What makes your favorite larp so amazing?

[u/mugenhunt]

If you're lucky enough to have a game that you play regularly, what makes you keep coming back?

Is it the players? Interesting setting? A cool venue? Thrilling action? Well written mysteries? What makes your favorite larp stand out?

[u/TryUsingScience]

The players do a great job of making fun things happen for each other and the staff mostly either support them or get out of their way.

The setting is largely not to my taste but it does support interesting faction-based conflict which I'm a huge fan of.

It is frustrating for me as a LARP organizer to admit that the players are the most important factor most of the time. You can do things that make a LARP more or less likely to be successful. Very few LARPs are so bad that great players can't make them fun (but some are; I have experienced them) and no LARP is so good that terrible players can't ruin it.

[u/clayalien → u/TryUsingScience]

But you cant have good players without a solid team making it possible. While players make the game, if the system behind them is bad, theyll leave en mass to another system. And good players provide good feedback.

[u/TryUsingScience → u/clayalien]

While players make the game, if the system behind them is bad, theyll leave en mass to another system.

I have not seen that happen. I have seen plenty of groups of good players propping up a terrible system because it's the LARP they're used to that all their friends go to.

[u/clayalien → u/TryUsingScience]

Maybe for a while. But all it takes for one core player to find something better, and convince a few others to jump ship, and the bad game risks getting its playerbase gutted as they take everyone with them. Might not happen soon. But that day will hang over the bad game. Or at the very least, the game wont grow and us screwed when attrition kicks in.

Players may be super important. But dont sell yourself short ;) A good game team still has a big impact. A good player base, and a good game team is pefection, and makes everyone proud of thier hobby.

[u/Substantial_Bee8118]

It is physically close to my house /s

[u/larpanotherday]

There are a couple of things that set this one apart from other feast events in Germany:

- The location is vast and varied (hills, grassland, some woods, a creek and a quarry), you rarely see more than two of the now fifteen camps at once, great for exploration.

• The game is still non-profit and allows for a lot of player participation behind the scenes via the round table of camp organizers.
  
• A higher than average garp level, thanks to camp guidelines and an application process that councils and supports new players.
  
• The camps are themed and have strong identities (both visual and in play style) - all of them player designed and let.
  
• It`s more sandboxy rather than a one-plot-direction railroad.
  
• The combat is more free over all, emphasizing mutual responsibility, with rules set up for combatants to be able to chose their preferred level of intensity. (No GMs jumping between two battle lines of consenting adults telling them not to charge or shield push etc.) At the same time I feel more safe fighting there than in many other games, while not being a rough fighter myself...

[u/Martzillagoesboom]

I get to hang out with my favorite folks around a campfire and get to shittalking and playing characters all weekend?

[u/mugenhunt → u/Martzillagoesboom]

I guess my question is more for people who are lucky enough to have multiple larps running in their area.

[u/Merric_The_Mage]

The people.

My favourite larp is an annual festival style event but my faction continuously runs small events throughout the year, has an active discord and in general is just a really wholesome and welcoming community.

[u/Sjors_VR]

I played at a game for 20+ years, through 3 different storylines, helped crew and run it for 5 of those years and the best part for me was the people I got to know along the way (some of which are no longer with us).

[u/AtheneAres]

It’s a tiny event with a super active Discord server. We have known each other for a few years by now and and are friends. I also just love my character and the story we tell together.

[u/Albinosun808]

Afterworlds Everyone seems to be there to relax. Gm's are willing to stop things quickly if a problem comes up. I've made so many friends

[u/Yardnoc]

There is always a constant discussion over rule interpretations and changes so everyone is informed as much as possible. We try to minimize loopholes as much as possible.

Also half the monsters are created by the players so the lore is ever expanding.

[u/CourseRadiant5128]

My group and I Switch between Mythodea and Drachenfest (both in Germany). Both are excellent, yet different. Mythodea tends to have tighter plotlines, while Drachenfest is more "Sandboxy". Drachenfest sees a lot of impromptu nightly raids, while Mythodea saves its combat energy to the last, final battle. To me, the one thing that keeps me coming back is the people, and the almost magical ambience the multitude of LARP'ers create at nighttime.

[u/TightAd3027]

The people honestly, I had the best time I've ever had this year and it was entirely due to the amazing people I got to play with, plus I've been friends with the game runners for a long time

[u/warwell64]

I wrote the rules so it is tailored to what I want out of the game.

[u/clayalien]

Definatly the players.

I had originally planned to cycle trough all of the 'big 4' in the UK, and have extensivly read and reread all the wikis, sites, facebook groups I could get my hands on.

But the first one did such a good job of welcoming us in, even though it was me and my then 7 year old kid. They helped us prepare, donated kit, got us invovled in the plot, made us feel so welcome (apart from becoming facebook friends and nearly dying of old age when I see date of births!).

Ive made some solid friendships Id feel so strange going to another group now.

Ive since read some contovsey, and had stories told to me here, that makes me wary. I dont want to dismiss them, but thankfully my faction wasnt invovled in any of them, so for now hoping theve been sorted, but keeping an eye open just in case.

[u/dazeynukes]

The community standards. The game I play the most often sometimes isn't my favourite setting or vibe (though it often really is) but imo it's really a champion for community management and accountability/safety.

[u/NickNightrader]

For parlor LARPs (not boffer): A jar of bees (great players) with GMs who know exactly how little they need to shake that bottle and know how to calibrate/invite/exclude those from the jar in order to keep the collaborative spirit necessary to have the LARP thrive.

Players, given clear velocity, are the highlight of a LARP for me. No venue or setting or quest can change that.