Live roleplaying

Live roleplaying is really just another way of describing an impromptu and scriptless form of acting. Each player has a character or role and they must play out how this person would repond in certain environments and conversations. There are various areas that require live roleplaying:

• Recreationist - playing the role of your persona, recreating the actions of a particular part of history. This generally requires the roleplayers to dress in appropriate clothing for their character, eg. the SCA, York City Levy.
• Live Roleplaying - generally referred to as "LARP", "LRP" or "freeform roleplaying" (Australia). Various gaming systems have rules that require the players to move about in order to achieve objectives and gather information. Combat is simulated through non-physical means. More information about these sorts of games can be found at the LARPA Homepage.
  • Workplace training - A variation of live roleplaying used in a business situation. Employees are given fictional positions and roles and presented with various scenarios to see how they would respond.
• Live Action Roleplaying - also (confusingly) referred to as "LARP" or "LRP". These involve combat using latex or boffer style weapons. They generally also involve simulated spells. In the England the number of LARPer's outnumbers the SCA, but in Australia the reverse is true. There is some cross-over of membership between these groups at times.