It’s midnight on November 3rd, 2007 somewhere between San Francisco and Santa Cruz at Camp Cutter. On any given weekend the campground is usually filled with boy scouts, but tonight is a little different. It’s actually totally different.

Over a loud drumbeat blasting from a PA system, a grizzly-deep voice echoes out to the far reaches of the camp: “My children will feast on your flesh and drink your blood!”

This is Nero West—a Live Action Role Playing (LARP) group that convenes to put on events where everyday people act, in costume, like Dungeons and Dragons-inspired characters running around in a fantasy world. They claim new names and act as new people for several hours, sometimes for as long as a few days.

Nero West is a Bay Area branch of non-profit groups aptly named N.E.R.O. (New England Role-Playing Organization) that runs LARPing events across the country. While Nero West averages about thirty LARPers, groups on the East Coast are known to have twice that. Mass London, an annual LARPing event in London, is said to bustle in over a thousand LARPers who come from all corners of the globe.

Back at Camp Cutter, in a wide, flat round field, a giant eye floats across the treetops. Its green pray-painted iris shines a little in contrast to the eyeball’s orange exterior. It sways like a broken grandfather clock from its nerve-ending and is lifted with bungee cords by a group of dedicated string pullers.

From the left of the field a shoddy stage protrudes. It’s covered with a variety of items to maintain the willing suspension of disbelief. Most notably, a makeshift “hell gate”—three pieces of wood encircled with red tube lightsin front of two smoke machines spurting steam through hanging white cloth—is centered on the platform.

“You will die!” decrees the voice over the thumping drums.

From the right of the field, almost thirty living and breathing human beings come running down a hill into what is presumably their “end.” Garbed in vibrant medieval clothes and fanciful face make-up, they clutch foam swords and plastic shields. They are high on adrenaline and fantasy. The voice laughs and rattles their solar plexus.

Out of the “hell gate” emerges a pair of men wrapped in something that is supposed to resemble human skin, styro-axes in both hands. War cries are exchanged and the hellions rush the crowd.

What follows is so far from what previous generations of Boy Scouts at Camp Cutter have experienced. For a brief moment, when the poolnoodle swords smack and war begins, everyone is transported to another world where elves and knights battle in an eternal struggle with demons and goblins. Magic does fine damage and treasure drops everywhere.“

At night it’s better, because the shadows make everything a bit more real,” explains Michelle Lynn Moss, a long-time LARPer. “People’s make-up doesn’t look so amateur, and their weapons look less duck-tapey. Everyone is yelling, and people will jump out of nowhere and scare the shit out of you.”

It isn’t a game in the traditional sense, and most LARPers hate the word “game” attached to their pastime. LARPing is more of a play with activities. Often acted out in a park or campground, the point is to exist as a heroic, foolhardy knight or a sensible, wise elf. The fighting is used to spice things up. While Nero West boasts a system of treasure (known as loot), spells, and leveling, the fun is derived from the narrative.

But LARPing is not a new phenomenon. Fantasy roleplaying has a rich history, born out of tabletop games such as Dungeons and Dragons. People have been pretending they’re from a different time and world for decades: Renaissance Faires, Civil War re-enactments, Elvis impersonators, the list goes on.

As passersby eyeball LARPers in the park, their anti-social reputation is evident in their critics’ glances. The idea that the real world is so mundane and frustrating, that such dramatic escapism is compelling, seems cowardly to most. But a look inside shows there is a lot to offer in this new world.

Lacking a competitive streak, LARPing events play out more like social events. Role-playing with friends is essential to the overall experience, akin to going out to the bar or playing a pick-up game of basketball. Players share experiences with one and another, forming long-lasting friendships and sometimes more.

LARPers Michelle Lynn Moss, who goes by Raine, and her boyfriend, Jason Thomas, live together a few miles west of Stanford University. Raine has been role-playing since she was five, a hobby she picked up from her parents who used to play. Now in her mid-twenties, it’s her favorite pastime. Aside from playing her character, Kyla, in Nero West, she plays Aurora, a night-named creature, in a bi-weekly vampire LARP.

Every other Friday night, Raine and Thomas, whose character is named Spade, meet with a group called Masquerade at UC Berkeley. A change of pace from the gnomes and orcs of Nero, Masquerade is what
role-players call a political LARP, where the vampires mostly talk to each other. The emphasis is about making and breaking alliances with others to get what you want. In the cases of combat, they play rock-paper-scissors—the victor wins the fight. Role-playing in Masquerade is really about pretending to be human, playing the real character of a vampire.

When Raine is asked to explain Aurora, she describes her as a Bible-thumping vampire. She is someone who believes she is an angel from heaven who perceives sucking a human’s blood as “saving” them. The attention to detail she has for her character is deep. She knows how Aurora will react to almost any situation, like what she would order from McDonald's. Aurora is like Raine in a few ways. The character is a concept of irony at best.

It would suffice to say that a large percentage of people think real life could be a little less mundane, but late payments on bills and hating the boss isn’t enough to sway the majority to dress up like elves. For LARPers, it is. Their hobby is about embodying imagination and escaping their stress. Their characters are well thought-out bodies of art, like a novel or a drawing. Instead of a pen or paintbrush, though, the tools they use are body and voice. And maybe a little spray paint.