Research on LARPing

LARPing (live-action role-playing) is a role-playing game where a person creates their character (personality, traits, appearance, etc.) and dresses up accordingly with all accompanying gear (Kyle, 2018). Players and non-player characters (NPCs) can attend events where characters are put into fictional settings to act out the storyline together.

Live Action Role Playing is fully immersive. If you combined the table top story telling and character dynamic of Dungeons and Dragons with the intricate costume work of cosplay, you have Live Action Role Playing. LARPing is a time where you can test those skills you see in movies and in table top games.

Set up:

Style:

Effort:

Every game has a "game master" who creates the scenario and story line. They create the entire world, the lore, the rules, etc. Everything that happens is up to them (besides individual choices made by players which affects the stories trajectory)
Rules per event change as they change with the GM.
- Some events have no rules and leave decisions up to the players, other have no fighting polices, or hardcore fighting policies
- generally speaking, there should always be safety rules that allow for everyone to enjoy the game safely
- Breaking character is a big no-no, doing so takes you out of the story and it can do so for others players as well
  - (breaking character for something serious or to break is allowed, but during gameplay if everything is alright, best to try not to)

There are different styles and versions of LARPing:
- There's the mode of game play: Battle heavy, theatrical story telling, role play heavy, etc.
Another component is the genre of the event
- examples include: Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Steam Punk, medieval, renaissance, historic, etc.
These factors dictate the character you make, the costume, and the style of gameplay you can expect

The effort put into these games is immense: GM's will spend hours upon hours creating these worlds and multiple intersecting storylines for players to work through (Simkins, 2015).
Player's themselves need to study up before the event (depending on the style of the event) in order to know what is going on

Links to LARPing:

Here are some links to LARPing events and live playthroughs: