By Merle Stratmann (Carl von Ossietzky-University Oldenburg)
‘Live Action Role Playing’ (LARP) is a form of public history. Conventions can take place in the setting of historical times, such as the Middle Ages, or in other worlds. Participants create characters they will play at the convention. All these settings feel authentic to the players. As part of a seminar at the University of Oldenburg, I conducted the following research to investigate on the question of which historical impacts inspire the participants and what kind of media influences their concept of history. I also investigated on what makes LARP feel historically authentic.
The research is based on a survey via LimeSurvey, which 63 participants, who all attend LARP-Conventions in any kind of function with a historical setting, such as “Conquest of Mythodea“, took part in. I developed the survey from my own experiences in LARP. The participants were also asked to evaluate their interest in history from 1 (“I am not interested in history at all“) to 5 (“I am really interested in history“).
Most participants answered that they play rather fantastic characters than rather historical characters. Participants who participate in LARPs roughly set in the Middle Ages play characters such as knights, squires, elves, hobbits or priests. Characters mentioned in Early Modern History were mermaids, marine admirals or pirates.
The movies and series that were mentioned were ones one can find in popculture, such as Game of Thrones or Vikings, and video games like Skyrim. Lots of the media that contributes to the inspiration for LARP-characters produce actual visual images, such as movies or art. Whilst other media, like other roleplaying-games or computer games, enable the person to experience another role in another setting. Moreover, not every series mentioned for inspiration has a setting fitting for the time period. Pirates Of The Carribean being mentioned as an inspiration for Late Middle Ages and Early Modern History. Whilst Lord Of The Rings and the Tolkien-universe are mentioned as inspiration for characters in Early and High Middle Ages.
Regarding the choice of clothing and belongings of the character, the answers given underline the purpose of visual story telling: clothes and items express the character and the setting.
The feeling of authenticity is created by various factors, some being material (objects fitting into the epoch, scenery, no modern technology), and other being non-material (experiencing stories, music, character concepts (e.g. professions), skills (e.g. magic), fights and battles). The results show that there is no certain aspect that is clearly needed to make the setting feel authentic. An authentic world is created by both, material, visual and non-material, personal aspects.
To summarize, the concept of history, which can be shown in the design of characters, is influenced by popcultural media. The certain media is producing certain concepts of history which reproduce in LARP: We find pirates rather in Early Modern History-LARPs and knights, wizards and elves rather in Middle Age-LARPs. Authenticity is an overall experience, created by not only items but also the interaction with others, all contributing to a certain setting.
This is a very interesting research, Merle, thank you for this. I am intrigued by the multiple sources that are informing LARPers understanding of the periods that they reenact. As you mention, they seem to be mostly influenced by popular culture, and yet the historicity of the experience is key for them. What do you think about this tension? Do you also know of any academic material they consult?
Dear Juan,
Thank you for your reply!
I think in LARP it’s more about authenticity than historicity. It just has to feel historically authentic, not historically accurate. We become accustomed to the concept of history as presented in popular culture, including stereotypes. Pop culture and public history shape our expectations of particular time periods, influencing our concept of history. We may even reproduce the stereotypes that we then see in LARP. In my research, two participants actually said that they were inspired by stereotypes and clichés when creating their characters. According to Velten and Specht (2024), the depiction of the Middle Ages in popular culture is a product of the imagination — a ‘how it should have been’. I think this applies very well to LARP, especially since its aim is not to recreate historical times as closely as re-enactment does.
While I am not aware of any specific academic material they consult, two respondents said they were inspired by documentaries. Also, two people (who rate their interest in history as “5”) had very specific role models: Bernhard of Clairvaux and a British naval admiral from the 18th century. I can only assume that they use academic material.
I hope this reply answers your question.
I wonder how this compares to more pure historical re-enactment groups? From an observer’s point of view, the two can _look_ very similar – but how much do you think those motivations would carry over to historical re-enacters?
Dear Stevan,
Thank you for your reply.
I agree that LARP and reenactment can appear similar.
In my survey, I asked participants about the genres of LARP conventions they attend. This was a multiple-choice question, since some LARPers attend conventions in different genres. The participants could select High Fantasy, Low Fantasy, HistoLARP/ReenLARPment, or ‘Other’. ‘High Fantasy’ (52) and ‘Low Fantasy’ (40) were selected the most, furthermore 11 participants chose ‘HistoLARP/ReenLARPment’. However, some answers were not as detailed as I had hoped.
If by ‘motivation’ you mean ‘inspiration’ (I am not sure if I understood you correctly), I can only answer based on the more detailed responses. Participants who answered that they participate in HistoLARPs/ReenLARPments did answer more specifically about what time period in which their characters should be set in. Also, there is a tendency that these participants rather orientate on historical finds and primary sources (text and art). However, as some participants answered with brief responses, I cannot be too specific. I hope that I answered your question.
This is super interesting, Merle!
I have a broader question about LARPing. I only have first hand experience of day-long, sword-and-sorcery games. But lately I’ve been hearing and reading about more self-contained, experimental kinds of games (Nordic LARP, chamber LARPs, etc). Does your survey include practitioners of different kinds of LARP or one (or some) particular types of game? If the former, is there a difference between how players of different types of LARP styles respond to history?
Dear Vinicius,
Thank you for your reply!
Yes, there are many different genres of LARP. I asked the participants which genres they attend, using a multiple-choice question. The genres High Fantasy, Low Fantasy and HistoLARP/ReenLARPment were given previously. One person attends post-apocalyptic LARPs and another who attends pirate LARPs. The rest answered with High Fantasy (52), Low Fantasy (40) and HistoLARP/ReenLARPment (11).
As it was a multiple choice question, it is difficult to give an exact answer. Also, the replies regarding quality, were very different.
Most participants attend multiple genres. Six participants only attend Low Fantasy-LARPs and 15 participants only attend High Fantasy-LARPs. First of all, there is a difference in the characters. Only two of the participants in High Fantasy answered that their character is rather historical or historical. Most of the participants who only attend Low Fantasy-LARPs have historical or historical characters (4).
The source of inspiration differs, too. The participants who attend Low Fantasy-LARPs tend to orientate towards historical paintings, historical finds and have a high interest in incorporating historical elements (and fitting in a certain time period) into their character design. Of course, some people also mentioned being inspired by games, books and their own fantasy, too. However, the participants who attend High Fantasy-LARPs have a broader variety of pop culture inspiration (games, series, movies, ect.) than those who attend Low Fantasy-LARPs. Of course, one must consider the difference in the quantity, too. The factors contributing to an authentic world are also rather similar.
I hope I answered your question.
It certainly did! Thank you very much!