Livin’ LARP From The Red Carpet

Charles Maye returns… and this time he’s on the red carpet at the LARPY’s. I’ll let Charles explain exactly what the LARPY’s are… Read on.

I went to the inaugural LARPY AWARDS this past Sunday. Yeah, the LARPIES! Yeah! 

Oh. My bad. You guys have absolutely NO idea what the LARPIES is, huh? 

Before this past weekend, if someone had asked me about the LARPIES, my reply would have been: “Yeah, my doctor gave me some cream for that and in two weeks it cleared right up!”

LARP events most often take place over a weekend at campground-like facilities that are decorated like movie sets to resemble a medieval city or other fantasy world. Writers act as the “Game Masters” who’ve created storylines with mysteries to be solved and tasks to be completed. They provide the direction for “Event Actors” who interact with the LARPers, guiding them through the storyline and giving them hints and clues to the mysteries. Hundreds (and sometimes thousands) of participants come dressed in homemade costumes, bearing foam-rubber weapons based on parameters set forth in the game rules, to play what is essentially a “real-life” videogame, TV show or movie. Most LARP organizations, Sci Fi, Anime and Costume Play (Cosplay) conventions have an internal award program that recognizes the “best-of” among the event attendees.

Yeah. Weird, huh? Now, I was “told” that there are a lot of brothas and sistas that partake in these festivities. Hmm? Yeah. Ok, if you say so.

Sometimes I take on assignments that make sense, like the Film Life Black Movie Awards and sometimes I take on some that make ZERO sense, like the SKINNIES – The Skinhead Awards Show honoring Skinheads. I left right before they presented the award for “Best Cross Burning in a Suburban Setting.”

So the LARPIES is the award show that honors these…ahem…actors.

But ok, now THIS was REAL weird. It was like Halloween – But in Hollywood! Grown ass people dressed up in crazy costumes from their favorite Sci-Fi films like Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Soul Plane…wait, my bad, but y’all get the idea. 

The guest list included stars like Shemar Moore, Bokeem Woodbine, Adrian Brody, Cindy Margolis, and Kel Mitchell. Now I said that was the guest LIST. Y’all feelin’ me now? Yeah, THEY didn’t show up. So instead we got The World’s Youngest Rapper Lil Maxso (Yep, that’s what he kept telling us over and over and over…), Ex-Mr. J-Lo himself – Chris Judd, “Surreal Life’s” Jose Conseco, wrestling’s Goldberg, former Bob Barker Beauty Kathleen Bradley, and some other people I didn’t know previously and after last night, I STILL didn’t know who they were. 

Oh, I almost forgot – R2D2 was there! 

Yeah. See?

Well, hey, it was their first time out so I’m not gonna be that hard on them because I’m sure they will grow as this LARP stuff continues to grow, so it’s all good. I had a pretty cool time nonetheless people watching. 

So, next up for me – The GANGIES! YEAH! I have to get my bullet-proof vest out the cleaners for that one. Pray for me. Peace (For real!).

Story for FilmFetish.com by Charles Kenneth Maye. Reach Charles at charlesm@filmfetish.com