Picture the scene: you find yourself in a haunted forest, with your enchanted, battle-worn sword as your only ally. Suddenly, you hear a rustle in the trees and a guttural voice makes your blood run cold. You’ve stumbled across a party of Orcs. One question remains: Are they friend or foe? The answer? Well, it depends on how you play things.
Profound Decisions, founded in 2004, hosts Live Action Roleplay events – aka LARPing – where participants take part in a game and play characters within a fictional and immersive setting. One of the UK’s biggest LARPing event organisers, Profound Decisions hosts its events in Dadford Road Campsite in Buckinghamshire. This is where its most notable event, Empire LARP is held. At this event, Empress Britta has died, leaving her empire vulnerable to its enemies. Will you be tempted to seek the crown? If so, you will need to defend her soul by ruling the senate and commanding her armies.
“Are they friend or foe? The answer? Well, it depends on how you play things“
If you’re new to LARPing, the community is very welcoming and advise that you talk to them online before you go to an event to chat about the different game modes and build some understanding of the event you’re going to. There is a variety of fantasy worlds to enter; you could join anything from Star Wars to Game of Thrones.
LARPing is becoming increasingly mainstream, with Disney World hosting a Star Wars LARPing game for the last two years. Meanwhile, Dragon Thrones, another event, has combined Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings and the Hunger Games to create one epic event for LARPers with all levels of experience.
Profound Decision’s Managing Director Matt Pennington, 52, says he has been to LARPing events by himself before and stated that you can only go alone once, as after you have been, everyone will know who you are. “I didn’t really know anyone who was going, I just threw myself into it and I made a lot of friends. One of the appeals to me was that I was going to meet new people.”
In the past, the LARPing community had been subject to mockery from the public and press. However, due to development of social media and exposure from influencers, LARPing is now a respected sport that thousands of people take part in across the UK. Community is at the heart of LARPing, with people bonding over the immersive environment they create together.
Over the years, this immersive atmosphere has improved in quality. Outfits and costumes today look very different than they did in the 1990s. Matt says this has helped to bring the sport into the mainstream, joking that when they started decades ago, they were all in their “mum’s curtains with a cut in the top”. He laughs and adds, “We looked pretty stupid.”
“You might have had a hugely emotional win or crushing defeat”
Also adding to the immersion is the increased popularity of online gaming. “The reality is we’ve had a fundamental shift in culture and LARPing is a bit like online gaming,” he says. “When you talk about role-playing in online gaming, people understand it intuitively. LARPing is online role-playing but we do it for real. We dress up in costumes and instead of typing ‘my character does this’, we actually do it.”
If you’re in London and are looking to get into LARPing, there are a multitude of Facebook groups you can join and find out information about the nearest events to you. One private group is London LARPs which is host to a small community of 405 Londoners. There is another public group called The London LARP Frothmeet where LARPers meet up for pub crawls. This is a great opportunity for newcomers to find new friends and contacts before going LARPing.
Player and experience manager at Profound Decisions, Clare Evans, 46, says by coming to a weekend event, you get the chance to spend time in a LARPing world, where you’re playing along to the story. “You might have gone on big battles and you might have had a hugely emotional win or crushing defeat,”
She adds, “You could have pulled off some clever politics or you might have spent the evening sitting under the campfire with some music. It’s literally just a chapter in a story.”
Ticket prices for Profound Decisions start at £80 and there is a reduced concession price for students, people on benefits, and other additional categories. To find out more information about Profound Decisions and events you can visit their website.