Is 4 miles too much?

[The Lost GM]

I play / help run a LARP called the Heroes Trek (http://www.heroestrek.com). Our game always takes place on a trail that is four to twelve miles long. It's a decent hike, and for the adventurous, it's a taste of what it would be like to be on the road.

Seeing how you are all LARPers my question is, how many of you would be able to make such a hike?

[Tumbleweed]

Hmmm. That's an interesting gimmick thing you've got there.

Now, I'm not in the best of shape myself, nor do I really LARP...but I do have quite quite a bit of camping and outdoorsy experience, so I'll toss out a few things to consider:

How fast do you expect the people to cover the four miles? And over what kind of terrain? It'll obviously take longer to trek uphill over rocky terrain than it will to amble along a flat bike path. I've found that a comfortable pace is usually around three miles an hour, complete with a little time for breaks and stuff. And, of course, random Orc attacks will likely slow them down too.

Furthermore, just what kind of gear are these folks going to be carrying? Are we talking about full metal armor? Heavy weapons? The biggest thing that's got me is the matter of "period" footwear- I don't know how comfortable your elf-shoes are, but like hell I'm going to trade them out for my broken-in Vasques.

Make sure that everyone is drinking lots of water- even moreso if the weather is really warm. I'd suggest about two quarts a person, with the GM or whoever's in charge having access to more.

Honestly, provided that nobody in your crew is severely physically disabled in some way or another, 4 miles shouldn't be THAT hard, so long as you put enough time and preparation into it.

[The Lost GM]

We expect people to cover the 4 - 6 miles in a four to six hour period, and the longer trails we spread over two days. It seems like a good pace, especially with the Orcs, and yes there are a lot of them.

This will be our third year of running the game, and as of yet we have successfully covered all of the suggestions you made. By the way, the easiest thing to do for footwear is leg wraps. I wouldn't want to hike that far in lousy shoes either.

I guess I am more posting this to see what peoples reactions are to a fair amount of hiking.

[Tumbleweed]

Ah. Well, 4 miles in six hours? I'd do that. Then again, I'm running off to work at a Summer camp in a little over a week. Crazy boy scout and all.

[Graham W]

Four miles sounds fine. In fact, I really like games that involve going outside and doing something.

It's even better if there's pubs on the way.

Graham

[tzanti]

Four miles is a good number for a day event. Remember that you have to shift crew and props ahead of the players (I'm assuming this is a linear), and that you may have to take the long way around to keep them out of the players' view.

Nah, I'd say 4 miles is fine, if it's going to be a lot more then you may want to get a chunk of crew out ahead of them at the start of the day. We always tried to do this anyhoo, but sometimes we'd spend too long in the pub the night before, so everyone would arrive together.

That games looks interesting, unfortunately it's 3000 miles away. Maybe next year.

T.

[Nath]

Last Blood Red Roses event we walked ten miles on saturday through national trust woodland, with encounters and attack / defense of a stockade at the end. Some of us were wearing chainmail for this, through I believe we all had modern footware.

Some people present did complain this was a bit much through.

[The Lost GM]

Last Blood Red Roses event we walked ten miles on saturday through national trust woodland, with encounters and attack / defense of a stockade at the end. Some of us were wearing chainmail for this, through I believe we all had modern footware.

Some people present did complain this was a bit much through.

Is there a web site or Link you could post to this LARP?

[Nath]

www.bloodredroses.co.uk

[Iskander]

4 miles in six hours? That shouldn't be a problem. :)

Depending on what you're planning as scenario underway, you may have some problems with the logistics side of the larp. But off course I don't know the terrain, nor if the different npc points are atainable by car? And if you need large props and such.

[Random Goblin]

I would have no problem with four miles. But then again I'm an infantry soldier IRL.

[The Lost GM]

I would have no problem with four miles. But then again I'm an infantry soldier IRL.

And that is exactly why we try and look for people who are active, like yourself.

We often bump into people on some of our trails and they ask us about the game. If they are out there doing it on their own, it's safe to say they are up to the challenge.

[angelicmadrigal]

Seeing how you are all LARPers my question is, how many of you would be able to make such a hike?

::chuckles:: That'd be cake for me. Afterall I AM a Girl Scout. If I knew I couldn' t hike that and RP at the same time I'd turn in my lifetime memeber pin right now. :p

But seriously even though it sounds like fun to me I know people that would HATE the idea of it.

[angelicmadrigal]

::takes a look at pictures on the site:: Hrmm....I only see ONE girl. That's disappointing. You do have more than ONE female right?

Another question, do you generally find other hikers weirded out by this or do they find it entertaining?

[Wade L]

Four miles? I'm one of the more out of shape people I know, and even I would call that a cakewalk.

If people are wearing stupidly awkward costume bits, it might be more difficult, but if people are sensible I can't see it being a problem.

[salamanca]

Depends on the individual. I did an estimated 28 miles in cheap renboots to prep, promote and run a larp at Origins one year so it is possible. But without good footgear, I do not recommend it. I spent a good month regretting not having better shoes for that year and went and bought better for the next time.

On the other end of the spectrum, I have a couple of friends that would probably need medical attention if they tried to walk that far outside in the heat.

Now on a personal issue, I do not like to include this type of play as LARP. for me it suggests less ROLE play and more PLAYER activity. It's still a fn game but not the same sort of thing to me. But again, that's a personal judgement that comes from having good friends that are restricted from active combats by disability and other friends that would seriously hurt me thanks to extreme military training.

[Nath]

>for me it suggests less ROLE play and more PLAYER activity

Could you expand on this? I don't see how including a lot of walking diminishes the amount of roleplaying.

[invisible_al]

This is the kind of LRP I played when I started, the sites were easy to come by being public woodlands and all you needed was a bit of kit plus some masks. And 4 miles isn't that much if you spread it out across say 3-4 hours with regular short breaks after any combats.

And I'd disagree that this wasn't LRP, it's not the kind of LRP you play possibly, but it's live action and it's roleplaying. I find it's a lot easier to play an exhausted adventurer if you have just fought your way uphill for 4 miles. Sure make LRP accesible, but don't let that goal restrict the type of LRP you're allowed to run.

Two examples of this style of linear which are quite definately Live Role Playing are http://www.hyboriantales.com/ and http://www.spearheadlrp.co.uk. Lots of walking and lots of roleplaying in both of those :).

[tzanti]

This is the style of LRP I started with. If anything, I reckon you get more and better RP with a bit of tramping about than you get at most fest events. Yes, there's always the GP factor there, but most people are cool about it and just regard you as a bit of entertainment, I've certainly never experienced any hassle.

To the guy who says this isn't LRP: Friend, this is where LRP started so far as I know. I might be wrong, but linear is the birthplace of the hobby to the best of my knowledge. We do what we can in the games that we play. Decrying the game beacuse not everyone can play it for whatever reason is just narrowing the hobby down to a single type of event. I pick and choose what I play like the next man, but just because I don't play it doesn't mean it's not LRP. This is the put-up-or-shut-up end of RP. This is the place where it's not enough to say "I am the Great I Am" you have to back it up with action or pipe down.

This stuff is LRP, perhaps more than many games can claim to be.

T.

[Martin Gill]

No way. I've personally done 7 miles over hill and dale as a player wearing plate armour and I've run a 12 mile hike along Hadrian's Wall in the winter, which is still one of the best events I've run.

4 miles is an average walk in the park for our group, though we are getting older and lazier these days :)

[Vargen]

I play / help run a LARP called the Heroes Trek (http://www.heroestrek.com). Our game always takes place on a trail that is four to twelve miles long. It's a decent hike, and for the adventurous, it's a taste of what it would be like to be on the road.

Seeing how you are all LARPers my question is, how many of you would be able to make such a hike?
Ah. Well, 4 miles in six hours? I'd do that. Then again, I'm running off to work at a Summer camp in a little over a week. Crazy boy scout and all.


I think I've just come up with (/stolen) an idea for a new High Knoll (pdf) (http://www.bsa-brmc.org/pdfs/camp/camppromo/hk.pdf) outpost. Or more likely a program to run in the off-season. Hey, our numbers are down again while the other 8 programs are growing like gangbusters; gotta come up with something new to reinvigorate things.

[Requiem_17_23]

We regularly do two to three mile adventures in an afternoon; everyone's walked twice that distance by the end, as you can't pick people up from the endpoint. We've got a couple of fairly frail players in our society, and they cope fine (they just run around less). I wouldn't like to do more than about six miles, though, as above that you start getting people who are OOC tired at the end of the linear - just when the fighting gets heaviest - and you end up with people fighting unsafely.

So, yeah - 4 miles is not too much at all.

[The Lost GM]

::takes a look at pictures on the site:: Hrmm....I only see ONE girl. That's disappointing. You do have more than ONE female right?

Another question, do you generally find other hikers weirded out by this or do they find it entertaining?


Actually yes, we have eight that I can think of off the top of my head. Most of them seem to be very into the idea of running around the woods as a Orc, or Hero. Again, we tend to get very active people in this game. A few only show up for our Friday night roleplay sessions, but hey no complaints here.

Many of the Hikers we come across seem to be very interested in what we are doing. We carry business cards around with us just for such occasions. More than a few have even stopped us to get their pictures taken with us.

[Tumbleweed]

I think I've just come up with (/stolen) an idea for a new High Knoll (pdf) (http://www.bsa-brmc.org/pdfs/camp/camppromo/hk.pdf) outpost. Or more likely a program to run in the off-season. Hey, our numbers are down again while the other 8 programs are growing like gangbusters; gotta come up with something new to reinvigorate things.



Huh. An interesting idea (giving scouts boffer weapons and letting them wail on each other). Especially considering I've stumbled across a couple of gaming-nerd scouts in my time (myself included).

I think it might work better as just an activity for an off-season camporee, really.

Or, oooooh. Give the various troops directions on how to make their own boffer weapons out of pool noodles and PVC pipe, make sure you have thorough safety checks at the beginning of the weekend...and then turn the little bastards loose on each other! An epic boffer battle!

'Cause if Scouts like one thing, it's getting the opportunity to wail on each other. Even if somebody gets hurt.

...Especially if somebody gets hurt.

[Vargen]

Heh, the camp staff has been doing the boffer weapon thing off and on for several years now as a way to blow off steam.

There are a LOT more gamer scouts than you'd expect at first glance. It turns out that Magic travels to camp well, and being off in the woods with no internet and no TV leads to spending free time painting GW minis.

But yeah, this would definitely have to be an off-season thing, at least at first. We're running with a skeleton crew these days and it'd be kind of tough for me to play all the orcs myself.

[invisible_al]

I remember an overnight game at Gosforth Scout camp where some scouts were in the fields on the other side of the camp. It's late at night and we're defending the fire circle from marauding skelletons when we suddenly realise that, a) there are a LOT of skelletons out there and b) they're all on the short side :).

Apparently they'd got the ok from their scout leader (who was rather handy with two swords) and the refs had said, alright you can be monsters but only if you go get us some wood for the fire :).

It's only a pity that its quite hard to organise that sort of thing with the child protection laws in the UK at the moment. The scouts are quite rightly very careful about who they let near the kids.

[Flynn]

I know many LARPers who were boy scouts and lots who are currently boy scouts (the in-character nation I am in tends to appeal to the younger generation). One year we even had a number of boy scouts come with their scout leaders as a group. We frequently rent Boy Scout camps as our LARP event sites.

[Ian Sturrock]

4-12 miles sounds good -- fairly easy, if you spread it over 2 days.

I'd love to run an event down the length of Wat's Dyke ( http://www.watsdyke.co.uk/ ), which is 49 miles -- I anticipated that taking around the 4-day mark. Unfortunately when I asked around my regular player group, only one of them expressed any interest in the idea -- the others reckoned it sounded too much like hard work! It's the kind of thing I'd love to do with an experienced group of walkers though.

[darktalon]

Four miles is a light stroll unless the terrain is particularly unforgiving, even I'd imagine in full LARP gear. Even 12 isn't especially onerous - it's perfectly possible for an adult in reasonable health to cover that distance in good conditions before lunch, and I'd imagine the LARP activity would take people's minds off fatigue even if they were feeling it.

[tweaker]

In my experience, most gamers are not in the best of shape. This isn't true of all gamers, but in general, it's pretty true.

I hike just about every weekend here in Phoenix. When it gets hot, I take a break for a while.
If the 4 miles has little to no elevation change, then it probably wouldn't be too difficult.

I would actually shorten it to 2 miles for most of the action. And then, make it longer for those in better shape. Of course, the more people play, the better in shape they will become.

tweak

[barbariansrule]

Four miles is a light stroll unless the terrain is particularly unforgiving, even I'd imagine in full LARP gear. Even 12 isn't especially onerous - it's perfectly possible for an adult in reasonable health to cover that distance in good conditions before lunch


We live in hill country, and the terrain can be somewhat difficult, but with all the trails available we can plan our treks around our heroes' abilities. We have found that on the more demanding trails, four miles is about what the players enjoy.

I'd imagine the LARP activity would take people's minds off fatigue even if they were feeling it.

Yeah, never knowing where the enemy is adds a lot to the game. After our last trek, all our heroes could talk about was how scared they had been. They were definitely not thinking about their feet.

Pat
http://www.heroestrek.com