Diary of a Croatian larper

Creating a larp in one hour can be a quick, practical, creative and enabling exercise - and most of all fun. I'll share some techniques, perspectives and examples here, and I'm including this article in the start a larp series (which is seriously outdated, but you might still find it useful). But first of all let's cover some local history... Flashback 1 In ancient times - over four years ago - we ran PoRtaL , the first larp conference in Croatia. At that time, the idea of quick, short, repeatable chamber larps was new around this parts. Ana & Božo, founders of the now-inactive Lateralus association and main organizers of PoRtaL premiered the style by importing and translating Love is Blue, an Italian chamber larp which still holds the record of most runs in the country. I wrote the first locally-written larp of the style - Death of the Japanese Emperor - and PoRtaL featured the premiere of the second locally-written larp of the style, Koliba (The Cabin). Consi...

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...

It's been almost a year since Larps from the Factory book came out, and I still haven't given it a proper review... until now. The chief reason for it being a simple lack of time. It's close to 300 pages long, and I got it just as I was running Izgon 2 . However, while on my summer vacation I managed to give it a good cover to cover read. Better late than never. In a way, this book is about the same things as this article series - starting a larp. Or to be more precise, it's about organizing and running larps in the Nordic, larp factory style. Larp factories are collectives of larp designers producing larps of high quality but very low treshold of participation. In essence, you get a larp which is well-written, simple to produce, and requires a minimum of prior preparation from players. So for example you would attend a Factory larp in a similar way you would go out to movies. Larp factory in Oslo was the first such group. Personally, I visited the Larp factor...

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......

It's been a while since my last article in Start a larp series! Well, I do regard it as nearly complete for purposes of basic instruction. However, recently I found out about an awesome project called Larpfactory Book Project . It's a series of workshops on how to document games and methods used in larp that eventually will result in a book. The project will also result in a website with videos of all the workshop methods and drama enhancing techniques used in the larps, in addition to the game material needed. One of the first things they made public is a preliminary how-to in writing good larp scripts. This is one of the best articles I've seen on the matter, and it's of great importance if you're writing a single-shot larp which you plan to republish (like I'm doing with some of my single-shot larps, and I'll keep doing it in the future - I'll have these guidelines in mind though). The original article was written by Lizzie Stark, Elin Nilsen and...

After the larp had been run three times - on a private playtest and two times on a convention yesterday - both with positive results, I've decided to release the larp to the public in full, with all its documentation - including versions in Croatian, English and documentation of all the runs. Use them if you're interested in reading - or run this larp yourself with your friends. 2023 update: Wow, this larp has certainly been run a lot of times over the past decade! Updating the page with a Polish translation by Laura Piecha. Basically, Smrt japanskog cara is a modern one-shot larp about murder, prison and friendship with a 2 hour running time - of that, there's a 1 hour larp time and the rest is preparation and short debrief. Get the Croatian version here. Get the English version here. Get the Polish version here. Building relationships between characters on Run 1 If you're interested in hearing how it was on all those larps, click here . That docum...

Start a LARP! It's easy - use your imagination, and create your world and way of playing. However, you might have some reservations about doing it from scratch. Not a problem! There are, luckily, available resources on the internet which can help you run a LARP. You'll find everything, from ideas and advice (such as on this site), free fantasy rules (such as Simple LARP system and others), and even some pretty much complete deals whether you want to run one-shots or campaign style larps. Various larp sites around the world can be your resource to start a LARP. Other LARPs might also let you use their rulesets. Or you might use them without their knowledge, which they might be OK with or not. Some LARPs organize themselves in networks or franchises, and you can open a chapter, utilize already existing resources and connect to various players around the country or world who run games under that system. Examples are: Amtgard - a battlegame society, full contact, sporty ba...

Start a LARP. To do so, you'll need players - and certain characters that those players will play. There are basically two ways to create a character: a player creates one, or a game master/larpwright (for one-shots) creates one. Various LARPs use one style or the other, or - commonly - both. Player-created characters are commonly referred to as PCs, sometimes or somewhere as freeform characters. They might be completely freeform, or choose from one of the available races, classes, nations etc. in game. GM created characters are usually more restricted (or predefined, depends on how you look at it) and they tend to take several forms. Pre-written characters are GM-written characters in games where usually all characters are pre-written. There are no player-created PCs in those games, although players "fill the blanks" in GM's description to give those characters life. Different descriptions can be provided, from paper thin to certain fates awaiting characters. Pr...

Start a LARP. Seriously, it's easy and fast to do so. Check out other articles in the series if you don't believe me. Today I'll be talking about format your LARP might take. Basically, in the world of LARP there are two basic types of events: campaign events and one-shots. As you go from one larp scene to another, you'll see one type being more popular than another. Majority of Croatian LARPs are campaign events, though there are a few one-shots here, most widely played one being Love is blue. If you haven't larped before, you might have already imagined LARP as one of those two types. The difference is in format, purpose and how they affect players. Campaign events seem to be more popular for fantasy LARPs (though not in every scene), and they allow playing the same characters in future events, creating more opportunities for characters to grow. They are also very cost-effective, as they allow players to build up their gear over time - which is very good for ...

This is the third article in the Start a LARP series . If you have followed us so far, great! You know already that the best way to start a LARP is simply to do it . Grab a few buddies, choose a location, agree upon the ruleset and go. A location can be one of the following: A park Convention grounds Forest Backyard Basement Really anything Only things limiting you are: How much are you willing to suppress modern details? And how much action do you want to have? Obviously, the less you need to suppress modern details, the better. Immersion is a powerful tool in any LARP, and the better the illusion the better the experience. Good costuming, props and no visible signs of any modern stuff can make for a quite powerful experience, but it's better to consider it a goal than to consider it a requirement. Many first-time LARPs are barely deeper than tabletop roleplaying experience - but that's OK too. Jumping from blankets & boffers to period accurate & Calimac...

Three days ago I wrote an article about starting a LARP. I got contacted by a few people, and decided to expand that article into a full series of articles, to cover the basics of what you need to start a new LARP. And yes, you can do it even if you never played, even if you have a minimum of space, a shoestring budget, and only a few friends. The most important thing you need to play is a ruleset... Or is it? Nordic larps seem to do fine without a written system of rules. But instead they depend on the social code of conduct and a set of techniques, which can take a while explaining or getting used to. There are many different rulesets out there, and most are quite long, elaborate and complex. I've seen people interested in LARP, but scared away by the size of the rulebooks. So, the question remains... What is the best way to introduce people to LARP? I decided to write a rule system using the following guidelines: it has to be fantasy (which is the most popular sort of L...

This is a call to everyone who's reading this, Croatian or otherwise, who's not LARPing. It's a call to you personally, to your friends, family and acquaintances. Start LARPing. If you can get to one of the big, estabilished events, go there. Single or as a group. Contact the organizers if you have any questions. Start LARPing. If we're talking about fantasy LARP (which is certainly the most popular), you can have basic clothing and a boffer weapon ready for the cost of around €10, or 75 kn. For the cheapest and most basic clothing available, you can buy cheap, white fleece blankets at Jysk, they're around 17 kn and 130x160 size. Fleece is not historically accurate, but can pass for a wool from afar, and you can make two tabards from that piece without any sewing skills (fleece does not fray, so you don't need to hem it). You can make basic boffer weapons from fiberglass/bamboo/pvc core and some foam and cover (and/or tape). That's all very basic, bu...