eduLARP

Main element of the project is an interactive LARP game, that will last almost three full days.

For those, who never larped before I provided a little introduction to the method. 

LARP – also known as live action role play, is a game where each person portray their own character throughout an entire game. You will develop the story of your character, personality, physical features and a costume that you will wear. The character then develops its own speech and movement mostly by improvisation, almost as if it was a performance on a stage – all of this gives LARP a theatrical feeling. The characters are put in fictional settings and given quests to complete alone or in a group. 

Basically, you are moved to a completely different world and simply live it. We try to make it look realistic (end epic!) – with costumes, props and decorations. We step in the role of our characters and act for the whole duration of the game. Players get challenging quests and tasks to fulfill, but also mirror simple daily activities – telling stories by the fire, gathering food, defending their land or even get involved in love affairs. All of this creates a “lore” of created world – a background that will help everyone to immerse in the world and make the experience more realistic. 

Theater performance is one part of the LARP, the second is “the game”. All what happens in the LARP is regulated by game mechanics. It is a set of rules that regulate actions of players to make it safe and comfortable for everyone (for example, when you are kidnaped in game, you are actually not hit in your head and taken away unconscious, but thanks to the game mechanics other players may come to you, do a certain gesture that you know it means kidnaping, so you can play accordingly). There will be a detailed, separated post about game mechanics.

Sounds like fun, isn’t it? 

But what is educational about it, you may ask.

By in game immersion you can look at different issues or behaviors from other perspective. You may experience something you would never experience in the real life, you may do something, that you were always afraid to do. This week we will talk about migrations in Europe. In Edinu you will be a migrant. Others may treat you as a migrant. You will have to decide how does society of Edinu works and what is your position in it. Some decisions may be hard…

But here comes the educational part: each chapter of the LARP will be dully evaluated. Every evening we will have a “reflection circle” where we discuss what happened, how did we feel and how does correspond to our daily life. We may find some conclusions that are obvious but be sure that Edinu will surprise you.

The game requires full involvement of each participant and its quality very much depends on respecting the rules and mechanics. Therefore, it is extremely important that before you decided to join the project, you make sure you are ready for this experience. 

THE GAME 

LARP will be divided into 3 blocs and will last in total around 20 hours. During this time you will be someone else – you will get into the character that you chose. During this time nothing will be the same – you travel to post-apocalyptic world of Edinu where there will be no phones, no internet, no even a chance to talk about new album of Beyonce. The world where you will have to fight for food and cook outside on the fire, where you will have to defend your territory, where you will have to pass many trials and take heart-breaking decisions… to survive. You will step far out of your comfort zone. It will not be pleasant but will change the way you look at the world. It will be enriching – you will see migration from the other perspective – by living it. You will learn many skills that you never learned before.Going out of the role destroys the game and experience of others, so we will expect all participants to stay in their roles for the whole duration of LARP.