Thursday, April 1, 2010

Love to LARP

By Mike Peal

When the weather warms, students at the University of Connecticut are treated to a unique scene next to Homer Babbidge Library: their fellow students dueling as if straight out of the middle ages.

The medieval combat is fencing, “American Gladiators,” and Camelot combined, and the result is a whirlwind of color, noise and twirling limbs combining to create a scene straight out of “King Arthur.”

Since 2004, the Society for Medieval Arts and Combat at the University of Connecticut has allowed students to embrace their inner knight.

The society was inspired by a similar club at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Mass. There, Jason Rosa, founder of the UConn chapter, joined the club as an undergraduate. Later, Rosa moved from Massachusetts to Connecticut, enrolled at UConn and created the society.

The society practices “The Realms,” a “live action roleplaying” game (commonly referred to as LARPing) that can only be described as “Dungeons and Dragons” come to life. The society practices “boffing,” a model of medieval combat complete with swords, shields and bows and arrows made out of wood, fiberglass, foam and duct tape for safety. Players aim to strike an opponent with the weapons’ safe tips until they are pronounced dead.
Far from a mere novelty, boffing follows an intricate hit-point system depending on where a person is struck. For example, if a player is hit in the right leg with a sword, the player can no longer use that leg and is forced to hop on one foot.

While the initial goal was to imitate the club in Worcester, Rosa said the UConn chapter “quickly took on a life and culture of its own.” For one, the society extends its reach beyond UConn and attracts players throughout New England.

“It's one of the most diverse groups in New England. It gets people from Connecticut, New Hampshire and Massachusetts on a weekly basis,” said Josh Learned, 26, who drives from Ludlow, Mass. to attend UConn practices. “It’s become one of the deepest pools for bringing in new, young and interested players.”

Furthermore, the society stresses a close community among its members. The club meets for dinner before every practice, holds workshops for members to hone their weapon-crafting skills – how to wrap weapons for safety, how to sculpt a shield or how to customize with colors and logos – and gathers for monthly board game nights. On weekends the club travels together to renaissance fairs and Realms tournaments throughout New England, where they can dress in medieval garb.

“My best friends at UConn are from SMAC,” said Alysha Metcalf, a UConn senior. “It is a wonderful community where I’ve met some of the most interesting people I could ever imagine.”

Rosa, now a UConn alum, said he takes a great deal of pride in the social aspect of the group – something he had not expected from a medieval sparring club.

“The people at this campus are a lot more down to earth than the one in Worcester,” Rosa said. “I mean we are LARPing, and that is nerdy, but it is intrinsically less nerdy here at UConn. Since its inception the club has become a lot more of a social group than I had first imagined it being.”

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