Games and Performance: Live Action Role Playing Games

This experimental course builds on the emerging genres of "immersive performance," "alternate reality," and "Live Action Role Playing (LARP)" to investigate the dynamics of role-playing games through case studies, gameplay, and original student design. Our focus will include the 1913 Gettysburg reunion, parlor games including Parker Brother’s 1937 Jury Box, Society for Creative Anachronism in1966, Dungeons and Dragons (both its inception in 1974 and current resurgence), Brian Wiese's Hobbit War in 1977, Mind’s Eye Theater’s development of World of Darkness, and Ground Zero, which began the Nordic Larp movement in 1998. We will explore role of the game master, emergent narratives, improvised community formation as well as "bleed." Previous course work in Games and Performance encouraged but not required.