The city of Philadelphia is known for a lot of things: overeager football fans, cheesesteaks, the Liberty Bell, and of course the accent. But something it isn’t known for? It is hard to find LARPing events in Philadelphia. While there are a lot of LARPers in the area, most of them travel to events rather than host them in the city.
There are many reasons for this, including a lack of space, expenses, and safety. At Alliance Gettysburg, we hold events that are easily drivable and even accessible via public transportation for people in and around Philadelphia.
What Is LARPing?
LARPing, or Live Action Role Playing, is a free-form roleplaying game where each person gets to portray a character that they create using their imaginations and creativity. While playing, LARPers take on the appearance of their character, including their outfits, their patterns of speech, their thought processes, and more, acting within the storyline. LARPing requires quite a bit of space to move and roam, which is why Philadelphia doesn’t host more events.
Can I Attend LARPs Near Philadelphia?
While every LARP organization will have its own rules, most accept people who travel from anywhere in the world. Before going to a new event, you want to look online and find any rules and regulations that you can about the event.
Not only will this save you trouble once you get to the site, but it can also help you to plan your trip better. If you are traveling from Philadelphia to go to the LARP, you may need to book a hotel, bring camping equipment, or plan for the trip. Finding out what people recommend, understanding the facilities, and maybe even making a friend or two can help to make the experience a better one.
Check to see if there is anything in the rule book about whether or not you can travel from somewhere else to go to the event.
How To Get The Best Experience LARPing In Philadelphia
Philadelphia, and much of southeast Pennsylvania, is diverse and made up of people from all walks of life. There are rich people and poor people, nice people, and those who have some of that traditional Philly attitude. However, people who attend live-action roleplay events tend to be extremely nice, welcoming, and open – at least in our experience.
Before going to any LARP events in Philadelphia or the surrounding areas, you want to do some research about that particular event and the world in which you will play. You may want to learn more about the different participants, arrangements, and gatherings within that world. This will give you the best journey. For example, at Alliance LARP Gettysburg, we work within the World of Barran and all of its different planes.
If you can, look at the guides, worlds, and jargon used by that particular host group and event. It doesn’t have to take you a long time, but it should take a bit.
You should also go into your first LARP event with a character. Your character needs to be registered with the Character Management Application or CMA – you can read more about that here. This database has all of the characters used in LARPing events, including name, race, chapter, and powers.
Interested In Live Action Role Play Near Philadelphia?
Alliance Gettysburg is a high fantasy live-action role play game. There are multiple playable races within the World of Barran, including Elves, Dwarves, Humans and more – create the character that you’ve always dreamt about. Your creativity is the limit, and if you want to travel to attend our events, it is likely that you will be able to use that same character in live action role playing events near you.
We host our events in Pennsylvania, but we welcome LARPers from and all over the country – the more players, the better. Reach out to us today if you have any questions or concerns moving forward.