Diary of a Croatian larper

Ten days ago I played a larp based on the Dishonored PC game. Unfortunately, I didn't have the opportunity to play Dishonored (and to be frank, I still have a long list of games on Steam that I have yet to play), but the larp organizers - Nikola Habek and Andriana Lacković - assured us that this was not required. The larp itself was set 10 years after the events of the PC game. Well, for the sake of completion here's a PC game trailer: The larp itself was labeled as a steampunk larp. Naturally, this brings a question to mind - how different can it be from an already existing Steampunk campaign that we've grown accustomed to, Para pokreće svijet? Well, the answer is: quite a lot. Para pokreće svijet is a wacky, lighthearted larp based on international diplomacy and crazy technology. Dishonored is a disease-ridden dystopia, leaning strongly on exploitation and poverty. How well was the setting from the game represented, I cannot say - I will leave that to those wh...

Last weekend I had the honor of visiting a fascinating group of creative artists calling themselves "Rune Gear". Their project is called Land of Arcadia, and it's a fantasy webseries. A fantasy webseries which looks like it's made in expensive Hollywood studios, instead of a small (but lively) workshop in Zagreb's Bukovac district. This is especially noteworthy considering that the regular Croatian cinematography is usually focused on dramas, war movies and bad comedies - not something with tons of SFX. Much less good SFX. And now we have a small, independent project that is pushing the borders. I was treated to a preview of the pilot episode, and I had the chance to talk to the production crew and see plenty of props - both those used in pilot episode, and several which are planned for future episodes. This week, they've gone public with their indiegogo campaign and their pilot episode . Now, you might be asking yourself why is a webseries...

Haven't had your fill of cool larps in castles of Poland? Harry Potter not your style? How about... The Witcher? Probably the most famous computer game from Poland (and one of the biggest fantasy franchises) is now getting a larp based on it - also in Poland. Some organizers visited us on PoRtaL ... Anyway, the press release is below. You can also check their website and facebook page . The Witcher school is a new Polish project set in The Witcher universe, organised by Agencja 5 Żywiołów in Moszna Castle.  The Witcher school is a larp (life-action role playing game) intended for adult fans of The Witcher and the people looking for unusual experiences. The game is going to last for 3 days (nights included) and will be preceded by the workshop during which the players will be given their roles and costumes.  The participants are going to play witcher novices that have already undergone part of the trials, but still have not received their medallions nor the ...

The third regional larp convention PoRtaL has been held in Zagreb just over two weeks ago. On this blog I've also covered two previous PoRtaL conventions, so you may check the links from the convention in Zagreb, 2013 and the convention in Budapest, 2014 . For reference, the convention schedule can be found here  - program details and blurbs are available on the details page, and all the files used in the presentations are available here . The convention website is available here . This year I was the main organizer. Several other Croatian larpers helped with housing of foreign guests, although the room was limited so several visitors took the hostel. The location was Kinoklub Zagreb (you might recognize it from my other posts, as it's a common location for indoor larps in Zagreb), with a presentation room and adjacent bar. Besides locals, there were larpers from Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Slovenia and Germany - and all of them had program points to contribute. ...

The fourth Star Wars larp by Ivo Turk and Matija Mihoković felt fresh. The reason for it was the entire setting reset thing. While the first three larps were played in the post-episode 6 timeline, this one was played in pre-episode 4. The characters were new, as was the in-game location. I played a character from Alderaan called Wones Ann. Unlike my previous Star Wars characters - which were basically social - this one was armed to the teeth, sporting my new NERF gun (which are used to represent blasters in this larp). The character was mostly pre-generated, with me submitting only a few basics such as character type and faction. This is one of the few larps offering full pre-generated characters, and (apart from the occasional hard to remember name) I found that this option works well enough. It was also interesting to note that other characters I was immediately connected with were also made in the same fashion. Character relationships - as described on the character sheet - were l...

Last evening I made a guest appearance on LARPBook podcast. We talked a little about larp in Croatia and elsewhere, talked about several Croatian larps, projects such as PoRtaL and touched on a question which is asked in both Croatia and UK - is it a larp or LRP? However, these terms are used very differently in those countries. To find out more, here's a link to the podcast . Enjoy :)

Cug is a Croatian spelling of the German word Zug, which means train. In several Croatian dialects, it is still commonly used to refer to trains, rather than the Croatian word for train, vlak. Cug is also a name of the train-themed cafe bar near Zagreb's main railroad station, where the new installment of Steampunk larp "Para pokreće svijet" was held. The name of the event was also Cug, and - unsurprisingly - the location represented a train in-character. A super-fast Steampunk train running a zig-zag north-south route through the fictional version of 1902's Austria-Hungary. The event - held 10 days ago - was structured around certain train stops, which provided embarkation / disembarkation points for various player characters and NPCs. The train would remain at the railroad station for a while (giving characters the opportunity to exit the train) and then it continued along the way. Since the larp was held on Sunday - a bit odd time for larps - that actuall...