Delving into the next level revolution of real life adventure gaming
Folks, I admit it wasn’t my idea. But no matter how crazy an idea is if dropped at my feet like a gauntlet, I have this philosophy: bite it and run around like an attention starved Pitbull! So I did, and what I found are parallel worlds just on the periphery of our own mundane reality.
Worlds of amazing costumes, magical items, legendary weapons and mystical characters. Where gaming and art are mashed together in a strange mélange of theatrical performance and stat progression that falls under a nifty four letter word: LARP or live action roleplaying.
Sure the image of larping has been branded as the ultimate taboo in geek culture that seems to lay at the base of Nerdom’s uncanny valley somewhere between what is cool and eyebrow raising disdain. But from the years I’ve scoffed and shrugged at LARP, I admit that I have been very hasty in my assumptions and downright wrong in my judgments.
Most of us have played games so epic that we dreamed of crawling inside them and become one with their fictional worlds and interesting characters. But the concept of LARP is nothing new. Chances are you’ve played games as a child pretending to be a transformer or comic book hero in the back yard or playground.
The players in a LARP essentially recapture that enchanting time of childhood and kick it up a notch with some adult level structure and refinement. Many of the games that exist today trace their evolution from the 1980s coincidentally when an entire generation become enthralled with taking their D&D games outside and why not?
A LARP tends to fit into three styles of play structure. First is the demonstrative or boffer LARP. These are the basic slap-your-friends-silly with foam weapons offering some rudimentary character progression and storylines but mostly it’s about whacking people with PVC wrapped in ludicrous amounts of duct tape.
Live Steel LARP which is favored among the Renfair-folk and groups like the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA). Live Steel incorporates real metallic armor and sometimes real weapons but utilize a heavier duty or modified boffer weapon in great medieval style tournaments and skirmishes.
Salon LARP is character or theatrical driven that involves interaction with player characters and non-player characters. These range from one-night murder mystery dine-ins to living as a wizard in a 14th century castle in Czocha, Poland called College of Wizardry or COWLARP.
These three styles are not mutually exclusive either, in fact a very popular LARP right here in Chattanooga called Al’Se’War! is a Colonial Fantasy game that is lovingly considered by its players as Heroic Interactive Theater or HIT.
Al’Se’War! blends the salon and demonstrative styles offering a world of fantasy combat and intense story driven adventuring.
What amazes me about this LARP is the level of care and depth the team of writers and staff undertake to keep this rich, flintlock fantasy going. Al’Se’War! is a game that continues to evolve and advance within two stages, the live action stage and the online forum stage, where characters can interact and continue plotlines or dialogues between meetup events. Gamers who salivate at lore heavy narratives or folks who like to chomp stats can find a happy home within this LARP.
Though the rulebook with any LARP can be daunting to wrap the mind around the main rules of any LARP are: be nice, have fun, and stay in character. Many of the players enjoy taking time off to live in these fantastical imagined worlds as a means to explore and enrich themselves in ways many of us cannot imagine.
There is something cathartic in becoming somebody else for a while and though the idea of basement dwelling loners come to mind when thinking of a larper, the truth is far more contrasting. The players are a vibrant and crafty network of artists, actors, fashion designers, accountants, and engineers who develop deep connections and friendships with whom they play with. Something that isn’t uncommon in the video game realm but rare in the level of joy and togetherness the larping community has by comparison.
I enjoy listening to the amazing stories from players as they recall tales of intense emotional conflict to the outlandish hilarity of unexpected consequences. Larping encourages creativity on all levels and strives to be a safe and inclusive gaming environment for anyone looking to step outside a normal game and discover a community that truly defines becoming anything you possibly could be.
When not vaporizing zombies or leading space marines as a mousepad Mattis, Brandon Watson is making gourmet pancakes and promoting local artists.
Photo by Elica Sparks