What is live action roleplaying?

Live action roleplaying (or larp/larping) covers any sort of game where a group of people get together and play the roles of other people -- usually people who exist only in the world they are playing in. Most of the larps covered on larper.com involve worlds where people create a character that they play regularly for long periods of time. At the events they attend while playing this character, they will join a world with other characters that is far removed from our own. The traditional genres for larps covered here are medieval, fantasy, or science fiction based -- the characters may pretend to cast magical spells to conjure sorcerous minions, swing swords at evil robber barons, or shoot their enemies with laser beams.

Many larps that include some form of combat do so by using boffer weapons. These are items constructed with the primary purpose of allowing safe contact between the weapon and another person. Normally, a fiberglass or plastic pipe core of about half an inch is covered with layers of insulating foam which absorbs impact and reduces or eliminates injury. Serious injuries with boffer weapons are rare, and the weapons allow characters to really swing weapons at one another when they want to cause another character injury in the game.

To learn more about larps, select a link on the left. There are articles under the larp articles section which can give you more specific information about larps. Additionally, visit the links and forums for information about individual live action games.