Gotta Love Being a Member of a Fight Club

I larp.. or rather I used to. Larp stands for Live-action role-playing. In a nutshell, you run around the woods, dressed up in medieval period clothing and beat the hell out of each other with foam weapons as according to the personal political belief of whatever character you are portraying.

I used to larp. Now I am involved in a fight club. The difference? This particular "larp" has no characters in it. Sure you can choose a goofy name for yourself - mine happens to be Barakas - but without any kind of role playing, its just people beating up on each other... and its a hell of a workout.

And right now, I am very, very sore.

I do miss the role-playing aspect of it and if I can ever get any support, I will be creating a new larp in whatever area I end up in. As usual, I have lots of ideas for one. As my friends and I did before, we would be basing it off a group on the east coast called Darkon. However, unlike them, I would be removing certain rules while expanding others. For example, the three basic aspects of a person that transfer the best into a larping character are: Strength (ability to fight), Intelligence (ability to prepare) and Wit (ability to think on one's feet). These are the abilities that determine which class a player is best suited for. In the current Darkon rules there are only 9 classes, each with their own special abilities and skills to aid the player in their role and in battle. These 9 classes fall within the three main aspects as follows:

Strength: Fighter, Monk
Strength & Intelligence: Cleric, Cavalier
Intelligence: Druid, Mage
Wit: Thief, Assassin
Wit, Strength & Intelligence: Ranger

Its not a bad selection, but its not a great one either. For example, there are neither classes available for those with Intelligence and Wit nor are there classes for those with Strength and Wit. Therefore, one of the main things I intend to do is extend this selection to a total of 19 classes. This new series breaks down as follows:

Strength: Fighter, Monk, and Berserker
Strength & Intelligence: Cleric, Cavalier, and Alchemist
Intelligence: Druid, Mage, and Necromancer
Intelligence & Wit: Astrologer, Artificer, and Bard
Wit: Thief, Assassin, and Jester
Wit & Strength: Scout, Pirate and Hunter
Wit, Strength & Intelligence: Ranger

Within each aspect, there are three classes that are devoted purely to that aspect, six classes that are shared with the other two aspects (three each), and one that is shared with both of the other aspects (Ranger). This means that for every aspect, there are now a total of 10 classes to choose from.

Also, one of the problems I noticed from my previous larp was a lack of participation in getting other people to bring in new members. So in order to change that, I also want to create a recruitment reward plan so that a player can earn up to 3 bonus credits for every new player they bring in, depending on what class they ultimately choose for themselves. For example, if the group is running short on Mages or Jesters but heavy on Fighters or Clerics, a player could earn 3 credits for bringing in someone who decides to play a Jester, but only 1 credit for bringing in another Fighter. A player regularly earns one credit per event and it takes 5 credits to advance a player's character one skill level. So if a player brings in 2-3 more players, then that player can advance that much faster.

These are just some of the ideas that I have for a great larp. Hopefully, I should be able to get something going within the next year or so. But first I still need to find a job.