Diary of a Croatian larper

The "Sljeme 3" larp by Ognjeni Mač - which was supposed to be organized this Saturday - had been canceled - instead, the larp will be adapted to their regular terrain in Maksimir park (around 5th lake) and it will be organized there instead, as "Maksimir 71". It will serve as an introduction to the upcoming "Jaska 12" larp scheduled two weeks after. Ognjeni Mač has been testing its new rules recently - they had 2 tests on Maksimir already (I was on one of them) and their last test was a larger one this weekend in Letovanić (I wasn't present as I was on Demgard ). However, Maksimir 71 (as well as Jaska 12) will be run using the old 2.1 ruleset, not the new one. There will be an interesting twist on Maksimir 71 compared to regular events: all players will play NPCs. At the same time as Maksimir 71, there will also be a fourth event of the (freshly rebranded) Fallout Larp/Airsoft. Sine Requie, which was due next week, has unfortunately been c...

250 is a bit symbolic. A quarter of a thousand somehow looks more important than 50, 150 or 350. It also means I wrote 50 posts in four months . It also means I'm gonna ask you once again for feedback about this blog, this time on our new comment system . Tell me what you like about the blog, what you don't, what you enjoy reading about and what would you enjoy reading about even more. Drop in to say hi. Subscribe to this blog , or start or expand a larp scene . Right now is an excellent time. Anyway, here are some more announcements about this summer. This weekend is, of course, Rajski Vrhovi XVIII. It had already been announced on this blog, so I'm not going to repeat what's already been said - Facebook event is here . The next weekend - on Sunday, July 7th - there will be a Labuđa Rijeka 3 event by the same organizer - a summer battlegame in water. It will be held in Jarče Polje, on Dobra river. Several games have been announced in the water, including ...

The town of Novi Dom (New Home) It's been 10 months since the first Croatian fallout larp - and now it was the time for the second one - plot-wise, a direct continuation of the first one. It was also organized on the same terrain - an abandoned and ruined army property in Popovec, near Sesvete, with half-collapsed buildings, underground bunkers and much more. Some business signs Like last year I only half-visited this event due to other stuff I was doing, so I was there only on Saturday. This year had a different main organizer than the last year - Zoran instead of Mario - but both of them were the designers of the Croatian fallout larp, and Mario was still here, assisting. Rules were updated and shortened from 44 pages to 17 pages (both links are in Croatian), and they are inspired by both Amtgard rules of play and regular airsoft rules (plus, the last version also seems more inspired by Ognjeni Mač rules). Most of what was cut was fluff though, not mechanics. I...

Just over a week ago, the sci-fi club Gaia from Osijek announced the Utvrda Svijetlosti larp in Ivanovac, near Osijek. Just to remove some confusion, this larp series has been called various names since its inception (including Utvrda Svijetlosti, Istočna Anarhija, Istočna Monarhija, Larp Ivanovac, Larp Osijek and possibly some more names), all of them referring to the in-game or off-game name of the place or area as the time went by. It's also one of the oldest larps in Croatia. No details about the larp are known yet (despite the fact it starts in two weeks), but the following can be reasonably assumed from past experience: ruleset used will be Amtgard 7.6 or 7.7, entry fee will be low, and there will probably be a break during the day due to heat. Here's a few videos from the past couple of years, to let you know what to expect (plus some very nice hospitality from Osijek group, which are at the moment only Croats larping apart from the Zagreb scene): More ...

Previously: Day 1 Saturday started off nicely. The Hungarian visitors - who slept at my place - woke up early enough for another day at convention. Jasminka made toast sandwiches, waffles and large amounts of coffee for breakfast. Awakened, we arrived just in time. First on the program were two workshops - Dunja was holding one about acting improvisation (I heard those who went there were quite pleased), while I did the Ars Amandi workshop. Ars Amandi workshop on PoRtaL Ars Amandi was probably the one thing I was most nervous about on this convention - how would it go? It's a mechanic for simulating romance and sex on a larp using hands, arms, shoulders and neck - the very subject would usually make people nervous and cringing. In the end, 10 brave people (three men and seven women) signed up for the workshop, which really surprised me. And we had people of all nationalities present on the con - 2 Serbian girls, a Bulgarian couple, a Hungarian girl, and the rest were fille...

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...

It has been prepared for quite a while now. First rumors of the Fallout LARP appeared a couple of years ago, several people got excited and started getting the gear... But nothing happened. Then two years ago, some rules started circulating around, and finally the first Fallout LARP was scheduled for June last year... only to be canceled. It has now been announced again for August 10-12. Organized by Mario, one of the oldest active LARPers in Croatia, Fallout LARP looks to be the first event to utilize airsoft weaponry in Croatian LARP (it might bridge some airsoft people and larpers). Rule system is available in Croatian only, and it's a class-level system in a similar manner to Amtgard. There are some interesting modifications though, including exams that players have to solve in order to level up... It will be held very close to where I live - about five minutes away by car. It could be an interesting experience, and hopefully it won't get canceled this time around. ...

Fantasy LARP seems to be the dominant genre in Croatia. For a whole lot of years it was the only LARP style available. A couple of years ago some vampires appeared (Camarilla LARP), although they seem to have gone underground recently (if you're an active Camarilla LARPer in Croatia, or know someone who is, please let me know). Recently though some new initiatives have started: Fallout and Battlestar Galactica LARPs. Maybe they'll kick off a sci-fi LARP scene in Croatia once they get rolling. However that remains to be seen. I'm holding my fingers crossed. The future seems interesting... Oh and I know it's completely unrelated but commenting on this blog is now open for everyone, so feel free to comment ;)