady Halifax, Miss Kia, WhiteLotus, Agent Immolate, Lady Empathy, Sylence Fyredancer, Maiden of Fire
Villains: Innocent-Ella, Aegis-Sprite, Midnight Dragonfly
I'd be the Scrapper that yells "WATCH THIS!!" And charges 20 enemies.
LARPing a Fire Tank would be rather painful.
Try LARPING a stone tank. That wouldn't be quite as painful as a fire tank, but I imangine it would be somewhat rough...
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Try LARPING a stone tank. That wouldn't be quite as painful as a fire tank, but I imangine it would be somewhat rough...
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LARPing a stone tank would rock.
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Can I make a blaster that runs around yelling "HEAL" "HEAL" every time I aggro something?
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I'd be the Scrapper that yells "WATCH THIS!!" And charges 20 enemies.
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>_> *Healbot resists urge to murder*
Damned Hippocratic oath.
Japancakes.
Art - Theme 005 - Seeking Solace
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From my esperience, a lot of RPers tend to look down on White Wolf games. I'm not entirely sure of the reason, maybe the whole LARPing scene with people dressed as vampires and such is weirder than LARPers who dress as knigths and wizards (is the satire getting through here?). My personal look at it, though, is that any RPG, just like any game, is what you make of it. With the right amount of imagination, anything is possible, and that's how I like to view RPs.
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*ahem*
This is all personal opinion, but this is MY reason for personally disliking the White Wolf system, Particularly the Vampire ruleset and system. Overpower. Even right out of the box, Vampires rule. Humans are cattle, other vamps exist only to be manipulated or eliminated to cement your own power. A real conversation with a V:tM playing comrade:
Cras: So, what about humans? What if you're threatened by some SpecOps guys in a bunker or something?
Raven: I pick the guy up and chuck him through the ceiling.
Cras: In a bunker? Underground? with a concrete ceiling?
Raven: Yeah, and with the scores most vampires have, he'll end up out on the surface. Only thing that's dangerous is Hunters, and they don't count as humans.
My opinion of the system has been that it caters to godmode playing characters that are only interested in victimizing NPC's and each other. But then, I'm not a good example of good taste, am I?
And I dunno what else to say that hasn't already been said. Essex summed it up pretty nicely.
Vampires? Throwing people through bunker ceilings? Werewolves, maybe. Of course, if you've played a healthy dosage of Shadowrun or Paranoia... Well... Then you're well-versed in the rules of the physical stress capacity of a human body when compared to a ten-foot thick block of concrete.
Then there's the other things Vampires have to worry about. "Wooly Peter" (White Phosphorous) is a wonderful thing. For those not well-versed in (or lacking access to) the military arts/supplies, ascetaline, kerosine, diesel, and good old fashioned gasoline are all very exceptional for putting down vampires.
I know this, because I had a sadistic GM...
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
Mmmm....Delicious White Phosphos.
....<_< What?
It's what Kipland "Cobalt Black" Durj keeps loaded in those 9-mils he uses. No need to worry about destroying your gun when you can snag another not five minutes later off a random thug and fit the same clip into it. At least, the thugs in this city seem to be using the same types of weaponry...
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
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Then there's the other things Vampires have to worry about. "Wooly Peter" (White Phosphorous) is a wonderful thing. For those not well-versed in (or lacking access to) the military arts/supplies, ascetaline, kerosine, diesel, and good old fashioned gasoline are all very exceptional for putting down vampires.
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Totally off topic, but anyone notice the trend in hollywood of UV Radiation = Sunlight? I have to admit, it kind of annoys me deep down in my geekish soul that it's science rather than theology that wounds vampires in modern movies.
True... The Bloodlines computer game (buggy, yes, still full of holes and all, but a rather decent game) has a scene where an enemy attempts to kill the player with a UV system. It fails...
The Blade movies, which is where the UV concept was first made widely public, is utilized on Marvel Comic type vampires. These vampires, however, are more like the X-Men mutants, in the respect that they are an alternative form of life as opposed to actual undead. In such a concept, the use of UV in their destruction is more believable, since they aren't the traditional "cursed" version of undead vampires. The same goes for the silver, which is usually reserved for werewolves.
You're right, though, about the UV not being Sunlight. Sunlight is supposed to also be a symbolic weapon against vampires, in the respect that it's as if God Himself is looking down on them and punishing them for revelling in their evil. So, for traditional vampires, a UV light is just gonna make their eyes glow, their veins more pronounced and the little dust motes on their black clothes show up as bright light specks.
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
My intro the LARPs, Vampire: The Masquerade specifically, was a group of people who took it way to seriously and waaaaaaaay to far. It's really the only kind of RP I don't wish to try myself, but perhaps you'll enjoy it.
Arc ID: 475246, "Bringing a Lord to Power"
"I'm only a simple man trying to cling to my tomorrow. Every day. By any means necessary."
-Caldwell B. Cladwell
Normally I only roleplay on forums or in game, but recently I have been invited by a friend to join a Vampire themed real life RP,I think its Vampire: The Requiem. I am a little leary of joining a real life RP group and even more leary of a vampire themed one. I always try to be open minded but I would like some roleplayers input.What advice would you give to someone in my situation?What has been your experience with real life roleplaying?