What is LARP?
Live-Action Role Play (LARP) is longform improvisational storytelling done together in a group. You likely played ‘pretend’ when you were a child and donned a persona to act out in the backyard with friends. Now imagine doing that with more people, in a post-apocalyptic horror setting, and with a higher production value. If you can picture that, you have at least an idea of what Dystopia Rising: Michigan (DR:MI) is like to play!
LARP games also have some rules and mechanics to facilitate doing things that are either impossible/difficult, dangerous, or inadvisable to do in real life and in real time (e.g. knocking someone out, pickpocketing, using telekinesis, metalworking, etc.).
What do I do first?
There are a few approaches that you can take to start your DR:MI journey. What you choose depends on your personality, learning style, and available time. Think of this as the first choice in what will hopefully become a larger “choose your own adventure”!
Option 1: Planner:
You want to devour ALL of the information regarding skills, mechanics, strains, religions, diseases, and lore before making a character and playing the game. You don’t mind reading multiple books with 70+ pages to get this information—in fact, you LOVE it! It’s the way you best retain information, and you have the time, patience, and interest in learning the game this way. You are probably someone who enjoys playing D&D/Pathfinder/Another Tabletop RPG before and is used to having to read a TON of instructions in order to play a game. No judgment! We love it! Come play!
For this option, we recommend visiting the Network page that includes all of the books and story materials. Here, you’ll find everything that’s been released thus far. For character creation, we specifically recommend the Player’s Guide as a starting point.
Option 2: Pantser:
You find looking at a ton of books/information overwhelming. You learn better by doing or when someone walks you through the basic information that you need. You don’t mind figuring things out as you go because you just want to start playing and see what happens! You are probably someone who participates in community/college theater, participates in an improv troupe, or is a writer who’s curious about live-action storytelling. No judgment! We love it! Come play!
For this option, read our quick, one-page primers: the world of Dystopia Rising, genre and scope, and character guidelines. Then, fill out the New Player Submission Form, and one of our staff members will contact you to walk you through things!
Option 3: Plantser:
You’re a mix of the prior two options. You learn well by reading, but you don’t have the time or headspace to read all of these books. You are probably a person who is at least passingly familiar with tabletop roleplaying games, has done some other kind of storytelling before, and/or is just very, very busy with your real-life job and responsibilities. No judgment! We love it! Come play!
For this option, read our quick, one-page primers: the world of Dystopia Rising, genre and scope, and character guidelines. We also recommend reading the New Player Quick Guide, which includes information on various Strains as well as sample character builds. Then, fill out the New Player Submission Form, and one of our staff members will contact you to walk you through the rest!
Regardless of the option you chose, once your character is set up/submitted, read up on What to Bring and What to Expect When you get to the event, we’ll host a new player orientation with our New Player guides to get you ready to go. From there, you jump in!