Weekend Warriors: The Story of a LARPer

Sophomore Scott Baumann, left, readies his lance to strike fellow LARPer Justin Pangilinan, who wields an axe. (Ashley Nanco)
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UPDATED 9:03 p.m. 

After a week of classes, sophomore Scott Baumann can often be found in the grass on the Quad gripping a 4-foot long PVC weapon, and sparring with others wielding the same. For some unaccustomed student passersby, the sight may seem odd. But for the veteran student – or the 10 to 15 students who play each week – it’s just LARP.

LARP, which stands for Live Action Role Play and is pronounced phonetically, is a form of role-playing game in which participants physically act out their character’s actions, usually in battle. 

At George Mason University, informal fighting practice is after lunch on Friday.

Baumann, who has been LARPing for almost a year, remembers seeing people spar his freshman year and was personally interested. “I asked what they were doing and they handed me a sword and said ‘Here, try it.’”

Afterwards, he went to Home Depot to gather the materials for his first weapon: PVC pipe, duct Tape, and PVC insulation. The end product was a "two handed claymore", or as Baumman translated, a "big honking' 5-foot sword.”

He soon found that the design was faulty, however, when he blistered his friend’s pinky finger and dented his ring. “We deemed the weapon unsafe, and I made a new four-foot sword with a lot more padding,” Baumann said.

Baumman says that the combination of the role-playing aspect and the fun that keeps him interested, and that LARPing is “more physical[ly] based and based more on personal skill than in-game mechanics.”

“No matter how many times you practice in [Dungeons and Dragons], rolling a one is always a one. It is always going to come out the same. [In] a LARP situation, when you practice and spar with friends you get better each time,” Bauman said. “So, in a way the challenge comes more from yourself than from the game system.”

Despite the group’s weekly presence by “The Benches,” Baumann says that there is at least one person a week that asks what he and his friends are doing.

“We give them a weapon and basic safety instructions, then go from there,” he said. “We have had people walk off the sidewalk and end up being really good.”

But there is more to LARPing than swinging an oversized padded sword. There are lists of rules and regulations, ranging from how to role-play damage to the division of staffs and guilds.

Although no one has been hospitalized, Baumann says there is always the chance of tripping or spraining something when being active.

“As far as [we’re] concern[ed], if a weapon is unsafe then we scrap it and make another one. We usually leave the event sites cleaner than when we got there. And a general rule, even though your weapon is padded, don’t swing it like it is padded,” Baumann says.

Baumann also participates in a regional event known as Simulacrum Terra, or Simterra. This all-day long event takes place every other month and is one in which LARPers from around the area come together to battle one another. At this event LARPers “go all out,” sporting complete costumes and ready to play the part of their characters.

“On Fridays, it is more about base level skills. [At Simterra] you see a guy throwing a yellow bean bag and yelling ‘Lightning bolt!’” Baumann said, then explaining that there was a participant who wore elf ears, a full plate and modified his speech to match his role.

“We’re not that ridiculous, but we do have our quirks,” he said.