There is a very large, very active LARP community in Massachusetts, that extends throughout New England (and beyond). This community of communities run both live combat and theater style LARPs.
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Live combat games typically have a strong focus on combat, using padded "boffer" weapons. There are other plots with less emphasis on combat. Live combat events tend to be weekend-long games, typically part of an ongoing campaign, outdoors, at a campsite. Most games are medieval fantasy or dystopian futures, although there are a number of other genres.
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Theater style games may have combat, but it’s rarely a focus. Any combat is abstracted into a non-contact mechanic. Many theater style LARPs have no combat at all, focusing on story and character. These LARPs can run from a few minutes, to, typically, 2-10 hours, although there are many weekend-long events, including some as part of ongoing campaigns. Theater style games come in a wide range of genres, styles, moods, structures, and approaches. These are the LARPs I write.
There are really good games in each style. A lot of my friends do both.
The best example of the diversity of LARPing in New England is the schedule for Intercon.[1], run by New England Interactive Literature (NEIL). Intercon V, in 2024, is our 25th annual all-LARP convention — and it's a wonderful example of what an all-LARP convention can be. Even though the majority of the games on the schedule show the diversity of theater-style games, you’ll note that there are also live combat games across the four days of the convention.
There’s also an active Intercon Discord server.
Outside of Intercon, there are a number of regular smaller events:
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NEIL runs Winter Boffer Con (January 2024 site) and Little Boffer Con (2023 site), one-day events with several live combat games.
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A wonderful, small, volunteer group runs Summer LARPin', a weekend-long event of mostly theater style games.[2] (2024 site). There's an active Discord server for Summer LARPin'.
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A great group of RPI students and alums run the Dice Bubble and Time Bubble smaller weekend-long conventions in the spring and fall, in Troy NY.[3] There's an active Discord server for LARPing at RPI.
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The Greater Boston LARP Society (GBLS) Facebook’s page[4] is easy to find. They regularly run one-shot theater style LARPs roughly every month. They also run one day events with several LARPs.[5] They have a mailing list and a Google group.
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The InterconX Facebook group is similarly easy to find, and they talk about both live combat and theater style events in and outside of Intercon.
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The MIT Assassins Guild have been running LARPs since the earliest days of LARP. They do both theater style and Airsoft gun live combat events, some of which are accessible to the general public.
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There are many really good live combat groups in the region. While I've done a few live combat games in the past, the vast majority of my experience is in theater style games. I don't know enough to recommend these events; the InterconX Facebook page is where I always send people to find recommendations.
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There are also other one-shot and occasional weekend-long theater style events in the region.[6]
All of these events are great places to network and find the kind of LARPs that interest you, regardless of the style that you’re looking for. You may even find something different that you love, that you never expected to try.[7]
Great LARPs are all over New England![8]
Notes and Disclaimers
[1]: As of 2023, I've run LARPs at 19 out of 24 of the New England Intercons. I've attended every one. I was the con-chair for the first one, and have been actively involved, officially or unofficially, in all the rest.
[2]: I frequently run events at Summer LARPin'. I always try to attend.
[3]: I frequently run events at the Bubbles. I always try to attend.
[4]: I do NOT do Facebrick. I learned too much about its evil when I was doing cybersecurity research at MIT. Their goal is to extract as much information about you as possible, especially the details you'd rather keep private. I will not post any links to them, and I personally block any attempts that try to reach out to Meta's servers.
[5]: I've run several events for the GBLS, and attend the ones that I haven't already played at other events. They also run occasional LARP days, typically with three events.
[6]: I've been known to run events out of my home, in person and virtually.
[7]: I love trying new styles and genres, because I've had some amazing experiences in unexpected places. I also learn a lot about role-playing and LARP design, which is why I always encourage everyone, especially LARP writers, to try a diverse selection of LARPs.
[8]: And in a lot of other places, too! I frequently travel far to run and play LARPs, including internationally. This is why I really want to hear about the amazing LARP experiences in your region.