As a follow up to my last blog, I wanted to show the other side of LARPing; Game Mastering or GMing, and convince you, through my own experiences, why you should run one. Being a GM is not an easy task. The players rely on you to tell the story, know the rules, be the adjudicator, and keep it fun. You need a true love of storytelling to go through the labor of running any game, especially a LARP. Let me explain why you should do it.

First, LARPs are great outlets for stories. With any game I run, I love to tell the story, which is the backbone behind the entire campaign. When I run a LARP, the players have a better opportunity to bring the story to life. In my superhero LARP I ran, the players were supposed to be competing against each other, in some type of test set up by their host, who w

At some point I’m guessing you’ve probably heard someone mention the word LARP. If you’re a gamer, you may have an idea what this is. If you’re not a gamer, you probably don’t know and were afraid to ask. Either way, if you don’t know what this is, you’re not alone. I’m here today to give you the basic rundown of LARPs.

What does the word LARP mean? LARP stands for Live Action Role Playing. Great! So what exactly is that? If I am gaming with my friends with my character sheet and dice, isn’t that live action roleplaying? Not quite. Let me explain some of the differences between LARPs and RPGs.

First, in LARPs you are interacting with other characters and NPCs without a GM playing most of the roles. For example, if I am playing a secret ag

On January 26, 2010, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld a ruling to ban Dungeons and Dragons in prison (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/us/27dungeons.html). In the New York Times article, a prison official was quoted that Dungeons and Dragons could “foster an inmate’s obsession with escaping from the real-life correctional environment, fostering hostility, violence and escape behavior”. I don’t know about you, but I can’t recall many of my Dungeons and Dragons games being about prison breaks. I remember seeking lost treasures, stopping evil wizards from destroying a country, and even saving a princess or two.

Roleplaying games in general have always received terrible press from the mass media. Back in the 70s it was believed th

Fantasy Craft clearly points out there is no world or campaign setting for their book. I was surprised when I read through Time of High Adventure as a book for Fantasy Craft. The best description I could give is Time of High Adventure is a set of three short modules that you can easily insert into any of your Fantasy Craft campaigns. The book is primarily aimed at Game Masters (GMs). Though there is some cultural information that players can use, the stories themselves are not for the player’s eyes.

The first story, “The Darkest Hour”, takes place in the quiet village of Andra. The poor unknowning adventurers, who are simply passing through and trying to enjoy their dinner, find themselves fighting hordes of undead to protect the town. The storyline leads the characters in