Usually home to Lycra clad runners and dog walkers, local Victorian parks have also become medieval sanctuaries for noble swordsmen and swordswomen decked out in chain mail.

 By LAURA MOSS

An increasing number of brave souls are gathering in our local parks, to stand united and prepare for battle.

The fate of some is already decided before combat even begins, while others must rely on courage and strategy. Welcome to the world of LARPing.

LARPing – or Live Action Role Playing – requires an active imagination and intricately designed costuming. Public parks across Melbourne from Carlton to Wantirna South are reimagined as fictional locations, while over time the players develop a story or narrative within the game.

Swordcraft Medieval Live Action Battle Game board member Callum Gamble says LARPing has existed for some time, particularly in the UK and Europe - with single events at times attracting more than 5000 participants.

Graphic by Warren Clark

“Even though we've never had events of that magnitude [here], there have always been small groups dotted around the place. Working with and bringing those small groups together has been a unique challenge in making Swordcraft what it is today,” he said.

The purchase of the organisation’s own land and campsite is indicative of the growing popularity of the sport.

“The plan is, over the coming months and years, to build a full medieval fantasy town in the middle of the land to help add immersion and depth to the events we run,” he said

Leah Biffin, secretary of Chimera Productions Live Action Roleplaying Group, which hosts two LARPing games – including Legend of the Five Rings, set in the fictional world of Rokugan – says LARPing goes “one step beyond the theatre”.

The trick to live action role-play is in suspending disbelief, with the range of fantasy play available going from historical figures such as samurai, to the supernatural world of dragons and vampires.

For club president Jarrah James, LARPing is a form of escapism that allows players to explore character traits that would otherwise be taboo.

“Basically it’s just like pretending with your friends, except you get to hit each other with foam sticks,” he said.

“You can be far more evil and unpleasant than what you would normally be, with no long term consequences outside the fiction of the game. Some people find that rather liberating.”

The increasing popularity of LARPing and mock battles has lead to the growth of an industry creating LARP-safe weaponry and armor. That is, realistic looking weapons made  of foam rubber designed to, at worst, slightly bruise one’s opponent.

“The original outfitting cost is quite high because you need to get LARP-safe weaponry, which you either need expensive equipment to make it yourself or you need to buy it. Then of course you need to get clothing that is appropriate to the genre of the game,” James said.

“Costuming gets more complex if you are playing a non-human. For example, if you want to be an elf, at the very least it’s going to require a set of pointy ears.”

While there is an overlap of skill sets in LARPing and the more widely known cosplay (costume play), James says there are differences in both weapons and costumes.

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“Costumes in cosplay are going to be built for authenticity, whereas in LARP they’re going to be built for safety and durability,” he said.

Cosplay enthusiast Sally Trang Ta agrees that cosplay and LARPing are two different beasts, but says they both fall into the same “nerd culture”, which is starting to become more acceptable and mainstream.

“Cosplay is strictly costume, whereas in LARP you aren’t basing yourself on a pre-generated character and you don’t have to worry about cosplay accuracy – a term we use to describe how accurate our costume is in comparison to the character we are playing,” she said.

Jarrah James attributes the development of a more mainstream approach to the geek/pop culture to the huge success of TV shows and blockbuster films, like Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings.

“It’s a matter of more people identifying themselves as being ‘nerdy’. People have become more accepting,” he said.

“It’s also a matter of awareness, LARPing is slowly filtering in through the media, in movies and on TV shows. It makes people more aware of fantasy and then people realise they can actually get involved with it”

In the beginning: a good idea put to the sword

An adventurous holiday experience in Britain provided the inspiration for getting LARPing off the ground in Melbourne

By BRIDGET FIRTH

Phil Krins realised just how much fun LARPing could be  in a UK chalk mine.

“There were miles of tunnels, and you’d battle in armour and avoid traps. It was good fun. Then I got back and looked here,” he said.

“LARP in Melbourne was pretty small, about 40 people meeting a couple times a year. You needed armor and they were difficult to get into. Me and my brother were keen to do some kind of medieval fighting but we didn’t see any way it could be done in the current groups.”

With his brother Jeff, Phil set out to find something that would work in Australia. They decided that a real battle game was more preferable than heavy role-playing, and Swordcraft was born.

“We thought, ‘let’s create something which is really just a big live-action battle game where the focus is less on being a character and more on actually having an excuse to fight’.”

The rubber weapons Phil discovered on the active European LARP scene allowed them to create a game that was safe without the armor that other groups required. They aimed to make the rules “as idiot-proof as possible”, so that someone without any experience could walk off the street and join in.