Oh, one more minor credential for me, just thought I'd mention I did the retrofit for Adam Cerling's Grapevine product to the New World of Darkness, which has had modest success in the nWoD larper community.

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Grapevine_NWOD/

Hey guys,

I never post, but was listening to an episode and thought I would hop on.

I was into the White Wolf Vampire LARP in St. Louis about 15 years ago. I haven't played for about 10 years, but I am still in touch with some of them. Maybe I could get some real live St. Louis Vampire LARPers to sit down in front of your mike.

I don't think I would be much of an expert myself.

I am also on vacation and will be in St. Louis myself on Sunday or Monday. Looking forward to visiting The Fantasy Shop in St. Charles.

The best way to reach me is at spacelonghorn@grantdavis.net.

-Grant

I would like to fill the seat for the modern LARP.

I grew up performing in the theater for school and summer camp. So a roleplaying game with theatrical elements like LARPing was an easy transition into the hobby. The group ran old World of Darkness: Vampire.

At the beginning it was strange because of the social dynamic. I tend to be an introvert and it seemed there were several clicks that were hard to break into. After a major implosion, the group broke up only to be reformed under new storytellers. That was where I got into a groove.

The stories were interesting and the outside social drama did not really affect the in game drama. So it was one of the best roleplaying experiences in my life. They ran Gen Con games and those were just as awesome.

Eventually I moved into tabletop and card games. So LARP was my gateway drug. Now I am more of a tabletop gamer and I have not been able to find a LARP group with the quality of that second group.

I have tried the Camarilla nationwide group, but have found that they are more interested in their interpersonal drama than the in game storyline. They are more like the "Dark Lord of Denny's" group you guys talk about when you bring up LARPs.

This past Gen Con I was able to get into a Werewolf LARP that was pretty fun. It was a good group and they allowed the players to play their characters as they wished. For instance if the player wanted to act in a really stupid way mostly because there would be a humorous outcome, they allowed that player to do so. No criticism.

I hope that I will be able to shed a positive light on this much maligned sub-group of gamers.

Derek Knutsen

I don't know about industry, but here's my LARP certifications:

I have been larping for nine years, and for three or four of those I've been arranging LARPs for other people, writing source materials and personal plots for other players and so on. The LARPing organisations I've been active in have, for the better part of those nine years, set up LARPs for fifty to one hundred and fifty people.
We have worked closely together with the SCA.
We have worked with vampire LARPers and I've been to some vampire LARPs, and I do have a pretty good knowledge of the Worl of Darkness at least (at least the Masquerade - I dabble in the Requiem variety), although I may have to refresh my memory of the Mind's Eye Theatre.
We have also worked together with the cities and municipalities and even counties we live in to get their help to create better and larger larps - and to help them spread larping and gaming as hobbies.
The roles I've filled in the organisation are as a player, as logistics staff and as one of the Game Master/Writer squad.

I'm also active in the Swedish Gamer's Union (the umbrella organisation for gaming and LARPing clubs/organisations and also gaming conventions) so I have a fairly good insight in the different ways LARPs are arranged across the country, and some cross-country larp projects, such as Knutpunkt and Dragonbane.

So I guess what I'm saying is that I'm a European larper of the mainly medieval category, with good insight in how the organisatorial parts of at least middle sized larps actually work, and how to make it work with the community one lives in (at least in Sweden).

I own a headset and Skype works, I also have the time and (I hope) the language ability.
What I don't have, though, is an active forum history

I wanted to pop in here real quick just to say I'm going to let this run for about a week before I close it down and pick the round table.

Also, Chad made a good suggestion that I'm going to use: if I pick you for a slot, before your participation is set in stone, I'll talk to you for about three minutes on Skype. It won't take long, and since I'm self-employed, I can do it whenever you're free. I just want to make sure your setup is working properly and you're comfortable carrying on a conversation.

Trying to get this many schedules to line up will not be easy, so I have to eliminate as many potential technical/creative problems as I can before we all meet for the real recording.

Huzzah, good idea.

Might want to put together a list of alternates when you make your main picks. About two people who would be willing to be on stand by in case of issues.

I'm not sure where the thread went but since everyone is reading this one anyway...

FYI - The all European round table is still going to happen. This LARPing one just seemed to pick up a full head of steam so we are going to run with this one 1st.

The discussion on the European one is over yonder. The LARP one is only moving faster because it was relevant to shows we just released and I'm having trouble getting enough Europeans to do the other one. Though in all fairness, I haven't put out the call on the show yet, so all we were drawing from is the forum regulars.

viewtopic.php?f=28&t=5072

I just caught this episode yesterday, but figured I'd toss my hat into the ring anyway.

I larped for many years, primarily the old Mind's Eye Theatre Vampire/Werewolf/Changeling systems. I have also played in a wide variety of homegrown crossovers/genre picks/etc. I have since come back to doing primarily tabletop RPGs. I think I could possibly provide a unique point of view in that 1. I have since quit larping and returned to tabletop; and 2. my local groups did a LOT of non pre-published gaming in a variety of settings. Cthulhu (pre-cthulhu live; star trek / star wars crossover; Toon... and more).

All the the other basic requirements I've got covered.