Larp Chick

The Larp Chick

It all started in 2004. I was working in a Blockbuster Video here in Toronto, ON when a co-worker started telling me about LARP. It didn’t take long for me to get out to my first of many weekly Epoch Toronto meetings, which was held in J.J. Muggs near Dundas Square at the time. Walking into the meeting I found a few friends from my High School were already members. I threw together a costume in the next few weeks and created my first character. In no time, was immersed in the game of Epoch Toronto. I very quickly became one of the obsessed LARPers. The people were (and are still) wonderful, the non class based system appealed to me greatly, and I found a place where I felt I belonged.

It was just after the end of my first season that I found out I was going to be a mother. I took some time off from the game while pregnant but soon after found myself braving the weekend away from my 3 month old baby for some much needed stress-relieving LARP. I must have called my parents over 30 times that first weekend back to the game, just to check up on my son. Eventually, overly-attached mommy got used to being away for the odd weekend. At 7 years old my son now tells me that I’m only allowed to go to games if I bring him home a story.

After many years of Epoch, I decided to try a second LARP. I played a few events at Shadow Realms LARP. The first thing I found out is that I am a spoiled little LARPer. I like my running water, flushing toilets and a warm Inn to go visit whenever I get too cold. I did enjoy the game but my wallet told me I could only afford one regular LARP a month and Epoch won out.

In 2009, I applied to run plot with 3 friends at Epoch Toronto. For almost 2 years, every waking moment not devoted to my son was spent writing plot, reviewing plot and running plot. In the end our season seemed to be well received.

Photo by Ashley Ludgate

Getting back into playing a character after running plot, was very challenging. Eventually, I got back into the swing of things but it wasn’t long before I started thinking about writing plot again.

After many years of struggling with employment I put almost everything in my life aside and headed back to school. I attended classes at George Brown College here in Toronto for Medical Office Administration. I still LARPed during the summer months but missed a few winter events here and there. I found the very best thing about going back to school was how very proud my son was of me. I couldn’t have asked for a better reward.

Right now, I am running a small side plot done over the course of the season, helping ensure the safety of the players at game as a Safety Officer for the second year in a row and I’m really getting into a brand new character. I am getting heavily involved in one of my favorite parts of the game, player-driven plot.

Editor’s Note: Please give a warm welcome to the Larp Chick! Or Sheigh as she’s called IRL. She has joined our team and will have a weekly post on Wednesdays. We’re quite excited to have such a wonderful addition to our team!