Costumes, weapons part of role-playing group's activities

Every Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. a group of students gather in front of the University Center, some dressed in medieval garb with fake weapons as though ready for battle.

These people belong to the UW-River Falls L.A.R.Pers (Live Action Role-Playing) League, a group of students who participate in real-time scenarios, acting as different characters who fight, trade and talk as though they were truly in the fantasy settings in which they place themselves.

According to one of the organizations leaders, Salvatore D'Agostino, the L.A.R.Per's League is divided into five guilds headed by executive members: the Warriors Guild, whose members help set up the physical event and do safety and training inspection; the Entertainers Guild, whose members help with promotional events on campus along with helping new members with acting activities to help them develop their character; the Artisans Guild, whose members help create any props or art pieces that will be used in the activities and are also in charge of making promotional posters; the Treasurers Guild, whose members calculate the in-game economy and make various changes to the system to help balance the game play; and lastly, the Scribes Guild, who document L.A.R.P. activities and create lore for each event.

These guilds let each member fit into a niche that suits their interests and personality and gives the organization a dynamic leadership. Heads of each guild meet each week to discuss which scenarios will be acted out each Wednesday.

L.A.R.Pers League prides itself on being a dynamic and accepting group in which anyone, regardless of experience with role-play, is welcome and encouraged to join. The organization's diverse guilds allow it to appeal to people of all interests, even those who don't particularly care about "L.A.R.Ping" in general.

According to D'Agostino, the average Wednesday session has over 20 members in attendance and also mentioned "a wonderful event where we had over 40."

"Our L.A.R.P. system was based off the question 'how can we make a fun game that is easy for members to get into?'" he said.

D'Agostino claims to see more immersion in the organization as time goes on and "as members make friends and have fun acting out scenarios with one another."

L.A.R.Pers League appears to put on a big variety of events which keep things varied. D'Agostino described one particular event: "The Wooping Zombies–after a particularly interesting scenario the dead in our land 'woop' instead of groan. It's semi-terrifying to have 15 zombies woop at you as they crawl towards you. Usually our battle cries are the best."