Diary of a Croatian larper

The summer is going slower than usual. Majčin Gaj, which was supposed to be held last weekend, has been canceled and postponed until further notice due to Siro falling ill - and he's the main organizer and GM. Unfortunately, the cancelation was pretty much last minute, which sparked some discussions in the community - many players went angry because there was no "backup plan", and the game was simply not held. However, it would have been a different game with someone else in charge. When a larp is guided by one man's vision instead of a group, it certainly has both benefits and drawbacks. Personally, I still hope Majčin Gaj will be held at some point this year... This leaves Rajski Vrhovi XVII this weekend as the big fantasy larp in the second half of the summer, standing out because unlike June - July there are no other big larps scheduled around it. I'm being a part of the GM team on this Rajski Vrhovi with Ivo and Mario, so naturally I'm looking forward ...

Last week I was on a vacation. Since I usually have a crowded schedule, I don't get to read as much as I used to in my student days, and I usually compensate for that on my holidays. Last year I did some reading of Steven Erikson's books. This year though, there was one (recently published) book that caught my eye.  It's Leaving Mundania: Inside the Transformative World of Live Action Role-Playing Games by an American journalist Lizzie Stark. So, I got it... Or at least the digital, Kindle version of it. Book cover Obviously, it's a non-fiction book about larp. It's not my first non-fiction larp book - I've read several Knudepunkt/Knutepunkt/Knutpunkt/Solmukohta books, the article collection from Czech Odraz conference etc. But this book was different. It's hard to point a finger and say "this book is about this" or "this book is about that" considering larp. There's a whole lot of content in it, including: Description of...

Most larps in Croatia - and indeed most mainstream larps worldwide - usually have some mechanics in place which, basically, allows you to kill other characters, or prevent your character from getting killed. While this provides for some excellent action, it is also quite limited in scope, as other parts of character life are not covered. Unlike in real life, in a larp you're far more likely to kill or get killed than to e.g. start a family or make love. This is a slightly tricky ground. Fighting is OK, because you usually have some sort of rules and props (latex weapons, boffers etc) in place that make it possible to have a combat simulation which is safe and enjoyable, and not lethal and painful. You would not use boffers to simulate sex (OK, bad images...). Ars Amandi ("The Art of Love") is a Nordic larp mechanic for simulating romance, sex and intimacy. It allows simulation that protects the safety, reputation, integrity and comfort of players, while they can r...