larping in the library (live action roleplaying)

Live Action Roleplay (LARP) is generally considered a hardcore nerd past time. Participants usually spend days, weeks, or even months creating their character, costumes, and weapons. Then, they join their friends "on the battlefield" (usually an outdoor park) to complete quests, conquer campaigns, or simply have a battle royale.

Rather than making a traditional LARP program though, I simply took the concept to make a game framework which can be re-themed for fresh, new events.

The original theme (and the one which I now hold annually in October) was zombies. In teams of 5, the teens or tweens (I've done LARPing in the Library with both age groups with great success) get different "identities/jobs." Each "identity/job" has special challenges or tasks that only they can perform and they are fitting with the theme.

For example-->

Zombies -- Infectious Disease Specialist, Bitten But Not Turned Civilian, etc.
Dinosaurs -- Jurassic Park Owner, Paleontologist, Tough Guy/Gal, etc.

Once the participants have their jobs and a map of the different challenge stations, they are sent on their journey! Again, the challenges are theme appropriate (Zombies -- gathering survival supplies; Dinosaurs -- breaking open rock samples to find a dino DNA sample). For a 45 minute to hour game, 11-13 challenges are appropriate. It helps to arrange for the order of the different challenges to be different for the teams so that no more than two groups are at a challenge station at one time.

At this point you're probably thinking...this is an awful lot like an escape room. And you would be right. The challenge part of the game is very escape room-esque, and the winning team is the one who successfully completes all the challenges and figures out all the clues to get through the challenges IN THE LEAST AMOUNT OF TIME. However, some challenges can allow for "time bonuses." (example --> make an SOS and the "best"/"most creative" gets 2 minutes shaved off their final time). 

The real LARP twist here is a VILLAIN. Each participant puts on a flag in their pocket or in their waistband (a la flag football). The villain (again, theme appropriate) played by the librarian chases the participants through the library in attempt to pull their flags. The librarian (me) is not CONSTANTLY the villain though in case the teams get really stuck on a challenge (or if a team is trying to sabotage others...it did happen once). I usually pick a mask to represent the villain which can be flipped off my face. When the mask is down, I'm the villain and they have to RUN FOR IT. Note: no offensive tactics against the villain are allowed. Note #2: I did make an exception for the flip up/down mask for the tween Dino Disaster since getting in and out of the inflatable T-Rex costume was too complicated...and if the program wasn't so spectacular with tons of happy tweens, I would have vowed to never do that again considering how close I got to a heat stroke.

If I manage to pull someone's flag, their team has a choice. They can either leave the person behind for a 20 minute penalty (essentially ensuring they lose) or one of their teammates can volunteer their flag. The volunteer and the flagless person then have to "handcuff it" (one hand each tied together) for the rest of the game.

These events are so popular that they have developed a bit of a cult following in my library. The MINIMUM number of participants has been 20 with the max being 30. Although, that number is about to get higher as I integrate the event more with the adjoining secondary school to have it right after the final bell (suuuuuper nervous about that but excited too).

TIPS:

• At least have water available for everyone at the end. All that running (especially the poor librarian villain) gets tiring.
• If possible, offer snacks/pizza (very important for teen events)
• While the game itself is crazy fun, note that really good prizes help when pitching the event. It can be hard to describe this program as quickly as you need to keep a teenager's attention. However, by saying "run around the library screaming while completing challenges with your friends in order to win gift cards/movie passes" you'll at least get enough interest to have a solid turn out.

If you have any questions or want more info, just message me or leave something in the comments!

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