Diary of a Croatian larper

A lot of larpers (and larp organizers) never think twice about HOW the larp plot is structured - or even created, instead following in the footsteps of their predecessors and how things have always been done. Plot structure can have profound effect on a larp - different plot structure can give a way different feel to how plot works, and can make them look and feel very very different from one another regardless of the rule system used or not used. It is one of the most important aspects of any larp. This article will cover several ways to structure the plot. But of course, this is a place where you can get inventive and combine listed methods, use some of the unlisted or even invent your own. As far as I know, methods of structure so far haven't been categorized in any way, which means I'm probably just inventing the classification here. Yes, feel free to use or modify it for your own purposes (as a reminder: everything I write here is free and reusable , though I could use y...

Warrior. Fighter. Soldier. Swordsman. They are some of the most popular archetypes played on larps which include combat. This guide will focus on mastering the role of a fighter - especifically in a medieval-ish fantasy setting, but most things could be adapted for other genres too. In most larps, fighters are actually one of the simpler characters available to play. It takes minutes to explain things to someone who hasn't done it before. This article will NOT attempt to do that. If you're new to larping, you might want to start here instead . This article is about mastering the role of a fighter, in any way possible. Now, obviously you don't need all of this just to be able to play. But if you are dedicated and want to do your best in your portrayal of a medieval-ish fantasy larp warrior, read on. I'll divide this post into sections: Know your character, your setting and combat rules Fitness Gear Ability, acting, specific training Types of battle Tact...

Sandbox is a word which is probably overused in larps. Like immersion, it's often listed as a desirable characteristic, and it is often argued about whether or not a particular larp is sandbox-y or not. Most often, these problems are a result of "sandbox" being very loosely defined as a term. The word was originally adapted from the children sand playgrounds, like the one in your local park where children can freely play with the sand and do whatever. This imagery of freedom was passed on to the video game adaptation of the sandbox term, usually featuring open world and the ability to do whatever you want to and at your own pace, as opposed to regular games offering more of a railroaded experience (see the distinction between famous computer RPG series: Elder Scrolls vs Final Fantasy). This computer gaming term is important because it is often directly used in larping with its' meaning unchanged from its' roots. And as such it showcases two different approa...

We often feel safe and comfortable with our modern technology and comforts. Our modern technology and outlook on life makes us look down on how people lived in the past as something backwards, primitive and very uncomfortable. However, in most cases that's simply not true. Life of our ancestors was not a suffering, toiling experience. As a matter of fact, there's plenty of situations where they were wiser than us and had a more comfortable life. And that specially applies to fantasy larping, where in many situations (not all, since different fantasy larps have different standards of authenticity, some of them enforced by rules while others relying on peer pressure) people only emulate the look of the medieval, without proper understanding of how and why things worked for them - reenactors and living history folks have it easier, since they tend to go authentic from the start and things simply work. So yes, this is a post that will promote authentic - or close to authentic -...

As one follows any larp community for a longer amount of time, they will certainly notice some trends appearing. Like in any other hobby, people in larp communities tend to do stuff a certain way. So if you're starting a new larp in an area where there are already several established larps, you basically have two choices: to go with the trends or to go against them. These trends can be many things. Perhaps it's the themes of the larps covered, perhaps it's the structure used, perhaps it's how plot is written, and perhaps it's what is expected in larps in general. There are a lot of larps out there in the world, and many of them are vastly different from one another. Even if you wanted to limit it down narrowly to the most popular genre - fantasy larps featuring live combat with foam swords - you would be surprised by how much variety is out there. Where do players begin? What are the plots about? How is the plot delivered to players? Just a few of the examples o...

I originally wrote the six-part Start a larp series in mid-2012, fueled by my euphoria after starting and successfuly pulling off the first Terra Nova larp. Since then, I've been adding to the series roughly once every six months - first by tagging a scenario I wrote, then by adding the seventh article which contained some writing ideas. However, in that time I have observed several larps who have started, some who didn't get continued, and several that didn't manage to even get started. From my observations, I find there are two qualities that determine the success of larp more than anything else: determination and resolve. Here's a story. Last June, a couple of days after last article in this series, my friend Marko told me about this idea he had about an Elder Scrolls-themed larp. Being a fan of the Elder Scrolls series myself, I loved the idea. And then he said that he expects to finish the ruleset in early 2014, hoping it could be playtested at some point......

January has started slow. Due to the unusually warm weather lasting since before Christmas (seems like our winter escaped to North America), last Sunday's Steampunk event "Chase" - which was imagined to have people chasing each other in snow - has been postponed until January 26th. Krvomeđe - which happened on the same day - didn't work out, as only three people showed up. Personally, I find this puzzling. Plenty of people want some fighting practice, but they don't show up on Krvomeđe which is basically pure fighting, no strings attached. Seems to me like a good match, but oh well. That weekend - 25th and 26th - is gonna be busy. 25th is the first larp of the main Camarilla Agram series. With already over 20 people who said they'll come, it's gonna be an interesting evening. There's more room, so feel free to sign up . Sunday is the Chase, which was mentioned before, and also the yearly assembly of Ognjeni Mač - after which it will be much clearer...

Up until recently, it was real simple to separate the two into their own categories - at least in Croatia. Tabletop was played around a table, people were talked through what was going on, and dice were being used to determine a course of action. Larp was when you got into the woods and hit your friends with foam swords. And while tabletop has always been a rich marketplace - perhaps dominated by D&D (Pathfinder, in the last few years) there were always other options - GURPS, World of Darkness, Fudge etc. being some of the most popular. Yet larp started monolithical, and everything different was always met by an angry mob of misunderstanding and screams: "That sucks, that's not a real larp!". I could provide a comprehensive list of all instances where this happened, but it would take approximately half of the article. The only constant is that people regularly disagree what larp is. Let's see a couple of definitions of larp. "Larp is originall...

Me as a Black Ice rakh on ConQuest 2013 I'm back from Germany! The drive there (and back) has been exhausting mostly due to traffic jams - 16 hours of travel from Zagreb to Diemelstadt where Drachenfest was held (with a 4,5 hour jam around Regensburg!), a 2 hour drive between events, and 17 hours from Brokeloh back to Zagreb ('only' 1,5 hour jam around Regensburg, and a 20 minute one around Leipzig, but we took longer breaks). Indeed, Stau (traffic jam) and Baustelle (construction site) are some of the first words you get acquainted with on German motorways, as you wait in long lines that usually don't move (without apparent reason), and all you can do is look at the 'motivational'  Wir bauen für Sie sign that you've been standing next to for the past 20 minutes... Faster border checks than last year (as Croatia is now part of EU ) did help a bit, but my car not really being the fastest one on the motorway made this a long long trip... But enough r...

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 ...

The question I've been asked recently by several people is why don't I do more larps. The question was not larps in general - it was about the specific series. Why don't I do a sequel to Izgon soon? Why don't I do more Terra Nova events per year? I'll explain my thoughts on this below. To tell the truth, I've actually been doing a lot of stuff for a while. Here's a short list of things I've done this year so far: Terra Nova: Zimograd  (a 3-day larp event) PoRtaL (a 3-day larp convention - coorganized it, while doing workshops, presentations, writing a larp  for it and guiding a team into creating another larp, (Re)union) Izgon larp, merely running it took over a month, preparation took some more time Running Ars Amandi workshop and Death of the Japanese Emperor larp on SFeraKon Co-organized a Krvomeđe Terra Nova 2013 (a 3-day larp event) Maintaining this blog, my personal life and my sanity, while also writing stuff for larping.org, do...