Stuff You Should Know - How LARP Works

Episode Date: July 30, 2013

Dressing up in duct tape-covered cardboard suit of armor and pretending you're an elf warrior for a weekend at a state park might sound like a pretty embarrassing thing to do, but that probably just means you've never done it. Join Josh and Chuck as they explore the imaginative world of LARP - live action role playing games. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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LARP. Right. I'm just going to say that like every five minutes. Well, and this will be a fun one. LARP. All right, I'm not going to do that ever again. Thanks, Chuck. Yeah, I think we should just call this Dungeons and Dragons follow up D&D to nerdier than

you thought it could be. You know, some people, as is written in the end of this article, believe that the introduction of Dungeons and Dragons was the, that's the citation for the beginning of LARP. Yeah, that makes sense. It's just like kind of one step further. You know, the people that really get into D&D and sort of role play at the table. That makes sense to me that that grew into, let's just take this out to the park across the street.

Right. You know, or hang out in front of the movie theater when the new Star Wars is going to premiere. Yeah, I guess that's LARPing in a way, isn't it? Well, do you remember the wizard that came by for that triumph? Oh, yeah. When Triumph went to the Star Wars premiere. Yeah, I've seen that guy in New York a couple times.

The wizard, do you? Uh-huh. I don't remember, I don't know what is. I think that's, he's just a wizard. So we should, we should probably tell people who don't know what LARP is. What LARP is. LARP stands for Live Action Role Playing and as you probably guessed from context is usually fantasy based, sometimes sci-fi, sometimes goth.

But basically it is everything that a D&D game is or a role playing game is, but actually physically acted out by people who are dressed up as their characters who are like going through physical motions. It's real battles. Right. And it is, it's because of that, because you're actually doing these things, it's considered much more immersive than just an average role playing game. Sure.

And we should mention that throughout this, we're going to be, there was an interview conducted for this article. This is written by Tracy Wilson. Yeah. Stuff You Miss in History class. Right. And she interviewed someone named Laurie Zolkowski. I'd say that's how you say that.

And she, Laurie I guess is local and I think she has even invented her own LARP game. So what she did is called King's Gate. Yeah. So Tracy interviewed her. So we're going to be using bits and pieces from Laurie. So we thank her in Obstintia. Yeah. Just close.

Yes. Okay. So yeah, I looked up King's Gate. It was purchased by Red Button Productions. She actually sold it. Yeah. And they brought her on as the creative director. Wow.

But I don't see, I don't, I don't, I don't see, like that was in 2007. 2006, I believe. I don't see her, her name anywhere in regards to that. And I don't see King's Gate as much more like archived now. So I think it's like kind of had its day or whatever. But hey, she still cashed that check for $275. Sure. I mean, I imagine like making money from creating a LARP game is awesome.

Pretty unusual and rare. I might look into that actually because when I was reading this, I was thinking I could create a LARP game. I might not want to play it. Yeah. But I could totally create one. Have you seen some of like the, like the rules and all that? Yeah.

And like how granular it gets? Yeah. I mean, it's not something you rush into. In fact, I think Laurie said she spent about a year or a year and a half creating King's Gate. And she even used existing rules. Yeah, sure. Which you can do if you're creating a game.

You can lease rules from other game creators. We've gotten way, let's, let's, I know, we're just so excited. Yeah. You need to back this LARP truck up. So you mentioned that she creates this game. Like a LARP is an actual game. It's basically like creating a new universe and saying the new universe is going to be at this state park on these three days.

And if you come, you either have to be a character that you've designed or that has been approved by me, the game designer. And you're going to follow the rules of this universe and things are going to happen within this universe and that will be our LARP. Yeah, and like you said, the universe isn't something that you can, you think, well, how hard could it be to sketch that out over the course of like a week. But it gets really granular. Like you said, and you got to think of everything like, what does race mean in this world?

Is there electricity? Can people read? Right. Or what are the classes like and the difference between the classes? Yeah. What kinds of weapons do they have? Is there magic answer? Yes.

Yeah. Always magic. That's the answer. And like you said, you can, they, I guess they have existing rule systems out there that you can nick from or you can make a combination of that in your own or you can just make up all your own rules. Right. Which that has to be so involved.

Yeah. Because I think one thing you don't want to do is invite 50 nerds with thumb rubber swords out to the park and have unanswered questions. Right. Or a dissatisfying game. You know, like how could you not think of this? Like can they read or can't they read? Right.

And a lot of it follows the same like rules that you'll find in like a, like a traditional role playing game like Dungeons and Dragons. Like there's armor classes. There's hit points. Yeah. There's things that determine since the people who are, like you said, engaging in combat don't actually die, you have to keep up with a way of simulating their death. Sure.

Right. And so there's, there's rules, the intuitive rules that you can just kind of come up with just from playing Dungeons and Dragons and being aware of that kind of thing. They apply to this too. But I think it is a little more, even more granular because you have, you have not just the rules, but you have the game itself. Right. Right.

So there are three different types of, not types of people, but different categories of character, I guess, that you can participate. You can, just like D&D, you can be the game master or because LARP is a bigger, more immersive time and sense of thing, it's probably just not run by one person that you're probably, you might have a plot committee and be on, you know, like a group with a group of folks trying to like suss this out basically. Right. Yeah.

Exactly. Especially if players break off into smaller groups, you kind of know what's going on. Like mutiny. Maybe. There are non-player characters in PCs and that, I wonder what the draw is for that. Those are people that actually aren't advancing in the game or playing to win. Tracy gave the example of like you might be the, the innkeeper or the bartender in the pub that tells you, you know, don't go that way because the dragon is that way.

Right. That's probably just, that's like a larper who has a drinking problem and doesn't like to move around too much. So they just sit in the tavern and wait for people to come by and make up stories about, you know, bandits or whatever. I guess the answer is it's the same person who would want to, or not the same person, but the same idea behind someone who doesn't mind playing the tree and the play, you know, as opposed to trying out for the lead role.

Like we need our bit players and we need our stars. I think also probably if you have a LARP game and so like an actual three day weekend at the park will be a game and then those games might take place over some sort of consecutive order in the time that's in this LARP world and that will form a campaign. But if you have like a game like King's Gate that the lady who was interviewed for this created, right? Yeah. You're going to have kind of an organization of people who help you carry out this game

in real life. Yeah. And I imagine they probably play non-player carriers. Oh, you think? That's who I would think does it. Okay. That makes sense. They're almost like administrators of this.

Right. They're not game masters per se, but they're like the game masters right hand people. They still like sit and break bread with the game master, which I think some people like being the inner circle maybe. Sure. Right. Inner circle. Yes.

All right. So then you have the player characters and those are, they can develop new skills, they can learn things, they're trying to win, they're actually a part of the story. I'm sorry, the NPCs are part of the story. The PCs are experiencing that story. Right. So if you are the game designer or the game master and you created this particular game or campaign that you're sending people out on, it's not just a free for all.

Like you, if you need to keep the narrative moving along, you will create like that bartender character. Sure. Right. So that person's there and they're going to be there when these player characters come for the weekend or the bandits that the bartender warns everybody about. Yeah. They're going to be out there in the woods.

They're non-player characters, but they're part of the game. So anybody who's not part of the design game that is playing and has a foam sword, that's a player character. Yeah. I think I would like to be like a wild card NPC, like the right hand man to the game master and if the game master was like, oh crap, I forgot, like no one knows how to get to the eerie cave. Right.

I need an innkeeper and I could just like get in the character and go, all right, I'm an innkeeper. What do you need? Nice. What do you need from me? Nice. Is that character acting? Yeah.

I'd be, I'd be a character actor. What if the game master was like, crap, we didn't get enough baloney for all these people and they're going to be upset come lunchtime. Can you go get some more? I can do that. I can be baloney guy. There's nothing quite like the excitement of knowing a baby is on the way. After all, you have been dreaming of this moment your entire life.

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Mississippi. Wanderers, welcome. You mentioned the game. The game itself, the game session can last a few hours, a few days and that can or cannot be or may or may not be part of a larger campaign. From what I saw, games typically last like three days over a weekend. I think the campaign thing is kind of cool though. Like you have your battles over a weekend and then you take that back and apply that

to your risk board or whatever maps you've drawn up in the world and like, all right, now we know that this territory is now owned by whoever the victor was and what does that mean because now they're advancing toward this group or something. Right. It's kind of cool. Yeah, from the interaction of the players and the game, both change, like a player might die, a player is going to probably gain some experience points or maybe some hit points or whatever or a new weapon.

The game itself, like if you created like a central monster or something that needs to be killed, that monster may be killed. So in this world that you created, that monster no longer lives. So this thing, it's dynamic. It's not static. Yeah. They're playing off one another to evolve. It's really cool.

Have you seen the stepbrothers? That movie? No, I haven't. The LARP features heavily in that. It's pretty funny. It doesn't know role models, too. Oh, no, wait, that's what I meant. Role models.

Yeah. Yeah, stepbrothers, John C. Reilly and Will Perrell. Right. But I hadn't seen it, so I didn't know. No, no, no. Yeah, role models. That's what I meant. Yeah.

Yeah, he gets his confidence at the end. Yeah. And apparently people get their confidence from LARP in some cases. Yeah. Yeah. I thought that movie was better than I thought it was going to be. Yeah, same here. And apparently David Wayne, the director, said that that's his highest compliment for

that movie is for, he said, people come up to me often and say, it was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. Yeah, the way it was marketed was really like just dumb and lowbrow, and it was just going to be just a dunce of a movie. But it had a lot of heart and thought to it, and there was a lot of conflict. It was funny, too. If you get a LARP game going with Matt Walsh and Ken Jeong, then you're on the right track. Comedy was, I think.

Yeah. All right, so stepbrothers, what a dope. I'm sure people were like, not stepbrothers, but well, the great thing is that they started their emails and then hopefully stopped mid-sentence. Yeah, stepbrothers are funny, too. The Catalina wine mixer. All right, so there are three. Like Catalina dressing?

No, the island of Catalina off the coast of LA. So there are three different types of games, three ways you can play the game. There's the battle game, and that's actually when dudes and ladies get out there, they're fully armored up in their cardboard and plastic, and someone gives a signal and they charge each other like it's, you know, what was the male Gibson? Braveheart. Braveheart. And they beat each other about the head with foam swords.

Yeah, and there's restrictions on how to make what's called a buffer. It's a LARP weapon. Typically it's anything from like a sword to a mace, shield, battleaxe, bow and arrow. But there's standards for it. They usually start with a piece of PVC or a piece of bamboo, it's heavily padded and wrapped in duct tape. And then it's tricked out to look like a sword or to look like a bow and arrow or whatever. And it doesn't do any damage, but it looks cool, especially when you're like this is

a pretend sword and it's mine and I built it and I'm going to kill you with it. Yeah, what was that website Tracy recommended? It was. I went and checked it out. It was actually pretty good. So did I. It was called Lucrane's Guide to Boffers, L-U-K-R-A-I-N, apostrophe S. Yeah, and it's got all the weapons there that you could ever imagine and how to make them

and advice and all that good stuff. All right, so that's the battle game. And Darkon is one of the most popular ones and that is an award-winning documentary as well and I checked out the trailer for that just to see it. Did you see that? No. They kind of echoed Braveheart in the way they shot it, but it's what it is. It's cool.

It's kind of funny. But they interviewed some people in there that you could tell like this one lady was like, you know, I don't have control at work. I don't have control in here. I don't have control there. Like when I lark, I'm in control and that's what it gives me. And this other guy was like, you know, I became, ended up becoming the man I wanted to be through the fantasy of the character that I wanted to be.

Yeah, I'm sure like if you kill a few elves over the course of a weekend and you come out of like a lark game, like really on top, that has to translate to the rest of your life. Well, it's just like winning anything. And I don't care what sport or competition, any kind of competition that you participate in and come out on top or just get something out of, it's going to benefit you in real life. Yeah, it's just because society deems a sport as being worthy of paying somebody tens of

millions of dollars to be able to play it. It doesn't mean it's any more valuable or a victory there is any more valuable than one elsewhere. Agreed. Yeah. Very open-minded, Josh. So then you have theatrical games. This is mainly like sitting around in your house with.

No. No. Storytelling with cards and dice and things like that. That's what I thought too. No. There's this whole world out there. Well, it can be that though. But that's what it is.

If you sit around and do this in your house, people are going to be like, this is what you invited us over for. No, that's not true. There's all sorts of theatrical games that people just play like on a Friday night. Okay. The ones I found were all really involved, really widespread and kind of cool looking. Well, it's all over the map. There's one called Fiasco that I actually want to buy and play.

It's a movie-larp theatrical-larp and it's like very Coen Brothers-esque like the movie plots and you act out these characters. That's cool. But that's the one where you just like sit around and play with your friends. All right. It sounds kind of cool. But so what's the other half? Well, the one I ran across, the big, the legendary one is called Vampire the Masquerade.

And there's like classes and tribes and races of different vampires and then there's other ones, there's like ones based on mummies, there's one based on sin-eaters, there's like demon ones, there's like just different like whole worlds, man, they've created entire worlds that have whole histories and they're acting these things out and it's very much like a lark except it's far more subtle. Did they do it like in a literally in a theater or is it? Maybe in a theater. It'll be in a much larger place than like somebody's living room.

Maybe like a convent hall or something like that with the lights turned down or something and everybody's decked out as like vampires from like the Victorian era and it looks really cool. And if you go read up on these things, like just going from link to link, it just becomes more and more and more involved and like it's incredibly thought out. The rules are incredibly complex. The big difference between that and like combat larking is that like if say a vampire goes to attack another vampire, they'll usually roll for the outcome, they'll play like some

variation of paper rock scissors or something like that and that's how it's more about the story and intrigue and that kind of thing rather than like running into battle against one another in the woods. I think if I, I would sneak in my big buffer and when they were like, all right, Chuck, you know, do your rock, paper or scissors and then I would pull out the big buffer and it just like a hush would fall over the right, they're like, you can't bring a buffer, especially because you'd have fixed like a squeaky toy to the end. So when you hit him in the head and make a really goofy noise, they're like, you're

not playing right. And I would just buff everybody be like, you're all dead. All right. And the final is the role playing game and I didn't really understand the difference to be honest. I was going to ask Tracy, so maybe you can explain it. Do you know the difference between this and like a battle game or is it sort of like theatrical combined with battle?

Yes. That's exactly what it is. Oh, okay. Battle game is just running against one another and beating the tar out of each other. So there's no larger story going on? No, not necessarily. I think if there's a larger story, then you've just created a role playing game. Okay.

All right. I get it. I would want to play a role playing game. I would want to play at the best of both worlds. Yeah. Plus Bologna. Right. Bologna sandwiches.

And like we said, the rules are really the most important thing. Like I get a feeling that in all these games, the rules are just sacrosanct because if you don't follow the rules, then people get upset and then the whole thing just goes into chaos. Yeah. You know. So let's talk about some of them. Like combat rules. Well, like we said, you're simulating death or injury.

Yeah. You're not actually inflicting this. So you have to be able to tell how, how, how, I guess how many hit points, how much health a character has when you're being hit with a sword, like in a certain area, typically you're forced to call out how many points you've just lost. So Tracy says the combatants call out how much damage they inflict. That seems a little, I would rather play a game where it's up to you as the one that's hit with the foam arrow to say, all right, that's three points.

I get hit in the chest with the foam arrow rather than some jerk saying, take off three points. I just hit you with my arrow. Right. You know? Right. Like I think it should be up to the person who gets inflicted. That's just me.

Yeah. And ultimately it would be up to the game designer to decide who, who, who calls that out. That would be a rule. I guess so. But if some guy came up and bop me in the chest and then stood over me and told me how many points, there'd be a problem. I would say probably you should stay away from LARP games because I guarantee that's what

it's like. Okay. We mentioned magic. I imagine magic plays a big part in most games because why not? You know, if you're going to do a fantasy game, you might as well throw magic in there. Yeah. And throwing is, is pretty important. Well, yeah, I would like to see some of this actually because there's the two components.

One where you like cast a spell and do an incantation. And then when you cast your spell at the end, like you said, like you might throw a bean bag or a little pouch of bird seed. And you have to hit the other person with it for your spell to have had. So there's physical skill involved. Right. So throwing physical skill. If you get the incantation wrong or if you miss, the spell doesn't work.

And also like if you're a new character, you're only going to have access to certain number or types of spells. Yeah. So like I can do the spell as much as I want. Exactly. That's, that's part of the rules as well. But you mentioned this skill, like throwing is an actual part of skill. Yeah.

That's considered a hard skill. Like in real life, you are good at throwing. You have the skill with pigging people with little balls of bird seed, right? Your soft skill would be magic. Like the made up skill that you're carrying out. And those two combined would make you good at casting spells. Right. Or like Tracy says, if you're a good cook, you may really cook or make the baloney sandwiches.

If you're not, and that is your character, you may have something that like a roll of the dice. You may roll to find out how good your baloney sandwiches are. I thought that was a little granular, but I'm sure that's important in keeping like the immersion going. Sure. You know, you got to stay in character. You know.

Death. Yeah. Yeah. You can die, that's sort of the point, but because no one wants to spend two weeks making your outfit and your buffer only to get stabbed in the chest within the first eight seconds of a battle. Right. And then you're just, all you have left is your baloney sandwich.

Yeah. So most games will allow you back in the game, again, depending on certain rules, resurrecting your character is generally part of the fun of it. Yeah. So if you're like a player character, a non-player character can resurrect you using a spell. Oftentimes there's limits to how many times a character can be resurrected. Yeah. So I imagine if you're a character who's like on your last life in a campaign and you're

headed toward the state park this weekend, I bet you're a little nervous. Yeah. That desperation, like that's palpable. Sure. Like that adds to the whole thing, the enjoyment and the drama, because people are going to be gunning for you. Or conversely, people might be out to protect you too. That's true.

You might learn who your friends are that weekend. A lot of folks sometimes, sometimes there's a scorekeeper that just keeps track of all the stuff. Sometimes it's up to you. Yeah, that's different from the Game Master. Yeah. Yeah, scorekeeper just keeps score. Just numbers.

Yeah. Just spreadsheets. I imagine that's a very specific person as well. A lot of times you have what's called a life ring and it's a key ring that has these little tags on it that say, like whether I'm dead or whether or not, like I've got four spells I can use and as I use them, I'll take them off my little ring just to, I guess, help you remember or keep track of everything that's going on because it's complicated. Or if it has hit points, you're pulling them off going like, oh, that one hurt.

Oh, I'm bleeding. Oh, I'm about to die. Oh, I'm eating baloney sandwiches. The other thing too that we'll have many times is a non-participation area. That's where you eat the baloney sandwiches. I guess so. Let's say you do get knocked out of the game. You don't want to just go sit in your chivette and play your music.

Was it a Led Zeppelin? Yeah. It probably is a Led Zeppelin. Sure. Oh, man. Nothing will get you more charged up for large combat than like- Immigrant song? Immigrant song is what it is.

So there will be a little cordoned off area where you can go have a cigarette if you're into that. Although kids, you shouldn't be smoking. And just socialize. It's this big part of it. You're making friends out there. Right. And who are your friends?

Who are the people that play these games? Well, Larry Zulkowski says, quote, most of them are very imaginative people, have a taste for genre fiction, are highly intelligent, and are in some sense usually a little bit different socially, she says. Right. And that's a big part of it, maybe. You don't have a lot of friends. And this is a good outlet for you to make friends and create this cool fantasy world

and, like we said, build up your self-esteem. Yeah. Yeah, man, that's just so neat. I like that there's a place out there for people who lack confidence. Yeah. It can go get it. Absolutely, man, because, you know, the dumb jock might get that on the football field, but Lucas may not be able to play football.

No. He's too tiny. He's a little Corey Hame, so he might, you know, if they had LARP when Lucas is around, he might have been able to get the chick from the Goonies. Right. I can't remember her name, but. But he didn't, and he dies young because there's no LARP. Is that the right movie?

Did Lucas die? No. I don't know. That's why I'm asking you. Jerry? She says I think so. Does he really? Spoiler.

No. I don't think Lucas died. Lucas did. You're thinking of Brian's song, Jerry? Yeah. Or Rudy. Yeah. Rudy dies.

Rudy's still alive, actually. Oh, really? Who dies? She said Lucas. Have you seen John dies at the end? No. Is that good? It is.

Surprisingly good. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Okay. So, well, it's in the title. Well, no, no, no. I'm just talking about Lucas.

So, you can't, what we're saying is you can't pigeonhole. Right. LARPers. You have to have three pigeonholes for LARPers. Yeah. It turns out there's a guy named Peter Brockman. He wrote an essay called The Three-Way Model, and it was included in the book as LARP grows up theory and methods in LARP.

Yeah. There's another essay called The Three-Way Model that has nothing to do with LARP. At least one. Yeah. And Brockman says, okay, there's basically three kinds of mindsets among LARPers. You've got the dramatist, the gamest, and the immersionist. And really honestly, probably most LARPers are a combination of these three, but there are three pure mindsets among LARPers.

Yeah. The dramatist obviously is going to be way into the story and the plot, maybe helps write the story. Yeah. You know? And also take all three of these and transpose them on to the game designer as well. Like, it applies to the characters, the player characters, and the designers. Yeah.

The gamest, they're really into the mystery and maybe creating these puzzles for players to discover. And then the immersionists, the immersionists obviously are way into becoming these characters. Yeah. I mean, if you're the character and you're really into the character, everything else is kind of secondary to that for the immersionist. And then there's the administrationist. Yeah.

The person who keeps score. Yeah. It is a big deal though. Like, you can't just show up at a park with 75 people and overrun picknickers, you know? You probably have to reserve your spot and maybe look into insurance. You have to get licenses usually. Yeah. Like, there's a little more red tape probably than you might imagine.

And thank God there's people out there that are willing to pitch in and help out like that. Exactly. And really it's the, again, the game designer's inner circle that is helping out. And Lori Zolkowski says, in this case, usually you're more looking for reliability than even talent and creativity. Yeah. Just having people who you can depend on is, you know, worth its weight in gold.

Jerry just texted me from three feet away and said, Lucas doesn't die. That's great. I didn't think he died because he's not sick. He's just small. Yeah. He died in real life. Maybe that's what she was thinking. Oh, yeah.

Corey Hame. But he was growing up then. Yeah. No, there's like a kid dies young. Powder maybe? We'll figure it out one day. If you know the answer to that, let us know. Well, that's the end of LARP, buddy.

You got anything else? No. We'd like to hear from LARPers for sure. The red button productions that Zolkowski sold King's Gate to, they do it like every month. Every month they have the LARP. Maybe I'll get my feet wet and go watch. Oh, you will be sucked in immediately.

Somebody will hand you a sword and a baloney sandwich and you'll be like, I'm in. Well, I'll bring my buffer just in case, but I'll just go watch. Do you have one handy? No. Potato guns don't count. You can't shoot people with those. Or retrofitted steampunk Nerf guns, which are pretty cool actually. Yeah.

If I had more time in the inclination, I would make one. You can just buy one, put duct tape on it and be like, look what I mean. If you want to know more about LARP, you can type in L-A-R-P on the search bar, howstuffworks.com. I'll bring up this article. And since I said search bar, it means it's time for message break. There's nothing quite like the excitement of knowing a baby is on the way. After all, you have been dreaming of this moment your entire life. With Caden Lane, we have everything you need to keep your little love cuddly soft all year

round. From personalized swaddlers and super soft blankets to newborn knotted gowns and the best baby accessories, including bows, hats and bibsets, style is important, but comfort is vital. Celebrate a joy like none other with special gifts from CadenLane.com. It's been said that a day of traveling will bring a basket full of learning. Fill your basket to the brim in Mississippi. With family-friendly experiences like the new Mississippi Aquarium, the recently expanded

Hattiesburg Zoo, the Tupelo Buffalo Park and Zoo, and sports and literary attractions too, expand your sense of wander today at visitmississipi.org slash family fun. Mississippi, Wanderers Welcome. Now Chuck, it's time for Listener Mail. It is super gross and you'll remember in crime scene remediation episode, they did a terrible job. When questioned as to why he did it, he kept saying he did not kill his parents because they were still living downstate.

He was convinced that they were not his parents, but instead imposters. I remember that one of his defenses was that he suffered from cap-craw or cap-grass syndrome. We got lots of stares in the neighborhood and we weren't really sure why until we found out the names. The people who were shot were named David and Norma Douglas. My parents were David and Elizabeth Douglas, creepy. The town, being small and not very accepting of strangers, referred to my mother as Norma, even though her name was Elizabeth.

That's not very nice. No, and that's creepy too. We were never really sure if it was out of Jess, Malice or other reasoning. It was a little concerning though because we were always worried that if he ever got out of jail, he may go back home only to find that David and Norma Douglas still lived in the house. That's a valid concern. Thankfully, that has never happened, but it was definitely worrisome at the time.

We occasionally still check from time to time to make sure he's still locked up. I hope by occasionally you mean every three to six months. Take care, keep up the great shows. That is from John Pedersack. That poor guy, man. That was one of those things where it's like, oh my god, this is so, what a bizarre condition. Then the more you learn about it, you're like, oh, what a horribly debilitating condition. That was a sad one.

There was also, maybe in my opinion, our most interesting episode. It's pretty interesting. We, there was a guy in the neighborhood in New Jersey, in the small town of New Jersey that murdered his parents. He apparently wrote their names on the shotgun shells, which is like, there's a bullet with their name on it kind of thing. I would say that was premeditated. Yeah, that was no accident.

Well, thanks for that Chuck. Sure. That was like a listener-mouth supplement. That's right. If you have something to say about one of our episodes, or what were we asking about from the LARP community, just, you know, what's your experience been like? Has it built up your confidence, maybe? Oh, if you know the movie we're thinking of about the kid who dies young.

That too. And we're not talking about dying young, the movie with Campbell Scott, Billy Roberts. There's another one. Right. Any of those things. Or if you want to just get in touch with us, you can tweet to us at S-Y-S-K podcast. You can join us on Facebook.com slash stuff you should know. You can send us an email to stuffpodcast.discovery.com.

And you can join us at our home on the web at stuffyoushouldknow.com. For more on this and thousands of other topics, visit HowStuffWorks.com. Hey, Netflix streams, TV shows, and movies directly to your TV, computer, wireless device, or game console. You can get a 30-day free trial membership. Go to www.netflix.com slash stuff and sign up now. A day of travel brings a basket full of learning in Mississippi with family-friendly places like the Mississippi Aquarium, the Hattiesburg Zoo, and Tupelo Buffalo Park.

Explore today at visitmississipi.org slash family fun. Mississippi, Wanderers, welcome. The War on Drugs is the excuse our government uses to get away with absolutely insane stuff. Stuff that'll piss you off. The cops. Are they just, like, looting? Are they just, like, pillaging? They just have way better names for what they call, like, what we would call a jack

move or being robbed. They call civil acid for it. Be sure to listen to The War on Drugs on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.