Diary of a Croatian larper

Yesterday's Krvomeđe - the last battle larp (or larp of any kind) of this year - was one of the best incarnations of Krvomeđe I took part in ever. There were 9 players in total and the majority of players were new larpers who haven't been to Krvomeđe before, so the atmosphere was very positive and excited. And the weather was good too. We played a variety of battle games - Capture the Flag being most popular, and we ran it three times to the score of five. In the end, there was an 8-people long sword tournament, I placed second (I lost in the finals by Pavle, who by the way took these photos), after which most of us went for a drink. January will also be a busy month. Next Krvomeđe has been scheduled for January 20th, and next larp in general will be Terra Nova: Zimograd on January 11-13. Two days from now - on January 2nd - there will be an Ognjeni Mač general yearly assembly, where the new leadership (and OzOI) will be chosen.

I have closed the long-running survey about larp and Terra Nova in general. A total of 33 people have responded to the survey - only two more since I published the preliminary results over three months ago. I'll prepare a new survey after Terra Nova: Zimograd. In the meanwhile, however, Sven Horvatić is running a survey of his own - what would you like to see in 2013? You can fill the survey (in Croatian) here . If you're looking for fun stuff to do this weekend - the final weekend of 2012 - there's Krvomeđe this Sunday in Zagreb. Weather forecast for Sunday is cold (below freezing) but dry, so it should be a nice run. I plan to attend - see you there? If reading is your pleasure (and you've already read all the knutebooks which I linked some time ago), Wyrd Con (a convention in California) has published its own collection of RP (mostly larp) essays as a free PDF available here - it offers some interesting perspectives as well as some insight in the US larp s...

Dear readers, I wish you all to have a happy and cheerful holiday season with your families and friends! Are you planning a cozy Christmas Eve? If you run and play Death of the Japanese Emperor today, it will happen on the same day in larp as in real life. On Sunday we'll have Krvomeđe, the last (publicly run) larp this year. Hopefully, the weather will be good. Are you into some reading? Here's a very nice, detailed and thoughtful three-article series about larp on Rhizome: This is a Game This is More Than a Game Everything is a Game Enjoy!

Transmedia and larp was the presentation given yesterday in SRP by  +Irena Krčelić . It was quite interesting - it basically showcased some things from the Croatian movie industry. I'm the person who's very skeptical of our movies, however what was shown surprized me as being very promising - and all of it were movie projects I've never heard of. In that light, larp was seen as the potential transmedia tie-in product - and we explored those possibilities. As movies fund the other tie-in products - board games, computer games, online games, miniatures, TV shows, cartoons, comics, books etc. - why not their own custom-made larps? It will have a limited audience compared to most other products, but compared to those products and their associated manufacturing and distribution costs, a larp can be produced at a fraction of the price. In a wider context - enriching the movie or other media product and its world is something that could be very powerful. Part of the chal...

This Wednesday there was an event - wedding of Sowa and Matilda - at Ognjeni Mač. I played my (nowadays) regular character of Kain - a ragged, mysterious, unnerving character with shifting purple regions on his skin. Apart from the grey robe I wore, I was barefoot (with parts of the skin painted purple), giving others weird looks and trying to freak them out (just a little bit). Fun stuff. Flashes from the event in a collage by Andrea Hrovatić The event itself was easygoing, it started with the wedding itself - which was comic, as Matilda was played by one of our male organizers wearing drag. Another organizer who played her father was having an all-too-serious face during the whole ordeal. The marriage ritual was nicely done, though also featuring some comic relief - it involved simulating cutting of palm by the groom, bride, best man, maid of honor and bride's father who was performing the marriage, having a few drops of blood fall into a bowl of water - too bad there was...

Larp is played everywhere - and a new group is starting up the scene in Turkey. Started by Alpay Görgülü, who's bringing in larp from Italy where he used to play, it already sparked a great interest. Alpay was interviewed by Pavle "Bliss" Pelikan, and this interview was first published 12 days ago in Croatian on Larp Hrvatska blog . Thanks to Petra - owner of that blog - I now have the chance to republish the interview in its original English. Read on. 1. How long do you play larp in Turkey?  LARP Turkiye is a new group born in april when I decided to import here in Turkey the LARP passion i have since I was a child (I am born and grew up in Italy where i played and organized for more or less 20 years). In the last 11 years I am living in Turkey and I always wanted to play also here cause there is an anormous potential but until this year I had no courage to start. For the moment we are still in the organization phase and there is not yet any event. With the hel...

The following 15 rules (warning: strong language) were written some years ago in Great Britain, and have been pretty much generally accepted on the British larp scene. Especially popular is rule 7 - widely known by its number and commonly considered to be the most imortant rule of all (and I agree). Even the biggest British larp forum has taken Rule7 as its name. The rules have been originally created by the Drunken Monkeys and edited by Rick Wynne who added some extra stuff in the explanations to make them more understandable to international audience (it still contains some British larp lingo though), more work-safe and to throw in his two cents. (copy of the original wording is available here ) 1. Don’t play a mighty warrior; play a warrior and be mighty. Don’t label your character. As soon as you say that you are the best swordsman in the land someone will come along and kick your ass. Just get into the mindset of the person and role-play it out. 2. No one cares about you...