Live Action (LARP) Topics?

[LD]

Question:

What topic ideas would you like to see done in a live action game?

Constraints:

Players: 8-20 players and it should be able to run with a few less players (min 8) if it has less attendees (e.g. not everyone is 'vital' but everyone is 'necessary' e.g. no random guard with no goals or purpose except to follow orders).
Time: The ideal idea would be designed to be a 4 hour or 6 hour game one-shot.
One-Shot (not on-going)

I have seen French Revolution, Steampunk, Call of Cthulhu, and a few other themes done quite a lot. What sort of ideas would you like to see done? Preferably, something fun that isn't overdone and preferably something that might attract attendees.

[beejazz]

Mons (as in Pokemon, Digimon, etc.) has seen surprisingly little love in any kind of RP. Doppelganger invasions could have some interesting applications in a LARP (Jeff isn't always playing the same characters, instead he plays as a series of doppelgangers playing Jeff) especially if most of the bunch starts out as their real selves and are gradually replaced (like in those college campus zombie or assassin games). Are we just spitballing now or is there a particular issue you want solved?

[SA]

I've always wanted to play gods in a celestial bureaucracy.

[LD]

>>Are we just spitballing now or is there a particular issue you want solved?

Generally just trying to see what appeals to people. I've seen a few types at conventions. Generally the most popular tend to be either Steampunk or Cthulhu-based, so I was wondering if there are other interesting under-utilized topics.

The ideal idea would be designed to be a 4 hour or 6 hour game one-shot.

Thank you for the ideas.

[Steerpike]

The challenge with live action is that it's more or less inherently limited on a physical level.  Since the action, by definition, occurs not in the theatre of the mind (or even the abstraction of a grid map or a piece of graph paper) but, effectively, has to be represented physically, the wilder the idea the harder a live action scenario is to pull off.  I suspect, for example, that the reason steampunk is so popular is that the costuming for steampunk is relatively easy to achieve, and/or because many roleplayers interested in live action are also avid costumers.  Horror games like CoC (or, for that matter, Vampire) likewise are fairly easy to run because most horror assumes the real world (as opposed to a secondary world) as its backdrop.

Nevertheless...

Provided the scenery is right, a post-apocalyptic game would be interesting - I imagine costuming/props would be fairly easy.  Granted I've been reading Planet Motherfucker over at Tales of the Grotesque and Dungeonesque recently, and also playing a lot of New Vegas...

[LD]

Post-Apocalyptic sounds like a good gap that I haven't seen filled in LARP. Most games that I've done at conventions haven't had any scenery, but a few have used a small assortment of props to good effect.

I've also seen a variety of 'types' of LARPS, from goal oriented (no touching) [both high and low GM involvement (based on the amount of 'events'], to rules-oriented (Mage, Vampire), to fighting (boffer-type games on a sliding scale of violence). I'm aiming at making a game in the former two categories.

I'll second New Vegas as being a good source. I thought the main storyline of F3 was better, but the side quests in New Vegas are neat.
The PM setting and other materials available at that website were much more detailed and thought-out than I had expected. Thanks for the link.

Your analysis of why certain types are common is a convincing one.