LARP Quiz

(or.. Do you LARP too Much?)

LARP: That stands for Live Action Role Play(ing) (in case your synapses aren't quite firing quick enough to figure that out. In which case... go grab yourself a coffee, because you'll want your brains together on this quiz... well, then again, maybe not. Read on, and decide...). LARPing is a growing form of entertainment which can take up a little to a lot of your time, depending on how much time & money you want to spend on it, as well as how active the LARP scene is in your home town. But, as LARP becomes more popular, and there are more & more games to chose from, every good LARPer has to ask the question, "Can I fit one more game into my schedule?"
Well, to help you solve that dilemma, we bring you this handy little questionnaire. Please, take it before you decide to edit sleep and food out of your schedule just to fit in that one last game.


Do you LARP too Much?

Give yourself one point for every 'Yes' answer.

1. Do you know what 'Live Role Playing' means?
2. Do your know what the initials 'L.A.R.P.' stand for?
3. Have you ever actually played in a LARP? (Or do you just come to laugh as people make fools of them selves in a costume?)
4. Have you played in more than one game? (Came back to make a fool of yourself again, huh? Once just wasn't enough?)
5. More than five?
6. More than ten?
7. Have you been an active LARPer for more than a year?
8. Two years?
9. Five years?
10. Half your life?
11. Your entire life?
12. Do you hold a membership in a LARP club?
13. Do you subscribe to a LARP related newsletter or magazine?
14. Do you have promo-posters for quests and games taped to your wall / fridge / mirror / bathroom door?
15. Do you have the event organizer's phone numbers posted on or by your phone / computer / fridge / wall / bathroom door? (Bonus point if the words 'for a good time call:' have been added)
16. Do you not need to post the numbers anywhere because you can rattle them off by heart?
17. Do you know when the next event is?
18. Do you know the schedule of events for the next month?
19. Do you have a schedule (however tentative) of the events for the entire year?
20. Are you planning to attend the next event?
21. Are you planning to attend every event this month?
22. Are you planning to attend every event this year?
23. Do you own a costume, of any kind?
24. Do you wear that costume on days other than hallowe'en?
25. Do you own more than one costume?
26. Do you own more than 10 pieces of costuming (cloaks, tunics, shields, vampire fangs, masks)?
27. Do you own more costumes than real clothes?
28. Do you have to reevaluate your closet space arrangement every time you acquire a new piece of costuming?
29. Have you given up and simply allocated one room / area of your house for costuming?
30. More than one room?
31. A separate building?
32. Have you given up wearing 'mundane' clothes completely?
33. Have you ever built / sewn / manufactured any of your own props or costumes?
34. Can you operate a sewing machine? (Bonus point if you're are male, and you learned how to do so by yourself)
35. Have you built a wooden sword / dagger / mauling implement?
36. Do you know how to work with liquid latex?
37. Have you ever burnt yourself on a hot glue gun, impaled yourself with a sharp tool, sewn over your fingers, or otherwise mangled yourself while trying to construct your costume?
38. Did you/do you show off the wounds/scars proudly?
39. Do you own any props or costumes valued at $100.00 or more?
40. Do you have a special insurance policy for your props and costumes?
41. Have you ever used it?
42. Do you know how to make a character for the rules system of your choice, without help from anyone?
43. Do you know how to make a character without even consulting the rulebook?
44. Do you make characters just for fun, even though you are unlikely to ever play them in LARP?
45. Do you have random character sheets lying around your house, or scrawled on the back of envelopes or tattooed into your flesh?
46. Can you play your character in a game, without having to constantly check the character sheet or game rules?
47. Do you know, by heart, all the rules in a given system, and can rattle them off confidently in a dispute?
48. Can you quote the relevant page numbers, as well?
49. Did you write the rules system?
50. Do you have a life outside of live role playing? (Hey, if life doesn't exist beyond LARP, you can't possibly LARP too much, can you?)
51. Do you use words or phrases like 'Surprise attack', 'Roll the body', 'Fair escape', 'Puissance', Check your pouch', or 'Heightened senses' in your everyday vocabulary, even when not playing or making a character?
52. Do people around you actually know what those phrases mean?
53. Have you ever used a gaming phrase, and then had to explain it to someone who didn't understand?
54.Do you practice Surprise Attacking, Pick Pocketing, or casually eavesdropping on conversations around strangers or acquaintances just to improve your game skills?
55. Do you do it regularly?
56. Has it actually improved your game skills? (If so, are you willing to give lessons?)
57. Do you dream about Quests, Vampires, Werewolves, or the like at night?
58. Do you dream about quest, LARPs, etc. throughout the day? (ie. daydreaming about it constantly)
59. Have you ever tried to stay in-character all day, when you were NOT at a game?
60. Do you actually think you are one of your characters?
61. Do your friends regularly call you by your character name?
62. Do they not actually know your real name?
63. Do you respond to your character name when it is called across a crowded room?
64. Are people not in the least shocked when you do?
65. Do your parents know you play these games?
66. Have you managed to successfully explain live role playing to a parent, guardian, or supervisor without them smiling and nodding, and secretly planning to get you some professional help?
67. Have you successfully explained live role playing (particularly of the vampiric variety) to a priest, pastor, or other religious officiate, without them offering you some serious counselling, words of advice, a sermon on hellfire and damnation, or start performing an exorcism on you?
68. Have you ever invited your parents / employers / priests to come to a LARP game?
69. Have they accepted the invitation?
70. Do more than half the people you regularly hang around with play LARPs?
71. Have you lived / do you live with people you met through LARPing? (Bonus point if you're married to them)
72. Does your entire social life go on hold the day(s) before a major event, so that you can fix up your costume and work on those last minute character things?
73. Does your entire life go on hold for Questing Season? (ie. do you schedule your holidays around events, or plan your birthday party so as not to conflict with games?)
74. Have you ever braved the elements to play in a game? (knee-high mud, snow in August, or minus 30 weather).
75. Have you ever played or continued to play a game despite serious bodily injury or physical trauma? (sprained ankles requiring a trip to emergency, broken bones, bruised ribs from jumping off cliffs, deep cuts, seizures, migraines? ...basically anything which would make a sane person call it a night.)
76. Have you ever sold or pawned personal belongings or gone into debt to afford a game?
77. Have you ever called in sick to work to afford time for a game?
78. Have you ever decided to skip your graduation, exams, brother's reception, or your own wedding just to catch a game?
79. Have you ever, while attending a game, been able to guess (way before anyone reasonably should have) how to solve it / who the murderer was / what the finale would be?
80. Have you ever, while attending a game, caught your self thinking 'If / when I run a game, I'll do this or that differently?'
81. Have you ever actually sat down and started planning your your own quest / chronicle?
82. Have you ever decided to actually RUN a game? Decided on a date, and everything?
83. Did you spread the word via friends / promotional posters / newsletters that you were running a game?
84. After all that, did you actually manage to RUN the game?
85. Did you survive it, mentally, physically, and emotionally intact? (well, mostly?)
86. Did you have so much fun doing it (yeah, right) that you swore never to run another event / swore to drop the chronicle?
87. Did you find yourself thinking 'Next time I run another game, I'll ...' ever after swearing it off?
88. Did you ever actually get up the nerve (and time, and energy) to run another one anyways?
89. Are you an organizer on a regularly running chronicle or series of events?
90. Have you ever put on a game for more than 50 players?
91. For 100? (or thereabouts? 93 counts ...)
92. Have you ever organized or been organizing more than one game in a given month?
93. Have you ever put on a game with less than 30 days notice (from scratch, plot, actors, site, etc).
94. Have you ever travelled to catch a game put on by a LARP group in a different city?
95. In a different province / state?
96. In a different country?
97. Have you ever organized a game in another city / province / country?
98. Do you work / have you ever worked for a gaming store/ theatre group / LARP company?
99. Have you ever volunteered to sit on any council or committee of any sort which actually runs (ie. does the paperwork, accounting, and occasionally red-taping, over an extended term) for a LARP society, gaming convention, or improvisational theatre company?
100. Are you such a masochist, uh, I mean a dedicated LARPer, that you volunteered for a second time?


Scoring

0 - 20
Well, this is still pretty new to you, isn't it? Don't worry, it isn't taking over your life, it isn't unhealthy, and it isn't an alien plot to dominate you and your kind into eternal servitude (don't listen to anyone who tells you otherwise.)

21 - 40
You're coming along nicely. Sure, you can fit another game into your schedule... you can probably even socialize with a few more LARPers and not experience any adverse affects. Not yet, at least...

41 - 60
Ah... you've started on the slippery slope downwards, haven't you? Don't worry... don't fight it and everything will go much easier for you. You don't need to worry about fitting that last game into your schedule. There will be others... and you'll still be around for them, won't you?

61 - 80
How deep in to this are you? There is a life beyond LARP, you know. Of course, it's not nearly as interesting, is it? Besides... LARPing builds character, doesn't it? Why stop now?

81 - 100
You've hit up on The Truth, haven't you? There is no such thing as LARPing too much!


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