Saturday, Sep. 10, 2011

Umstead Park hosts epic battles

The world of LARPing gives players a new reality

My plan was to don a dashiki and a cape, borrow a foam sword and disappear into the forest of William B. Umstead State Park. You could call me Szweldan. I would vanquish monsters, win treasure and gain glory for my spectacular deeds. Instead, I put on street clothes and shyly made my way to the park entrance not far from my North Raleigh home.

Deep in those woods I came upon a motley crew of monsters, warriors and magicians in the world of Orn. It's part of a Live Action Role Playing game called "The Shards of Orn," invented three years ago by brothers Nick and Stephen Ward. It's part of a well-established role-playing scene in Raleigh that includes LARP games such as Dominion and Avalon.

"The Shards of Orn" grew out of a world designed for Dungeons & Dragons by the Wards. D & D is a table-top role playing game that relies on imagination and a toss of the dice. "The Shards of Orn" takes it a step further by bringing it into the real world.

When I ran into Stephen Ward the Saturday morning of Labor Day weekend, he was still brushing off the fatigue from the night before.

"I personally was up (until) about 2:30 last night," he said. "Just role playing and fighting monsters and having fun."

He was in character, wearing a blue robe, and a chain shirt with a sword in its scabbard. He expressed regret that I could not see him in top form since he had just washed his white hair paint out. "The Shards of Orn" really focuses on making the gaming experience enjoyable for all players, he said. For example, some hard-core gamers wore red armbands. That meant that they could attack each other, in addition to any monsters they might encounter.

Most players had to work together, go on quests and fight bad guys, but the red-banded characters had the extra layer of interpersonal treachery involved. They were the types that would sleep with their swords next to them. But not everybody wanted to be that intense.

The event I attended lasted most of the weekend with the participants camping in cabins so that they could wake up in the morning, walk outside and be ready to join the fight. The husband and wife team of Stephen and Jennifer Ward were there. Also in attendance were Ashley Windsor and his 19-year-old son Robert. Ashley was playing a monster when I met up with him, and he would soon be waging a battle against a group of characters that included Robert.

One player was the secretive type. He was dressed as a savage, complete with a spiked shield, an ax and a mace. A bandana covered his head and paint darkened his face. He told me only that his character name was Mig Deringer. LARPing was his private hobby, and he didn't want anybody from the outside to know about it.

"It's like an escape world," he said. "It gets you away from the real world."

This cast of fantastical characters all collided as I watched. On one end of a field were four men wearing black and pretending to be giant ants that wielded weapons. On the other end, a group of dressed-up and playfully-armed characters prepared to attack. It was chaos.

The characters ran forward and clashed with the monsters, bashing away at them with foam swords and axes, blocking ant blows with their shields. The monster played by Ashley Windsor strolled the battleground, repeating odd phrases like, "Is it cold in here, or is it just me?" Then he would toss at the characters a small packet about the size and shape of deflated balloon.

It represented a magic spell, and when he threw this particular one, he called out, "Freeze." If the character was hit, they could not move for a time.

Eventually, the fighting died down as the warriors vanquished the ants. And then the characters retired to the "tavern" to rest and regroup.

Though I didn't show up as Szweldan, pretending to be a warrior elf, I felt a kinship with the players.

They all seemed to be yearning for the make believe we were forced to abandon at youth. I asked Benjamin Zschunke, also known as the sorcerer Wyndfere, why he thought LARPing was so attractive.

"You can sit around and play video games all day all by yourself, but with friends and being around people and stuff, it's way better," he said.