Larps offer a unique space for discovery, role-playing, and the forging of new relationships across age groups and levels of experience. For many young participants, it’s their first opportunity to go somewhere on their own, meet kindred spirits, and experience something truly extraordinary. But this openness and diversity also come with challenges—particularly around how to create a safe and supportive environment for those who are new to the community and unfamiliar with its norms.

We aim to share a perspective on how the larp environment can be cultivated to remain open and inspiring, while also being sensitive to the needs of vulnerable participants.

Since ancient times, the Children of the Forest have lived peacefully within their woodland realm. They ruled it, and it responded to their will. But then the world changed. From the north came the People of the Plains, bringing fire and destruction. The Forest People, fragmented and ununited, could not stand against them. Trees were burned or cut down, giving way to fields and settlements. Sherbor became the last refuge for those who sought not just survival, but the restoration of the old ways.

At the beginning of May, I took part in the romantic Regency larp Social Season in Germany, set in 1811 England.

In the past year, we had the opportunity to visit dozens of games in the Czech Republic. You can see their dates on two calendars, you can add the ratings of the larps to the Larp database, and a summary of current events appears every three weeks in the Larp newsletter. And we remember many larps through photographs.

Hey, my friends! It’s been a while. Lately I found myself not having much energy to do stuff. Depression and shit, you know… I postponed my summaries so much, I fell several months behind. Well, what the heck, let’s do it now! :-)

Dance Macabre was a dancing larp based on the larp In Fair Verona ¹ by Tue Beck Saarie and Jasper Brunn and on one chapter of Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book. We initially conceived the game as an experiment to find out whether Czech larpers would even be interested in this style of larp, and whether the Nordic larp approach in general would be welcomed in the Czech Republic. We also wanted to identify the scope of adaptations required to make the Nordic larp-like game attractive for the Czech larp community. This article sums up the concept of the game, the mechanics used and the experience gained from the creation and organization of the game. Celý článek »

This half of the article ends our story about the evolution of chamber larp in the Czech Republic (and Slovakia). I started writing this essay as a by-product of the recent larp book Check Larps because I thought it was high time for reflecting on the past before the details vacated my mind for good. In the first part, I covered the first six years and the way the genre transformed from its first timid steps to an era when we had a chamber larp festival on every corner.

Last year, a team of authors published a Czech collection of chamber larp scenarios called Check Larps. I wrote the introduction, focused on the specific features of the Czech approach to this format, and in the process, I realized that it would be interesting to look back on the history of Czech chamber larps in general. I was interested in looking at major shared features and intersections in their development, as well as important milestones. After all, there was a time when chamber larp was one of the main drivers of innovation in Czech larp and would often massively determine the shape of larp as a medium in the Czech Republic overall. Celý článek »

Patrik is probably only one of the active larpers of the Czech community who makes his larp summary in English. It is an interesting insight into this hobby because Patrik makes larps – and plays them – a lot. And his interests in themes are wide. We prepared a summary serial of his texts that provide an unique insight into his larp experience. So enjoy and we hope that it inspires you to make your own summaries. :-)

Here are the first, second, and third part of Patrick’s blog.

Patrik is probably only one of the active larpers of the Czech community who makes his larp summary in English. It is an interesting insight into this hobby because Patrik makes larps – and plays them – a lot. And his interests in themes are wide. We prepared a summary serial of his texts that provide an unique insight into his larp experience. So enjoy and we hope that it inspires you to make your own summaries. :-)

Here are the first and second part of Patrick’s blog.

Patrik is probably only one of the active larpers of the Czech community who makes his larp summary in English. It is an interesting insight into this hobby because Patrik makes larps – and plays them – a lot. And his interests in themes are wide. We prepared a summary serial of his texts that provide an unique insight into his larp experience. So enjoy and we hope that it inspires you to make your own summaries. :-)

Link for the first part of Patrick’s blog is here.

Patrik is probably only one of the active larpers of the Czech community who makes his larp summary in English. It is an interesting insight into this hobby because Patrik makes larps – and plays them – a lot. And his interests in themes are wide. We prepared a summary serial of his texts that provide an unique insight into his larp experience. So enjoy and we hope that it inspires you to make your own summaries. :-)

spolu/sami (in English: together/alone) was a game about ordinary people in present-day Prague. The larp was lyric, melancholic, atmospheric, and authentic. It was about friendship, love, life, and things that really matter. The characters were asking themselves “Can we be happy when we find our soulmate?” The game was created through workshops during one weekend and played on the following weekend. It used the whole city as a scene – streets, parks, cafés, and flats. The game had neither a main plot, nor events common for all characters, except for the ending location. We gave players guidance through the workshops, a theme, structure, and most importantly the feeling of the game.

There is an English version of the Design Document and a Workshop manual published with this article. That is everything you need to run the larp and we will be truly pleased if you use them. And even happier if you let us know about it. Please keep the difference between Czech play culture and yours in mind and adapt the materials accordingly.

This article was initially published at Nordic Larp: https://nordiclarp.org/2017/03/27/togetheralone-searching-for-a-soulmate-in-summer-prague

Kola is a polish larp conference with 4 years long history. This year it was organized by larpers from Warsaw, who got support of the faculty of liberal arts. The conference audience was mainly polish but there were also delegations from Italy, Ukraine, Russia and Czech Republic.

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