Editing Live action role-playing game (section)

==Genres==
LARPs can have any genre, although many use themes and settings derived from genre fiction.<ref name="FalkDevonport2004Setting">(Falk & Davenport 2004:129) "All LRP games of our definition take place within an agreed upon theme or narrative setting that provides the context for players' actions and character roles. This theme can be pretty much anything you can imagine; the possibilities are inexhaustible. To give some obvious and common examples, it may be fantasy and involve magic, heroes, and fantastic creatures, much like the game world settings of the classic tabletop role-playing games. Or, it may be realistic, based on historic events or contemporary life. Or it can be futuristic post apocalyptic environments, involving mutants and cyborgian characters dwelling in deserted cities. Or, it can be any combination of these"</ref> Some LARPs borrow a setting from an established work in another medium (e.g., ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' or the ''[[World of Darkness]]''), while others use settings based on the real world or designed specifically for the LARP.<ref name="Tychsen2006ClassificationSetting">(Tychsen et al. 2006:261) "The world setting or framework for the fictional world in which the game takes place varies greatly in LARPs. Generally, these can be divided into either real-world settings or fictional settings."</ref>

[[Image:LARP Gaslight 2006-03-11.jpg|thumb|left|LARP with a Victorian setting]]

[[File:Hardenstein 2014 - Adventurers.jpg|thumb|Fantasy LARP]]

Fantasy is one of the most common LARP genres internationally and is the genre that the largest events use.<ref name="Tychsen2006Fantasy">(Tychsen et al. 2006:258) "Exclusively, the large LARPs with hundreds or more players are set in fantasy/medieval world settings, which is the historic genre for LARPs."</ref> Fantasy LARPs are set in pseudo-historical worlds inspired by [[fantasy literature]] and fantasy role-playing games such as ''Dungeons & Dragons''. These settings typically have magic, [[Race (fantasy)|fantasy races]], and limited technology. Many fantasy LARPs focus on adventure or on conflict between character factions. In contrast, [[science fiction]] LARPs take place in futuristic settings with high technology and sometimes with [[extraterrestrial life]]. This describes a broad array of LARPs, including politically themed LARPs depicting [[dystopia]]n or [[utopia]]n societies and settings inspired by [[cyberpunk]], [[space opera]] and [[apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction|post-apocalyptic]] fiction.<ref>While many of these science fiction LARPs use rules created by the event arrangers, official LARP rules have been published for the popular space opera ''[[Star Wars]]'', see (Russo & Heinig 1996)</ref>

Horror LARPs are inspired by [[horror fiction]]. Popular subgenres include [[zombie apocalypse]] and [[Cthulhu Mythos]], sometimes using the published ''[[Cthulhu Live]]'' rules.<ref>{{Cite web|year=2003|title=Interview with Robert McLaughlin|work=Flames Rising|url=http://www.flamesrising.com/interview-with-robert-mclaughlin|access-date=2011-01-26|archive-date=2021-02-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225095927/https://www.flamesrising.com/interview-with-robert-mclaughlin/|url-status=live}}</ref> The World of Darkness, published by [[White Wolf Publishing]], is a widely used [[Goth subculture|goth]]&ndash;[[Punk ideology|punk]] horror setting in which players usually portray secretive supernatural creatures such as [[vampire]]s and [[werewolf|werewolves]].<ref name="Appelcline2007MET">{{cite web| last = Appelcline| first = Shannon| title = A Brief History of Game #11: WHITE WOLF, PART ONE: 1986-1995| work = [[RPGnet]]| publisher = Skotos Tech| date = 2007-02-01| url = http://www.rpg.net/columns/briefhistory/briefhistory11.phtml| access-date = 2007-11-03| archive-date = 2007-05-23| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070523110126/http://www.rpg.net/columns/briefhistory/briefhistory11.phtml| url-status = live}}</ref>