As you know . . . well, as regular readers know . . . I recently updated the Interactive Dramas webpages at http://www.interactivedramas.info and have posted a few announcements for upcoming events with the Taiwan troupe.
So . . . what is this interactive drama stuff?
Essentially, interactive drama is theatre-style live roleplaying games with an emphasis on character and roleplay rather than on combat. Many LARPs are about dressing up in character for an RPG then running around the country side whacking one another with boffers. Instead, the theatre-style games tend to use simulated combat if it occurs as they tend to be more about characterization than about whacking one another.
Theatre-style LARPs can be complex beasties. As some of you know, I wrote my doctoral dissertation in Comparative Literature at National Taiwan University on interactive dramas and how they can be considered a new form of environmental interactive theatre . . . they've evolved even more fluidly into that direction in the last twelve years with a number of troupes exploring game play and theatre play simultaneously.
Of course, the main draw to interactive dramas is that they are fun . . . locally, we might consider it cosplay with roleplay . . . games that are interactive and fun.
Obviously, the Interactive Dramas site at http://www.interactivedramas.info has a LOT of information about the beasties but here's a very nice video that is actually a pretty good introduction to LARPing from a 20/20 report in New Zealand of the local LARP scene . . . HAVING A LARP . . . http://tvnz.co.nz/20-20-news/having-larp-3056276 . . . despite concerns by some of the participants in the kiwi LARP scene that the program might present them as geeks or worse (just see how Comic Con or cosplay are portrayed in the news and you can realize that their concerns were not unfounded), this story is well-balanced and does show the various types of LARPing, there's even a few theatre-style interactive dramas in the mix.
You can search youtube for "LARP" for more videos. There are also a number of videos on the facebook group of the Taiwan Interactive Theatre Society at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=130362600333258 which is also our membership group for folks interested in joining our own events. For more information about the Taiwan troupe see http://www.interactivedramas.info/taiwan.htm as that page has the background and our events and more.
All the best,
Brian
(If you are reading this blog post via a stream, go to https://briandavidphillips.net/ to access the full post with any videos or photos included.)
http://www.briandavidphillips.net/store
See http://www.BrianDavidPhillips.com for details
Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [brian@briandavidphillips.com]
Hypnotist, Hypnotherapist, Intuitionist, Trance Wizard
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan
