Skip to main content

Larp videos: what is larp?

Please, reshare this post on your social networks to help spread awareness of what larp is! Thanks! :)


Recently I've been asked "what's that thing that you do" by more than one person in my friend list. And I have to admit, the description on my blog is a bit lacking. It may be because I target my writing more towards the existing larpers than towards new, potential larpers? It might be so, but Wikipedia article is also not too helpful. Larping can sometimes be difficult to describe. Here's a recent video from Stephanie from USA talking about the very same thing.


But back to the business: what is actually larp? Here's a video that I often link to people, simply because it's awesome. But it's in Czech, so you might need to open the full youtube screen to turn on the subtitles.


Fantasy larp is probably the most popular around. Kristin from USA does a very detailed introduction to such larp styles:


Soon you can also expect a web series from her, Basic Adventuring 101. Speaking about series, did you read a recent interview about another larp webseries, named LARPs: The Series? So far I'm finding the series quite enjoyable and more in line with how things look like than a lot of commercial movie attempts at depicting larp. Since the interview, episodes 3, 4 and 5 also got out - you can see them on the series website.

However, besides the fiction there were also some documentaries. We're currently awaiting on Treasure Trapped - if it fulfills its' promises it's gonna be awesome. Seriously, just check out the mini-documentary they filmed about Panopticorp, a larp about advertising agency.


Panopticorp was an art-style Nordic larp. There's a lot of stuff written about Nordic larp (if you have time, seriously, read that), and some stuff can be controversial and provoke discussions.


There's even a discussion of how it's spelled. Of course, to many the mere mention of larp makes them think about fantasy combat games. And that's OK too - they're larps too and it's a sporty, adrenaline-filled part of the scene. Here's a new documentary about a Seattle group Dargarth.


Just remember:


This may seem like a lot, but to be truthful - larping is a lot of things to many people, and everybody's in it for their own reason. Some like playing other characters, others like making or wearing costumes, some are in for the story, some to be challenged, etc. - reasons are many, as well as the combination of reasons.

Feel free to discuss larping movies, videos and everything else on the forum, check out details about the Croatian larp scene and if you feel I missed anything or have any further questions, please leave a comment below. If you're new to the scene, I hope these movies were informative and that you'll decide to join an existing larp or start something yourself. And for the veterans - this post includes some new stuff that you might find useful :)
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The 15 rules of larp

The following 15 rules (warning: strong language) were written some years ago in Great Britain, and have been pretty much generally accepted on the British larp scene. Especially popular is rule 7 - widely known by its number and commonly considered to be the most imortant rule of all (and I agree). Even the biggest British larp forum has taken Rule7 as its name. The rules have been originally created by the Drunken Monkeys and edited by Rick Wynne who added some extra stuff in the explanations to make them more understandable to international audience (it still contains some British larp lingo though), more work-safe and to throw in his two cents. (copy of the original wording is available here ) 1. Don’t play a mighty warrior; play a warrior and be mighty. Don’t label your character. As soon as you say that you are the best swordsman in the land someone will come along and kick your ass. Just get into the mindset of the person and role-play it out. 2. No one cares about you...
6 comments
Read more

LARPs: The Series interview

One of the most expected new projects in the English-speaking larp world has been the recently announced webseries, called simply "LARPs: The Series". It's not hard to understand why - the "Episode 0" they released has shown a pretty good portrayal of several fantasy larping elements. If you're wondering at the release date of the series, the answer is... today! Episodes 1 and 2 have been released a couple of hours ago, and you'll find them below in the article (and also on the project's website and youtube channel  - the entire first season will be released in the next couple of weeks). However, I had the opportunity to interview several cast and crew members of LARPs: The Series about their project - Jon Verrall, the series writer (who also plays Evan, the GM in the series), and the actors Scott Humphrey (Will), Elizabeth Neale (Shane), Jonathan Silver (Arthur) and Charlotte Rogers (Brittany). This is their story, of how this series came to b...
Post a Comment
Read more

Interview with Michael A Ventrella, Alliance larp

I've covered non-Croatian stuff on this blog before. Drachenfest, Mythodea, news from the regional larp scene (Serbia, Hungary, Slovenia), Nordic larp theories, Petra's interview with Claus Raasted, etc. Today we're having an interview with Michael A Ventrella, who's one of the people who basically invented American larp (which is not SCA or a battlegame group). Personally, I'm fascinated by just hearing all the different viewpoints and experiences. Anyways, there are really few people who've either been into larp as long as Michael or worked as hard making larp happen. An experienced role-player and GM and one of the founders of NERO, Michael is the owner of Alliance larp (formerly NERO Alliance), probably the largest group which split from NERO and one of the most significant USA larps. He's got lots of information and tips to share, so here it goes. 1. Thank you for your time! Could you tell us a bit about yourself and Alliance larp? I was one ...
1 comment
Read more