Live action role-playing is a worldwide phenomenon. It may be conducted differently depending on where on our planet you reside. Many people attend local LARPs on a weekly basis, others travel the world to attend some of the largest events that take place only a few times per year – in some cases only once per year.
The Most Popular Larps in the US
To create
Live action role-playing in the United States is somewhat different from the experience in Europe.
These are the most popular events in America and, sometimes referred to as the best LARPs in the US.
Amtgard
Founded in El Paso, Texas back in 1983, Amtgard spread throughout the country and later on, the world. The largest chapters are still in the US. Amtgard is an event that will offer more boffer combat and less roleplaying and immersion.
Amtgard’s character creation system is based on classes with pre-generated abilities. These abilities become more powerful as the character reaches higher levels. Some characters have the ability to learn and use magic spells at the cost of spell points.
I did point out that Amtgard events tend to emphasize combat more than roleplaying. Nevertheless, they still offer a variety of ways to express and display your creativity. It’s not unusual for Amtgard-attendants to craft their garbs from scratch.
If you prefer not to make your own gear, there are always cheap accessories and clothing to buy online. I buy all of my stuff from Amazon. Check out this cool shield I bought for Amtgard.
Amtgard’s Battlegames offer
- Small tournaments: Anything from one-on-one duels to smaller battles of 10-15
- Team battles: Battles with 40-60~ attendants
- Warfare: The major event takes place once per year and summons people from all chapters – attendance may be in the hundreds.
Dagorhir
One of the, if not the oldest LARPs in the United States – Dagorhir started in 1977 – back then the event was run and played by a couple of friends. Today, Dagorhir chapters exist in almost every US state.
Like Amtgard, chapters host events for any participant who desires to join. First-timers may attend the smaller events at first(if they want to), then proceed to the larger, regional festivals with over a hundred attendants.
If that doesn’t do it. Don’t worry. Ragnarok, Dagorhirs largest national event, and Badon Hill, the second largest event, are both held annually. Over a thousand
Badon Hill, the smaller of the two, draws about 500 visitors to Pennsylvania.
Other Dagorhir events include
- Dark Tide, Junction City, KS
- Winter War, Trenton, SC
- Clash Of Kings, New Milford, PA
- Olympics, Indianapolis, IN
- WAR!, Indianapolis, IN
Nero
“The New England Roleplaying Organization” doesn’t sound just as good now that the organization and their events have expanded to other parts of the US and Canada.
All chapters under the Nero-rule run a one-world system. Because of that, attendants can play the same character in any of the 50-ish Nero chapters. In Nero, there are 14 races, 4 classes, a wide selection of magic spells, fighting styles and abilities. Conflicts are resolved by the use of weapons and magic.
Nero is played in the fantasy setting of Tyrra. Here’s a brief introduction to the world of Tyrra.
*At this moment, Nero is undergoing some legal challenges and the future of the event and its participants is therefore uncertain. The events will probably continue as normal but under a new name – after Oct 1st it can no longer be called Nero. The blueprints for character transfer, management, rules and much more are coming.*
Belegarth
I’d like to start by presenting a paragraph from Belegarth’s website.
www.belegarth.com
“Belegarth Medieval Combat Society is a fun, safe, and inexpensive sport where participants wear medieval or fantasy-themed clothing and fight with foam-padded weapons. The fighting is hard and fast and has, since 1979, refined into its own brand of martial art. The rules are easy to learn, and after a few practices, you’ll be hooked! “
You might say that Belegarth is more of a combat game than a live-action roleplay. The lack of roleplaying can be a problem for
If you enjoy combat, you will enjoy Belegarth.
It does seem like combat is the primary objective of Belegarth, with roleplaying, crafting and art coming second. Nevertheless, you will find people who enjoy all aspects of the game in the community!
A few Belegarth events have around 500-700 visitors.
Mind’s Eye Society
Mind’s Eye Society is strictly a theatrical roleplaying event – there is no contact, instead, combat is solved by the use of other mechanics like Rock-Paper-Scissors.
The game is based on the White Wolf World of Darkness’s universe. Unlike Belegarth, Mind’s Eye is all about roleplaying with no physical combat at all. Mind’s Eye has basically translated a tabletop RPG and made it playable as a live-action RPG.
The organization is just huge. They host a myriad of events under a few different names. There are affiliate organizations all over the world, here are a few.
- Second Act
- Underground Theater
- The Hidden Parlor
- One World by Night
- The Garou Nation
- Isles of Darkness
- Shadowplay International
Bicolline
Any
The biggest event being “The Great Battle of Bicolline” – a seven-day long medieval festival that pulls over 2500 visitors to Saint-Mathieu-du-Parc in Canada. The venue for the event is without a doubt one of the best live-action roleplaying venues in the world. Highly dedicated attendants have, over the years, built medieval villages on the location. Totally, these villages have over 200 medieval houses for the
While Bicolline hosts various other events that are popular, I’ve chosen to focus on the most famous event of them all. The week-long event offers much more than just a beautiful village.
- During the event, players must distance themselves from their modern items and immerse entirely in the event – everything in Bicolline is according to the time period.
- Battles (In Bicolline, weapons are usually made of foam)
- The great battle takes place on the last day of the event and may last a couple of hours.
- Duels and skirmishes are arranged during the week
- Tournaments
- Weapon practice
- Trollball may be unknown to the rest of the world but at Bicolline its the most popular sport – gathering quite an audience when games are played.
- Challenging quests are given to the attendants who receive rewards upon completion.
- Guilds – In Bicolline, players can be recruited by guilds.
SCA Pennsic
The Society of Creative Anachronism focuses heavily on historical reenactment. More specifically, the 17th century. The Pennsic, the organization’s biggest event, is absolutely colossal. With visitor numbers reaching upwards of 10k – there is nothing like it in the US. It might even be the biggest live-action roleplaying event in the world.
Some reenactors say SCA isn’t
In SCA, combat, weapons and armor are much more realistic than most
The organization is devoted to recreating life as it was
To further develop your skills in any trade you decide to master you might need a teacher to show you the tricks – in SCA, there are a ton of classes for you to take.
Smaller events under the SCA reign include
- Gulf Wars
- Estrella
- War of the Lilies
- A & W War
- Battlemoor
- Great Western War
Last words: I’m a larper and I had a blast at Pennsic. Loved every moment of it.
The Most Popular Larps in Europe
ConQuest of Mythodea
Germany presents one of the largest live-action roleplaying events in Europe and the world with over 8500 attendants. The 5-day long event takes place in Brokeloh, near Hannover, during summer. Together with 1500~NPCs, the player characters will spend these 5 days trying to complete quests, bond, battle and essentially, enjoy everything that Conquest offers.
To attend an event of this size can feel quite surrealistic at times. At first sight you’ll see
- Really awesome costumes (Some players must’ve spent some serious dollars on their costumes)
- A plethora of canvas tents and merchant tents
- A quite big medieval town constructed on the location
Finally, when the massive battles begin, you’ll see what a battlefield full of siege engines, banners and footmen looks like. It’s truly an incredible sight.
Drachenfest
Drachenfest and ConQuest take place with one week in between them. Drachenfest is the second largest event in Europe and is, just like ConQuest, in Germany. Drachenfest has fewer attendants than ConQuest but is still massive with over 5000 visitors.
The event is based around combat, there’s some plot but all in all, there’s very little of it in comparison to the amount of combat. Drachenfest provides the enormous venue and the setting, the players then create the content and in essence, the game. Very successfully too, I might add.
In the camps you’ll enjoy the company of helpful larpers who do everything in their power to make newcomers feel welcome. Because of its size, Drachenfest is an international event, attracting people from all over the world.
The language barrier shouldn’t be a problem – most Germans speak English very well.
All in all, Drachenfest is a unique experience. If you’ve got the budget for it. Do it.
Kandorya
Kandorya is a live-action roleplay located in France. Being the biggest
Early on, players create their characters, afterwards, they pick a camp that seems suitable for that character. NPCs have their own camps, in these camps you’re not required to decorate your tent accordingly.
Lorien Trust
Lorien Trust (LT) is an organization in the United Kingdom that hosts LARPs. LT is responsible for some of the largest events in the UK. The organization holds four main events each year.
- Spring Moot
- The Great Erdrejan Fayre
- Summer Moot
- The Gathering
The three first events attract over a 1000 players while their flagship “The Gathering” draws closer to 3000. In the end of The Gathering, two teams with about 1500 players each, engage in the final battle.
These games are set in the world of Erdreja – a mix of high fantasy and medieval. In the region of Erdreja that these events take place, there are ten governing factions.
During the event, players may be part of one of the factions or decide to stay away from them all.
Other noteworthy events
- Epic Empire in Germany
- College of Wizardry in Poland
- AVATAR in Belgium
- Pán Prstenů – Bitva o Středozem in the Czech Republic.
In conclusion, these are some of the largest and most popular larps in the world. To talk about the best larp in the world is harder, what floats my boat might sink yours.