Wednesday, July 13 - Sunday, July 17, 2005

at the East Brunswick Hilton
in East Brunswick, New Jersey

What is LARP?

LARP stands for Live Action Role Playing. That's what most LARPers will agree on. It is interactive improvisation, between people who are each playing a persona. After that, ask ten different LARPers what they think LARP is, and you may get twelve or thirteen different answers!

That's because there are all sorts of games and players. LARP is not solely medieval fantasy games, or dark games filled with vampires, or mysteries where everyone tries to find out who did it, or games where people wear armor and beat on each other with padded weapons, or...

LARP is all of these, and more.

There are some things in common amongst all of these games. Everyone at the game comes in character. You play a role, like the Russian ambassador to Germany, the drummer from the band Toxic Waste, or the doctor on board a luxury starliner. For the duration of the game, you dress, speak, act and live the part. You've got an agenda for the game - a list of things that you must accomplish. Some tasks are easy, some things are hard. Some players may be working towards the same goals as you, while others may be working against you.

There's no script. You improvise all your lines. You don't operate in a vacuum, because you have a character description, a background history of who you're trying to be.

You're also not alone. Games can be small, with only a few characters, they can be large, with upwards of sixty or seventy players, or they can be huge. Games can last a few minutes, four, six, or eight hours, an entire weekend, or even longer, played in several sessions. A good LARP can be an amazing experience, incredibly fun to play.

LARP (noun) A Live Action Role Playing game. Intercon is a convention that has a schedule filled with great LARPs.

LARP (verb) To play in a Live Action Role Playing game. I'm going to LARP all Intercon weekend!

LARPing (verb) To LARP. I'm LARPing in six different games during Intercon weekend!

LARPer (noun) Someone who plays in Live Action Role Playing games. There are great LARPers who come to Intercon from all over the United States, Canada and Britain.

There's also a general FAQ from the rec.games.frp.live-action newsgroup.