Live Roleplay has been a part of many peoples lives since the early 80's with Treasure Trap in the UK being the mother of all systems which spawned thereafter. The UK scene when I joined the hobby was very much club based until SummerFest arriving in the late 80's as a largely out of character showpiece for the club systems and kit manufacturers to promote their systems and wares. SummerFest was the forerunner of The Gathering and was held at Drum Hill until about 1991. From what I remember of the last Summerfest their were no refs and no character cards and the simplest of combat systems. Players would amuse themselves in skirmish areas, visiting the market and going on club linears with prizes of real kit given at the end for the best parties, etc. A final battle at the end was the main showpiece and this was largely the successful model that the Lorien Trust inherited and modified as the years passed.
The larger scale enabled a new form of Larp called 'Freeform' to become a reality with the old linear form becoming a staged part of a whole. The Gathering system grew from the Summerfest wargame where characters from other systems could be 'ported' in and arrive through mists.
I like many in the south of the UK started larping at Labyrinthe LRP at Chislehurst Caves and was a regular for a number of years and became a ref before deciding the system was way to cliquey and joined a new club called 'EON' in the late 80's. I helped form Darkhaven LRP in the early 90's and from then until only a few years ago Larp in the UK has been dominated by the large festival systems that evolved to encompass the traditional club level system with 'sanctioned' events.
In recent years new genres, more choice, general stagnation and the increasing cost has led to a decline in numbers attending Lorien Trust events such as The Gathering. New fleet-of-foot competitors and old rivals such as Curious Pastimes (CP) 'Renewal' are benefiting but its a very difficult market for the profit focused organisers right now. The non-profit Outcast LRP (Best Family Larp of the Year at the 2011 larp awards) and professional systems such as Maelstrom and Odyssey (Overall Best Larp) are now taking the leading role in redifining the future of larp in the UK.
The History of UK LARP, By Matt Tait Based on an original article written in 2006 By Nathan Hook
At the time of writing this (2011) Larp in the UK celebrates its 30th anniversary and its origins are already older than the average age of a larper today. Larp or LRP as it was known in the UK would take the tabletop roleplayer into the woods, castles and forts across the country and enable them to live their character like never before!
Treasure Trap 1981-1984
Through there are accounts of early experiments (including murder mystery games as early as the mid-seventies), the first significant expression of modern Larp in the UK occurred in 1981.
Two people named Donaldson and Carey set up what is widely viewed as the first larp group in the UK, known as Treasure Trap at Peckforton castle in Cheshire. This ran until 1984 with huge success and its books claim over 5000 members at it's height, including those from Europe and the US. This however ended when the castle was sold (some sources also suggest financial difficulties in addition to this).
Video of Treaure Trap on BBC Blue Peter Show - April 1983
The original Trap rule system was closely modeled on Dungeons & Dragons, using the same character classes and alignment system. Each class had eight levels, at which point the player had to undertake a special solo adventure. Monster weapons were coated with paint as a mechanic for tracking damage to players. The common areas were time in constantly, with parties forming for linear adventures and occasional mass battles when the castle itself was attacked.
In the present day, the castle is now a hotel and a Grade I listed building (which means it's protected by law from modification). Rumor has if it you know where to look you can still find paint splashes on the walls from the paint-coated weapons. Despite its name, it is not technically a castle at all. It was a Victorian country house built in the style of a medieval castle between 1844 and 1851.
Carey left at this point and attempted to create a Paintball LARP, through that failed to start due to sponsorship failure.
Versions of Treasure Trap still exist. As early as 1983, a spin-off group was formed as Durham University TT. In 1984 Birmingham University formed its own TT group, through this ceased to exist a few years ago. Cambridge University currently has its own TT group, which spun off from the Durham group in 2002.
Labyrinthe 1985-Present
It is said that Treasure Trap was to be moved by Donaldson to Chislehurst caves after the loss of Peckforton castle, however the deal failed and instead Pete Garner founded a new Larp called Labyrinthe in the caves running under the name of Garner Adventure Tours. Labyrinthe still exists to this day, running every single weekend in it's cave system as well as overland adventures. Its running passed to Jan McManus and in 2001 to Simon Morgan (who is perhaps better known as the professional latex weapon supplier Eldrich). In May of 2006, Simon transferred ownership of Labyrinthe over to Phil Branscombe, Duncan Mathias and Andy Byatt, and Labyrinthe UK Ltd was formed.
Larp club explosion 1985-1990
UK Larp after Treasure Trap between the mid-late eighties thrived with first generation larpers forming clubs and writing richly elaborate systems up and down the country. Many of these systems were heavily influenced by fantasy fiction writers and tabletop roleplay games such as D&D and Warhammer.
By late 1985 various ex-TT players created a number of other LARPs of their own, including Labyrinthe, Realm and Spirit of Adventure. In 1986 ex-TT players founded Flight of Fantasy, which later changed its name to Nothing Ventured and later still to Forever's Destiny, in which form it still exists. Kent was to become a hub area where larp thrived with ex Treasure Trap and Labyrinthe players setting up Dungeon, Eon and Darkhaven LRP at the Napoleonic Borstal Fort which ran events into the early 1990's. Darkhaven was one of the first to experiment with small scale freeform adventures and PVE.
Another significant system of the period was Mythlore which quickly gained a reputation for good quality kit, masks and costumes and ran events in the Forest of Dean before allegedly moving into special effects.
Many consider Trap to be an extremely complicated rule system. In fairness it was originally relatively simple; through it did still require pauses to 'battleboard' to do the maths to check the status of the characters. However, the systems that continued its tradition gradually increased its complexity.
In 1987 Shitfer left Labyrinthe and set up the professional larp Heroquest, which still runs to this day. It remains one of the few fulltime professional larps in the world.
A number of Heroquest players broke away in the early nineties and used the Heroquest system combined with the Greyhawk D&D setting as a basis for new LARP group at Bristol Polytechnic (which later became the University of the West of England). That eventually folded around 2001.
Lorien Trust 1992-Present
Andy King began as a player of Treasure Trap in 1980's, then became a staff member and ref. He went on to become a founding member of the Lorien Trust which was set up as a committee in 1992. Lorien Trust ran its first Gathering event that year, and has done every year since on the August bank holiday at Loco Park in Derbyshire. Currently it attracts over 1000 players every year (and runs smaller related events as well), making it the largest event in the UK. Andy King still runs the Lorien Trust as Managing Director, making his living from LARP.
Curious Pastimes 1995-Present
In 1995 a group broke away from the Lorien Trust due to an internal schism. They created the company Curious Pastimes, which runs the larp Renewal. This continues to run every year with its main event attracting hundreds of players.
Omega 1998-2003
In 1998, Matthew Pennington, Paul Wilder, Juilet Morgan (now Juilet Wilder) and Elle Smith set up a new large scale fest Larp called Omega. This ran until 2003, with around five hundred players at each event. It is most noted for introducing the concept of downtimes to large scale larp events as well as improvements to the use of lammies.
Profound Decisions - Maelstrom 2004-Present
Following the end of Omega, Matthew Pennington set up a professional larp company called Profound Decisions running the frockcoat & pistols game Maelstrom in 2004.The website describes the game as 'Maelstrom is set in a fantasy world of colonization. A thousand players each with their own story to tell.'
This currently runs four times a year with around 1000 players at each event. Maelstrom is a very different game to Lorien Trust with a generally higher standard of kit and IC camps. OOC camping is in a completely seperate field. The game also includes firearms such as flintlock pistols. Also unique is a fully integrated online downtime system for taking actions and managing your character and account.
Profound Decisions - Odyssey 2010-Present
Odyssey is set in a mythical ancient world. A game of politics and epic battles between the nations. In its first year Odyssey has been greeted with great acclaim. As is common with Profound Decisions games they are based on historical events and mythology rather than being ports of tabletop games and fiction.
The following is the definition courtesy of wikipedia
A live action role-playing game (LARP) is a form of role-playing game where the participants physically act out their characters' actions. The players pursue goals within a fictional setting
represented by the real world, while interacting with each other in character. The outcome of player actions may be mediated by game rules, or determined by consensus among players. Event arrangers called gamemasters decide the setting and rules to be used and facilitate play.
The first LARPs were run in the late 1970s, inspired by tabletop role-playing games and genre fiction. The activity spread internationally during the 1980s, and has diversified into a wide variety of styles. Play may be very game-like, or may be more concerned with dramatic or artistic expression. Events can also be designed to achieve educational or political goals. The fictional genres used vary greatly, from realistic modern or historical settings to fantastic or futuristic eras. Production values are sometimes minimal, but can involve elaborate venues and costumes. LARPs range in size from small private events lasting a few hours to huge public events with thousands of players lasting for days.
History of Live Roleplaying
LARP does not have a single point of origin, but was invented independently by groups in North America, Europe, and Australia. These groups shared an experience with genre fiction or tabletop role-playing games, and a desire to physically experience such settings. In addition to tabletop role-playing, LARP was preceded and possibly influenced by the Society for Creative Anachronism, childhood games of pretend, play fighting, costume parties, roleplay simulations, Commedia dell'arte, improvisational theatre, psychodrama, military simulations, and historical reenactment groups.
The earliest recorded LARP group is Dagorhir, which was founded in 1977 in the USA and focuses on fantasy battles. Soon after the release of the movie Logan's Run in 1976, rudimentary live role-playing games based on the movie were run at US science fiction conventions. In 1981 the International Fantasy Gaming Society (IFGS) started, with rules influenced by Dungeons & Dragons. IFGS was named after a fictional group in the 1981 novel Dream Park, which described futuristic LARPs. In 1982 the Society for Interactive Literature, a predecessor of the Live Action Roleplayers Association (LARPA), formed as the first recorded theatre-style LARP group in the US.
Treasure Trap, formed in 1982 at Peckforton Castle, was the first recorded LARP game in the UK and influenced the fantasy LARPs that followed there. The first recorded LARP in Australia was run in 1983, using the science fiction Traveller setting. In 1993 White Wolf released Mind's Eye Theatre which is still played internationally and is probably the most commercially successful published LARP.
Today LARP is a popular activity in North America, Europe, Russia and Australasia. Large games with thousands of participants are run by for-profit companies, various LARP books are published and an increasingly professional industry sells costume, armour, and foam weapons intended primarily for LARP.
