Cool. Thanks y'all for the tips. I looked up the events calendar for the game con and it looks like they're playing Mage and World of Darkness LARP. I've already started reading up on them at the World of Darkness site and am getting psyched to play. I just hope I don't screw up, embarrass myself or get myself thrown out of the game. Perhaps I should announce I'm a noobie first before I sit down...

If you screw up in character, you screw up in character.  Do what your character would reasonably do.

If you screw up out of character, apologise, and then try to correct your mistake.  Mistakes happen: Do not worry unduly.

It might be a good idea to tell the ST's that you are new to LARPing; any good ST will take a few minutes beforehand to answer any questions that you may have, and probably give you a couple of pointers if you ask them.  Find someone else in a larger LARP to stick with to learn the ropes - often, in-game friendships turn into out-of-game friendships.

You mentioned that you will be playing in a WoD LARP (old-school or new-school?) - keep your rulebook with you.  Use stickynotes or stickytabs to mark the pages that have often-used rules in them, like how to throw challenges and abilities relevant to your character.

Bring a small stack of index cards for items with you to the game.  They are handy, and often required of players.  Usually, someone will be short a couple, so extras are nice.

The Doctor (Camarilla chapter: PA003)
a.k.a., Reserved Operand Fault, Cyberpunk bani Virtual Adepts
a.k.a, Rick Vankin bani Cult of Ecstasy

Darn!  NPCs get all the cool toys *to throw the game completely out of balance* and we get Tylenol and Ace Bandages

And duct tape.  Lots of duct tape.

Thanks Doc! Quick question, "powergame"?

Constructing characters with the intent to make them as overpowered as possible, thus unbalancing the game.  It makes the game a nightmare to run, and the other characters tend to grow tired of it in short order.

If possible, bring all the money you plan to spend in two dollar bills, dollar coins and half dollar coins.

I will second the two dollar bills schtick.. but only if you are the last one to arrive and not the one who placed the order.  It makes life amusingly difficult for the money-counter.

1) Avoid anyone over the age of 30 who isn't wearing a wedding ring.  They probably aren't married because they spend 30 hours a week gaming and prefer to be addressed as "Thorin Goldenbeard the Third" rather than "Frank".

Some of us have jobs that preclude dating, but taking three hours out to game to relax (so as to not go mad in the NOC) can be done due to the presence of a pager.  That said, it sounds like you have had a few bad experiences with the type.

3) There's going to be two guys there named Jeff.  There's ALWAYS two guys named Jeff.  Everyone will call one big Jeff and the other little Jeff.  One is always cool but not too into the gaming experience, and one is always a freak.

Could that be regional?  Back home, it was 'John'.

7) LARPers.  There's a good kind of LARPer and a BAD BAD BAD kind of LARPer.  Until you have more experience, you'll never be able to tell the difference.  A good clue though is if they have a foam sword.  Those are typically the good LARPers, but you can't be too sure.  Best to avoid them altogether at first.

If I might make a couple of suggestions...

Listen to them talk during OOC time or downtime.  If they talk heatedly about their characters more than they do their day to day lives, news, or other things, then be wary.  The LARPers who have interests other than gaming (like computers, politics, martial arts, and the like) tend to be of a well balanced sort and have lives outside of the game.  It is the ones who lives are the game that you have to watch out for.

Keep an eye open for two or three games, to get an idea of the people you are gaming with.

Always be wary of an ST who wigs out when the players do not do something "according to the script".  That is more than a little creepy...

1) NEVER under any circumstances offer to be the one to call the pizza place.  You will ALWAYS get shortchanged by someone, even though you counted it out five times.  RPGers spend most of their time crunching numbers for their hobby and they will burn you and not even know they're doing it.

You might be on to something there.

Also, always bring cash.  The last thing you want to do is be the one who only has plastic.  That is a major gamer faux pas.

4) Don't drink the coffee.  See above...it's not coffee like you know it unless you're used to your coffee having the consistency of pudding.

If it cannot grab a nearby spoon and try to whack someone with it, then it is not Real Coffee(tm).

Would gunpowder be considered technology?

The argument could be made that gunpowder is an alchemical compound.

Come to DC.  I've yet to meet White Wolf players who *haven't* wanted to run a game in the new stuff.  The new Wraith in particular has gotten some serious props.

Chalk one up.  I still run a hybrid of second and third edition Mage (sort-of world of second, ruleset of third).  The cosmology and organisations of M:tR (Mage: The Reboot) do not do much for me.