I also recommend reading up on the Orcs in general, just to get an idea of who they are. An interesting thing that I just found on the wiki is that they hate to be considered stupid. Which is another thing you can play on.
I remember someone I knew played a racist and every time we walked past the Orc camp he would mutter something about them probably stealing babies and other such things. Sometimes we would pass imperial orcs and he would put his hand close to his weapon to show that he didn’t trust them.
Things like this can be done to help convey this idea across. It is usually better not to be subtle as people get caught up in their own stories and tend not to notice subtlety.
There was an incident that really angered the imperial orcs last event. I’m not sure if I can tell you about it but if you want to find out more go to the Urizen camp and ask about it.
Finally, I would like to talk about Orc fighting pits. To them, it is something very spiritual and they don’t like it when you bet on these fights. I think it would be unwise to do this as you would probably be in their camp but it is up to you.
The Imperial Orcs know OOC that they will get predjudice. It’s a part of the player brief for them. Part of their story is them fighting for respect and equality… it took them years of gameplay to get a territory assigned to them so that they had any sort of homeland…
To an extent, it should be unusual to NOT be biased against the Imp Orcs. After all, they were slaves a few generations back, they look like the snarling barbarians you see over the rim of your shield, they may cause nasty flashbacks every time you see them…
But because LARPers tend to be nice, laid-back people, we aren’t inclined to start sneering at other LARPers in the marketplace just because they’re wearing a mask.
So by all means, glare at them. Ostentatiously adjust your weapons at them. Declare your distrust of them, loudly. Blame them if anything bad happens.
You will know that 1) The Imperial Orcs are Imperial Citizens, and you’ll get into plenty of trouble if you start attacking them in the street, and you may know that 2) They were recently declared to have their own souls and afterlife, although not the same as yours, thankfully.
Remember though, as an example:
Dave the human is playing Vaed the Orc.
You don’t hate Vaed because he’s old, or male, or ginger, but because he’s an orc.
You don’t hate Dave, you hate his character.
Because your character is justifiably predjudiced against his species.
During time-out, when the masks are off, find Dave and clarify this, and thank him for the extra emotional game and role-playing that he’s given you.
Try to be enemies with the mask on, and friends with the masks off.
Nice, that means you will have a slightly better base of operations. You can also invite friends back to your tent and start a fire and do some singing. On cold, wet events, even though you can find fire wood about, it goes quickly and is invaluable.
Another thing you need to consider is either hiding everything you have in your tents or making them IC. If you have a plastic box to store everything then it is probably best to take a rug or something and put it over it.
The one downside of camping IC is keeping things clean and dry. When you camp OOC, your synthetic tent stops most of the water getting in and the mud is easily washed off. When you have an IC tent, the stuff inside all have to be IC. I’ve seen people with woolly carpets that get very muddy, so try and get a designated shoe area in your tent.
Be careful re fires. Usually PD prefer only a few fires, in carefully designated containers that they’ve given out. So firepits etc will likely be few, but well attended.
Pretty much the only OOC things I will have with me is a car and a phone, and they will both be well obscured. And I have a few fur rugs and other IC adornments to kit my tent out with. All the food and drink i bring with me will be in IC containers and I’ve got a few other things planned, some of which involve dermestid beetles. Not for the faint of heart.
Okay, you will probably be parking on the other side of the fence, in OOC area. I recommend you think about bringing some saw dust or something just in case it rains heavily.
food and drink wise, there are stalls about which you can get warm food from and there are water taps about the field. Of course there are the various bars and I’m sure some people in your camp would be willing to trade food or drink for something. These are hear if you some how manage to run out.
With regards to the Imperial Orcs, just remember that they are used to getting some flak from people - on the one hand, this means they’re likely to take anything you say to them in the right way, on the other hand it means they are excellent at dishing it out as well! Don’t say something if you’re not prepared to get a strong reaction
