LARP-ing, or Live Action Role Playing…
is an offshoot activity of Fencing that I (Ally Daily) brought to camp back in 2013. And it’s my birthday so I’m gonna talk about it!
Campers would deck out in fencing gear and I would take them on a journey through the campgrounds where we would slay monsters and save innocent villagers. Since then campers have been able to use their imagination to seek adventure all around the Foley grounds.
Since we can’t all go on an adventure together until this summer, I thought I would share some exclusive LARP-ing tips and an outline to use to bring some excitement right to you at home! The point of you creating a LARP-ing adventure is to make it exactly how you want it to be. So even though this guide shows you one outline to plan out your adventure, the goal is for you to create what you want and not feel limited.
An outline
1. The Call to adventure
You and your companions find out about the quest and each share why the quest important to your character and why you want to take on this journey
2. 1st Challenge
Your group comes up against the first obstacle or enemy and must prove they have what it takes to succeed. This might also be the introduction to the Villain opposing you.
3. 2nd Challenge
You have beaten your first challenge and now continue on your journey finding clues or following the trail to get closer to the thing you are questing for. You face the next challenge with more confidence, but something is different this time. The villain could have taken this thing from you.
4. Set Back
After the second challenge you and your companions are not victorious or if you did win the fight you lost something very important. This could be your map, a powerful tool, a member of your party, etc. You need to get back the thing you lost in order to become powerful enough to finish the quest.
5. Final Confrontation
You have regained the thing you lost during your Set Back and are now ready to face your final challenge. Everything you have learned from your challenges and set back help you win against this final obstacle or to defeat the villain once and for all.
6. Resolution
You have won and the thing you have been questing for can now be claimed
Questions to keep in mind are how will the characters try to get the thing they want?
Are they walking to a location and encountering dangers along the way, riding in a vehicle?
Are they following a map?
Do they have clues to follow that will lead them to what they want?
Depending on how many people are adventuring with, you may want to plan things out together or create a plan alone to keep the adventure a surprise for everyone else. Depending on the adventure you want to go on, you will need to create certain quest items to use on your adventure.
If you are traveling in car or spaceship, build it out of cardboard! Need a map to follow, draw it! Need secret clues that will lead you on your journey, write them out and hide them!
LARP-ing Outline Example
Below you will find a complete LARP-ing Outline that you can use to start adventuring. Feel free to change it to fit whatever story you want to tell. Adventures in Space
1. The Call to adventure
a. You and your companions are traveling to Mars in your space ship in the year 2221. You are all trained to be excellent astronauts but each one of you brings something special to the spaceship crew. One of you is a great pilot who can drive the ship, and one of you is a master engineer, who knows how to build and hack into spaceship systems. You receive a distress signal from another spaceship that is damaged and needs help. You pilot your ship in their direction. (build your own spaceship)
2. 1st Challenge
a. You and your companion, wearing space suits, enter the damaged spaceship and see many holes in the floor and walls of the ship. Your suits help you breathe but if you touch any of the “holes” you will be pulled into outer space. You must jump and move to avoid the “holes” and only touch the safe parts of the ship. (build an obstacle course to represent the damaged ship)
b. You make it through the damaged parts of the ship and enter the control room, where the signal is coming from. Inside you meet and rescue a small alien (or more depending on the size of your group) who tells you their ship was attacked and a special artifact they were traveling was stolen. They need your help to get it back.
c. This artifact allows any ship to go faster than the speed of light and the alien promises to share this technology with you if you help.
3. 2nd Challenge
a. The alien gives you a tracking beacon to help find the artifact and you begin your search. The route takes you directly towards an asteroid field! Your pilot must navigate your ship through the field without getting hit. (using your imagination, dodgeballs, or pillows, have someone act as the Asteroid Field, throwing asteroids at the spaceship, and you and the other astronauts having to dodge them in your ship)
4. Set Back
a. You successfully navigate the asteroid field, but are forced to emergency land on a nearby planet because you are out of fuel! b. Decide what the right type of fuel for your spaceship is and look for it on this planet (search your yard or home for things that will help fuel your spaceship)
5. Final Confrontation
a. With your ship refueled you can now continue tracking this artifact. You head into deep space and your ship’s computer tells you that the artifact is very close now and begins scanning the area. Strangely ahead of you, you see a ship very similar to the damaged ship you helped earlier. This ship is not damaged at all and looks much larger.
b. Suddenly your ship is taken over by the larger spaceship and you hear a voice. It is the alien you helped! They tell you this was a trap and they would never share this technology with you, but instead tricked you into coming to deep space so they could use your ship to make theirs even bigger and more powerful. The alien tells you they will strand you on a deserted planet and there is nothing you can do about it.
c. You have survived holes in spaceships, asteroid fields, and recovered fuel! You cannot be beaten this easily. Your master engineer tries to regain control of your ship and you and the alien begin to battle over the ship. (play thumb wars, space rock paper scissors, and arm wrestle to regain control or as the alien try to take control of the ship)
6. Resolution
a. You have defeated the alien and regained control of your ship! The alien in their haste to fly away from you in an escape pod has left behind the artifact you were tracking and their large very powerful ship. You now have the power to travel all of the space…