Hi I dont know if yous have seen role models but ever since I seen that ive been wanting to do this kind of stuff… I only seen it this year and I have never done it befor… But it looks really fun… Me and my friend a wanting to get involved with it… So can some one please email me about the ins and outs… Thanx :mrgreen:
Welcome Sonia.
You’ve got the first step done, a lot of LARP organisation is done through this forum.
Coming up in August is Chimera
In September is Zombie LARP
And in November is the epic fantasy larp Teonn
Check them out and ask questions on the relevant forums and we’ll help you get to games.
Hiya Sonia,
There’s also www.nzrag.com if you’re based more down Wellington way.
What sort of things would you like to do?
Hi!! this is sonias friend amy =)
we’ve never done anything like this before, so heres what we need to know!
-how do we prepare??
-what do we need to bring?
-do we need to provide our own costumes?
-where is it happening??
-do we need to pay before hand or do we pay at the venue?
Is anyone able to ring us so we can talk it through?? or is there anything else you think we need to know??
were really looking foward to it!!!
i work on saturdays though, so we’d only be able to make it on sunday sadly =(
any further info you could give us would be much appreciated!!!
would anyone want to meet up before hand??
Hi Amy (and Sonia),
It all depends! 
For Chimera which is a week away in Auckland (and truckloads of fun), there’s bags of information here: viewtopic.php?f=73&t=4999).
For more standalone games, it can vary. Some are called “theatre-style” where all the characters are prewritten and you’ll need to bring your own costume. These are usually for an afternoon or evening, there’ll usually be some kind of light snacks, and they usually represent any combat (which doesn’t come up often) with an abstract mechanism and a lot of miming.
Down at the “live combat” end of the spectrum, it’s quite common to structure the game as “Players” and “Crew” (and there’s rather more frequent physical combat with padded weapons). Players write their own characters with feedback from the organisers, bring their own gear and act as the protagonists in the story. Crew play characters that are sketched out by the organisers, are provided with gear, and act as the antagonists and extras in the story (anything from third guard on the left, a player’s love interest, a major kick-arse villain, or a wandering monster in the woods.) These can last for an afternoon or evening (day games), but are frequently staged for a weekend and are held at scout camps or camping grounds. Generally for this last you’d also need to bring bedding and maybe other camping gear if the camp doesn’t come with cabins, food is normally catered. The organisers will brief you on all this stuff when you sign up.
By the way, where are you guys based?
Welcome!
Stephanie
Hi Amy and Sonia,
Glad to hear you guys are interested in coming along to some larping. There’s several different events on, and Jared posted links to the best places to get information about each event. If you are interested in coming along on this Sunday to try out Chimera, here is the information that might help.
Chimera is a live action roleplaying convention, and anyone over the age of 16 can attend. It is held at Motu Moana Scout Camp, Connaught Street, Blockhouse Bay. Everyone plays the role of a character in a fictional setting and interacts with the story. Chimera weekend consists of lots of different types of short (3 hour) games, so you would be playinng each character or each story for three hours before going onto a new one. It’s a great way to try out lots of different genres and styles of larping - some events have combat where you hit each other foam weapons, in other games you draw cards to determine the outcoome of conflict. You get told your characters before the event so you have time to costume them. It can seem very daunting, but I promise it’s very easy and everyone is really welcoming of new people.
The way it works is that you register on the website and select which games you would like to play in, and you will get an email from me confirming which games you are in. Then, you will be contacted by the people who run the games (called the “Game Masters” or GMs for short) to discuss what characters you would like to play, and what sort of costuming you need to prepare.
On the Friday night of the event, you arrive about 7:30pm and there’s about an hour and a half of social time, just a relaxed meet and greet, people settling in, getting all their last minute questions answered, meeting people, very casual. Then about quarter to nine, we all gather up and split into the different games. At Chimera, we have several games running in each time slot. The Friday night round lasts from 9pm to midnight. There are two games still available to choose from on Friday night. One is a sci-fi game called “Vox” and is about a crew of a human spaceship meeting an alien civilisation, so you would play either a human or an alien. Your make up would be provided at the event if you’re an alien. This is a roleplay heavy game, which means that it’s all about playing your character and not so much about combat. The other game still available is called “Quest to the Forest of Darkness” which is a fantasy adventure, where you run around as an orc, human, elf, fairy or undead monster trying to complete your goals. Combat is done through larp weapons, which are made of foam latex and are safe to fight with (i.e. you don’t need any experience and you won’t get hurt) You don’t need to own any larp weapons, there will be weapons provided on the night. There will be simple rules for magic, fighting and special abilities but nothing complicated and easy to learn. By midnight, all the games will finish, everyone will get out of costume and head to home or head to bed on site if they are staying at the camp. Some people will stay up late and socialise.
Sunday: Breakfast is served at about 8am on Sunday morning, and at 10am we split up into the morning games. On Sunday morning, the options are “Diamond Geezers” which is about East London gangsters and is an R18 crime caper (if you’ve ever seen any Guy Ritchie films like “Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrells” “Snatch” or “Rocknrolla”, that’s the genre) and the costuming is is things like hoodies, bling, baseball caps - nice and easy. There’s also “Super Sparkle Action Princess GX!” where you play the cast and crew of a popular children’s TV show, struggling to get filming completed, so it’s a comedy game set on a TV set (modern day costuming again, so relatively easy) and it’s more lighthearted than “Diamond Geezers”. Again, games wrap up at 1pm and there’s an hour for lunch, then the afternoon games. There’s several games with a few places left, including “A Feast of Crows” which is set at a fashion magazine photo shoot in a reality where genetic engineering has been perfected (modern glamour costume), “Find Your Own Truth” which is an existential philosophy larp set in a long running Auckland vampire campaign (plain black clothing for costume) and “The Soap Opera Larp” which is a fully freeform improvised game with no costume requirements. The games will wrap up at about 5pm, and everyone is asked to pitch in with the final clean up and to stay for a small prizegiving ceremony and the weekend finishes at 6pm on Sunday.
As you can see, it’s a pretty packed weekend, and there’s lots of choices that are easy to costume for new people and are easy to get into to roleplay. There is time to eat on the weekends, and plenty of time for costume changes and socialising. Food is available on site for a small price, or you can bring your own food. All the games are designed to be completely newbie friendly and so that people who have never larped before can play them. You will have the setting and situation explained to you by the Game Master, and you will get a character sheet that explains who you are playing. It will explain your character’s background, personality, and what goals you’re trying to achieve in the game. Then, when the game starts, you just start playing your character and so will everyone else - the story will unfold through the way people play their characters. Even if you don’t succeed in your character goals, it doesn’t matter, the point is having fun and telling a story collectively. It’s a bit like being in a play without a script, or an unscripted murder mystery.
I hope this has explained things a bit. If you guys are interested in specific games, I am happy to try and tell you more about them. I know costuming is a big concern for many new people, but there are lots of modern-day era games so it’s easy to put things together from your own clothes, or with a trip to the $2 shop for extra props. Many members of the community are also happy to help new people out, so if there’s a game you really want to play in but are not sure you can get the costuming, let me know and we’ll arrange something!
Let me know if you have any other questions
Anna
You missed Saturday! 
She said she was working so I skipped over it
If you’re in need of a space or two on Sunday morning, I’m sure I can rustle up a character or two for ATPZ.
Weve set up a joint account… Hope this is ohk… We registed on the chimera site and picked the same games the both of us and we picked 1st SSAP 2nd DG and 1st TSOL 2nd Requim… So will some one get in touch with us to confirm which games were in?? Or…??
So were just waiting to find out exactly what games were playing and what to bring costumes props etc…
Hi guys - your registrations have come through fine, I’ll be in touch later tonight with more information Good to have you come join us!
Cool… Looking foward 2 sunday…
Hi Sonia and Amy,
I’ve sent out your character sheets for Super Sparkle Action Princess GX! Can you let me know if they don’t come through alright?
Take care,
Stephanie
I was very upset that we didnt make it… Sorry for the muck around… I was up waiting for amy and she didnt cum until 10:30am 