Category: New Player FAQ

LARP is an acronym for Live Action Role Playing. It refers to a type of interactive gaming in which the players assume game identities and act as a specific character for the duration of the game. The game may conform to a scenario written by the moderator or Game Master. Alternatively the LARP may be based on individual decisions made by the participants.

While activities that fall under the broad definition of LARP have existed for at least a century, LARP gained in popularity during the seventies due to the popularity of table-top role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons.

Many LARP games are medieval or fantasy themed, since many participants are Renaissance Faire or Dungeons & Dragons enthusiasts. Such LARP games may feature knights, castles, wizards, damsels, dragons, and of course, dungeons. LARPs are not limited to this format. A LARP may be set in a forties film-noir and follow the case of a tough-guy private eye, or be set in the distant future with robots, talking spaceships and aliens.

LARPs are typically divided into two types, combat and theater, although the boundary between these is fairly permeable. In fact, while LARPers might disagree, Revolutionary and Civil War reenactors can be considered a specialty-type of live combat LARPers, while Murder Mystery weekends, for example, might qualify as theater-type LARPs.

Many LARP games have long-running or ever-running plot arcs, in which each game is yet another episode in the story. Other games are designed to take place once, perhaps over a weekend, during which the players convene for that one game and then disperse. Some LARPs are goal-directed, such as quest scenarios, while some are played competitively with points scored for winning fights or tricking opponents.

LARPs are enjoyed by players of all ages, genders and backgrounds, despite the common misconception that they are only for teenage boys. Many players grew up LARPing with their parents and met their spouses at a game or convention.

LARPs can be considered an interactive form of literature, an audience participation type of theater, or just an engrossing game. To many players, the games are both a social activity and a way of life.

via wisegeek.com

There are many places to find garb. A lot of us use thrift stores to find basic pieces for our kits. If you keep an eye out, it’s not too hard to find cheap and useful clothing.

For those of us who are crafty, there are many patterns available online and in stores for making various kinds of garb. This is a cheaper route to go, but it requires an ability to sew, and the time to invest.

For those of use that do not have the time, money, or ability, there are many stores online you can buy them from. The resources page has many links to online vendors that sell costuming. If you want to support your local community, there are some of us in the game available for commissions!

In Last Hope, characters can pick between the following three races to play; Ulven, Syndar and Humans.

• Humans are the most adaptable of the races, being able to become any class and pick it up quickly.
• The Syndar are a magical people and tend to do a little better in a Mage or a Cleric role due to their heritage.
• Ulven are a hearty, warrior culture. Most (especially male Ulven) tend to not study magic and tend to be Warriors.

Also, in Last Hope, you character can choose to be a Warrior, a Rogue, a Mage, or a Cleric.

• Warriors have a skill-set that tends to make them better in combat. They can usually take more damage and use more weapons than the other classes. If you want to play a bodyguard, a soldier or a hunter, a Warrior may be the class for you.
• Rogues are can be a specialist or a jack-of-all-trades. They tend to be more subtle than some of their counterparts, and use their skill-set to excel in support/non-combat roles. They excel in some of the less common skills and are excellent at accruing lore and information.
• Mages can wield arcane magic in battle, and and have a harder time training their bodies to move in armor. Arcane magic is mostly offensive. Many mages focus on a research aspect and study the lore of the world and reveal extra info on situations.
• Clerics can wield divine magic. They use their powers to heal and support the group. They are adept at training their body to move in armor, but some choose not to. Clerics are also a vital part in any group that wishes to combat undead.

An important thing to remember is that these are guidelines to help play your character. A Warrior may choose to be quick and nimble, favoring a bow over a sword for instance. Or a Mage may choose to train in plate armor. A Rogue may be an upstanding public figure with a penchant for books and learning. If you have any questions whether or not something is allowed, check with Staff.

Once you’ve got your character’s race and class down, it’s time to figure out something about your character. Where did they come from? Why are they here? Do they have any unusual habits or traits? Etc. There is a fantastic template for character backstories on the Character Bios page.

Fantasy wears many faces. Sometimes it is bright and colorful. Sometimes it is dark and shadowy. Some fantasy worlds feature flying machines and talking animals, others center on primitive people struggling to survive against predators and the elements.

Sometimes, people try to classify these different types of stories as either “low fantasy” or “high fantasy”. The simplest and most seemingly obvious way to categorize fantasy would seem to be based on the overall feel. People try to put a given story or series on some sort of “fantastic-ness scale” to see how it rates. Flying cats with psychic powers living in a world with green skies would be, by that definition, the extreme end of high fantasy. It isn’t that simple, though.

There is a lot more to high or low fantasy than just how weird or alien the setting is (despite what Wikipedia says with their over-generalized definition). When defining high or low fantasy, you have to look at not only the world and the people, but how those people live in that world. A story is nothing without characters to drive it. Think, for a moment, about what made “The Princess Bride” so memorable.

So where does “Last Hope” fall within the spectrum and how do you make a character that will fit into this world? First, “Last Hope” is lower fantasy. It is about a struggle for survival. This isn’t the work of J.R.R. Tolkien, where there are a handful of people destined to carry all the burdens of mankind to defeat a great evil and trigger the dawning of a new age. Nor is it one of the Greek classics, with petty gods and unbelievable feats of legendary prowess on expansive battlefields. Last Hope is very different from those stories. Whereas the heroes in those tales are basically big fish in small ponds, slaughtering dozens of orcs without breaking a sweat, or regularly defeating mythical beasts with their bare hands, the characters in “Last Hope” are SMALL fish in a BIG pond. That may seem backwards in a figurative sense, when you compare how vast Middle Earth is compared to Mardrun, but remember, we are not talking about acreage. We are talking about how characters interact with their world.

The world of Middle Earth is a dangerous place, indeed. But the characters of the Fellowship are more than equipped to deal with it. If Legolas and Gimli are surrounded by twenty orcs and two trolls, we really don’t have to worry much about whether or not they will win, and instead immediately find ourselves questioning who will kill more of the bad guys and who will be buying drinks that night.

Last Hope is very different. If Raskolf, Sir William, and Captain Aradael are surrounded by half a dozen Mordok, the three veteran warriors very well may die. Yes, the three characters are all faction leaders, and yes, the players portraying them are good fighters, but two-to-one odds are never good in real life, and therefore they are not in Last Hope either. Welcome to lower-fantasy. It can be harsh.

So where does this come into play when creating your LH character? Well, as stated before, it is all about HOW your character interacts with the world around them. Sometimes, the more ordinary a character may seem, the more extraordinary it seems when they manage to do something heroic. The Humans and Syndar of Mardrun are just trying to survive on a strange new frontier, while the Ulven try to cope with the invasion of these strangers from across the sea and a bitter civil war in the face of political fall out. Even as these disparate people come together they are still dealing with the realities of a world where monsters and bandits can attack and politics must be deftly maneuvered.

Last Hope is not a world populated by ninja-like assassins raised from childhood by shadowy organizations. It is not a world of prodigy teenage magic-users. It is a world where a turnip farmer can become a soldier, and eventually a politician. It is a world where a curious scholar can become an explorer and cartographer.

Picture a world where a blood spattered and shoe-less child, pressed into militia service in desperate times, undergoes her rite of passage as her parent dies in her arms in the smoldering aftermath of a terrible and costly battle, fought with pitchforks, pick-axes and scythes, in ankle-deep snow against Mordok raiders. We missed the fight, apparently, so what happened?

The high fantasy version of that character went berserk and killed half the raiders herself. Cue Final Fantasy victory music, right? Now to go get revenge by slaying the goddess of the Mordok. Shouldn’t be a problem. This kid is probably some sort of “chosen one” or something anyway. Clearly, the gods have laid out a path for her to be their instrument. Better start walking. Just follow the railroad tracks.

The low fantasy version of that character is more interesting.

The low-fantasy version may have killed one or two Mordok in an act of panicked desperation, and now suffers emotional trauma from the experience of watching her friends get killed in battle. She will be haunted by her personal demons and post-traumatic-stress-disorder for the rest of her life. Maybe she’ll get a job working in a tavern. Maybe she’ll join the Army. Who knows. She is an ordinary person, coping with extraordinary circumstances, and her life is an open book.

That is the difference between low fantasy and high fantasy. Keep these things in mind when you are crafting your LARP character for Last Hope.

Many RPGs have two types of characters: NPCs who don’t matter, and Big Damn Heroes whom the world revolves around. Last Hope has neither. Last Hope just has people. Sometimes those people take up the sword to defend the village from monsters and maybe drag a wounded comrade to the healer. Sometimes they spend a morning sewing the sole back on their daughter’s boot with leather lacing.

Now, go forth and make well rounded characters. Be one of those people.

The easiest way to try out the system is to attend a practice. We hold weekly or bi-weekly practices in Baraboo and Kenosha. Check out our Facebook Event Page for the most up-to-date information It’s a great chance to get to know some of the people as well as learning some of the rules regarding combat and garb. You can also find us on Facebook by clicking here or searching for Last Hope LARP.