Diary of a Croatian larper

If you've been following this blog, you have probably noticed a lot of interviews and news about various larp media projects so far - documentaries, series, movies... All of them in English. And while there were certain... disappointments (Knights of Badassdom), other media projects do look better. And there's quantity as well. All of this means one thing: greater media exposure, which is positive for larp overall. One of those projects is a movie, simply called LARP: the movie  by Ex Machina Films. It's being funded via the kickstarter campaign  that seeks to raise $80,000 and it will end on May 16th. Do you wish to know more? I interviewed Nicholas Dunn, the director and co-writer of the movie. 1) First of all, tell us a few things about yourselves. Who are you? When did you start larping? Do you have previous filmmaking experience? Which larps do you typically play? Nicholas Dunn We are a production company called Ex Machina Films, in Salt Lake City...

Elysium 12, photographed by Marko Zadro Sorry for being a bit late with the article - I'm dealing with some stuff in my life now, so at times I don't feel like writing much. But the articles are coming, even if they're a few days late. This Malkavian has many imaginary friends. Photo by Boris Kasavica Elysium 12 was played last Friday. I had to leave before it ended (my co-organizer was present for the rest of the event), but it was quite interesting. A total of 17 players took part in it. I'd say it was an usual evening of role-playing and fun, but the situation was quite unique. The power change that happened in Camarilla Agram 3 caused the event to feel very fresh in its' balance of power, as the major players and a focus of the story changed. This was the first Elysium event played on Friday. And I used the opportunity to play a NPC for a short while, which is not typically done on Elysium events. The next Elysium event is on Monday. Prison...

Fresh announcements, fresh announcements everywhere. New fantasy larps have been announced - quite a lot of them, in fact. There's already a large number of fantasy larp series in Zagreb area, especially considering the limited number of larpers here (maybe 150-ish nowadays). Krvomeđe and Rajski Vrhovi started back in 2004. Ognjeni Mač events started back in 2006, and had a reboot this year. Terra Nova (started in 2012) and Elder Scrolls Chronicles (started this year, though there was a playtest last year) add to the ruleset/setting/structure variety of Croatian fantasy larp series. And there have been some influential larps (typically one-shots) outside of the above mentioned series. Now that number is set to grow. A couple of days ago, Sven Nemet and Ksenija Premuš announced a new project - Beyond Gods and Empires  larp. Its' setting is going to be set in classical antiquity (year 359BC) which we are all more or less familiar about (due to the emphasis on the classica...

Happy Easter weekend folks - and whether you celebrate or not, here's a special present for you:  Izgon RPG . It's a Fate Accelerated-based tabletop RPG system, based on a realistic, pervasive ARG-ish larp, but it also has a larp conversion into another style of larp (a homebrew Fate conversion with alternative resolution system, not unlike Vampire). Larpception! OK, it's not really finished - but what is written is publicly available now, and playable so you may consider it a form of open beta. If you're a theorycrafter, playtester or just an opinionated person and you have any feedback on it, it would be most welcome. And if you have any content submissions - especially adventures or such - they would be especially welcome. Speaking of larps, to the left you'll find a photo from yesterday's Elysium 11. I was not able to attend it due to a family situation (which makes it... first Croatian Vampire larp so far I didn't attend), but it was visited by ...

Starting this article took me a while. That is because this larp caused me quite a bit of recovery time. It was amazing, incredible and blew my own expectations. On the other hand, there were some issues and parts of it were quite draining. But I'm getting ahead of myself - let me explain from the beginning. So. Camarilla Agram, our Vampire: the Masquerade chronicle. The first and second big event that we did had 25 players in the game. This larp had almost twice that number - 48. Forty-eight. Camarilla Agram is a walk-in larp, but to be honest I was not prepared for that number of people. I expected there to be about 10 fewer. This made it the largest larp I ran since Izgon 2 , and playing conditions were a bit cramped. Tremere clan of Vienna (two guys in the back) and Zagreb Out of those players, seven were visitors from abroad. A month ago, I met some Hungarian and Austrian Vampire players on PoRtaL2 convention in Budapest , and discussed some international storyli...

A total of 16 people took part in last night's Elysium 10 event. It was sort of a big deal - Elysium went to double digits, it was the 15th Camarilla Agram larp so far - and it marked the instance of the first character death in the series so far, following a period of intense drama and planning. The plot thickens - both the PC and NPC plot, from this event and the online role-play - and it's really building up towards this Saturday's major Vampire event - Camarilla Agram: Chapter 3 . I'm pretty excited about it, to be honest. It's gonna feature a lot of players - new, old and even a few visitors from other cities and countries. And it's not the only thing happening this weekend. This Sunday is a battlegame day at Krvomeđe , the Croatian Amtgard chapter. Expect it from 3 to 5 PM. You would expect next week to be off, due to Easter - but no. Thursday is the day for Elysium 11 . And Friday will feature the  meeting for the upcoming Terra Nova 2014 . ...

Maska Sumraka - or Twilight Mask as it would be in English - was played on Saturday. It was the third fantasy larp this year organized by Ognjeni Mač (to remind you: the first one was a Maksimir 72 battlegame on March 1st - which was an intro event - and the second one was Put Istine  three weeks ago), and the one that was organized as an overnight feast-style event . Basically, Maska Sumraka is a replacement (sort-of) for Sunčev Potočić larp , since their old setting and system got nuked starting from this year. For the record, three Sunčev Potočić events were ever organized: first one in November 2010 (by Petra Sabljar and Ivo Turk), second one in March 2012 (by Green Banner Croatia, with assistance from Ognjeni Mač) and the third one in March 2013 (by Green Banner Croatia and Ognjeni Mač). Maska Sumraka was organized in the same location (Eko Selo Žumberak) and generally around the same time of the year. My mask was decorated with in-game motives Why the name? Well...

Today, April 5th, has been proclaimed an international tabletop day . This project, started by Geek and Sundry , is now in its' second year. It's one of the major tabletop RPG days where you could get free stuff. Besides game days (check the website for today's tabletop game days - in Croatia, you'll find them in Zagreb, Rijeka and Lovran), there are several seriously awesome promotions that are being currently run by DriveThruRPG - if you're into buying tabletop games, they could save you some serious bucks. First and foremost, there's a free bundle  with over $70 of books offered for free. The gem of this offer is certainly World of Darkness core book - while it describes the new World of Darkness (a slightly different setting and ruleset than the old WoD we typically play in in Croatia - see here for the rules we use for Vampire larps), it's a whole system in itself - and should you ever want to run a nWoD larp, nWoD larp rules are almost identi...

Building an actual fantasy village is never the wrong answer I'd like to talk a bit about sleeping systems and accommodations on multi-day fantasy larps - to provide a review of what is currently used in Croatian larps and what is generally available and possible, as well as benefits, downsides and costs of each option. I'll divide it into three sections: modern, coolthentic and authentic. This review doesn't mention cabins, yurts, cottages etc. - which could be any of the three, depending on how they're built and decorated. It's focused on larps where you typically camp. Modern Modern tents Modern tents are the first thing that comes to one's mind when tents are mentioned. They're widely available in all camping stores (and most general stores too). They're compact, lightweight and space-efficient, and they're reasonably priced - cheap ones start from around €10, but they're typically awful - you can get a very decent one fo...

Yesterday's article about Izgon Fantasy was an April 1st hoax. Sorry :) However, several people caught on and were quite disappointed when they found out it's not happening. Apparently, a prehistoric larp is something that several people thought an interesting idea. So I'm gonna ask you here - what do you think about it? How would you structure the plot and what should it look like? The discussion is open on forums . If you encountered any good April Fools hoaxes from your larp scene, post them below! :) Other hoaxes related to the Croatian larp scene included the one from By Night Studios about being acquired by Myspace  (if you're new here, we use their rules for Camarilla Agram ), and this one from Marko about Elder Scrolls Chronicles which I'm reposting in full: Dear players, The time has come for us to reveal the masterplan we have been hiding for so long. After a lot of revision of the ruleset and the feedback received by the players, we decided ...

Life can be different. We can be masters of our own fate and build our own society. We can be free. It is a new idea, but the one we must strive for - else we will continue to work and die like we did, hungry and beaten. But if we are all together, if we strike at once, we can change our fate and challenge the ones who chain us to become masters ourselves. We need to be Slaves no longer - we can forge our own identity. The power is within us, and the better world of tomorrow awaits. Slaves of the world, unite! - Aman, leader of the Rebellion Croatian larp scene will get a new fantasy larp this year - Izgon Fantasy! It will be played in the popular Izgon setting - the same one in which Izgon and Izgon 2 were played, but this one will be shifted way in the past - in alternate-history 8000 BC. It will follow the history of several civilizations - rise of some, and downfall of others. Rules can be downloaded here (Croatian and English versions are available). There will be four ...