What is larp?

Ask old enough players and they'll tell you larp is an abomination and we should be referring to lrp. Ask others and they'll talk about "larps" as plural items. It's both, neither and all these things depending who you ask.

Larp stands for Live Action Role Play. Older players don't bother to mention the Action part, after all, everything is action once it's live, whether it's the action of chatting or hitting someone with a fake sword.

For most people with a fleeting interest, the closest thing to larp is a computer game such as World of Warcraft, but it's different in a lot of ways. Some also deny familiarity with such games, so it's easier to ground the description in non-computer terms. A lot of larpers talk about "cross country pantomime" because it is, indeed, done cross country in scout camps and large fields and there's a high degree of costuming involved. Personally I don't like the description much because it suggests more of a scripted engagement.

For me, the best description is that it's something like a crossover between a paintball game and a murder mystery evening. Larp involves taking on a character and engaging in a story. Some might say it's not a very good story because everyone in it thinks that they're the main character and the start and ending are not as well defined as your typical script would have. While it's a freeform engagement, it's played within some very specific rules and these rules differ from system to system. There is somebody in charge to make sure it all holds together and plot is introduced that may not be player driven, but the point is that the players take an active role and become someone else in a different world, be it a post-apocalyptic version of this one or some faux medieval mythology setting.

It is difficult to generalise beyond this because the systems do have significant differences, and while some think it's similar to re-enactment it's usually got some very different aspects. For one thing, most larp takes place in a made up setting and the outcome may be directed but it isn't usually enforced. My understanding of re-enactment is that those taking part take on specific roles and play out some event where the final outcome is pre-determined according to historical records. Similarly, re-enactment involves recreating a time gone by with close attention to detail and some level of eschewing day to day modern comforts. In larp you're expected to fit in, but the rules regarding costume are more lax. While re-enactors use real or very realistic weapons to do battle, larp involves using specialised equipment, generally made of foam and latex which is crafted to look realistic and designed to be able to do very little harm.

Most of the time when I write about larping I'm going to be referring to the system I play most, which is Lorien Trust, but I've tried to make this introduction more generic, short as it is. I will try to cover more than just LT when I write, but most of what I know from outside my system is stuff I picked up on the internet or chatting to friends, I'm no expert within my own system, I know much less about others.