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Live action role-playing game
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A live action role-playing game (LARP) is a form of role-playing game where the participants physically act out their characters' actions. The players pursue their characters' goals within a fictional setting represented by the real world, while interacting with one another in character. The outcome of player actions may be mediated by game rules, or determined by consensus between players.
The first LARPs were run in the late 1970s, inspired by role-playing games and genre fiction.
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Encyclopedia
A live action role-playing game (LARP) is a form of role-playing game where the participants physically act out their characters' actions. The players pursue their characters' goals within a fictional setting represented by the real world, while interacting with one another in character. The outcome of player actions may be mediated by game rules, or determined by consensus between players.
The first LARPs were run in the late 1970s, inspired by role-playing games and genre fiction. The activity gained international popularity during the 1980s, and has diversified into a wide variety of styles. Play may be very game-like, or may be more concerned with dramatic or artistic expression. The fictional genres used vary greatly, from realistic modern or historical settings to fantastic or futuristic eras. Production values are sometimes minimal, but can involve elaborate venues and costumes. LARPs range in size from small private events lasting a few hours to huge public events with thousands of players lasting for several days.
Terminology
LARP has also been referred to as live role-playing (LRP), interactive literature, freeform role-playing, and interactive drama (indrama). Some of these terms are still in common use, however LARP has become the most commonly accepted term. It is sometimes written in lowercase, as larp. The live action in LARP is analogous to the term live action used in film and video to differentiate works with human actors from animation.
History
LARP does not have a single point of origin, but was invented independently by several different groups in the late 1970s and early 1980s. What these groups had in common was experience with genre fiction or tabletop role-playing games and a desire to physically experience such settings. In addition to tabletop role-playing, LARP was preceded and possibly influenced by childhood games of pretend, play fighting, costume parties, roleplay simulations, Commedia dell’arte, improvisational theatre, psychodrama, military simulations, and historical reenactment groups.
The earliest recorded LARP group is Dagorhir, founded in 1977 in Washington, DC, USA. Soon after the release of the movie Logan's Run in 1976, rudimentary live role-playing games based on the movie were run at many US science fiction conventions. In 1981 the International Fantasy Games Society (IFGS) started, with rules influenced by Dungeons & Dragons. IFGS was named after a fictional group in the 1981 novel Dream Park, which described futuristic LARPs. In 1982 the Society for Interactive Literature, a predecessor of LARPA, formed as the first recorded theatre-style LARP group in the US.
LARP quickly appeared internationally following the growing popularity of role-playing games in the 1980s. Treasure Trap, formed in 1982 at Peckforton Castle, was the first recorded LARP game in the UK and influenced many of the fantasy LARPs that followed there. In 1983 the first recorded LARP in Australia was run, a freeform event in the science fiction Traveller setting. In 1993 White Wolf, Inc released Mind's Eye Theatre which is still played internationally and is probably the most commercially successful published LARP.
Today LARP is a popular activity in North America, Europe, Russia and Australasia. Large games with thousands of participants are run by for-profit companies, various LARP books are published and an increasingly professional industry sells costume, armour, and foam weapons intended primarily for LARP.
Play overview
Players physically portray characters in a fictional setting, improvising their characters' speech and movements somewhat like actors in improvisational theatre. This is distinct from tabletop role-playing games, where character actions are described verbally. The setting, characters, and rules may be defined in a publication or created by the arrangers or players. LARPs may be played in a public or private area, and may last for hours or days. There is usually no audience, and bystanders are typically either ignored or treated as part of the fictional setting. Players may dress as their character and carry appropriate equipment, and the environment is sometimes dressed to resemble the setting. LARPs can be one-off events or a series of events in the same setting, and events can vary in size from a handful of players to several thousand.
The real world and the fictional setting
Player actions in the real world represent character actions in an imaginary setting. Game rules, physical symbols and theatrical improvisation are used to bridge any differences between the real world and the setting. For example, a rope could signify an imaginary wall.
There is a distinction between when a player is in character, meaning they are actively representing their character, and when the player is out of character, meaning they are being themselves. Some LARPs encourage players to stay consistently in character except in emergencies, while others accept players being out of character at times. Character knowledge is usually considered to be separate from player knowledge, and acting upon information a character would not know may be viewed as cheating.
While most LARPs maintain a clear distinction between the real world and the fictional setting, some pervasive LARPs mingle fiction with modern reality in a fashion similar to alternate reality games. Bystanders who are unaware that a game is taking place may be treated as part of the fictional setting, and in-character materials such as websites may be actually hosted on the internet with fictional people registered as the creators.
Types of participation
Participants can be involved in a LARP in a number of ways. Events are put on for the benefit of the players, who play characters within the setting. Arrangers called gamemasters (GMs) decide the rules of play and the details of the setting before an event takes place, and facilitate the LARP while it is being played. The GMs may also do the logistical work, or there may be other arrangers who handle details such as advertising the event, booking a venue, and financial management. Participants called the crew may assist the GMs during play.
The players take on roles called player characters (PCs), that they may create themselves or be given by the gamemasters. Players sometimes play the same character repeatedly at separate events, progressively developing the character and its relations with other characters and the setting.
The GMs determine the fictional framework of a LARP, and influence the style of play via the characters that they author or allow. They may also affect the setting and act as referees while an event is taking place. Unlike the GM in a tabletop role-playing game, a LARP GM seldom has an overview of everything that is happening during play. Numerous players may be interacting in separate physical spaces, especially at larger LARP events. For this reason a LARP GM's role is often less concerned with tightly maintaining a narrative or directly entertaining the players, and more with arranging the structure of the LARP before play begins and facilitating the players and crew to maintain the fictional environment during play.
Crew members assist the gamemasters in setting up and maintaining the environment of the LARP during play, which sometimes involves playing non-player characters (NPCs). NPCs exist to make the LARP more satisfying for the players, and typically receive more direction from the GMs than PCs do. In a tabletop role-playing game a GM usually plays all the NPCs, whereas in a LARP each NPC is typically played by a separate crew member. Sometimes players are asked to play NPCs for periods of an event.
Much of play consists of interactions between characters. Some LARP scenarios primarily feature interaction between PCs, who may be written with connections that encourage interesting interactions. Other scenarios focus on interaction between PCs and aspects of the setting, including NPCs, that are under the direction of the GMs.
Rules
Some LARPs have game rules that determine how characters can affect each other and the setting. These rules may define characters' capabilities, how those capabilities can change over time, what can be done with various items in the setting, and what characters can do during the downtime between LARP events. Because referees are often not available to mediate all character actions, players are relied upon to be honest in their application of the rules. There are also LARPs that do without rules, instead relying on players to use their common sense or feel for dramatic appropriateness to cooperatively decide what the outcome of their actions will be.
LARP rules are used to represent characters' actions and determine whether they succeed or not. The rules can be classified by verisimilitude, i.e. how closely the player's action resembles the fictional action being performed. This difference is most clearly visible when comparing LARPs that use physical combat and those that use symbolic determination of combat. However, the same principle applies to social influence and intellectual problem solving, which can also be based on the actual skills of the player or handled by symbolic rules.
LARPs with physical combat rules use simulated weapons such as foam weapons or airsoft guns to represent weapons, and are often known as boffer or live combat LARPs. Sometimes relatively harmless versions of real weapons such as blunt metal swords or firearms loaded with blanks are used as representations. In LARPs with physical combat, the physical skills of the player play an important role. In contrast, symbolic rules involve momentarily pausing role-play in order to determine the outcome of an action, for example by rolling dice, playing rock-paper-scissors or comparing character attributes. In symbolic combat systems weapons may be represented by cards or physical replicas. In some LARPs with symbolic combat systems, realistic-looking weapon props and risky physical activity are discouraged or forbidden.
Genre
LARPs can have any genre, although many use themes and settings derived from genre fiction. Some LARPs borrow a setting from an established work in another medium (e.g. The Lord of the Rings or the World of Darkness), while others use settings based on the real world or designed specifically for the LARP. Proprietary campaign settings, together with rulesets, are often the principal creative asset of LARP groups and LARP publishers.
LARPs set in the modern day may explore everyday concerns, or special interests such as espionage or military activity. In some cases such LARPs may resemble an Alternate Reality Game, an Assassin game, or a military simulation using live combat with airsoft, laser tag, or paintball markers. LARPs can also be set at any point in history. Historical accuracy is often prized in these LARPs, and there are similarities with historical reenactment. Settings may also be semi-historical, with mythological or fantastical aspects incorporated.
Fantasy is one of the most common LARP genres internationally, and is the genre that the largest events use. Fantasy genre LARPs are set in pseudo-historical worlds inspired by fantasy literature and fantasy role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons. These settings typically have magic, fantasy races, and limited technology. Many fantasy LARPs use physical combat and focus on adventure and/or competition between character factions. In contrast, science fiction LARPs take place in futuristic settings with high technology and possibly extraterrestrial life. This describes a broad array of LARPs, including politically themed LARPs depicting dystopian or utopian societies and settings inspired by cyberpunk, space opera and post-apocalyptic fiction.
Horror LARPs are inspired by horror fiction and can be set in any era. Common sub-genres include zombie apocalypse and Cthulhu Mythos, sometimes using the published Cthulhu Live rules. The World of Darkness, published by White Wolf, Inc., is a widely-used goth-punk horror setting in which players usually portray secretive supernatural creatures such as vampires and werewolves. This setting can be played using Mind's Eye Theatre, which is a symbolic LARP system also published by White Wolf. World of Darkness LARPs are usually played in a chronicle, a series of short events held at regular intervals, and are also popular at conventions. An international chronicle is run by White Wolf's official fan club the Camarilla.
Styles
There are a wide variety of LARP styles, with different approaches to settings, rules, and how events are arranged. These styles at times blend into each other, however such categories are widely used to help identify shared expectations for a game. As described above, simple distinctions can be made regarding the genre used, how closely the physical activities of the participants resembles that of the characters, and whether players create their own characters or have them assigned by gamemasters. There are also a number of other common classifications.
LARPs may place a greater or lesser emphasis on artistic considerations such as creating a compelling narrative, encouraging dramatic interaction, or broaching challenging subject matter. Many events focus on more game-like considerations in which players attempt to achieve their characters' goals within a framework of game rules, and entertainment is considered more important than artistic merit. At the other end of the spectrum, some events are considered to be avant-garde or arthaus, these being eclectic events using experimental themes and techniques. Avante-garde LARPs have high culture aspirations, and are occasionally held in fine art contexts such as festivals, art museums or theatres. The themes of avante-garde events are usually relevant to real-world issues of politics, culture, religion, sexuality and the human condition. Such LARPs are common in the Nordic countries but also present elsewhere.
Theatre-style or freeform LARP is characterised by symbolic combat, an eclectic approach to genre and setting, and a focus on interaction between characters that are written by the gamemasters. Events in this style are sometimes played at gaming conventions, which they suit well as they typically only last a few hours and require relatively little preparation by players. Some murder mystery games where players are assigned characters and encouraged to roleplay freely also resemble theatre-style LARP.
Some very large events known as fests (short for festival) have hundreds or thousands of participants who are usually split into competing character factions camped separately around a large venue. There are relatively few fests in the world, all based in the UK, Europe, and Canada, however their size means that they have a significant influence on local LARP culture and design. At the other end of the size scale, some small events known as linear or line-course LARPs feature a small group of PCs facing a series of challenges from NPCs, and are often more tightly planned and controlled by GMs than other styles of LARP.
While some LARPs are open to participants of all ages, other have a minimum age requirement. There are also youth LARPs, specifically intended for children and young people. Some are run through institutions such as schools, churches, or the Scouts. Denmark has an especially high number of fantasy and medieval youth LARPs. Other varieties of youth LARP include some set in the Harry Potter universe.
See also
Lists
LARP conventions
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