LARP

This last weekend we went larping. I was very excited because we brought our daughter along for her first larp! For those of you who don't know, LARP stands for Live Action Role Play. People go to a location that is rented for the event, usually held over a weekend, dress up in costume, and act out the characters they have created. The larp I went to over the weekend, Finger Lakes Adventure Gaming (FLAG), is a fantasy setting where players dressed in armor and carrying foam weapons battle mythical monsters.

Yes, that's real chain mail and it's heavy

I just started larping last year. Counting this past weekend, I have only larped at four events, so I consider myself a newbie. What was different about this event for me was that it was the first time I have played an NPC. An NPC is a non player character. They are created by the gamemasters to interact with the player characters to move the story along. Being new to this larp, I decided to only play an NPC and was assigned various monsters to portray. There weren't opportunities to role-play, but there was quite a bit of fighting.

Avalon's First Boffer Weapon

I got to see larp behind the scenes, as the gamemasters tested out a new system of rules. That was pretty cool. We dressed up as different monsters. I also got to play with the face paint, which fascinated Avalon. For me, the most difficult thing about being an NPC was having to memorize a new set of stats for every different monster I played. There was one module that I played three different monsters, each with different special abilities.

Overall, I had a blast. It was a lot of fun, and I hope I helped those who paid to be at the event to have a fun and exciting time. Avalon really enjoyed herself too.