What is LARP?
LARP stands for Live Action Role Play. You take on the role of a character you create in a fantasy world and dress and act to embody the traits of the character you are representing. The character can act quite similar to you in real life or be completely different. The difference between LARP and something like tabletop roleplay is you don’t just imagine becoming the character. You act it out in real life.
“Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will get you everywhere.”
– Albert Einstein
LARP and Combat
Reenactment or mock battles have been going on since the Roman Coliseum and likely much longer. The difference between LARP and reenactment is the end is not set. You and the people who join you set out to conquer challenges and write your own stories as you go. Most LARPs, including Valiant, include combat. Valiant uses padded weapons (collectively called Boffers) to simulate real weapons. Like a tabletop roleplaying game, your character will have certain abilities you use to enhance your effects in combat, and you can choose your fighting style. Want to be an aggressive front line warrior with a huge axe? A defensive spearman with a shield? How about an archer or someone who casts defensive or offensive magic from the rear? How about a healer who is less combat focused but assists others? All are possible and more.
“You will not find the warrior, the poet, the philosopher or the Christian by staring into his eyes as if he were your mistress: better fight beside him…”.
– C.S. Lewis
LARP and Roleplay
When you are not fighting, your characters interact with other players or nonplayer characters (called NPCs) who help craft the story. Maybe a guardsman needs help negotiating the release of hostages taken by local bandits or a shady smuggler needs you to help get some goods into a settlement with no questions asked. Maybe you are working on uniting two mercenary tribes into an uneasy alliance against a greater threat. Roleplaying means speaking and acting as the character you’ve created. Staying in character might feel a awkward at first, but with a little practice it will become natural and lots of fun!
“Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisoned by the enemy, don’t we consider it his duty to escape?. . .If we value the freedom of mind and soul, if we’re partisans of liberty, then it’s our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can!”
– J.R.R. Tolkien
LARP and Dress
Dressing as your character (collectively called Garb) is an important part of having fun. It helps with what is called “immersion”, your ability to let your imagination put you in the world your character is in. Running around as a barbarian with an axe or a caster with a staff feels weird in jeans and a tshirt, but doing it in full costume is something else entirely. Garb helps you and those around you leave the real world behind and fully step into the world the game is in. Trust us, garb makes everything come alive! It doesn’t have to be expensive or elaborate either (though that can be a lot of fun!) Simple garb such as a cloth vest, some loose pants, old boots, or the right hat can suddenly make you step into your character as never before.
“Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.”
-Mark Twain
LARP and Fun
The modern world is full of work, problems, and fears. LARP gives you a chance to step away to a world where all the problems are simple, your enemies are obvious, and best of all, your friends are beside you. LARP can make you feel things you would be afraid to feel in your day to day life, and can make you experience things the modern world makes us leave behind. You can step into a world of simplicity and clarity that can’t be found in a book, a video game, or at a party. LARP is like nothing you’ve ever tried…unless you’ve LARPed before!
“Without this playing with fantasy no creative work has ever yet come to birth. The debt we owe to the play of the imagination is incalculable.”
-Carl Jung