Like a king of fools after playing several larps, I thought that only cool, kind, and fun people play larps. Some find future partners and lifelong friends through these games. But some break relationships during the larp itself. Some feel the need to “win” the larp no matter how much they ruin the fun for everyone else. Some invent stories about others that never happened, as if reality doesn’t already provide enough nonsense. Some assume others think badly of them when they actually don’t. Various people do various foolish things that create bad relationships and spoil the game.
Preparation for playing the LARP Tragači zore (Seekers of the Dawn) Left: Marko Zadro Right: Sven Nemet
At one point, I decided not to invite people who ruin the fun for others to my larps, even though I had never had any problems with these people while playing or outside of playing. My goal was simply to avoid uncomfortable situations. Some players saw this as “wtf, what kind of exclusion is that?” but I saw the larp I organize more like a private party, and the people who attended my games mostly became my friends.
Over time, this approach proved to be good. The pandemic created a break in larping in Croatia — until then, the number of larps and larpers had been growing, and then pluf! Only the few heroes remained, like Terrible Creations.
Zvonimir Barać, “in one of many LARPs by Terible Creations.
People stopped coming to larps, and new larps didn’t emerge. But what bothered me the most was that a large part of that good social life died when the larp scene itself died. Of course, some people still socialize, but many went their separate ways. Obviously, I expected too much.
I was never part of the made-up nonsense about others, and I’m really curious how much of this happens in other countries. Are we overly harsh here, and do we have more drama than, say, in Denmark, Australia, Germany, the U.S., or Italy?
Rise of Rashalan LARP. Location: Ruins of Susedgrad in Zagreb, 2013. Left: Sven Nemet Right: Miroslav Wranka
Some found partners or moved to the other side of the world. In any case, all these little dramas and conflicts have inspired us to shape stories in the game Cloak and Boffer. None of these real-life events will happen in the game, but they have certainly given us a lot of material to create new dramas. Thank you!
Currently, we are hoping for funding from HAVC so that we can finish the game next year.
