LARP-ING At Home

LARP-ing, or Live Action Role Playing, is an offshoot activity of Fencing that I brought to camp back in 2013. Campers would deck out in fencing gear and I would take them on a journey through the camp grounds where we would slay monsters and save innocent villagers. Since then campers have been able to use their imagination to seek adventure all around the Foley grounds.

Since we can't all go on an adventure together I thought I would share some exclusive LARP-ing tips and an outline to use to bring some excitement right to you at home! The first part of this blog may look familiar, as it was also included in our Camp-in-a-Box Adventure Guide. The second part of the blog is a never before seen LARP-ing outline created by me!

To buy your own Camp-in-a-Box go here!



The point of you creating a LARP-ing adventure is to make it exactly how you want it to be. So even
though this guide shows you one outline to plan out your adventure, the goal is for you to create what you want and not feel limited.

1. The Call to adventure 
      a.You and your companions find out about the quest and each share why the quest important to your character and why you want to take on this journey
2. 1st Challenge
     a. Your group comes up against the first obstacle or enemy and must prove they have what it takes to succeed. This might also be the introduction to the Villain apposing you.
3. 2nd Challenge
     a. You have beaten your first challenge and now continue on your journey finding clues or following the trail to get closer to the thing you are questing for. You face the next challenge with more confidence, but something is different this time. The villain could have taken this thing from you.
4. Set Back
     a. After the second challenge you and your companions are not victorious or if you did win the fight you lost something very important. This could be your map, a powerful tool, a member of your party, etc. You need to get back the thing you lost in order to become powerful enough to finish the quest.
5. Final Confrontation
     a. You have regained the thing you lost during your Set Back and are now ready to face your final challenge. Everything you have learned from your challenges and set back help you win against this final obstacle or to defeat the villain once and for all.
6. Resolution 
     a. You have won and the thing you have been questing for can now be claimed

Questions to keep in mind are how will the characters try to get the thing they want? Are they walking to a location and encountering dangers along the way, riding in a vehicle? Are they following a map? Do they have clues to follow that will lead them to what they want? Depending on how many people are adventuring with, you may want to plan things out together or create a plan alone to keep the adventure a surprise for everyone else.

Depending on the adventure you want to go on, you will need to create certain quest items to use on your adventure. If you are traveling in car or spaceship, build it out of cardboard! Need a map to follow, draw it! Need secret clues that will lead you on your journey, write them out and hide them!

LARP-ing Outline Example
Below you will find a complete LARP-ing Outline that you can use to start adventuring. Feel free to change it to fit whatever story you want to tell.

Adventures in Space

1. The Call to adventure 
     a. You and your companions are traveling to Mars in your space ship in the year 2221. You are all trained to be excellent astronauts but each one of you brings something special to the spaceship crew. One of you is a great pilot who can drive the ship, and one of you is a master engineer, who knows how to build and hack into spaceship systems. You receive a distress signal from another spaceship that is damaged and needs help. You pilot your ship in their direction. (build your own spaceship)
2. 1st Challenge
     a. You and your companion, wearing space suits, enter the damaged spaceship and see many holes in the floor and walls of the ship. Your suits help you breath but if you touch any of the “holes” you will be pulled into outer space. You must jump and move to avoid the “holes” and only touch the safe parts of the ship. (build an obstacle course to represent the damaged ship)
    b. You make it through the damaged parts of the ship and enter the control room, where the signal is coming from. Inside you meet and rescue a small alien (or more depending on the size of your group) who tells you their ship was attacked and a special artifact they were traveling was stolen. They need your help to get it back.
     c. This artifact allows any ship to go faster than the speed of light and the alien promises to share this technology with you if you help.
3. 2nd Challenge
     a. The alien gives you a tracking beacon to help find the artifact and you begin your search. The route takes you directly towards an asteroid field! Your pilot must navigate your ship through the field without getting hit. (using your imagination, dodgeballs, or pillows, have someone act as the Asteroid Field, throwing asteroids at the spaceship, and you and the other astronauts having to dodge them in your ship)
4. Set Back
     a. You successfully navigate the asteroid field, but are forced to emergency land on a nearby planet because you are out of fuel!
     b. Decide what the right type of fuel for your spaceship is and look for it on this planet (search your yard or home for things that will help fuel your spaceship)
5. Final Confrontation
     a. With your ship refueled you can now continue tracking this artifact. You head into deep space and your ship’s computer tells you that the artifact is very close now and begins scanning the area. Strangely ahead of you, you see a ship very similar to the damaged ship you helped earlier. This ship is not damaged at all and looks much larger.
     b. Suddenly your ship is taken over by the larger spaceship and you hear a voice. It is the alien you helped! They tell you this was a trap and they would never share this technology with you, but instead tricked you into coming to deep space so they could use your ship to make theirs even bigger and more powerful. The alien tells you they will strand you on a deserted planet and there is nothing you can do about it.
     c. You have survived holes in spaceships, asteroid fields, and recovered fuel! You cannot be beaten this easily. Your master engineer tries to regain control of your ship and you and the alien begin to battle over the ship. (play thumb wars, space rock paper scissors, and arm wrestle to regain control or as the alien try to take control of the ship)
6. Resolution 
     a. You have defeated the alien and regained control of your ship! The alien in their haste to fly away from you in an escape pod has left behind the artifact you were tracking and their large very powerful ship. You now have the power travel all of space… Where will you go next?

Top 10

Since the launch of our Foley Fact Videos, overall excitement for summer has been on the rise. Along with the facts those videos highlight, I also would like to point out a very broad fact - our campers are talented and demonstrate their skills in countless ways each day. With 30+ activities to choose from, each camper is able to create their own adventure by signing up for activities in which they desire to grow in confidence and skill. Just to get our minds on the summer days ahead, let's check out our camper's Top 10 favorite activities..

10. Springboard Diving

9. Fencing

8. Crafts

7. Climbing

6. Paintball

5. Archery

4. Riflery

3. Wakeboarding

2. Sailing

1. Waterskiing

While we patiently await summer, check out the specifics on these activities and more!  

Camper Blogs! Part 2

We have part two of the awesome Journalism classes blog posts. In part one you heard about Mexican Lasagna, Trees and Nature and Friendship Campfire. Today two more campers have some things they'd like to share...

Arrival Day! Camp already feels like home!

Feeling at Home by Cecilia P.

When you are at Camp Foley, you may miss your home and may be homesick, but all the people at Camp Foley will try to make you happy! All the people will make you feel at home. Like in the case of food, when I think of a camp, I would think it would be not good. But at camp, the food is like a restaurant or better. With all the activities, you enjoy every part of camp. Also you feel the freedom in every activity you have.

Activities at Camp Foley by Esperanza G.

Fencing at Camp Foley.

 At Camp Foley, we have water and land activities. Water activities take place at the Swimdock or the Marina. Some activities you need to be a certain age to participate. Land activities need different things depending on what you are doing. An example is, if you are at Fencing, you need long pants because if someone hits you in the leg, you'll be safe. Sometimes activities are harder than you think. Some water activities are: Snorkeling, Sailing JYs, Sailing Bics, Waterskiing and Wakeboarding and other fun stuff. My favorite experience is when I stood up in Waterskiing for my first time. It was so much fun; it's so cool! Activities at Camp Foley are the best! You should come to camp to try your best in activities. I have another experience but this is a land activity. It was when I got my Novice Award in Tennis and in Fencing. 

"Don't Be Nervous"

This month I had the chance to meet 5th year camper Mark F. Mark is 14 years old and will be starting high school next year. Mark's favorite activities at camp involve sailing, fencing, and riflery. All of these activities Mark only has had the opportunity to do while at Foley, and he can't wait to get back this summer!

Mark F. summer 2011

He remembers coming to camp the first day with his older sister and being a little scared for his first time away from home, but once he arrived everyone was really nice and each year he has made some new great friends. When I asked him about the last day of camp his first year, he said that before then he never remembers crying about anything, but with everyone upset that they had to leave, he might have had a tear or two. Foley has taught Mark how to be respectful of everyone around him, and has given him the chance to learn about leadership. He would like to further these skills with Foley's LIT programs.

I asked Mark for some words of advice to new campers. He said, "don't be nervous!" He also added "don't forget about signing up for climbing" - he has forgotten to do that in the past but looks forward to it this year.

I’m excited to see Mark return and can’t wait to see how many new friends he gains this year!

- Adam Ashley, Assistant Director.