Player or Monster? Kit guide

So how does one define between a black robed figure they see wandering outside their faction walls, being an evil servant of the dark or just another player? This is something you have to always bear in mind when choosing kit for a new character that is going to be evil as such.

As a bodyguard to an NPC in a very light orientated faction I always have to think, when I'm walking into my camp at night, will the gate guard really recognise me as one of their own? Hence why I quickly realised that i had to make my kit look much more dynamic, not taking away my black long robes, but adding armour over them, having a custom design sword made and so on. Even with a low budget you can add smaller things that might just save you that one time outside your own faction, when a group of silly elves cant decide if they recognise me or not as I'm bleeding out on the floor. Adding things like small pouches, jewellery, sashes, tartan or anything quite unique that people will look at and make a quick decision that a Death knight from the Abyss wouldn't be wearing a MacFinn Tartan (For example).

All things to be built upon, you could simply get a symbol that everyone in a group can quickly recognise in the dark and wear it on a band across your arms, anything to stop you dropping the wrong guy.

I guess its all up to your discretion though, do you want to look like a monster to intimidate everyone (and most likely be knifed) or do you want to scare those who don't know you but remain safe amongst those who do?

And so it began......

Dawn breaks, war looms, the evil Lord is gathering his armies to wage a campaign of destruction upon the free peoples of the world. It is up to I, Sir Maximilan Pegasus to stop him, with my trusted band of adventurers we must gather the enchanted sword of Tek, the Shield of Way-Lem and the amulet of Subsidence and together we shall slay this abomination! “TIME FREEZE” And bam, the fantasy world fades away, the enchanted sword of Tek in my hand is a rubber sword smothered in coloured ribbons with a laminated card cable tied to the hilt, I look down and I’m wearing plastic armour and unflattering heropants, and the magical world of my imagination washes away to reveal a field in Wigan, but you know what? It’s larp and I’m a larper, it’s what I do.
I started larping when I was 17, I’d never role-played before, I’d never played D&D or Warhammer, never played WoW or any form of online game, I’d never even read Lord of the Rings, I feel somewhat privileged that I hadn’t done any of those things, I think it gave me an untainted attitude towards what larp could be, I had no preconceptions about saving the maiden fair, slaying the dragon or smiting the liche, to me it was just a new thing to try.
It was cold, really cold, 10am on a September morning, the rain was battering down and I’d been given a faux fur tunic, a mouldy old sword and been pointed towards a man and told, “You’re monstering, there’s the ref he’ll tell you what to do.” I obeyed, I played wave after wave of zombies, orcs and various line monsters and to be honest, was cold, bored and hungry. That is, until lunchtime, the teams switched sides, I got into the kit I’d scrounged up, as with most first timers, a black trenchcoat. I took the mouldy old sword, stood with my fellow adventurers and it hit me, I’m a god damn hero!
Pow, there it was, a new larper was born.