LARPs and the LARPing LARPers Who Play Them

A Critical Look at the Live-Action Role Playing Concept

The imagined susurration of steel sliding from its sheath.  The eldritch chants of the ancient wizard.  The flash of fangs in the star-lit smile.  The whisper of clothing from another time…or another world.  The creak of armor and the sound of political infighting…

Welcome to the LARP.

It is a world where the impossible is done before breakfast and the unthinkable is done before dessert.  It is a world where the spells of the magician match forces with the blade of the warrior, and the song of the bard teaches young and old alike.  At once it is a game, and yet it is more than a game.  It is the LARP.

Much has been written to exalt it.  Much more has been written to demonize it.  Neither point of view is entirely accurate.  Thus, it is time to separate fact from fiction, to dissolve the smoke screens of hyperbole and end the hysteria of the uninformed.  As with anything, there are both good and bad aspects.

What is a LARP?

The term LARP stands for Live-Action Role-Play, and can refer to a sizeable number of scenarios.  Most LARPs are seen in the context of games or stories in which the actors play out impromptu roles, with no scripts and sometimes only limited direction.   Others are used to emulate real-world scenarios, allowing an advance look at potential situations and learning the pitfalls that exist to ensnare the unwary.  However, all LARPs share several things in common.

1. All LARPs utilize a system of rules to create a non-real environment in which potentially dangerous activities may be simulated safely.  The complexity and sophistication of these rule systems vary widely from LARP to LARP.  In some, the rules can be inscribed on a single sheet of paper.  In others, hundred-plus page tomes hold the systems and the variations that allow the fantasy to exist.