What is LARP?
The acronym LARP stands for Live Action RolePlay, and refers to a roleplay game in which you don’t just explain what your character is doing based on character stats on pieces of paper, you do it. LARP is a full immersion game in which you take on the role of your character, wearing the kit and wielding the props and act as your character would act, interacting with the game world and its inhabitants, a mixture of other Players and NPCs (non-player characters), as you believe your character would.
LARP is in essence an interactive story in which you take part, your actions are influenced by the story and the story is influenced by your actions. At each event the LARP group is split into groups of players and monsters. The players play their own character where as the monsters play everything else, taking on various roles through out the story. The event runner controls the story, setting up encounters for the players and briefing the monsters as to their roles in each of these encounters. The eventual outcome of these events is down to the actions of the players and there in lies the thrill of being an adventure runner; if your players do something unexpected your plans need to change to incorporate the new direction of the story. These stories may be one-offs in which all loose ends are tied up however observant players may spot links between different events and realize that the story arc spans more than just one event. There will be ample opportunity offered to play your character and in-return you will be expected to monster some of the time so that everyone can get to play.
The world in which the LARP is set is of course different for each system. Some are borderline living-history, where you play a truly realistic person in a different time period while others (Catreath amongst them) incorporate an element of fantasy adding a Tolkien-esque spin to the past. Other games are set in the present and further still in the future; whatever you want from a roleplay then there is more than likely a LARP running that sort of setting. It is the responsibility of the event runner to set up locations and brief their team of monsters so that the world is brought to life.
Each player in the LARP creates their own character based upon the rules of the game and continues to play that character, advancing and gaining equipment as time goes on until they either retire or die (it is a perilous world after all). At this point the player creates a new character and rejoins the world with a fresh perspective and a new set of skills. In between events your character’s life goes on and, through contact with the system coordinators you continue to control your character’s actions in an environment more like traditional ‘table-top’ roleplay.
It is usually the responsibility of the player to provide their own kit and props and to ensure that these adhere to the setting of the game and safety rules but equipment will be provided for new players whilst they find their feet. LARP is one of those situations in which you get out only as much as you put in, a good standard of kit helps preserve the atmosphere and adds to everyone’s enjoyment of the game.
Enough of my opinions, here is what Wikipedia has to say about LARP.