In LARP, or Live Action Role-Playing, passive observers become active participants in a gaming tradition that had its start in the late 1970s and has continued to the fantasy-loving present.
Participants get together and assume the roles of predetermined characters, then physically act out their characters' motions and emotions. It's basically like playing pretend, but with legit narratives. Even though the game has been around for a while, I only learned about the pastime when I saw a 2010 YouTube video involving people LARPing the characters from Avatar.
USF is home to a few different communities of LARPers, including one for the popular manga, Bleach. Players meet at the Tampa campus every Saturday from 7 to 11 p.m. on the fifth floor of the Collins Parking Garage. Back in 2007, USF started a Star Wars LARP, which had around 60 members — lightsabers and all. (Videos of their meetings appear on YouTube; check out one below.)
Who said some things are better left to the imagination?
There’s nobody around at the Trop, so you steal an AK-47 from Evan Longoria’s locker. Do you:
Head to the Wagon Wheel Flea Market and see how much you can get for it?
