What is Live Role-Playing?

Role-Playing is either playing the role of another person, or imagining and acting out your own reactions to an unusual or unfamiliar situation. There are many real life examples of role-playing. For example: an actor in a play, or a staff training exercise where one person is a disgruntled customer and a second person has to deal with it.

When most people hear the term "role playing", they automatically think of Role-Playing Games (RPGs). In RPGs, people make a character, with certain statistics and skills, and play adventures using that character. Players are required to imagine the scenery, the monsters, the events occurring, and the actions of themselves and others. One of the most well known RPGs is Dungeons and Dragons, but there are many hundreds of additional RPGs.

In some RPGs, a certain amount of the activity can be acted out. That is, people are able to walk around, sometimes dressed in an appropriate costume, and directly interact with other characters. These types of RPGs are commonly termed Freeforms. Usually there is no combat in Freeforms - or combat is simulated using dice, hand signals or some similar method.

Live Role-Playing (LRP), on the other hand, allows you as a player to make a character and more or less become that person for a period of time. LRP games occur in a setting which means the majority of the scenery, monsters, and events will be visible (and audible!) around you. Combat is undertaken using foam or wooden weapons (BIF does not use wooden weapons - read on for more details), and if you get hit you pretend to take the damage as if it was a real weapon.

Think of LRP as a day or weekend long play. The basic plot is written and directed by the Games Masters (GMs). The script however is written by the characters (you) as they go along.