“It’s larp, Jim, but not as we know it”
The question for today is, is Jeepform larp or tabletop? To tell you the truth, it is a mix. It is larp in the sense that we act a lot of stuff out, rather than just talk about it (or roll dice…), but it is also a table-top, in the sense that we don’t have actual props or spatial logistics (Markus or Jaakko will give me the right term for this soon, I’m sure). It is also a lot like improv in the larp acting department. It’s transparent, yet full or surprises.
Every now and then I ego-surf in the sense of googling “Jeepform” to see what turns up. I found the quote in the header on such an occasion, I believe. Anyway, in the beginning, I was surprised to see Jeepform labelled as larp all the time, as we have always gone round to table-top cons, running it in the table-top category. For Swedes, at least, live-action needs more actual props and rules for resolving the outcomes of fist fights.
For me, the most important part of Jeepform is that we are not afraid to use complex form to tell complex stories, and that we almost always factor in the meta play in a big way, sometimes actively dissolving the border between role and self, or game and reality. Running a game to comment on a player’s life being a good example.
Oh, and I added nice pictures to the RopeCon post below.
August 23rd, 2007 at 6:26 pm
Having come home from Helsinki with a vast curiousity about the live action side of play, I’ve been chatting with people about their larp conventions (in the sense of style of play, not nec. events, that is). Some terminology came up in a conversation with a long-term boffer I know (Jeff of the Sons of Kryos).
For costumed, high-drama and likely ongoing larp: theatre larp (likely from Mind’s Eye Theatre, the White Wolf model, I would guess).
For short, with-props but no costumes required games: parlor larp.
Boffer larp being the variety where you go out in the woods with swords–one to one resolution of combat. Oh, the creative constraints inherent in that….
I’m curious to hear the European terminology for same. And the definitions that put jeep form into table top. For my own self, I’ve started thinking of them all as embodied forms vs… what, symbolic?