Live-action role-playing game
A live-action role-playing game (LARP or LRP) is a form of role-playing game where the participants perform some or all of the physical actions of the characters they are playing within a pre-determined space for a pre-determined span of time. LARP may be considered a form of improvisational theatre.
LARP basics
In character vs. out of character
In LARPs, the player himself represents the role-played character, and the player's actions directly represent the character's actions, unlike traditional role-playing games where character actions are described verbally ("My character says..."). At a LARP, the player is treated as being the character - a player's actions are interpreted as character actions by the other players.
Most LARP systems make a distinction between when a player is actively representing the character (called "in-character", "IC", "in-game" or "in-play") and when the player is acting normally, independent of the character (called "out-of-character", "OOC", "off-role", "out-of-game" or "off play"). During a LARP, players are normally taken to be in-character - so that if a LARP player says "I am feeling sick", other players will assume that the character is sick while the player is merely acting sick. The ratio of in-character to off-character play varies widely between LARPs. Some LARPs encourage players to stay consistently in character except in the case of an emergency, while other LARPs accept players being off-character for large portions of the LARP and use devices such as off-game areas, cards or gestures to signify when players are currently off-character.
Simulation and representation
All LARPs occur in both a real and an imaginary environment - the latter called the "setting", "game world" or (in theory) "the diegesis" . Characters inhabit the imaginary environment, while players inhabit the real, physical environment. In all LARPs, the real environment to some degree represents the imaginary environment (for example, a real wall is normally also an imaginary wall) and player behavior represents character behavior. In cases where the real environment does not correspond to the imaginary environment, LARPs use different techniques to simulate events in the imaginary environment. These techniques may include game rules and randomizers (dice, cards), physical symbols (for example a rope signifying an imaginary wall), and theatrical improvisation.
Characters may also die in most LARPs. In some systems, this is merely a temporary phenomenon, putting the character out of play for a time. In most, it is a major setback, forcing a player to create and role-play a new character from scratch.
Genre and storylines
LARPs can have as many genres and settings as novels, plays, or movies. However, a majority of LARPs use settings derived from genre literature. Fantasy, Science Fiction, and historical settings are the most common LARP genres, leading to costuming and history frequently being associated with LARP as a hobby. While some LARPs borrow a setting from an established work in another medium (e.g. "The Lord of the Rings" or the "World of Darkness"), most LARPs take place in a setting designed specifically for the LARP. Re-usable custom-designed settings ("campaign worlds"), together with rulesets, are often the principal creative asset of LARP associations and LARP publishers.
The creative content of a LARP is produced by players in collaboration with organizers - called game masters (GMs), referees (or larpwrights) - who determine the fictive framework of a LARP. GMs may decide how characters are created by players, or write and distribute characters to the players. The characters allowed or authored by the GMs, along with conflicts placed between characters and possible interventions during the LARP, usually determine a LARPs possible plots. GMs may also influence the LARP while it is played, for example by playing or controlling "Nonplayer Characters" (NPC's).
LARP players will often narrate the events of a LARP as a story, with their character as the protagonist, though it should be noted that few LARPs feature pre-determined or pre-scripted stories of the type common in literature or cinema. Whether a LARP can or should "tell a story" is an intensely controversial issue amongst LARP players and theorists.
Some LARPs, such as Theatre Style games in the US, feature primarily conflicts between player characters or groups of characters. Others sometimes called "Adventure Style LARPs", pit players against GM-controlled obstacles or antagonists. Another distinction is often made (especially in the UK) between player-led and GM-led plots, the former being improvised by players during play while the latter are consciously written by GMs - though may be subject to the players' improvisation.
Game format
LARPs vary in size from a handful of players to several thousand, and in duration from a couple of hours to whole weeks. Most LARPs are either single, self-consistent events or form parts of a campaign - a series of LARP sessions featuring the same setting, the same rules, and many of the same characters. Campaigns often contain a storyline that is run and coordinated by members over several episodes. Other campaigns do not have continuous or comprehensive storylines; the cohesion of the storyline of each character is left to the individual player to determine, and only special games or events contain an overarching storyline.
List of common LARP styles and genres
- Celtic (Mythology) LARPs
- Children's LARPs
- Espionage LARPs
- Fantasy
- Goth-Punk
- Historical/Living History
- Horror
- Nordic Arthaus
- Science Fiction
- Survival horror
- US Theatre Style / Interactive Literature.
A Personal Note from Robin
See also [ SM - Stigma or Stigmata ] also lists:
- More information is available at [ Wikipedia:Live_action_role-playing_game ]
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