I just ran into your post from last February about evangelizing for theater LARP. Is that still a thing you're doing? If so, I'm interested in being evangelized at; I've been vaguely-interested-from-a-distance in LARP for a while, but have always felt too intimidated (in an "I'll probably be bad at it and drag the overall group's enjoyment down" sort of way) to actually try it out.

Yes, it’s a thing I’m still doing.

I’m not sure what to say to “I’m intimidated, I’ll be bad at it” other than “don’t be, you probably won’t.”  People come into the hobby from all sorts of backgrounds with all sorts of beliefs about their acting / roleplaying / improv abilities, and an awful lot of them turn out to be really excellent players who adorn every game they’re in, and those aren’t always the one’s you’d expect or who expect it themselves. 

The following statements, all of which are true, may be of some comfort:

* Everyone knows what it’s like to roleplay with a newbie.  In a good cast, people will not only be tolerant of your awkward beginner fumblingness, to the extent that you have any; they’ll go out of their way to engage with you and create roleplay opportunities that can (a) be really cool in their own right, and (b) help you raise your comfort level and develop your skills. 

* A halfway-decent theater LARP will be written such that one mediocre or timid player won’t ruin anyone’s fun. 

* A good theater LARP will be written such that, if you read your materials and pay attention to your character’s incentives, you will be carried along into and through scenes of dramatic quality – even if you’re mediocre or timid.  A lot of auctorial skill in this medium comes down to “writing games where the players don’t have to be master actors to create something worthwhile,” and the best theater LARP authors take that challenge very seriously. 

Beyond that…all I have to say is that the stories you can find in these games are likely to be a lot more thoughtful, and less cliche, than the average person would expect.

If you’re anywhere within the NY metro area, get in touch with me directly, and I’ll help get you involved with some good games filled with good people.  If you’re anywhere in the Northeast, tell me where you are, and I can at least point you towards some community that’s likely to be able to help you out. 

And, of course, if you have further questions or thoughts, I’d be glad to field them.

[I’m answering this publicly because I imagine that this stuff might be of interest to other potential LARPers.]