Alright! Your wish is my command ;-)

*clears throat*

Let's get to it!

Introduction

I'll start at the very beginning, and that's the meaning of the abbreviation 'LARP', as this'll help understanding LARP as a whole. It's short for 'Live Action Role Playing'. Which is exactly what a LARPer does: he's playing a role, a character (Role Playing) in real life (Live Action).

It has it's origins in classic pen-and-paper RPG's such as Dungeons & Dragons; one day, someone had the idea that instead of saying what his character did, he'd actually do whatever it was his character was doing; whether it was swinging a sword at an enemy or running away from the battle.

LARPing (it has been a verb for some time now) is (obviously) done on a LARP event. On such an event, there are a lot of people actually doing whatever it is what their character is doing. But not literally all of them; there are a few roles for the different people.

Roles

First of all, you've got the players or participants. The players think up their own character: the name, the motivation, the biography...Virtually every aspect of their character is theirs to create. The only restrictions they face, are the restrictions the organisers of the LARP event put forward. Most often, this means that the character needs to fit in the universe that has been thought up; no gun wielding mercenaries if you are playing on an event where gunpowder will not be invented for millennia.

Which brings us to the next part: the organisers of the event. They can be divided further into three roles. First of all, there are those organisers who write the story of the event; the storytellers. One can compare it to the Dungeon Master in a Dungeons & Dragons session. The story that he, she or they write, is comparable to a film script or the script of a play, with the main differences being that A, the 'script' changes during the event and B, the players do not know what the 'script' contains. Especially B is a big component of the player's enjoyment of the event. Since the players do not know what will happen during the event, they will (hopefully) be pleasantly surprised by whatever twists and turns the story takes.

Time for the second role within the ranks of the organisers. We've got a storyteller thinking up a wonderful story...but he'll need people making it (literally) come to life. These are the extra's, also occasionally known as 'monsters'. This last term comes from the fact extra's are often required to play the monsters attacking the players. In other cases, extra's may be highwaymen holding up unsuspecting players, the villagers the players will need to defend, etcetera.

So far, so good. We've got three kinds of people walking around on a LARP event: the players, the storyteller(s) and extra's. They're all playing a game, excluding the storyteller; he doesn't participate in the game, at least, not directly.

There is, however, if you've been keeping count, a third role within the ranks of the organisers. As with any game, LARP events have got rules. And as with any game, you've got people making sure the rules are being followed; a group of referees. They'll pay attention if both the players and the extra's are keeping to the rules.

What's more, they're the eyes and ears of the storyteller(s); the storyteller(s) can't be everywhere at the same time and he needs their input to know what the players actually do (or don't do). For all he knows, they're complete ignoring whatever cool story he has set up...

And then what?

Because of the lack of a (definite) script, the presence of 'actors' (the players), extra's and a 'director' (the storyteller), LARP has also been compared to improvisational theatre. This is a nice comparison, as the two activities do have some similarities, but even more so, it is a nice inconspicuous alias if you do not wish to admit you are participating on LARP events.

And so, you arrive on the LARP event. You know what role you will have; player, extra, storyteller or referee, more often than not the first two, for a beginner. But then what? Well, the game begins! You start to react as your character; his goals become your goals, you respond to the situations at hand as your character would, etcetera.

Rules

While you're at it, you're supposed to keep into account the rules of the event you're on, as well. Though they differ from event to event, there are a few fairly universally applicable; I'll explain these.

A LARP event is usually situated in a Fantasy universe, where swords and sorcery are the staple of offence and defence. As virtually no-one likes real flesh wounds, hewn off limbs and other grisly injuries, a LARPer uses special LARP weapons.

A LARP weapon needs to conform to a few safety guidelines before it can be used on a LARP event, to avoid the aforementioned real injuries. Following from these restrictions is a 'recipe' that most, if not all, (European) LARP weapons follow: a solid core of carbon fibre, most of the bulk of the weapon is made out of special foam and it has a 'skin' of coloured latex.

The above combined means you've got a weapon with a little weight behind it, that keeps it's shape, looks pretty nice and still isn't a lethal weapon that'll cause anyone ending up in a hospital.

Beyond the restrictions of the weapon itself, there are few things most LARP organisations forbid as far as using your weapons to attack go:

• Don't hit people all too hard.


• Don't hit parts of the body that'll hurt to be hit upon, regardless of the weapon's construction, or are dangerous to hit: head, a woman's breasts and the genitals for both genders.


• Don't stab with your LARP weapon. Due to the construction of the weapon, you may end up with a solid core poking through the special foam and stabbing people for real.


• Finally, most organisations also restrict the length a weapon can have and most have extra rules regarding safety of their own, as well.

And even though you're fighting with a safe LARP weapon that weighs about as much as a feather, compared to real weapons of the time, you will have to act as if it is a really dangerous, really sharp piece of metal.

In Character & Out Of Character

Which brings me to something I haven't touched upon yet; In Character and Out of Character, commonly abbreviated to IC and O(O)C, respectively. IC, that safe LARP weapon of yours is a sword forged out of the finest steel available, OC it's still that safe weapon made out of various modern materials.

In Character (IC) is everything you do with your character and is done to your character. IC, your character will get wounded, may even die and could use magic. Out of Character (O(O)C) is the opposite of this, of course.

The hours that you're IC and OC, are mostly decided by the organisation. When the event starts, and everyone gathers, there will be a moment that the organisers will signal it's time to go IC, more often than not after a few hours to allow for OC announcements and everyone to be set up. Some events don't go OC until the last day of the event, others will give a signal it's OC for the time being for dinner and the night, to go IC again the next morning, a cycle which would repeat as many times as the event has evenings and mornings.

_{I know, it's a big lump of text...But, FIRST read carefully and after that, if you've still got questions...Don't be afraid to ask them!}