I've been running Dark Heresy with some friends, and I thought to myself, it'd be awesome to LARP this. Playing as Inquisitors battling the forces of Chaos and Xenos threats. It'd be great, and body part selection system would work well these sort of games. What are you all's opinion on this? Do you feel it would work? And should Fantasy Flight maybe look into this?

My personal feelings on LARP'ing aside...

Keep in mind that you'll tend to have more ranged combat in Dark Heresy than say Hackmaster or Dungeons and Dragons. You could simply change your stories to involve more hand to hand I suppose but the inherent problem is that you'd have to all be walky talky'ed up otherwise you'll be shouting at each other accross alleyways and playgrounds.

If you are playing in the states it could also be slightly perilous to be conducting a modern-ish play fighting scenario just because of the zomg terrorists factor and the fact that many law enforcement individuals would love to have a crack at their chance to be Jack Bauer.

Of course you could always play in-doors in a controlled environment but that can sort of crush the LARP'itude.

Now I need to go punch a panda because that took an amazing amount of self control...

I agree with Callidon.

In addition to what was said above:

The monetary cost of creating the props for Dark Heresy would be significantly higher than the props for D&D, AGOT, or other medieval RP's.

The campaign setting of 40k doesn't really lend itself to wide open spaces like parks or nature preserves, unless you want your whole campaign to take place on an Ag-World. I make this point mostly because those locations are your only and best bet at avoiding the police intereaction described by Callidon above.

Should you choose to play in a more industrial location, you would have to consider most of your gaming time would be consumed by explaining yourself to passers-by, frightening children, and running from, and/or getting shot at by the Fuzz.

If the above sounds like good times to you and your LARP crew then by all means go to it sir, post haste!

But first consider:

The idea behind Live Action Role Play, is, if I'm not daft, to enhance the gaming experience through the use of theatrical representation of ones character, and to further increase the experiences therein by the use of props and appropriated scenery. The points made by Callidon and myself in all likely hood would compromise those ideals. To elaborate should my point be unclear: With props and setting so heavily compromised, how exactly are you enhancing the experience of the game for your players? Will foam Combi-Weapons, and tin-foil Power Armor really highten the experiences for your players? Would not a description of those things be more cost effective, interesting and less hokey?

Inhibitions...failing...need to be a snide ass rising...

*head begins shaking*

I'm not sure if boffer swords are the kind of LARPing being described. Given the games that are being pointed out by previous posters, might I ask if you're looking for something more on the lines of Cthulhu Live, Passion Play, or Mind's Eye Theater? That's certainly more doable, and considerably less law-enforcement inducing (I still reccomend contacting the local police, nonetheless, and informing them of your planned activities). I also know that costuming for Mind's Eye Theater and Cthulhu Live is traditionally on a much higher level than it is for SCA or IFGS, since it is put under less duress when you're not expecting to be hit by foam weapons.

Well now people have been focusing on the minor setbacks to a Dark Heresy Live I will focus on the major setbacks. In my exsperience as a liver the setting needs to be challenging for all. No player or group should be the heroes slaugthering the rest. What are you aiming at ? a war larp or intrige ?

War larp could jsut be xenos against the imperial guard.

With intrige you propely want some rouge traders, a cult wanting to get hold of sometech heresy stuff, xenos selling it, drug dealers, bounty hunters, a undercover inquisition cell who has to keep under cover or they get blasted their minds out. So the scenario would be at a rouge trade station where people freely can struggle for power and money. Have one or two indoor locations. Much like if you l played vampire.

Dont bother much with people being negative about the dressing up. I seen lots of bad dressing up for fantasy roleplay. Just make sure to have a standard. People should propely avoid big armors unless they knowwhat they aredoing. We do not want people to come in cardboard boxes you can see are made of that.

I LARP (I know, I know) and I wouldn't run a Dark Heresy LARP but I might run a freeform based in the 40K Universe. Say a bunch of Acolytes from different groups having already gathered up evidence, suspects and other info uncovering a huge case. Now they're all gathered in an Imperium fort and they've got until the end of the event to work together, pick apart the evidence and solve the mystery until their Inquisitor arrives. Introduce a little PvP competition by writing some dislike between certain groups and sub-factions, and say the Inquisitor will only give a promotion to the group that can give him the correct location to the Heretic base and you're good to go!

Ahh Smit that is a different genre of larp, but there would need to be some personal strife betwin the players or it us just pure problem solving what are you after Gaharal ?

Well, I suppose when I thought of LARP, I pictured characters dressed as Iquisitors, Acolytes, cultists, rogue traders, whatever, and essentially duking it out in melee combat similar to the medieval battles with foam swords and arrows, forget the right name for this type. People could use Nerf guns as bolters or las guns, foam swords, and no characters would die during combat they'd just be wounded too severely to continue. I suppose what I envision is factions actually roleplaying (i.e. discussing battle strategies, investigating, stalking, shadowing, gathering evidence, dealing with beaurcracy, etc.), with occaionsal combat (i.e. encounters between facitons monitored by a narrator that essentially becomes physical combat with Nerf guns and foam swords, with both teams being strategically set up before hand.) Think paintball game, except without paintballs. If a combat between to facitons is going to ensue, then a field of battle would be chosen, both teams would take defensive positions, and at the narrator's command they'd begin fighitng either by hand-to-hand or by gun, and who ever won would gain that victory and whatever goes with it: information, prisoner, strategic location, artefact, whatever. People would wear armor, and if a part of body is hit a certian amount of times that body part is unusable. And it ends when one team is left standing. I suppose the only real difficulty in this scenario is having it so no characters die, but the story can continue. Don't know if that makes sense, or if it'd be too chaotic to even try.

I was going to save this for another post, but since the topic of a Dark Heresy LARP has now been brought up I'll share it here.

I'll be running a Warhammer 40,000 LARP at Origins 2009 in Columbus Ohio. We have slots open for around 30 players, and a broad cast of charters will be availible. I'll post further details, including a cast list, once I get final confirmation for the date and time of the game from the Origins event staff.

The naratar tells them when to start combat ? woahh now that is alien larp culture for me. ButI tell you therewill not be much intrige if people know whos who, unles you set it up to be inter fraction. What is wrong with peoples chracters dying ? If they can die they be more carefull and not easely sacrify themself. If they die can can just get a new character. I realy suggest you let the players decide themself when it is time to backstab the others. This is a huge part of the battle strategy.

Attila IV what is the genre besides Dark Heresy ?

I am from Denmark and we tend to have a kind of anarchy live culture.

I guess there are three main larp genres here with a number of secondary in each.

Anarchy (my own choice of name)

A: There is a basic setup and people make their own intriges and goals. The intriges can be intergroup and or betwin groups. People genrely avoid battle in there is no other solution

B There is basic setup and people join a group or fraction. There is some social roleplay in each group. There is contact betwin the groups but disputes are usely solved with combat.

Combat live ( I have not tried this myself)

There are usely two armies and the roleplay is centered about everyday life in a millitary camp. The two opposing armies finaly meet up to one huge and epic battle.

Scenario:

The characters and scene is all premade. Your characters has a goal and personality set by the GM and you are faithfull to it. Some events happend and the story unfolds with interaction betwin the characters. There is seldom battle in this genre as it easy can break the story.

As a long-time LARPer and LARP organizer, I've toyed with the idea of a 40k LARP. Non-contact, as we call it here in Denmark, that is, not boffer. Set in a hive on a hive world just recovering from a major Chaos Cult rebellion. A great big victory celebration party. Everyone who participated in fighting the cultists can be present, so you'll see gangers, middle hivers, Imperial Guards, etc. No Space Marines. A Rogue Trader has just arrived with luxury items. The Inquisition is present, but obviously and undercover.

As for props, not that hard. Just make sure you have plenty of seal wax. *G* I turned an old toy shotgun into a duble-barelled melta pistol, an old boffer sword into a power sword with the words "Innocence Proves Nothing" painted on it and raided my wardrobe for some funky clothes when I did an Inquisitor costume (at the request of the local GW store *G*).

Our LARP, entitled Nox Terminus, is set on the hive world of Megiddo. We have spots open for about 30 characters and a wide variety of Imperiale citizens will be represented. All characters have been premade, and after the cast list is posted it will be possible for players to pick out a character ahead of time. We'll be using a mostly home brewed rules set modified from the one we used to run ShadowRun: Year of The Monkey at Origins 2008. A few aspects of the rules have been inspired by Dark Heresy, so players will be able to spot a number of familiar things. Here is the event description as it will appear in the Origins 2009 event catalogue:

For over fifty years the hive world of Megiddo has been embroiled in bloody civil war. On this planet overrun by mutants and heretics, only the great hive city of Arx Primoris stands as a beacon of order, orthodoxy, and Imperial authority. The citizens of this decaying world now prepare for a last desperate stand against the enemies of Mankind. But within this time of despair there is a glimmer of hope in the form of a Lord Inquisitor. The citizens of Arx Primoris pause in anticipation and fear, knowing that the mercy of The Inquisition is as harsh as it’s justice.

In regards to weaponry, etc., I would recommend taking a look at a wonderful live game called Killer which was/is produced by Steve Jackson Games. It has suggestions for a LOT of different types of basic weapons, which could be a good starting point for deciding what would be appropriate weapons for 40k LARP. Ranged combat is easy with various Nerf guns (you could even paint/mod them to make them look a bit more 40k-esque), and provided it's warm where you're playing the various flamers, etc., could be represented by Super Soaker guns.

We larp this all the time. We sit around, we drink a lot, we talk conspiracies, we call women foul temptresses and servants of slaaneesh, someone gets too much tequila and shouts "WaaaaaGhhh" and I usually wind up calling all my friends heretics.

While I'd love to have a real chain sword and bolt pistol as much as the next player, I'm not a big fan of LARPing.

Good luck to you and your friends if you want to give it a try.

But you could be a fan of LARPing. I think you just need the right LARP, and finding that LARP can be hard to do. I was in love with the idea of LARPs for ages but didn't play one I enjoyed until Cthulhu Live. Now I run the things.