What is Live-Action Role-playing?
Live action role-playing (LARP or LRP) is a game where each player
takes on the role of a fictional character and acts out what that
character would do in a fictional setting. Game rules are used
to resolve conflicts between characters and to keep players safe.
What is NERO?
NERO stands for New England Roleplaying Organization, an encorporated
LARP with a setting in the high-medieval fantasy world of Tyrra.
Like Tolkien’s Middle Earth, or the game Dungeons & Dragons, in
Tyrra there are elves, magicians, warriors, and monsters. NERO
events usually occur during a weekend at a campground with cabins.
There, players take on the role of a fantasy character (known
as a player-character or “PC”) and interact with one another.
NERO staff and volunteers take on roles as non-player characters
“NPC’s” to play the monsters, the evil necromancers, the noble
leaders, and the townsfolk to challenge and entertain the PC’s.
In NERO, there is a rule system that allows for magic and combat.
Combat is contact-combat with the use of foam balls or packets
of birdseed to simulate spells and plastic PVC pipe covered with
foam and duct-tape to simulate weapons. NERO has many chapters
throughout the United States, mostly focused in the Northeast.
For more information, see NERO’s official website at www.nerolarp.com.
How did I get involved in NERO?
Since I was only four or five years old, I have been interested
in the mythic and fantasy genre. I was a voracious reader of fantasy
fiction as a teenager. When I went to college, I met another freshman
who played NERO herself. She got me to play an NPC at an event,
and I enjoyed it. Later, when I got my own car at college, I played
for a few events myself. After graduating college, I found myself
poor and without a job. Three years later, I can afford the “habit”
of regularly PC’ing at NERO once again.
Where do I play NERO?
Currently, I play my character, Lilaiethyn Raenelindor (Lili
for short), in Avendale (www.avendale.com),
Ashbury (www.neroashbury.com)
and Ravenholt (www.neromass.com).
These campaigns are held in Connecticut and Massachusetts.
