Diary of a Croatian larper

PoRtaL is almost upon us and the program is up - in less than 48 hours we'll already be deep into presentations and discussions. So I thought this would be a good time to write something about stuff that I'll do there. I'll hold in total four presentations, two workshops and two larps. Here's the schedule and short descriptions of what I'll do on this weekend Friday, March 1st Presentation: Terra Nova larp - 18:30 - 19:00 This will be a short review about what Terra Nova is about, what's been done on three Terra Nova larps so far and what the plans are for Terra Nova 2013. Presentation: The Mixing Desk of Larp - 22:00 - 22:30 A short presentation of The Mixing Desk of Larp framework and the terminology used in describing it - a quick presentation of how different larps can be and what you get by changing the parameters. Workshop: Create a larp - 22:30 - 23:00 Connected to the Mixing Desk of Larp presentation, it will be a workshop for a...

Two hundred! We're at two hundred posts now! ...wow. The second hundred posts had gone much faster than the first - first took 14 months, second only six and a half. A list of top posts ever has changed somewhat: 1. Drachenfest 2012 2. A hundredth post! 3. Interview with the Larp Girl: Kaza Marie Ayersman, Avegost larp 4. ConQuest of Mythodea 2012 5. Smrt japanskog cara - Death of the Japanese Emperor 6. Terra Nova: Zimograd - how it was 7. Crolarp 2012 review 8. Tragači zore review 9. Fallout larp 2012 review 10. Immersion in larp Croatian scene had grown and developed in that time - larp is getting into media a lot recently. Yesterday I was at a discussion in Booksa by the Croatian SF author, Aleksandar Žiljak - the guest was Ana Rajner, and many people were exposed to larp. I gave an interview to the Croatian national radio (together with some other larpers who were present) that should be on air somewhere March 12th (I guess I'll find out the details in ...

I've kept quite busy lately - aside from 2 larps this past weekend, my regular job and family time (which could be better, to be honest), I've been quite busy working on the PoRtaL convention this weekend (programming and schedules, yes - it's a bit late but should be done this evening) and the larp I'm running there (which is almost complete, but it will need some polish before it's published because due to the fact I switched from Croatian to English midway while writing the first version...). And I still need to write all my presentations (and I'll have a few!) - AAARGH! There's nothing quite like the deadlines. This will be a short post. Anyway, today is the discussion about larp in the book club Booksa in Zagreb under its regular discussion series "SF in Booksa", with Aleksandar Žiljak and Ana Rajner. It will mention the history of larp, scene in Croatia and Europe, and it will also mention the subjects of literature, reenactment, possibi...

Maksimir 63 was highly anticipated - being the first Ognjeni Mač larp by it's new OzOI (plot team), and after a long break where there haven't been any Ognjeni Mač larps - Maksimir is back, and with its new monthly spring schedule (64 is announced for March 9th, and 65 for April 13th). Yesterday's event in the Maksimir park drew in a large number of people despite the snowy weather - which made the entire park quite beautiful. I did my best to appear the weirdest and most alien character of them all, by skulking around, eating snow (and offering it to other folks), looking broken, sniffing, being called a leper etc. This is certainly one challenging but fun character to play :) I didn't stay for the full duration - i left after the main photo shoot - so I can't say I've seen it all. What I've seen though is this - the event seemed well integrated into the existing storylines, and while it was rather low on action (compared to what most people ...

It's Friday and weekend is almost here. It's looking to be really interesting, especially tomorrow. Saturday, February 23rd, will feature two larps. First is Maksimir 63. It will be the first Maksimir larp in over four months, and the first larp of the new OzOI, Ognjeni Mač's plot team. If you recently started reading us: Maksimir is a free fantasy larp series in the common Croatian fantasy world, each event lasting a few hours in the Maksimir park. There seems to be a lot of excitement around Ognjeni Mač considering this event, so despite the fact it started to snow hard - and it will snow hard for the entire weekend - seems it will not get cancelled, making it one of the rare snow larps by Ognjeni Mač. Second is a private playtest of a certain one-shot larp which I know very little about (and what I know I probably shouldn't be mentioning much in this stage) but I'm very excited about it as it will be the first larp by some people. It's a very good thing ...

Exactly 1 year ago I stopped smoking. I used to smoke quite a lot - one pack a day for 12 years. When I finally quit it went easier than I expected, and I'm happy now for the decision I made because I feel way healthier than I used to - no more nasty cough, and I rediscovered what things actually taste like. Anyways, I thought this would be a good day to talk about the subject - smoking on larps. Well, obviously the best advice I could give is: quit smoking and become a nonsmoker. If that's not the road you wish to take, then bear in mind the following six rules: 1. Know where you can smoke Larp venues may have certain restrictions (e.g. no smoking inside) or outright ban smoking. Make sure you know what is expected of you. 2. Smoke in a historically accurate manner Cigarettes were not massively available before 20th century. If you're doing medieval larp, please be advised tobacco was not seen in Europe before 1560. Smoking in fantasy settings is usually more rel...

It's been talked about for several months, but now it's been officially announced. Maybe a bit last moment, but here it is: PoRtaL, the first larp convention ever to take place in Croatia. And in the region. Program will come soon, but there will be plenty of interesting presentations - both from local larpers and guests from the region (Hungary, Bulgaria, etc), larps, panels, workshops and much more. Entrance to the convention will be free of charge. If you want to participate in a panel or write other content, please let us know - I'm one of the coordinators so you can message me directly as well. For all other info, please check the event on Facebook.

Yesterday's Krvomeđe was better than the January one. We got five people instead of three. Yes, winter battlegames aren't as popular as the ones in warmer weather. Still, it was fun - we ran some CTF and duels. I did manage to film a few of those: Regarding winter larping, people still seem to be afraid of it. Winter is still here, and there will still be some more winter larps - including Maksimir larp next Saturday in Zagreb. So if you haven't read it already, check out my article about cold weather larping . Also, remember Martin ("LazyLarper") from the Hangout this Saturday ? He made a nice video about winter costumes. It's worth checking out because larping in winter is awesome and a shame to miss.

So, we did that Hangout :) Total recorded material is 1 hour and 21 minutes long. It started late (due to some bugs it had to be re-created) and I was plagued by some audio issues, seemingly due to bandwidth (I solved it later), but it was a very interesting cross-cultural discussion. For those of you who missed the live stream, you can watch it here: We'll do it again at some point :)

A new weekend is here - time for more larp stuff. Tomorrow I'll have a video conference using Hangouts - it will be streamed live starting at 6 PM (CET). Read the original announcement here . We've changed the subject a little bit - instead of larp duration, we'll discuss various larp rulesets and talking about combat, basically dealing and taking damage. This should be a more interesting subject for more viewers. It will be streamed live on Google+  and Youtube ( Larping.org channel ). Take part in it and ask questions - if you miss it it will be available for later viewing. Tomorrow's Hangout announced by Larp Girl Sunday will give us Krvomeđe - another snowy one, though with less snow than the January battle. Hopefully this will translate to more people. January battle was empty - but the one in December had plenty of people and it was great. If you're up for some combat, see you there. Also, I'm planning to run some stuff in March. All of it (e...

Aside from larp, reenactment events and carnival are two other places where you can dress up and pretend to be someone else. Of course they differ in whether the costuming part is viewed as serious business or something downright silly. With my reenactment/living history group "Red Srebrnog Zmaja" I participated in the recreation of the final battle of the Croatian-Slovenian peasant revolt, which took place exactly 440 years earlier, on February 9th 1573. While the participants' garb was of limited authenticity to the period, the battle itself was quite spectacular, and from my perspective as a participant quite fun. Here's a video of it: That battle displayed several formations, tactics etc. which I sometimes miss on Croatian fantasy larps (which usually feature small skirmishes instead of big battles), but they remind me of my experience on German larps such as Drachenfest and Mythodea. Speaking of those two larps, my wife and I portrayed NPCs from them thi...

LarpCraft (remember the interview we had with Ryan?) started a series of interviews with some of their players, talking about how they started doing larp, what they like and a lot more. It's a very nicely thought out series with three videos released so far, though I wouldn't be surprised if more of them pop up later on their channel . Check them out: Nice, professionally done, with nice stories to tell - what do you think about them? Leave a comment below. There have been some similar videos below - however, usually they were made independently by vloggers. E.g. here's one from Larp Girl . It even inspired me to make one of my own - so behold my first video entry - or whatever my cheap webcam has done of it. Thoughts? Opinions? Want to share your story? Leave a comment.

Here is some general advice on how to create a character for a larp. Most of these could be adapted for other forms of fiction. They're meant for the situations when player is creating his or her own character - the most dominant form in Croatia (as opposed to premade characters). Be aware that this guide goes into quite a detail - not all of it is necessary, and most of it is spice and fluff. As a matter of fact, it's often undesirable to go to great detail on all accounts - it can be very demanding and leave little room for interpretation. Enrichen your character to the point YOU feel comfortable with. The basics: First of all, think of what sort of character would you want to play. What kind of interactions do you prefer with other players? Is there anything in the rules which you'd certainly like to try and do? What kind of personality will you have? Answers to those would give you your basic character. Once you've done this (and got yourselves some gear)...

In just over 2 weeks - on Saturday, February 16th - I'll be participating in an online video discussion sponsored by larping.org , and streamed live on Google+ (yes, it's gonna be a Google+ Hangout ) and Youtube . The discussion will be led by Kaza Marie (aka Larp Girl , whom I  interviewed earlier ), and other participants will be Martin ( LazyLarper , an active Danish vlogger) and Caroline (from Éras Chronicles - an upcoming USA fantasy larp inspired by Nordic larp). This will be an interesting conversation... The subject will be the length and duration of larps. The live streaming will start on Saturday, Feb 16th at 6 PM (Central European Time - which makes it 5 PM GMT, or noon EST) and will probably last for an hour. If you'll be online at that time, there will also be live chat for you - ask your questions and they will be answered. If not, the Hangout will be recorded and available online for future viewings. Hope to see you there :)