The topic of post-LARP deroling exercises has been on my mind recently. During an online conversation about this very topic, an idea occurred to me. All deroling activities (that are officially part of a structure of a LARP run, as opposed to something done on an individual player’s initiative) that I’ve experienced in person, or heard about, have been group activities. But what if we as a community developed some solo deroling exercises to add to our toolbox of post-LARP activities? First, some definitions for clarity. Debriefing is a term with multiple meanings. It is sometimes used as an ..read more

Late last year, the team behind LARP Portal (a website for organizing event logistics for LARPs) approached me and asked if I might write a guest post for their blog. Their website is designed to primarily support live combat, or boffer, campaigns. With that in mind, I wrote up a short piece explaining theater style LARPing, and then went a bit deeper into a particular sub-style of theater LARPing that is popular locally — one-shot litform secrets and powers LARPs. You can check it out here ..read more

Since the last time I was more-or-less caught up on blogging about the LARPs I’ve been involved with (either as PC, NPC, or GM), I’ve played (or NPCed or GMed) over 50 LARPs, and blogged about fewer than 10 of them. It’s time to play some catch up. I suppose I can blame my creative energies being directed at sewing projects — lots of costuming but also a lot of set dressing — at least in part on my beloved new Cricut (a computer controlled cutting machine). I’ve made so many banners and stickers and other projects with it, and I just want to make more and more. (Though in theory, I’d like to ..read more

For a lot of attendees, Intercon T, which ran back in early 2020, was the last major event they attended before the pandemic shut everything down. Plans for Intercon U were made for 2021, but it then had to be postponed another year. In 2022 the Omicron wave forced another postponement… but in 2023, Intercon finally came back. Tuesday and Wednesday Intercon U officially began on Thursday, March 2nd… but our con-chair decided to show up on Tuesday to help get the con off to a smooth start (well, as smooth as possible), and figured — we’ve got a bunch of LARP supplies and a hotel room, why not ..read more

My annual retrospective on my life in LARP in 2022. A look back at 2022… LARP Count I played in, GMed/aGMed, and NPCed 41 LARPs over 2022, well up from last year’s 25. It feels like a larger percentage of LARPs this year were private events, as opposed to public conventions. Only two were online, the rest were in person. Four had live combat. Events Intercon didn’t happen this year, but I did attend a small private event that weekend dubbed “Intracon”. I participated in Virtual Space Bubble, Summer LARPin’, a weekend event on the West Coast called HALE, a one-day event dubbed O’Malley’s Ball ..read more

Two years ago, I wrote a blog post going over my LARP-related New Year resolutions and seeing which I had made any progress on or completed, and which I had yet to attempt. I found it pretty helpful in terms of actually getting them accomplished. Last year, I started writing a similar post, decided it was boring and self-involved, and therefore didn’t belong on a blog. So I left the post unfinished. At the end of the year, I realized this probably had a negative effect on how many resolutions I completed, or even attempted. So even though I haven’t really shaken off the feeling that this doesn ..read more

My most recent LARP event was Summer LARPin’, a weekend event of small theater LARP. And in a year without Intercon, a lot of locals were champing at the bit for something like this. In the three or weeks leading up to the event, in addition to lots of costuming, I created set dressing and/or props for four LARPs. (Basically, I put it all off until after Starfall Academy, which has its own blog post in the works.) But I’m planning to write a separate blog post just about all the costuming and crafting, so that I can feel a little more able to ramble about it. (Hopefully, this will also give m ..read more

Welp, the year is half gone and catching up on LARP review posts was on my list of New Year’s LARP resolutions, so no more procrastinating. Here we go. Winter Boffer Con In 2018 and 2019, NELCO (the New England LARP Conference) included multiple tracks of one shot boffer LARPs, which was called “Little Boffer Con”. In December of 2021, we went back to the same hotel for a standalone event, and it was dubbed Winter Boffer Con. Winter Boffer Con 2021 hosted four LARPs, Bound in Blood, Heroes in a Half Shell, Package Deal, and Weaponfall. Initially, I planned to NPC Heroes in a Half Shell, and ..read more

A death has left the local LARPing community reeling. Posting in my blog feels obscene. Nothing I have to say about anything else could possibly matter in the slightest. But writing about the loss feels awful and selfish. What right do I have to write about it, when so many people knew him so much better, were so much closer? However much it hurts, (and oh, it hurts), there are so many out there hurting so much worse. But silence feels even more obscene. If this blog was intended to provide a glimpse into the general goings-on of the local LARPing community, how could I consider not posting a ..read more

About a month ago, the weekend that was supposed to be Intercon U came and went. Back in January, NEIL made the difficult decision to delay it a second year for pandemic reasons. To stave off some of the no-LARP-con blues, a small group of LARPers ran and played in a smattering of small theater LARPs over that weekend. I think it helped a lot to distract us from thoughts like, “I should be playing all these great LARPs I managed to get into this past fall” and “it’s probably gonna be another solid year before Intercon happens and I get to see the LARPers I used to see once a year…” The gatheri ..read more