What Is LARPing?

Introduction

In late August I received an unusual request in LARP Portal. A group of lifetime friends that meet every year wanted to experience something new. They had heard about LARP, but none of them had ever played. They tried to find a LARP in Calgary where they would be gathering from all over the world, but the event dates didn’t align with their weekend get-together. Then they tried to hire an advisor in the area, but were unsuccessful. I am so happy they reached out to LARP Portal because I got to share my love of LARPing and learn something new along the way. 

In his request, Travis described the group as 50-year-old married men with kids looking to spend an afternoon exploring LARP. He was searching for a consultant to help educate them on the rules so they could create their own mini-LARP. I responded to the request with some basics they needed to know, like the different types of LARP and how the rules vary for each type.

  Key types of LARPs (not an exhaustive list) 

• Role Playing Storyline: Ongoing storyline campaign LARPs that focus on role playing and some battles that meet several times a year for whole weekends 

• Combat: Ongoing battle LARPs that meet routinely for several hours 

• Theater/ Parlor: One-time LARPs that run once and are done, usually with predefined characters and a one-shot mini-story.  

After a few exchanges where I gave them some homework to read and videos to watch, we confirmed they wanted to set up a one-shot for 3-4 hours with some combat, and each of them would design their own characters. They planned the event for an afternoon in Banff, a city they had not visited before, and acknowledged that they would only be skimming the surface. They were very excited to experience their first LARP. 

 How To Create a One-Time LARP 

If you’ve read any of my previous blogs you know that I am a very experienced LARPer and that most of my experience is with ongoing storyline-roleplaying/boffer LARPs. To support Travis and his friends, I needed to research one-time LARPs. 

A parlor LARP (also called a "chamber LARP" or "theatre-style LARP") is designed to be played in a single room over a few hours with little to no props or combat (although light combat is possible)—it’s all about characters, secrets, and social interaction. For a one-shot 3–4 hour session, here’s one way you can pull it off: 

1. Choose the Right Game: You don’t need to invent everything from scratch—there are many excellent short-format LARPs already written. Look for: 

• Ready-to-play parlor LARPs with pregenerated characters and clear plots. 

• A few sources: 

• Golden Cobra Anthology (free festival-style LARPs, many 2–4 hours long). 

• Paracelsus Games or Shifting Forest Storyworks (small, inexpensive downloadable LARPs). 

• Nordic-style "freeform" LARPs (often one-shot, story-driven). 

• Examples that work well in 3–4 hours: 

• The Tribunal (players are judges deciding someone’s fate). 

• Winterhorn (players are government agents trying to stop a resistance group). 

• The Climb (players are mountaineers debating life-and-death choices). 

• Murder Mystery–style LARPs (who killed who? with secrets and hidden agendas). 

2. Prepare Your Space: Location is important. Theater LARPs are typically confined to one main room (like a living room or community hall - or in the case of our New to LARPing friends, an open space) where everyone can interact. Consider a side room for private conversations (or just designate corners) and possibly some chairs and a table if it’s more formal; open space if it’s more freeform. 

3. Get Characters Ready: Prep characters in advance. 

• In most parlor LARPs, characters come pre-written with goals, secrets, and relationships. 

• Send character sheets beforehand (so players can think about it) or hand them out at the start (for a surprise factor). 

• Assign characters randomly if you want fairness, or deliberately if you know your players’ preferences. 

4. Facilitate the Game: You’ll need a Game Master (GM) (that can be you) to organize the game. The GM role is to: 

• Introduce the premise, tone, and safety rules. 

• Keep time (so the game wraps up in 3–4 hours). 

• Nudge things along if players get stuck. 

• Run a debrief afterwards (5–10 min cool-down, so people can talk about their experience). 

In the end, our merry band decided to design a game with no GM required so that they could all join in the full experience.  

5. Use Safety & Comfort Tools: Since parlor LARPs can involve intrigue, secrets, or emotional themes, give your group tools for safety: 

• X-card or Open Door Rule → anyone can tap a card or step away if uncomfortable. 

• Calibration check-ins → quick “Are you okay?” signals (like hand signs or phrases). 
  This keeps things fun and stress-free. 

6. Keep It Simple: For a first try, don’t overcomplicate: 

• Minimal or no costumes required (but optional props can be fun). 

• No dice or combat mechanics (unless the scenario includes simple ones). 

• Just focus on roleplay, character goals, and interaction. 

The summary advice that I provided to Travis and his friends included  the following: 

1. Pick a 3–4 hour pre-written parlor LARP or write your own. They used Chat GPT for inspiration and wrote their own. 

2. Invite your friends, assign characters. 

3. Set up location, explain rules/safety. 

4. Play for ~ 2.5–3 hours. 

5. End with a debrief/chat about what happened 

Role-Playing 101 

My newfound friends decided they could really use an online chat to learn how to stay in character. They shared their game setting with me so that I could prepare to make a meaningful introduction to that topic. Two of them were available for the call the night before their adventure. They had this really cool and innovative concept of using random people in Banff as unwitting NPC, random cards for magical treasure and short, easy-to-remember skills for their characters. 

They split themselves into two competing factions in a fantasy setting where the goal was to obtain the most items in the time allotted. All they had to do was convince the various NPCs to give them or help them use the magical items. 

With all that in mind, I told them I was going to be an NPC, or multiple NPCs and all they had to do was start the game with me. Since they had no questions, I called “Game On!”. I hailed them with in-game pleasantries and we exchanged names, which I quickly pulled out my...hat. Then they asked me for help in their quest by showing me their first item, a magical water pistol of youth, and asking me to squirt it into their mouths. After the first round of incredulous questions, I did what they asked. I tried to keep them off balance with my own spin on the situation, like asking them what was keeping me from just running off with the item and using it for myself. They thought quickly and came up with answers that would make an experienced LARPer proud. 

They only had a single instance of out-of-game talk and with some kind and gentle in-character talk back, guided them back into character and demonstrated how to do the same with their friends if it happened during the game. I explained later in our debriefing that it’s easy to do, especially if everyone does it kindly with an understanding that you’ll all hold each other accountable for everyone’s fun. Since they’ve been friends for many years, they agreed it should be easy to do, especially having seen it done. 

Success in Banff

Travis and James reported back that their experience was a great success. They loved building and costuming their characters and had a blast playing. They gave me permission to use their pictures and feedback freely. 

Preparation was so fun. My character was a female elf, and this was my first time doing proper drag. Shopping for the wig, clothing, boots, undergarments... Could not have been more entertaining. When the people working in shops heard about the plan for what I was going to be wearing, everyone was so kind and interested. Even the little Armenian lady who helped me buy my makeup at Target, we just had fun picking everything out. 

The day of the experience itself was remarkable. Calgary does have some elements of very conservative Muslim and Sikh families, so when we first set out on the trail in full garb, a few families kind of gave us a lot of space, and one older gentleman took one look at us, turned right around, and hustled the other direction.   

That said, as we settled into our characters, and started the game in earnest (after an opening warm-up battle where the she-elf dominated her enemies through use of weapons of staff and purse), we began interacting with NPC's and became something more than men. We were our characters, we were operating on another level of experience, and there were elements of feeling famous, or also like aliens, and I dare say BANF has never seen something like us. Cute Japanese tourists walked right up to us to ask about our characters. Australian guys got into eating contests with us. Children were eager to interact and play brief games.  

The playing cards we designed and used were hilarious. There were moments of significant confusion. We were not allowed to use phones so we lost one player to the wilderness for the entirety of the two hour game.  

In the end, the score mattered not. We had a blast. Everyone should try this. I can't wait to summon Dark Galadriel again.  

James ended his post-event letter or summary with a thank you to me for my guidance, but I’d like to thank Travis and James for reaching out and sharing their LARP journey with me.  

Closing 

What a great time I had meeting the event coordinators and learning that it was a great success. I am so happy I answered the random request, even though I was busy with haunt prep and LARP Portal work. I believe in community, so no payment was necessary; I just asked them to pay it forward and seek out LARPs in their individual communities and they happily agreed. 

Call to Action

If you are a game owner or are thinking about starting a game, let LARP Portal simplify your administrative processes and give you and your players more time for LARPing. Contact us at demo@larportal.com today for a free demo.