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 ...

Dear readers! In one year and four months that this blog has been running, we have finally reached our 100th post. This is a good time to reflect on what, I believe, have been the best moments on this blog. In no particular order: LARP reviews ! I have reviewed every major LARP I've been to, and several minor ones (and a book too!). Travels and travel journalism! Organizing LARP trips and going to Slovenia , Crikvenica   (btw blitz news: SCA event has been postponed until Spring) ,  Drachenfest  and  ConQuest of Mythodea  (also planning a trip to Hungary this October, and more trips next year). Start a LARP series got republished on larping.org and SF-Serbia (translated into Serbian). I also got positive feedback on Simple LARP System , an open-source fantasy LARP system small enough to fit on one A4 page which I wrote for the second article in the series. I was invited to write a paper for LARP book for Czech Odraz LARP conference, and it was pub...

The Croatian Fallout LARP this year has certainly been an interesting experience. It has been talked about and announced for over three years now - it's been that long since I first got excited about it, bought all the gear, and in the end it just didn't happen back in 2009. But there has been some progress every following year. The ruleset was pretty much finished by 2010, and the first event was announced for September 24-26 in 2010., in a location in northern Croatia near Čakovec - but in the end it didn't happen. It was then rescheduled for June 17-19 in 2011., the same date as Utvrda Svjetlosti and in the same location... but it was again canceled. Organizer's RL obligations and lack of interest were the main reasons. Third time it finally happened. It was organized last weekend, August 10-12, in a different location - Popovec, on the terrain of the airsoft club Kobra. With ruined military objects and underground bunkers, it's a perfect place for a Fa...

LARP Majčin Gaj 2012 - or Lubena as it's popularly called due to its location - has just been announced, although the date has been known for some time: August 24 - 26. Although featuring limited game area and limited number of participants, last year it was the second largest LARP in Croatia. Majčin Gaj is an atmospheric fantasy LARP in the Croatian common LARP world that is not based on combat but on mystery, atmosphere and roleplay to encourage immersion. More about the LARP itself can be found here and here (text in Croatian). Price will be 40 kn per person if paid until Aug 19th, when it raises to 50 kn. At the game start it will be 75 kn. Sign-up form (in Croatian) is available here , and you can also contact the organizer via Facebook  or phone: +385996114091 Campsite will open at 6 PM, game will start at 9 PM and end on Sunday, 6 AM. There will be a sleep break on Saturday from 6 AM until noon, and lunch/photo break from 4 PM until 5:30 PM. Driving directions are he...

Once Drachenfest was done, we packed our stuff and set out to our next destination: ConQuest of Mythodea. The world's biggest LARP, almost twice the size of Drachenfest with around 9000 players this year. We were following the Grand Expedition to the site, and we stopped soon after leaving Drachenfest at the restaurant near Diemelstadt, where we had breakfast. Some people ordered a local speciality - a wooden wheelcart filled with meat, potatoes, onions and other stuff, enough for a really big plate. It was a great opportunity to catch up with the Expedition people since we were separated on Drachenfest and would be separated again on ConQuest. Brokeloh, the location of ConQuest was only 2 hours away from the location of Drachenfest, and we covered the distance quickly. We passed the group check-in, and got another pair of wristbands - this time Jasminka and I got yellow NPC wristbands, and Petar got a red PC wristband. Driving to the camp location is a bit different on ...

It had been unofficially announced and postponed for over a year, but now the date has been finally set. Tragači zore - which would translate to "Dawn Seekers", the new fantasy larp and the first larp by the new Croatian larp association Lateralus . It is to be held on the first weekend of October (6th-7th) this year. After Terra Nova , it will be the second fantasy larp in Croatia that is removed from the usual common, shared world of Croatian fantasy LARP. Its setting has been inspired by works of several Croatian fantasy authors, most notably those of Sanja Lovrenčić's " Zmije Nikonimora ". Countries from the book will be available for your character's background, and there's a description of countries (together with book excerpts) on the website . With the character choice locked into backgrounds from one of the countries, this will give Tragači zore a very strong thematic feeling. Which is only reinforced by the fact that character cre...

We stand ready behind our banners, waiting for the signal to sound. A priest is quickly marrying the soldier couple from 3rd banner, in what may be the last moments of their lives. He barely finishes when we kneel for one last prayer to affirm our faith in our living god, the Copper avatar who stands with us, leading us into the battle. With a thunderous roar, the sign is given. The end battle begins and we charge. Our Imperator told us of our battle plans before we marched out of our fortress. We would go into the middle, to stand alone as the forces of order against all, against the chaos. We cheered - there couldn't be more glorious way to serve our avatar. Our small numbers - not even 200 - and the deep bass of orcish war drums in the distance don't distract us. We are the Order, and we will stand. A wide protective circle is formed around our avatar, two man deep. There is some unusual noise on our southern line, I turn my head to the right noticing them just when so...