1 How did you get into LARPing ? I was 16 years old and taking fencing classes . I overheard my classmates talking about going LARPing on the weekend and asked if I could go along . When I got to the camp , everyone was friendly and weird , and I had a BLAST . I helped out with that game , helped them find camps when it was summertime it is hard to find camps in the summer and eventually went on to produce my own game . 2 What is the most challenging thing about LARPing ? Quite frankly the interpersonal drama . I assume this happens in other hobbies where people form cliques and gossiphave problems with other people , but it is almost universally seen as the plague of LARPing . A lot of games find their end in drama , and people fighting amongst themselves for control of plot or rules or the like . It can get bad . 3 What are the friendships like that you have formed with other LARPers ? Do you hang out outside of events ? Virtually all the friends I have now I either met through LARPing , have LARPed with , or met through other friends who LARP . And it can get funny , too . One of my highschool friends LARPs at Exile my game with me and makes the scariest monsters ever . The little brother of another high school friend plays at the game , and is old enough to be married with two kids . He , his wife , and his two children were over my house for dinner the other day , as was my niece and her father also an occasional LARPer . I think a common misconception is that when you hang out with LARPers outside of LARPing they are always wanting to be in character , or talking about the game . We wrangled children , talked about our families , and chatted about work . My friends will come over to play Magic the Gathering or board games . My oldest friend was over the other day and she and I wrapped Christmas gifts and watched Netflix . Sometimes we will talk about the game , other times we will tell horror stories from work , watch TV , or chat families . The guys have started gathering in my living room on Sunday to watch football , which I cheer indiscriminately , but they are very invested in the season . Heck , a lot of us went to two of Exile ' s Players ' wedding , the two of them LARP together but met outside of LARPing . There were two tables of us , and the wedding was lovely . While I have seen people have LARPing and costumes worked into their weddings , this was not the case , and is actually not the norm . 4 How has LARPing helped you in your life outside of LARPing ? I can organize just about anything . When you have been organizing groups of LARPers for the better part of 15 years , organizing parties , charity runs , military gatherings , family stuff , etc gets EASY . LARPing also has given a LOT of people I know both the confidence and the practice to interact with others socially . While the stereotype is that antisocial nerds are LARPers , and a LOT of people start off very shy , people get confidence to speak out , speak up , and interact very quickly . When you pretend to be someone else , you are not so self conscious about making a mistake , and that carries over in real life . There is also an aspect of p r oblemsolvingunderpressure that comes with LARPing . Sure , the swords are not real and the world won ' t REALLY end if you don ' t get the RANDOM THING to the RANDOM PLACE before the RANDOM TIME , but it does feel stressful to a degree , and you learn to think on the fly . LARPing really does give players more confidence to take charge and lead in real life . 5 How much money do you spend on LARPing ? Dear God . Well , I run my own game , and I play at a different one everyone needs a vacation I spend anywhere from 100 to 200 of my own dollars on my game in a month , and everyone who plays the game pays 20 dollars , which goes to food we have three full meals at Exile , gear , and camp repair we have our own camp . I spend a little under 100 dollars on the other game , though occasionally if I am going to make a new costume piece that cost goes up . 6 What have you learned about yourself through LARPing ? A lot , actually . I learned a WHILE ago that I do not take criticism well , which is AWFUL for someone running a game . Since that pretty harsh realization a few years back , I have made a LOT of effort to change that , and I truly believe my game runs better for it . Once I would get UNREASONABILY mad if someone said that they didn ' t like something in the rules , but that is a bad reaction , and I am happy to report that I have managed to curb that A LOT . Sometimes it still happens , but I take a breath and think , Is this person attacking you ? No , they have an opinion about the game or rules , and their thoughts matter . If they are right , it will make the game better ! So stop being an asshole . By the time I have thought all that out , I am usually good to discuss what is wrong . I learned a lot about being in charge , too . For example people are more willing to help buildmoveclean something if the person leading the cleanup crew is doing work , too . Make sure you are working just as hard as your team . Discussing input is key , and knowing what YOU like may not be what the majority of your group likes . I like to fight and play against thinking villains . I don ' t particularly enjoy monsters with no drive other than KILL . But that is my preference , and a LOT of LARPers LOVE monsters . They are fun to fight against , don ' t cause any sort of moral quandary , and can have awesome or weird abilities . One of my players LOVES making monsters , and does an amazing job of it . Rather than just ignore what a good portion of players want , I asked him to make monsters and play them , and he is really good at it . 7 What do you think is more important , winning at all costs or playing with honor ? This is kind of a hard one . If you mean ingame , then it would entirely depend on the character you are playing . Maybe you are playing a rogue who will take whatever they can get , no matter who gets hurt . Or , if you are playing a paladin , honor is everything . From my perspective , the most important thing is that the players , both PCs and NPCs are having fun . NPCs are often on the losing side because they are often the badguys , and when you run a game , it is not about winning or losing , but about having awesome things happen . 8 What advice would you have to a newbie LARPer ? Bring extra socks . Don ' t gossip about people it looks bad on you . Clean up your area . Try to bring a nice , ingame looking blanket to put over your bedcot and gear , so that your sleeping area looks ingame , the GMs game marshals will LOVE you for it . If you can , show up early and offer to help setup . You will get to know the staff and owners , and they will remember you and want to include you into stories , because you helped and chatted with them before game . Stay after to clean up more than just your area the staff will love you for it . Don ' t play something brooding for your first role . Make sure your first role is outgoing and friendly too many gamers play that lone wolf or sad , depressed loner because they think it is a cool and edgy role . For your first character , you want to be able to interact and get to know people , and edgy , lonewolf characters get ignored a lot . 9 How loyal are you to your clan if a part of one ? Clan ? Like , an ingame group ? Or do you mean being loyal to the game you play ? If you mean ingame group , then again it entirely depends on the character . If you mean Game , I love my players and game , but I will always go and try new games , play elsewhere and meet new people . The idea of being only loyal to one game is one of the causes of the aforementioned drama . I have seen friendships fall apart because someone wanted to go to a different game , and were called disloyal . That is not ok . We are one big community , and we share the same hobby . Sharing stories and things we have learned is how our games grow and change ! 10 Any other ideas you think would be cool to include in a play about LARPing ? An aspect of normality . While Role Models was a fun movie , the gamers were always in character and there was nothing else . One of my players is a college professor . A few of them have children . Some are in the military . Others work for engineering companies . A few are in social work . I own a printing business . A group of players at my game is crazy about the gym , and are supercareful about their diet . One couple just bought a house and is really proud of their chicken coops . These are people with families , jobs in serous industries , kids , other hobbies , and an actual sense of what is going on around them . When gamers go to a diner after an event , they aren ' t in costume though sometimes I have gone without remembering to wash all the facepaint off and they aren ' t in character . It is a hobby like any other you have a life outside of it . You use it as something fun stress relief . Something you get out and do with your friends . Drama andor talk can continue into real life , especially if most of your friends are LARPers , but the s u p e r n e r d y u n a b l etocopewithreallifeLARPer that keeps showing up in movies is not the norm . You can also include the hectic mess that is behindthescenes . The NPC hut or NPC Land where the monsters get changed and adventures are planned and something is ALWAYS getting lost , or the printer stopped working , or the paint isn ' t dry yet NPC Land is just like backstage of a play . Out front , on stage , hopefully everything is going well , but backstage someone is always shouting to move quicker , to change the set , and get the new costume on the lead . It is controlled chaos , and full as hell . Quite frankly , you could do an entire show on that if you were so inclined ! This was a lot of fun ! I hope it wasn ' t too long winded !