CBC Digital Archives

Live action role-playing in 1985

Is there any fate worse than being sent to the Twilight Realm? Only the Wizard knows. He's the Games Master for the Fantasy Field Trip Society, a group of Haligonians who spend their leisure time on live role-playing games. Members don costumes to reflect their characters - trolls, wizards, warriors or sorceresses - then spend a weekend acting out the game. In this report from CBC-TV's Midday, a player says the game appeals to people who want to expand their world: "We find that we have to make our own horizons out of our own imaginations."
• Though the term is not used in this 1985 report, these people are doing what has become known as larping. The word comes from to acronym LARP, for "live action role-playing". According to Wikipedia, larping began in parts of North America, the United Kingdom and Europe simultaneously in the late 1970s or early '80s. It grew out of the popularity of tabletop role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons. • In the years since this broadcast, larping has become more popular but in 2009 was still not a mainstream activity. Besides the original Tolkienesque fantasy settings, larpers also practice in the genres of sci-fi and horror. Games companies have also expanded into larping, creating settings and rules for players to adapt.

Medium: Television
Program: Midday
Broadcast Date: Oct. 30, 1985
Guest(s): Roger Dillon, Reg Hody
Reporter: Jacqueline Kirk
Duration: 2:58

Last updated: February 23, 2012

Page consulted on March 27, 2013

All Clips from this Topic

Related Content

Is Dungeons and Dragons dangerous?

In 1985, a popular role-playing game called Dungeons & Dragons is at the centre of controversy...