## The Fundamental Purposes of LARP ### Experience the World in a New Way More than 90 years ago, Johan Huizinga's *[Homo Ludens - A Study of the Play-Element in Culture](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/203913/homo-ludens-by-johan-huizinga/)* gave us the concept of the *magic circle,* a place where new rules preside and where we can experience all the extreme highs and lows of emotion without the social and personal upheaval that would normally entail. The idea is, of course, much older than that. Huizinga himself was merely attempting to describe an idea he observed in societies as far back as ancient Greece. For as long as there have been humans, those humans have sought to create new worlds. LARP more than any other form of entertainment invites us to fully step inside the magic circle. While video games provide incomparable mechanical interaction and film-quality (or better) graphics, LARPs offer the impossible-to-beat fidelity of real life. There's no need for scripted NPCs when every other character is a living, breathing player doing their best to create a world alongside you. LARP isn't a replacement for reading, video gaming, or tabletop RPGS, but like those it's another way of seeing yourself, and the world, through a fantastical lens. ### Imagine, Collaborate, Play Maybe you want to take arms against a sea of troubles. Perhaps you want to chase a monster through hell's heart in a pointless, desperate search for vengeance as your crew grows ever grimmer. Maybe you've always imagined what it might be like to stand with six newfound but dear comrades against an endless and unbeatable horde. No matter what it is your imagination serves up, LARP is a way to work with other people and build affecting, emergent narratives to explore that imagined universe. There is no form of entertainment better at or more suited to bringing your imagination to life. High-quality, thoughtfully employed sets and props combined with the immersion of your fellow players allow you to create stories far beyond anything that could be represented on film. If you can imagine it, and you can communicate it, other players will help you bring it to life. ### Find Your Folk No fascists, no TERFs, no devil's advocates. LARP is a way to find community with people who share that strange and precious thing we call creativity. The purpose of LARP is to bring people together and give them a safe place to explore. That is not possible if those people are made unsafe by other participants. We don't have a litmus test for participation, but if you got annoyed about the phrase "safe space" two sentences back, LARP is probably not an activity for you, and our LARPs definitely aren't. ## Our Approach Philosophy is useful and important, but only insofar as it drives meaningful growth and concrete action. With that in mind, these are the specific steps we take to live up to the ideas we gave above. **Our games are pay-what-you-can.** While we may reserve a number of tickets (generally no more than 10% of an event's total) for rewards (e.g. on Patreon), the vast majority of our attendees pay only what they can (and want to) pay. We also work to support lodging and travel costs for those who would otherwise be unable to attend. We do all of this because we believe that reducing cost is the first and best solution for improving LARP accessibility across all communities. **We maintain a network of trusted advisors.** These are our sensitivity readers, our facilitators, our fellow designers, and our peers across the industry. When a new person gets involved with us, we vet them across that network. The vast majority of people get through this vetting without a hitch, but in the case of the rare exception, we're always glad we did it. **We accept feedback and improve.** Whether it's our core systems (Myriad is currently on its third iteration), our approach to game design (providing simple, optional character goals for those who struggle to retain a long character bio), or our view of racial politics and their role in storytelling (swapping out overly simplistic policies for more nuanced rules which let people tell stories about their lived experience while still opposing racism, sexism, transphobia, etc.), we have already taken feedback on board, and we're ready and willing to keep doing so into the future.