Diary of a Croatian larper

Or at least this year's Croatian LARP season is. Even though the actual year ends in two weeks, no LARPs have been scheduled for the remainder of the year. After today, that is. Because today is Maksimir 53, which has the honor of being the last event of the year. Perhaps it manages to wrap up its tiny story arc which started on Maksimir 51? We'll see. Most other LARPs wrapped up their stories as much as they could. Which gave this year the feeling of being somehow complete. With most large and midsize LARPs ever to be organized in Croatia, old ideas which were finally made to work, and plenty of new ideas and creativity we have seen. We made awesome connections with LARPers from other countries - Slovenia, Serbia and USA primarily, but also players from Bulgaria (who by the way have a new site ), Germany, UK, Denmark, etc. It was a wild ride, sometimes bumpy, but overall we have truly created something here this LARP season, something that's hopefully going to last...

Petra Sabljar, who runs LARP Hrvatska blog , did an awesome interview with Claus Raasted, a high profile Danish LARPer. As you might or might not be aware of, Denmark pretty much equals paradise if you're a LARPer, as it's the only country in the world where LARP not only comes close to football in popularity, but actually beats it, with the number of active LARPers being somewhere in the six-figure range. (!!!) While the interview published on LARP Hrvatska blog is in Croatian, with Petra's kind permission (thanks again!) I'm re-posting her interview here, but this time in English - unedited, and in the form it was originally conducted in (which is a good thing, as my knowledge of Danish is limited to several years of unsuccessfuly trying to properly pronounce "rødgrød med fløde" - if you don't know what I'm talking about just youtube it). Anyway, apart from the nice coverage of Danish LARP, the observant among you might glimpse some stuff about C...

As I'm writing this, I just came back from the Rajski Vrhovi feast, which lasted from yesterday afternoon until today early in the morning. It was held at Žumberački podrum bar in Budinjak, close to the terrain of Rajski Vrhovi - in fact, the bar is owned by the same people as the terrain. We arrived around 3 PM, a bit late (due to reasons which I'll explain in my next post, so stay tuned) but the feast just started although roleplaying has been already going on for a while. We had lunch immediately, an interesting goulash with polenta. The goulash had some pears in it, so it was definitely something I haven't tried before, but it was great. After that, we had some bardic competition which was won by Melindor and his "Steppe Wolf" song accompanied by ukulele. Congratulations on the win, Melindor! The main quest started then. After someone made a certain ritual, frost elementals started to appear. I was one of them, and since I was a photographer on...

Krvomeđe is definitely getting bigger and better every month now. This Sunday we were blessed with great weather - it went up to 16 degrees Celsius. After a long time of temperatures below zero, it felt almost like summer. It was actually warmer than Krvomeđe days in the past two months. It had lots of bridge battlegames like last two times - actually all of them were bridge battlegames this time around. However, it didn't feel like a bother because of several reasons. It started earlier than last two times, giving us enough playtime during that short December daylight. The scene was already set up when the game started, and there was no downtime in the beginning because we did some ditch fighting until everybody got dressed and ready for the game, and then some couple of minutes more until everybody warmed up before we started games - capture the flag and capture the base variants. The last game was particularly interesting. It was CTF with one flag, which was ini...

On November 26th - 27th there was a LARP in Crkvari near Orahovica, organized by Gaia - so the storyline was related to this years' Utvrda Svjetlosti . We were in a privately owned house which was a bit cramped - mostly due to a lot more of us from Zagreb showing up on the event than our hosts expected. Once we arrived, changed and explored the outdoor part of the terrain, it was already dusk, so our outdoor time was rather short. Enough to set up a story and make a few introductions. It was mostly a political LARP. But there were some restless ghosts around. And after they were cleansed, there were a couple of werewolves who followed us from the cleansing site, and tried to goad us in an ambush outdoor. Eventually, we defeated them. However, the focus was on in-game politics, as many, many sides went there to arrange treaties (and most of them managed to do so), and there was some high quality roleplaying involved. Besides the house itself and the large terrain in the back, b...

I am a bit late with my review, but I wouldn't do it justice if I didn't review this year's Lubena, last of this year's large events which happened in late August this year. It's both the second largest event that happened in 2011. (after Jaska 8), and the one which was organized on the smallest terrain. Three camps were formed which were rather close by, but mostly it didn't matter much because of the dense foliage on the terrain... Mostly. It didn't offer the barbarian camp enough protection from one very pissed off mage because they were in his range when he woke up, but that's a long story... The terrain on Lubena - or Majčin Gaj as it's called in-game - isn't really suited to monsters. Which is OK, because there weren't any. Instead, players had strange things happening to them... Like everybody waking up and finding a bone in one of their arms turned to jelly, with healing spells offering just a temporary solution before it happened...

Hello everyone! I'd like to present two newest projects about Croatian LARP on crolarper.com. First of all, there's "Who's who in Croatian LARP" portal. Available on address  http://portal.crolarper.com/  it's sort of a yellow pages of active groups in Croatian LARP. There you can find group descriptions, contact info, playstyles, event info, locations, photo gallery... There's info about mainstream groups there, about other LARP-related groups, and about inactive groups. To top it up, there's also a crolarper forum/mailing list that you can access here  if you prefer the forum view or you can subscribe via e-mail on crolarper+subscribe@googlegroups.com - join it, and help us build the link between you guys from abroad and us Croatian LARPers :) You've probably noticed the new CroLARPer logo too. It's in this post, and it's on who's who portal - it will be on blog itself as soon as Blogger allows using the custom header on Dyn...

Double event! Last Saturday was Maksimir 51, and the day after was Krvomeđe. Maksimir 51 was a standard park quest. Or to be honest, it was a bit light on action compared to what's usually there. There were two reasons for it. First, the organizers went light on us after intensive sleep deprivation awesomeness that was Jaska 9 . Second, the day after was Krvomeđe. So they didn't want to drain our strength. Anyway, we filled holes in the action with some nice roleplay. Trying my new headgear on Maksimir 51 - a black turban After a few troubles caused by politics (and hunting a dire bear), we were disturbed by some gnomes... halflings... or whatever they were. They started charming people around with their screechy voices, making them dance and stuff. It annoyed plenty of people, so it ended up in a fight. Players will try to rescue a monastery infested by those creatures in a future installment... Most likely Maksimir 52. You can find event photos here , these are mo...

It might be old news for some, but I waited until all changes were made to make an announcement here :) Anyways, Ognjeni Mač website has a new address due to CARNet (who control the .hr domain) changing their regulations about who can get which domain (and at which price) - anyway, new address is http://www.ognjenimac.hr , along with Croatia's most popular LARP forum - http://www.ognjenimac.hr/forum Also, Krvomeđe / Rajski Vrhovi got a new website. Designed by me, and I've granted it a subdomain - http://krvomedje.crolarper.com it has an active calendar, galleries, and of course a forum. Or to be more exact, a Google Group. For those of you who never used them, Google Groups can function either as a mailing list or a forum (or both even!), depending on how you decide to view it. This gives it usefulness for both high and low traffic situations. Both sites are in Croatian, you say? No problem. Both sites feature the Google Translate button in the lower right corner which...

Apparently, the LARP season is not over for this year - and we all thought it was. There will be two medium-sized overnight LARPs until the end of the year - one in Osijek, which should be last weekend of November, and the feast on Rajski Vrhovi which will be on December 10th. Small events are also running smooth - this weekend will be another double event. Maksimir 51 on Saturday, and Krvomeđe on Sunday. Next Maksimir events are scheduled for Nov 26th and Dec 17th, and next Krvomeđe will be either on December 4th or 18th - thus we might have a pre-Christmas double weekend too. Video from Jaska 9. We had a great time there. This is actually surprizing - and I'll say a good trend. So far there's been a large drop in activity every year from November (or even mid-October) to late February. We've all been having our winter's sleep during all the previous years, with LARPs happening every now and then - I wrote about that previously here . It remains to be seen ...

We had a guest on this Jaska. It was Sarah, also known as TyeDye of the Radiant Valley. She's an Amtgard player from USA and a member of the Principality of Winter's Edge, Kingdom of Neverwinter. With her permission I'm re-posting her review of the event and the way we play here which might provide interesting insights for Amtgard players among you :) More photos and video about the event will be available soon. I played a barkeep NPC and the event was great. Sarah's review is below:

Back in August I visited the Rajski Vrhovi XV event. It was with my new character, so this would be my first event where I'd play a Frenchman for the first time. Basically, the roleplay was awesome - after 8 years of playing my previous character it was quite a refreshment. I even got a girlfriend or three during the event (purely in-game of course). One of those in-game relationships would grow into something else in the next couple of weeks at Lubena event... But I'll talk about that in its own article. The event was home to probably the best dungeon I've seen in Croatian LARPs. Lots and lots of traps. Perhaps it took a bit too long to solve, but it was memorable for sure. The lost crystals of Veles were not found, which spells trouble for the next Rajski Vrhovi event (draught and stuff). And a vojar appeared - they are a particularly troublesome bunch of near-invulnerable dark elven undead warrior-necromancers, originating from Osijek LARPs at Utvrda Svijetlosti ...

Just a quick reminder for everyone: Jaska 9 is tomorrow, starts in 24 hours. If you're in Croatia, be there. We're having several foreigners on this one. It will be chilly but action-packed and fun day of roleplaying.

While each of us has a unique experience every LARP, the one I had on Jaska 8 this July was shared by very few people... All of them in the same trouble as me. Have you seen the LARP movie "The Wild Hunt"? Well, it didn't really end that way. But there was a wild hunt. On my character, baron Maksimilijan Vurnovečki, count Vilijam Kruška and our supporters. We were hunted savagely - with search parties, hunting horns etc, while trying to rally more supporters to our cause. It didn't work - most players were either afraid or indifferent to help us, or wary of getting tangled up in in-game politics as we were. In the end, we went and got ourselves executed. There wasn't much more we could do while our supporters kept dying, except run away which wasn't in our character. So we figured it was better to throw ourselves at the mercy of our prosecutors (with execution being the most likely outcome) than to die somewhere in the bushes an hour or three later or leav...

Maksimir 50 was excellent! Too bad I wasn't on it :( Work got in the way. But this awesome video was made on it: so you can enjoy the epic atmosphere from your couch... Just like I did :) Hmm, epic atmosphere... from a park event of only a couple of hours? Yup, apparently they managed it. I made it on Krvomeđe the next day. No quests, just a battlegame, but it was nice to do some weapon practice and quick action games. And a tournament, of course. You can check all photos here . By the way, did I mention I started up a new Krvomeđe website ? Now I did :)

Before I continue reviewing our summer of LARP, let me just tell you that LARP season in Croatia has been seriously extended this year. While there aren't any classic big LARPs in store this month, there are two very interesting weekends. Next weekend is the first one. On Saturday, October 8th, we're organizing our 50th Maksimir LARP. It's the longest continuously running short LARP in Croatia (couple of hours of playing in Maksimir park) so we're now making a bigger one to celebrate. While they usually last from 2-3 PM until 5-6 PM, this one will last from 3 PM until 10 PM. And the next day, Ivo Turk is restarting his Krvomeđe events, with a similar philosophy to Maksimir events - actually, Krvomeđe was there first, but it simply ceased to happen couple of years ago. It's gonna be south of the Savica Šanci lake in Zagreb, at the bank of the Sava river. It's gonna be shorter, like regular Maksimir length (from 2:30 PM until 6 PM). Krvomeđe event couple ...

This year in June, I decided to visit the Utvrda Svjetlosti LARP (The Fortress of Light) in Ivanovac, close to the city of Osijek. It's one of the older LARPs in Croatia. For a while it's been holding a bad rep between some of our players (exact reason why is a long story), but I heard extremely positive comments from those who visited it last year - they were telling stories of a huge improvement. And indeed, Utvrda Svjetlosti 2010 was the largest LARP in the last few years, it's only been topped by Jaska 8 this July. I decided it's worth a cost of a road trip and I'm glad to say I was right - it was definitely worth it. For the record: It's the farthest to the east I've ever been to :) This is where you actually play... The Korođvar fortress First of all: the fortress! It's extremely, extremely epic! And yes, I actually had my tent in there. Two other guys from my group also came to this LARP, they set themselves up in another camp. They came ...

Jaska 7 (our May event) was in-game hell for my character. I stayed there for a short time, and the first news I got when I appeared in-game was that the maid of honor from my wedding (in-game, of course) was killed. I got manipulated (knowingly, that's the best part) in the cold rage, and took my revenge by taking out the murderer in the middle of the city. During the extremely delicate negotiations that were just taking part. And, of course, the city was plunged into chaos. The count was absent (due to his RL studies in England), and as his friend I got in a really tense situation due to the betrayal of his deputy (who's turned to the evil arts of necromancy) and the fact that city was populated mostly by new players and characters who quickly started taking matters in their own hands. I felt old :) That night, organizers dropped the A-bomb. Or, to be precise, a huge red dragon who landed into the city and proclaimed his rulership. And people did not get rid of him, as they...

OK, it was a large break. Over 4 months since my last post. But a lot of it has changed during this summer - and it was Croatian LARP at its highest point so far. I'll be slowly reviewing all the major events I've been to. And there have been many. Stay tuned :) Oh, and this blog got a redesign. Hope you like it.

One of our two biggest LARPs in a year starts right about... this very moment. However, due to work, I'll be going there tomorrow. It's gonna be a sleepless night for sure. If you're still in doubt... Come to Jaska 7, it's gonna be epic! I'm reviewing it as soon as pics will be online.

Right now I'm on my way to the filming of the show "8. kat" on HRT, Croatian national television. 8. kat (meaning: 8th Floor) is a Croatian talk show resembling the popular Oprah Show. I'll be talking about LARP of course :) And there will be several members of Ognjeni Mač in the public. In full LARP gear. The show will be played on TV in about two weeks, and will be available here  for a while. I'll attempt to get a recording which I can link somewhere else then :) There will be other guests, reenactors, trekkies, cosplayers, writers etc. - basically everyone who's working on making the imaginary worlds come alive. LARP got some serious TV coverage now, especially considering we were also filmed during SFeraKon last weekend. Update: Here's the video: And that SFerakon video I mentioned is here:

It was a weekend before Jaska LARP, but it was not filled with preparations for it as usual - instead, lots of us LARPers went to SFeraKon, largest & oldest sci-fi/fantasy/horror convention in Croatia. Next years' SFeraKon will also be Eurocon . Yes, we had a quite attractive stand there. Guys from Ognjeni Mač, Croatian LARP association (which I'm a part of) who were keeping the stand did a good job in getting the visitors interested in LARPing. It's probably our most successful con presentation ever. Reason 1 is purely a great job they did. Reason 2 is... we just re-started our convention attendance. Until last year, we were regulars on every SFeraKon and Istrakon (second largest convention in Croatia, but considered by many to be more fun), but for various reasons we missed last year's SFeraKon and Istrakon, as well as this year's Istrakon, which is kind of a shame - but probably a reason we were so successful this year, we gave some people chance to rota...

Continued from Part 1 The problem with being a so-called Perfect LARPer is - it's inefficient. There are very few people who can do all that, do it well, and not burn out. The proper solution is diversification. Everybody is good at something and can help in his or her way - that solution requires more people, more cooperation and teamwork, but it has a better effect overall. Every experience is valuable. That's one of the reasons why small LARPs who remain a one-man-show don't achieve their full potential - the singular organizer can't do everything on his own and do it well. Players who learn that it's the way LARPs should work and try to emulate the one-man-band skill set will waste an awful lot of time and achieve less overall. Like I mentioned earlier, everybody's good at something. And everyone knows something which will help him improve his LARP or his LARPing experience - and by doing so, he'll also improve other peoples' LARP experience...

If you've spent some time LARP-ing, then you are probably aware of it. You're supposed to try to become The Perfect LARPer. What makes The Perfect LARPer? You're a great roleplayer You can set up a camp on your own which will look better than anyone else's camp You're probably running some LARPs on your own You're a fighter-type character You can fight well, and carry a respectful-looking armor and a lot of gear with you You've made all that gear yourself You've sewn your own tent You're cooking your own food at LARPs - and cooking it well You're always bringing tons of stuff on every LARP - for you, your camp, and your friends You primarily hang out with other LARPers IRL You've introduced lots of new people into LARP You're promoting LARP in any way possible When you're not LARPing, you're preparing for your next LARP (continued in Part 2 )

This week I opened a new portal specifically for Jaska LARP. You can check it out on http://jaska.larp.hr It's in Croatian, not in English. However, there's a translate function which uses Google Translate. It translates the site into a bad English version - but it's understandable enough. Feel free to check it out and if you have any comments, you can post them there. Oh, and in another news: we got an Amazon Associate store now. I've listed there some books and movies I recommend - they're great! :) You can visit the store by clicking here .

My post from two days ago might be misunderstood as promoting Power play. As in getting as strong as possible, munchkinism, creating godly characters etc. It is not so. As I have said, roleplay is and always should be the best measure of someone's actual effectiveness. Researching LARP across the world, I have found out about various LARP communities, systems, and how they handle stuff. Croatian LARP, evolved mainly from Amtgard, is very American in its style. Which means rigid rule system, good selection of classes, some competitiveness, and yes most of our weapons are boffers. At the time, it was probably the best system to implement: it's rather easy to learn for new players - especially in a country that was unaccustomed to LARP, equipment is cheap to make etc. Note that I don't believe that one system is inherently better or worse than other. Every LARP system has its beauty, what makes it exciting and fun, and its flaws. High competitiveness commonly leads t...

Let's face it - getting a strong LARP character is not simple. But first of all, let's define what strong means in LARP terms. First part of the puzzle is, of course, your character level. Or the skills your character has. Basically, something that's written on paper, which grows as your character experience grows, and it's represented in some manner by what your character can do. It's the most obvious "power" your character can gain in-game. Second is your physical condition. While it gives its most obvious benefit to fighter-type characters, everyone benefits from it. Sneaky characters require some physical skills to sneak around effectively. And casters need it too - it allows them to run faster and longer. The guy wearing armor and shield will tire sooner. Third and most powerful is your roleplay. Good roleplay is like a shining star, Alpha and Omega of everything your character does. There's a lot to write about that. It can ensure your su...

This weekend will be full of events by LARPers and for LARPers - and funnily enough none of those events is actually a LARP. A photo from a training earlier this year. Today will be a bit greener, but similar. Today is a battle training starting at 10 AM CET in Maksimir park. Off-game weapons practice - fighting methods and some good old sweating to keep the condition up. Of course, battle training is a bit controversial subject - not every character is a weapon-wielding behemoth in a prime physical condition - some go weaponless, some wield an arsenal of deadly spells, some avoid combat - but whichever character type you play, battle training is good for you. Because exercise is good for you. There was a scheduled LARP barbecue at Bundek lake tomorrow. May 1st is an international workers' day (Labour Holiday in Croatia) and here it's an official non-working holiday (since it falls on Sunday this year, it's one lost opportunity to dodge work, shucks). It's not as ...

LARP Jaska 7 starts in three weeks from now. Along with regular summer Jaska event (scheduled for July 21st - 24th) it's the longest and most action-packed fantasy LARP in Croatia. Unfortunately due to my schedule I think I'll miss the Thursday. Which was so far always fun, usually more relaxed than either Friday or Saturday. Well, unless you count that orc invasion on Jaska 6, but stuff like that is usually rare on Thursdays. Orcs on Jaska 6 Back on topic. So I'll be there starting Friday. And I've been thinking about posting several updates straight from Jaska LARP, to inform you what's going on. What do you think about that idea?

Fantasy LARP seems to be the dominant genre in Croatia. For a whole lot of years it was the only LARP style available. A couple of years ago some vampires appeared (Camarilla LARP), although they seem to have gone underground recently (if you're an active Camarilla LARPer in Croatia, or know someone who is, please let me know). Recently though some new initiatives have started: Fallout and Battlestar Galactica LARPs. Maybe they'll kick off a sci-fi LARP scene in Croatia once they get rolling. However that remains to be seen. I'm holding my fingers crossed. The future seems interesting... Oh and I know it's completely unrelated but commenting on this blog is now open for everyone, so feel free to comment ;)

On Saturday two days ago it was nice and sunny. Perfect time for a quick LARP. Never mind that it was a day before Easter and that we all had egg painting and stuff with our families. The amount of people who attended was a bit over 20, which is awesome considering the date. It was a 42nd short LARP in Maksimir park in Zagreb, organized by Udruga Ognjeni Mač. They take only a couple of hours, no entry fee, and they're done on no budget at all - but they still manage to be awesome most of the time ;) and keep the story going between our big LARPs. This is one of those times. I was one of the NPCs - we changed roles rapidly this LARP, which explains why our costumes were underwhelming, especially considering our big LARPs. We were first playing some peasants, rebuilding the village of Bijela Vriština (White Moor) which was recently recaptured from the undead, when a scripted fight broke out between two peasants about the ownership of a certain meadow. Players got distracted, ...

Happy Easter everybody! Got anything planned next week? Because there's a planned barbecue by LARPers, for LARPers on May 1st, the international workers' day, at Lake Bundek in Zagreb, Croatia. It's being organized by Udruga Ognjeni Mač. Everyone is invited - LARPer or just supporter. I'm feeling quite excited about this because I hope that it will mend some fences between LARPers in Croatia. Plus, there's gonna be food! Beer! Strippers! OK, maybe not strippers. But you get the picture. It's gonna be fun. If you're nearby don't miss it. Edit: Due to weather, this has been cancelled since. Instead, there's gonna be a chilli evening at Ognjeni Mač headquarters.

The development of LARP in Croatia in the last 15 years has been rather sluggish. First LARP system in Croatia was Amtgard. It influenced Croatian fantasy LARP greatly - every fantasy LARP so far has been using Amtgard rules or rules derived or evolved from it (but still mostly backwards compatible). LARP in 1997. Most LARPs used some form of "house rules" which were made to be more agreeable to the audiences. LARPs from Udruga Ognjeni Mač have gone furthest in this, with more flexible (though more complex) rule set making much more varied character types possible. Lav Petrovič is a barbarian/mage barkeep. You don't wanna make him angry. LARP development is not always simple. Some people would prefer all things - and the entire scene - to stay just the way it is or to return to the way they were. But that's never possible. People change, people stop actively LARPing, more new people always arrive and start LARP-ing. There are always new ideas. So sometimes it be...

LARP-ing is serious business! And so is blogging. So what did I do? I purchased a proper domain for this blog. From now on, you can follow us on http://www.crolarper.com I hope you like the new domain name. I do. You know what it means? Dedication. It means I'm gonna put some time and effort in this blog to make it awesome, interesting and informative. I'll even be so bold as to call it a stepping stone for LARP in Croatia. Because after Ognjeni Mač webpage this is the second LARP-related domain on Croatian webspace. And the first one that was paid, and paid by a private person. I'm sure the investment will be worth it, even though it was made so early in this blog's lifecycle. But hey, it'll make you more accustomed to the address right from the start. Blog you later! :)

Exactly 1 month ago I organized a LARP feast. Well, to be honest, offgame it was a party for my and my son's birthday (which is on Mar 25th, yup, my son and I got the same birthday - how awesome it is?) organized as a LARP. With proper in-game story that happened. However, my son got his first LARP weapon (for his first birthday) and he loved it. My wife with my son Which made me think about children of LARPers in general. How interested are they gonna be in LARP? I mean, LARP is kind of like other geeky activities. Like children in Trekkie or Warser families. (We are that too, but shush!) I personally believe that they have a greater chance of developing same or similar interests than children whose parents aren't into LARP. Any of you with personal experiences who can shed some light on it?

Welcome, dear readers, to this blog! It's gonna be my LARP-related diary. There's the "About this blog" page you can check out for some general info about why this blog exists and what can you expect. I'm personally quite excited for starting this blog. And I hope you, dear readers, choose to be a part of it by reading it and asking any questions you might have. I live, breathe and think about LARP every day. Well that's about it for now as a welcome post. Read you later ;)