#first larp

So I’m feeling in a bit of a story mood so I thought I’d share the story of the first (and only) time I went to a LARP group! Note that it wasn’t because I had a bad time or anything, it was just the only time I was ever able to go and a friend had invited me, but there was one scenario that really stuck out to me and was a ton of fun!

So for context, the LARP here (I honestly don’t know much about how it all works still) worked with the ‘PC’s’ having their own tavern area where they hung out. Then we had our own NPC camp elsewhere on the camp grounds where we’d plan scenarios, assign people roles, stats, etc, and then send them out into the forest to prepare for the PCs. PCs would then wander around or accept quests to head out and fight us, get loot, yada yada.

I’ve never done any like ‘in person’ RP stuff before this. I’d done text RP online, played D&D and so forth, but actually being the character was still a new experience for me. Naturally though, I was determined to give it my best shot.

So we get assigned to be a group of goblins in the forest, setting up an ambush as the PCs approach a ‘goblin fortress’ of sorts, where there’s a goblin boss and a whole mess of a fight ahead. The way it worked is, if you got ‘killed’, you just put your hands on your head to signify death and return to camp / hurry off to the fortress to set up for the next phase of the fight. So, I get placed super far ahead of the rest of the group for pretty much arbitrary reasons. Despite it being my first time I kept getting given the weirdest roles, but I wasn’t going to complain. Anyways, my job was to flank their casters once the fight started and try to take them out really fast to help out the rest of the ground.

So, nervously doing my best to remain dead quiet hiding behind a tree, the PC’s start to walk by, then I hear “goblin noises” ahead, the fight starts. I rush out of this tree trying not to fall on my ass, and just... get into character. I get that weird gangly stance where my arms are far forward and I’m leaning weird, and I just start stabbing this caster in the back before they realize what’s happening. Of course, goblins are super weak, so by the time I down their caster the rest of my allies had died and now I’m surrounded. They coax me into surrendering, and in my mind I’m like “welp, goblins have to have some sense of self preservation right?” 

They disarm me and take my weapons, and then interrogate me as to what’s waiting ahead for them. I honestly have no idea if I was supposed to spoil the encounter, or if I was meant to just roll with it, but in my god awful squeaky weird goblin voice I mention something about a king and another ambush ahead. They get to talking, and decide to take me with them as a prisoner in the interim.

So I basically just... walk with them (wishing I’d had a secret weapon stowed away, but hindsight is 20-20) for a little until they get to the next encounter site. There’s a big sorta speech thing about how the PCs should surrender, etc. etc. and then a big fight breaks out and I just kinda stand there. I have no weapon, and once they realized there was a king, the PCs promised me I could take the throne after the old king died if I promise not to be an evil king. Naturally I was like “KING!? YES!”.

So as the fight is going, one of the friends who brought me is the King’s pet bear. High HP really strong NPC sorta thing, but he gets affected by a spell I don’t remember the name of. The short version was: As long as the caster maintains eye contact with their target, neither one of them can move. So basically they immediately take the bear out of the fight, everyone else dies, and now the king is begging for mercy.

Deciding to just... bust out into character, I start circling the king and taunting him. Now is my time! My time to become king! I’m talking so much smack, and then someone calls for a temporary pause.

As it turns out, in my circling and taunting of the boss, I had walked between the bear and the caster keeping the enraged bear frozen. With the spell broken, the bear immediately just rushed forward and killed the first thing it saw. Being directly in front of the bear, that thing was me. I immediately died to my friend and they killed him shortly after. Needless to say, my reign was short.

I went to my first ever LARP this weekend and holy shite, it was fun! I'm hoping to level up my priestess into a Valkyrie once I get enough games in under my belt.