TRADE KIT SUBMITTED BY: Natalie W. as Tymraetheleon.

TRADE: Weaver

DESCRIPTION OF ITEMS: This kit includes the basic Weaver requirements as well as some items for “flavor” and practicality. Here are the items shown which are required for the trade: 

• Weaver mat of choice
• 4 props to represent the 4 elements, player’s choice (displayed: a rattle made with deer antlers for Earth; a scrying orb with blue flashes in it for Fire; a crystalline bowl with a flask of “moon-charged” water for Water; a jingle bell feather bundle for Air).
• Beads for different auras cast by the Weaver; Mana bands.
• Pocket watch, aka Syndar Time Piece, for tracking the duration of skills (sand timers are another option).  
• Trade manual, which I’ve also integrated with art and many flavor pages.

My kit also shows some optional items:

• Backpack for carrying the kit;
• Finger labyrinth for assisting with focusing during meditations;
• Prop unofficial magical ingredients that are distinct from official ingredients & potions in the game, but can be utilized for flavor when doing a weaving skill; fun box to carry them in;
• A few bonus items for helping with divination or other rituals (tuning fork, singing bowl, stone pendulum). 

HOW ITEMS WERE PROCURED: Many small items were thrifted, made/modified with everyday materials, and found at “normal” stores. The backpack and various small pouches were from Medieval Collectibles — I recommend them or Unmedievable for basic staple items. The leather book was from Etsy (Momoleather), as was the labyrinth (MamacitaHandcrafts). The Weaver mat is a drop cloth from the hardware store, painted with paint markers. 

CHARACTER RACE & CULTURAL INFLUENCE ON ITEMS (if applicable):

Tymraetheleon is a Io’Larian Syndar, and I specifically wanted to tap into themes of wilderness, outsiderness, and shamanism while being mindful of cultural appropriation and people’s real spiritual practices. I decided to lean into the idea of “witchiness” as my inspiration point. I also liked the idea of Tym engaging with magic in an intuitive and sensory way, vs in a scientific and scholarly way. This is why Tym uses tools like a singing bowl, finger labyrinth, and pendulum, as these each involve different areas of sensory engagement.

The game doesn’t allow established religious symbols on screen, so the design of the Weaver mat is a modified Hecate’s wheel (another witch reference) — the standard symbol has 3 segments and usually involves a moon or star; my modification has 4 segments and is plain, to represent the 4 elements and to distinguish it clearly from the real symbol. 

TRADE KIT SUBMITTED BY: Natalie W. as Aina Possum Riverhead. 

TRADE: Bard

DESCRIPTION OF ITEMS: This kit features my bard trade book (includes rules of the trade, and song lyrics), a frame drum (logo covered with a Possum), a tambourine, and a small hand painted box for misc. tools of the trade (pencil and timer). 

HOW ITEMS WERE PROCURED: The empty leather book was purchased from somewhere typical (Barnes and Noble maybe?) and I added the songs and illustrations over time. I researched and collected old traditional folk songs, and also included more modern songs that have a passably medieval/renaissance sound. I’ve also written songs for specific characters, and lightly modified existing songs to ensure that they’re “decorum.”  Some of these songs are posted elsewhere on the website under Player Submissions (Snippets from Aina’s Bard Book). The wooden box was a plain box from Michaels craft store, painted with “milk paint.” The instruments are from typical music stores, with logos covered as needed. 

CHARACTER RACE & CULTURAL INFLUENCE ON ITEMS (if applicable): Aina is Ulven, so many of the modified songs contain Ulven references or themes. Her clan, Riverhead (now fallen), is jokingly associated with a “hillbilly” aesthetic, so some of her songs lean into bluegrass music in addition to the standard “medieval fantasy bard” sound. The heart painted on the box comes from a Celtic art reference book, and this art style overlaps heavily with Nordic art. 

TRADE KIT SUBMITTED BY: Rachel Miller

TRADE: Companion

DESCRIPTION OF ITEMS: This kit is meant to be used to assist players with their projects by handling note taking, letter writing, and write ups of official documents. Everything shown fits in the rattan basket for easy transportation. Included is paper, 2 wax melt ovens, candles, a variety of wax colors and seals, ribbon and scissors, glass pen with ink, and a large gold base that can be used as a stand for the wax ovens or as a paper weight on windy days.

HOW ITEMS WERE PROCURED: Most of the items shown have been bought from craft stores or online vendors like Etsy, Amazon, and Wish. The baskets, wax containers, and gold platform were found thrifting at Goodwill and St Vincent de Paul’s.

CHARACTER RACE & CULTURAL INFLUENCE ON ITEMS: This kit includes a lot of gold and red items because the character who uses it is a Phoenix Syndar. Many of the wax seals are also related to the faction she’s part of, but some are generic for use with patrons.

TRADE KIT SUBMITTED BY: Rachel Miller

TRADE: Bard

DESCRIPTION OF ITEMS: A large book filled with LARP – decorum songs, and a leather carrying bag. Not pictured are sand timers. Typically when you bard for someone, they have their own timers, but I keep my own as well as a requirement of the trade.

HOW ITEMS WERE PROCURED: Both items in this kit were hand made. I made the book myself. The hard covers are fake suede and chipboard from an old poster. The paper is large watercolor paper so it can handle ink. I format all my songs on a computer and print them off, then use a tracing light tablet to trace them into the boom.  The leather bag was made for me by Xak Hawkins.

CHARACTER RACE & CULTURAL INFLUENCE ON ITEMS: This kit is for a Phoenix Syndar. The biggest influence on this kit is the bag which includes a phoenix emblem on the front. Additionally, many of the songs are geared toward more fae-like stories and takes from Faedrun. Some are love songs and fight songs that may be heard in taverns as this character would spend a lot of time in them.

TRADE KIT SUBMITTED BY: Leticia Gonzalez

TRADE: Merchant

DESCRIPTION OF ITEMS and HOW ITEMS WERE PROCURED:

My tables of items for sale are all Unmedievable merchandise that I procure from places like Larp Distribution, Calimacil, or Burgschneider. Variably i’ll find good deals on other decorum items and bring those to sell as well. 

Most items are sold for paper, but I also have a grill that I will use to make food to sell for silver, and this character always makes chocolate bars or other chocolate treats to sell.

CHARACTER RACE & CULTURAL INFLUENCE ON ITEMS:(if applicable)

My character is a human merchant who travels quite a bit and has recently joined the Phoenix. The way she looks and the way her merchandise is presented is always important to her, so I always bring lots of decorative items to hang from my tent or pretty cloths to cover the tables with.

TRADE KIT SUBMITTED BY: Michael Hannes

TRADE: Blacksmith

DESCRIPTION OF ITEMS: mend strips, multiple sized hammers, oil can, small anvil, two buckets for water and coal, fan, pliers, sand timer, and carrying bag 

HOW ITEMS WERE PROCURED: Most items were acquired on Amazon, most of the hammers I got from my father in law or antique shops. 

CHARACTER RACE & CULTURAL INFLUENCE ON ITEMS:(if applicable) There was no cultural influence on this kit. 

So, you want to make a PC. Here’s a checklist to make sure you’re ready!

If you answered yes to all those questions, you’re ready to make your first PC!

---

Submission Deadline

The deadline for new PC bios is 2 weeks (literally 14 days) prior to the event you want to play them for the first time. Consider this rule to also apply for submitting Downtime Actions– your PC bio will be due 14 days prior to your Action due date. This gives staff enough time to review your bio before the event, and also gives you a chance to sign up to play the character before the usual Early-Bird Deadline for pre-registration.

However, if your bio does not fit the lore of our game, if your spelling and grammar is wildly off, or if something else needs to be changed about your bio and we have to send it back to you for those revisions, we cannot guarantee your ability to play the character at the event. The earlier you can submit your bio, the better!

---

Submission Template

The template below is a helpful guide for creating your PC bio. Want to use a different format, or leave some details out for drama and mystery? Go ahead! We encourage creativity when creating your PCs. Just don’t forget, we’re gonna need all the info in order to approve the bio. Have fun!

PLAYED BY: Your name

CONTACT INFO: Email. This will not be posted on the bio, but will allow Staff and Heralds to contact you when they are approving it. We need the contact info for the actual player of this PC as well, even if it was written by another player.

CHARACTER NAME: Your PC’s name.

GENDER:

PRONOUN(S):

CLASS: Warrior, Rogue, Cleric, or Mage?

AGE:

RACE:

HAIR:

EYES:

OCCUPATION: What does your character do? A career, profession, trade, member of an organization, etc?

KNOWN SKILLS: Stuff your PC can do. Doesn’t necessarily have to be skills right out of the rule book, but a brief description of things your character is skilled at.

BIRTHPLACE: Where were you born? Contact a Herald for help on family/world history stuff.

APPEARANCE: What do you look like?

NOTABLE TRAITS: Unusual traits that someone would notice right away upon meeting you, such as blind, scar on face, etc

RELATIONSHIPS: What relationships do you have other PCs and NPCs?

RUMORS: If they gossip about you, what do they say?

BIO / BACKGROUND HISTORY: Background info and notable events! This is where you will detail the story of your character. If needed, contact a Herald for help! If you can send a bullet list of ideas to lasthopelarp@gmail.com for approval, it will help you detail out your bio. You can earn 0-5 exp for writing a bio; the more detailed, thought out, well written, and spelling/grammar checked it is the better your chance at earning a full 5 exp. We expect players to think about their backgrounds and the personas of the PCs they intend to play, so please take this step seriously. Who do you want to play and who do you want that person to be?
What relationships do you have other PCs and NPCs?

SECRET INFO: If you so choose, this is the spot where you can put down secret info that most players would not know about your character. This will not be posted to your bio page on the wiki, but it allows the Staff and Heralds to know things about your character to help with the character creation process. Did you murder someone? Did you steal something? Etc.

Once complete, email this to lasthopelarp@gmail.com with the title [BIO]: [Your name]