What is LARP: the theoretical side

LARP, or LARPing, stands for Live Action Role-Playing. In the broadest description, you could see LARP as participating in a role-playing game like Dungeons and Dragons (D&D), but brought from the table to the physical world. Together with other LARPers, supporting actors, storytellers, and other participants, you create and partake in a collective story. Most LARP sagas s last several years, spread over different events per year that last days, weekends, or weeks.

LARP is not very well known in large parts of the world, and due to misinformation, misinterpretation, and misrepresentation in some forms of media, it sometimes gets a bad reputation. In this blog series, I want to explain what LARP is and how you can prepare for your first (or second, or twentieth) LARP adventure!

The phenomenon of Live Action Role-Playing Games (LARPs) is approximately as old as the first Tabletop Role-Playing Games (TTRPGs) like D&D. The first LARPs were established in the 1970s. There is no clear starting point for LARPs, neither in time nor location, but the same idea emerged around the same time in various locations in North America, Europe, and Oceania: to make these TTRPGs more physical and immersive. The first recorded LARP is Dagorhir and was founded in 1977 in the United States by Bryan Wiese. This LARP takes place in a fantasy world and still holds regular events today! The first recorded LARP in the UK was formed in 1982 and is called Treasure Trap. This LARP ran for only three years and ended in 1985, although some clubs have emerged that have continued some elements of Treasure Trap. In the Netherlands, some of the oldest known LARPs were founded in 1994 and include Emphebion and Arcana, both fantasy-oriented LARPs that are still active today. After the establishment of the first LARPs, the phenomenon spread quickly, and nowadays many different types of LARPs are played worldwide, ensuring there is a game for every type of LARPer.

Although the main purpose of LARP is to entertain the participants, some LARPs also have additional objectives. Most LARPs challenge their participants physically, mentally, and emotionally by having them solve puzzles, plan and execute battles, manage (fictional) factions, overcome (fictional) fears and hardships, and face many more challenges. Many real-life events are reflected in LARPs in a more manageable setting, such as political events, religion, loss, sexuality, or social interaction in general. This can teach participants of a LARP event new ways to deal with these events in real life. Due to the immense range of possibilities within LARP, it is even possible to teach participants something by using role play to immerse them fully in a subject, where many aspects are taught simultaneously, such as social sciences, language, and natural sciences, as well as problem-solving, creativity, and dealing with emotions. So yes, the main purpose of LARP is entertainment, but many other aspects may arise, planned or unplanned, depending on the type and genre of the LARP, which I will briefly explain below.

There is a wide variety of LARP styles, often with some overlap between the different styles. While some LARP events are specifically aimed at adults or children, with a minimum or maximum age requirement, others are open to participants of all ages. All LARPs have an overarching play style, of which I will briefly touch upon the most popular ones here.

This type of LARP is also known as freeform and is largely pre-planned by the gamemasters. The gamemasters create characters for all participants, including their (short) background stories, quirks, and motives. Players have little to no preparation regarding the creation of their character, but can spend a lot of time on their costume design if they wish. This type of LARP usually does not have large battle scenes and events typically last only a few hours, spread over an afternoon or evening.

Short for festivals, fests are very large LARP events. They often have hundreds to thousands of participants, who come from all over the world and form smaller (but still large) factions or camps that interact with each other. These events take place at very large locations, last several days, and require participants to camp in-character. So you eat, cook, sleep, wash, and play in character throughout the entire event. Due to their size and the difficulty of finding a suitable location to accommodate so many participants, there are not many of these style LARP events. Some of the most well-known Fests are Bicolline in Canada and ConQuest of Mythodea and DrachenFest in Germany.

As the name suggests, this style of LARP began in Scandinavia and Finland. The rules for this style are intentionally kept relatively simple to ensure that immersion is minimally disrupted and to focus more on emotionally complex issues with a variety of themess, such as politics or history. Character development is central in Nordic LARP, allowing participants to experience intense and fully immersive emotional experiences during events. The plot is specifically written with this idea in mind and focuses more on collaboration than on competition. This style of LARP often has a strong impact on the emotions of the players, as well as on the characters. The goal of a Nordic LARP is not always to be thematically very heavy, as these types of LARPs are sometimes specifically written to be light-hearted and to center the creativity and artistic skills of participants in the story.

Also referred to by the Chinese name Jubensha, script murder games or parlour LARPs originated in China and became popular in the 2010s. This type of LARP is sometimes described as a mix between traditional board games, escape rooms, and LARP. Script murder games often last only a few hours at a time and have a small number of participants at once. Inspired by whodunit (reality) TV shows, the goal of these types of LARP events is usually, as the name suggests, to solve a dramatic murder, whether as a group or individually.

In addition to styles, LARPs also have a wide variety of genres and subgenres. To provide a small break from reality, many LARPs are based on fiction, inspired by existing works of fiction, myths, or folklore, or completely invented by the storytellers. The aforementioned LARPs drew most of their inspiration from fantasy works such as Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series or role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons, but LARP story writers can draw inspiration from anything, from books, TV shows, and movies to games or even real-world events. Due to the imaginative nature of LARP, many options are available, including the existence of magic, cryptids, extraterrestrial life, space, time, and planar travel, post-apocalyptic events, alternative history, or an alternative present. The genres of LARP can be roughly divided into 4 categories: historical LARP, fantasy LARP, modern LARP, and futuristic LARP, all of which have an almost infinite number of subcategories.

Historical LARPs are based on actual historical events. Stories played out can be derived from major historical events like significant wars and battles, but can also reflect daily life in a specific historical period. This type of LARP events most closely resembles historical reenactment, with slightly more liberties to deviate from pure historical practice. While in reenactment participants adhere as closely as possible to historical truth, including recreating clothing and accessories as well as social norms and even the food consumed, in historical LARP it is more tolerated to use modern fabrics, sewing techniques, or changes in social norms to allow for a more modern approach, making this a slightly more accessible way to try reenactment. However, many participants will choose to stick as closely as possible to true historical practices. Besides the freedom in interpreting historical events, historical LARP differs from reenactment in that it is much more focused on storytelling, rather than reliving history exactly as it was.

One of the most common genres of LARP is fantasy LARP. While fantasy LARPs often take place in a historical setting, this is not always the case, and it is not always clear which time period applies to a fantasy LARP. Besides the vague historical setting, nature often plays an important role in fantasy LARPs. It can be presented as a sentient being, as a presence that grants special powers, or as an entity around which the story revolves. What distinguishes this type of LARP from other genres are the fantastic elements. These can be presented in many ways, such as fantastic races (elves, dwarves, orcs, etc.), the availability of magic with diverse sources, the existence of mythological creatures, cryptids, and/or supernatural beings, and many more fantastic elements. Any combination of these fantastic elements can be used to varying degrees, leading to a large number of subgenres. An example of such a subgenre is high fantasy LARP, in the style of, for example, Tolkien's Middle-Earth or George R.R. Martin's World of Westeros, where the fantasy elements are an integral part of the world, and everyone in the world is aware of the existence of fantasy races, magic, dragons, etc. In contrast, there are also low fantasy LARPs or urban fantasy LARPs, where the fantastic elements are more hidden and possibly concealed from a large portion of the world's population. Examples of low fantasy and urban fantasy are respectively J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World, where the magical world is hidden from muggles, and Jim Butcher's Dresden Files, set in modern-day Chicago but with a layer of magical, supernatural, and cryptid elements that must be kept secret from the general public. Another subgenre of fantasy LARP is horror LARP, where the main inspiration is drawn from horror fiction. H.P. Lovecraft's works, including his Cthulhu Mythos and At the Mountains of Madness, have influenced many such horror LARPs. Another major source of inspiration for horror LARPs is the World of Darkness game series by White Wolf Publishing, including Vampires: The Masquerade and Werewolves, focusing on supernatural beings such as vampires and werewolves. White Wolf Publishing has even released a fully developed set of LARP rules called Mind's Eye Theatre, which is used worldwide.

Modern LARPs can revolve around everyday concerns, such as politics or sexuality, but can also relate to more specific interests, including warfare or espionage. During these latter types of LARP events, it is not uncommon for players to use airsoft, paintball, or laser guns to resolve a conflict, instead of the more historical weapons such as swords, bows, and/or crossbows that are used in most other types of LARP.

Modern LARPs can also contain elements of fantasy LARP, especially the lower and urban fantasy and horror types LARP often take place in a modern setting. In these mixed genres, an alternative reality is created where players can be challenged in the same way as they would be in a more semi-historical type of fantasy LARP.

There are also LARPs that take place in a fictional future. These futuristic LARPs often have a high level of technology and little to no (naturally occurring) magic. Some futuristic LARPs are about space exploration and extraterrestrial life, drawing inspiration from, for example, Star Wars and Star Trek, while others are set in a future on Earth. These Earth-bound futuristic LARPs can deal with political intrigues, portray dystopian civilizations, such as George Orwell's 1984 or Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, or be inspired by post-apocalyptic works of fiction, cyberpunk, and/or space opera. These futuristic, and particularly post-apocalyptic, LARPs may, for example, deal with outbreaks of zombies or mutants, deadly viruses, and the like. Because this LARP genre takes place in an era that has not yet occurred, it can sometimes be more challenging to create your costume or think about which types of weapons or accessories you would like to use. A good rule of thumb is to read the world setting of a particular LARP, maybe look at photo's if available, or ask participants or members of the organization what the best approach would be.