What is LARP to ME?

Obligatory "What is LARP?" post 

One of my biggest hobbies, and one I tend to enjoy most, is LARP. As I'm sure most know by now, LARP is "Live Action Role Play", But what does THAT mean? Well, part of the reason I LOVE it so much, is it means a lot of things... It's Dress up, it's play acting, it's assuming a role, it's fighting, it's haging out with a group of cool people and just having FUN. Now while LARP CAN be all these things, it's great in that you can find, and chose, your own level. Some larps have little, or even no, combat. Some have little, or no, Role play (so called "Battle Games") Some are ALL ABOUT the costumes, some are not. I'll say now, all opinions in this post are MINE, and not the same for EVERYONE, in fact, that's one of the BEST things about LARP, you can find your own level to participate. 

 To ME, LARP is a chance to combine a bunch of my FAVOURITE things into one awesome ball of fun. I LOVE dressing up, I love sword fighting, and anyone who KNOWS me knows I LOVE hamming it up acting as larger than life characters. So I naturally gravitate towards "boffer" larps, and ones that have a good core of Role-play, and costuming. What does this mean? "Boffer" larps refer to LARPS that use foam or latex weapons to simulate combat. You strike your opponent to do "damage" to them. There are various types of  boffer larps, ranging from "lightest touch", where you attempt to land a blow, but as softly as possible, and combat, generally, is less important. Medium contact, Where blows are landed with SOME force, but are expected to be pulled. And Heavy Contact, Where blows can be thrown with A LOT of force... I prefer Medium contact in my LARPing, as i am somewhat a peacock, and enjoy dressing up, but do enjoy fighting. So Medium is my happy, well, medium.

On the topic of me being a peacock... :P That's my most common LARP character, Thifgrim Stormchaser. As you can see, He's dressed to impress, and while heavily armed, he's not a heavy combat type character. One of the things i LOVE the most about LARP, is evolving the character. Thifgrim has grown, and changed, as the game progressed. 

 This is Thifgrim after a few games.....WAY back when he just started out. You can REALLY see the changes and progress.

And, here we have Thifgrim's FIRST game, also the FIRST game of Scy'Kadia game ever. As you can see, he's grown and changed, costume wise. And I have plans to grow and change him even more. As a total costume loving peacock, I, Of course, have OTHER characters....

Thorulf The Red, Viking and Dane Axe Enthusiast....

Theodox, Paladin and Do-Gooder....

 The necromancer, And Bringer of the Maw.

I'll go more into the WHYS and HOWS of LARPING, for me, In the next post, as this is already getting too long. Go Forth and BATTLE, Friends!