This week, another Scribe, Keara Moore, sits down with Raquel Skellington, and discusses vulnerability, the importance of lifting and communication, challenges of being a Woman of color in LARP, and how LARP can bring crucial community building for involved participants. Keara Moore: Alright perfect. Well, thank you for your time, Raquel. I'm happy to have this interview with you! My first question to you is, how did you first get introduced to LARPing and what made you decid

Every year, the Dragons summon beings from faraway lands to provide their champions with hearth, trade, and training through the bazaar! There are vendors, guilds, events, enterprises, and likely even brick-throwing riots! We don't want you to miss out, so we're here to help. We've created a map just for you! This map will guide you to the people and places you're looking for, but remember that every plan can change with unexpected surprises. Please note, this map is a point

In-Game, the Gods manifest human forms called Avatars to have a physical presence in the Dragon World and inspire their followers. Out-of-game, the Avatars are played by real-life human beings who have a very difficult job! In order to develop better long-term play-relationships, we’d like to talk about some of the stresses and challenges that the Avatars face. It’s Lonely at the Top - playing a godlike role can leave the avatar player feeling isolated. There are only a few o

Let’s daydream about what our DrachenFest community can be… By default, many larps are a “game community” - a group of people who play a game together. In a game community, we play hard! We need rules and referees to keep things fair and consistent. Everyone competes against each other in a dance of winners and losers. It’s fun to have contests and tournaments and battles when people’s hearts are in it, right? So we want to win and we don’t want to lose. After you’ve done tha

Tobias Curry of Spring Heeled Studios started his work as part of the “Steampunk’d” TV show, and has worked commissions and influence in the LARP community ever since. He sat down with our Scribe to discuss the nature of his work, and the joys of crafting for LARP! The Scribe: I didn't realize there was a “Steam Punk’d” TV show. That's awesome! Tobias Curry: <laugh>, yes. That did occur. It was, oh golly, it was nine years ago. I think we're gonna hit 10 soon. I believe it w

Here is our updated DrachenFest Play Guide. This year's updates were light - we focused on streamlining the wording around a few complicated topics, and ideas that have evolved since the festival began. Here are the highlights: We did some light clarity-driven editing on sections "It's a Game" (p4) and "Rules and Reacting to stuff" (p6). (p7) Clarified our stance on "alternate characters" - our intention is that you play the same character throughout the festival. We do make

There’s something truly aesthetically pleasing about coin. There’s the image of a fat coinpurse being paid out to an informant. The feel of flipping a coin in your finger and catching it, and getting to call “heads or tails?” One of the most important things about an in-game economy, is that you have the coin needed to to exchange goods and services. Step one: getting the coin. Every player starts with 3 copper that comes with their arrival in the world. Everyone has the avai

This week, our Scribe sits down with Victoria Alexandria, and discusses gatekeeping, what it’s like to be a LARP influencer, and what it’s like to clash against cultural expectations getting in your way. The Scribe: Okay. Where do we want to start? I've never interviewed an influencer before for any kind of position, so this is a first for me. Have you ever been interviewed before? Victoria Alexandria: No, this is actually my first time and being called an influencer is stil

This is part of a blog series on Camp Leadership The Champion Short Description: A warrior with a knack for theatrical combat, they are called on to fight duels and honor combats for their camp and to represent their camp in the Fighter’s Guild tournament Skills Needed: Theatrical combat Public Speaking (to inspire & motivate) Contest Responsibilities: Figurehead in camp army Lead army on front line Fight honor duels Opportunity Spaces & Domains: Theatrical fighting Camp ins

This is part of a blog series on Camp Leadership The Head Diplomat Short Description: They politic with other camps to seal temporary defensive alliances or join forces in battle. They must keep their Camp Refs looped in about the camp’s diplomacy and relationships. Skills Needed: Networking Contest Responsibilities & Details: Politic with other camps You are the official ‘face’ of a camp when interacting with other diplomats. Perhaps your camp is working on a plot or simply

This is part of a blog series on Camp Leadership The Spymaster Short Description: They form an intelligence & counterintelligence network of rogues & spies. This enables back-channels for diplomacy, sabotage, & intrigue. They also inform the Camp Refs what’s going on with their sketchy actions. Skills Needed: Understanding of consent based rogue roleplay Ability to navigate OOG consent for conflict roleplay Networking Contest Responsibilities: Organize spies & scouts Collect

This is part of a blog series on Camp Leadership The General Short Description: They command the army and oversee camp war strategy. They train the army, using feedback from refs and other Generals to enable learning and foster a safety mindset. Their role is also logistical--they must inform Camp Refs of battle plans and war moves. Skills needed: Strategic mindset. Social organization. Communication. Contest Responsibilities: Lead and Organize the player army Exchange feedba

This is part of a blog series on Camp Leadership The Councilor Short Description: They make high level camp decisions and communicate the camp’s direction and needs. They also monitor the mood of the camp and communicate it to the Camp Refs. Skills Needed: Public speaking, social networking Contest Responsibilities: Listen to player groups within your camp. Direct them towards accomplishable goals. Reenforce their concepts by directing play towards them. Integrate player gro

This is the first in a series of blog posts about camp leadership at DrachenFest-US. We'll dive into the deep end of each role, and talk about its responsibilities, risks, and the power it has to create fun gameplay within each camp. We'll also share some tools for "plot makers" of all kinds. The text posted here will be made available to leaders as handouts. This series covers: The Councilor The General The Spymaster The Head Diplomat The Champion A well led camp feels like

The War Book for the 2024 event is here: https://tinyurl.com/DFUSWarbook2024 Over the next week, we may fix typos and make small clarifications. On 5/15/24, the posted version will be final, and the Mobile/PDF versions will be available via the website. To address a big question head-on: we are not making significant changes to anything affecting player construction efforts, except for the changes we already hinted at in our post about Large Monsters. Next year, any changes t

At the end of the battle, when the clash of swords have faded and arrows no longer sail through the air, the healers get to their bloody work. With bandage, splint and leech, they ensure their warriors will be able to fight another day. Mundane healers are an essential part of DrachenFest First, we want to make one thing clear: "mundane" doesn't mean boring! It means the surgeons patching you up have no magical abilities or enhancements. Their roleplay is entirely based aroun

Let’s talk about music at DrachenFest: We want to dive deeper into what music can do at larps, how it adds to a game, and the unique experience of larping and making music simultaneously. We’ll take a look at the gameplay spaces where music thrives, as well as the mechanics for Bardic Magics. For starters, making music in game—or as we like to call it, playing on Bard Mode—is less about technical skill and more about how and why you do what you do! A well-executed performance

The world of the DrachenFest-US is the creation of many coming together to tell their stories. From all over North America - and overseas! - people come to visit the Drachenlands, and to represent their Dragon in the contest. The spectacle, the drama, the victories and the defeats - they are only possible because of the unique blend of play styles and player philosophies the participants bring to the event. An event as large and complex as DrachenFest requires a robust suppor

We'd like to share our layout draft for DrachenFest-US 2024. This configuration is subject to change. Many factors could impact our final positions - including heavy rainfall before the event, safety issues, wild swings in camp headcounts, and other factors which we can’t anticipate. In determining this year's layout draft, our primary considerations were: Aligning camp headcount to camping space. DrachenFest is growing! Many camps have outgrown last year's sites and must mov

When you complete a skill class, you'll be given a card with your skill's text.