Live action role playing game brought to Eastern Utah

This archived article was written by: Tiffany Pusatello

Two freshmen and a sophomore introduced a new way to occupy student’s time that lasts longer than a cheap thrill of racing down Main Street in Price. A new chapter of Mythic Realms, a Live Action Role Playing (LARP) game, based out of Salt Lake City, is planned for the Eastern Utah area.
LARP is similar to Dungeons and Dragons with the exception that people act everything out. This consists of dressing up in costume, applying makeup to match what type of character you will be playing, and live boffer combat.
Boffers are padded weapons. They usually have a core, i.e. PVC pipe, a golf club, or bamboo, closed cell foam, i.e. packaging foam, or pipe insulation, open cell foam, and duct tape. These weapons are made with strict rules to make them as safe as possible to insure the safety of everyone in the game.
In Mythic Realms there are two types of players, Paying Characters (PC) and Non Paying Characters (NPC). A PC gets a lot more choice in what they play, how they play it, what they look like, or just about anything. PC’s are self-built off a skill-point system.
The more skill points you have, the more skills your character can have. Any new player starts out with 40-skill points. The more you play the game, the more skill points you get. Thus your character can grow.
A NPC doesn’t get quite as much choice in the matter. If you NPC an event, you will most likely be given status and quick instructions on how to play a character. Some NPC’s are meant for peaceful role play while others are sent in to attack the PCs. You could play a powerful monster or a peaceful farmer. Every event is different, thus creating a new experience every time you play. At any given event, you could NPC many different things or sometimes just one thing.
Mythic Realms does provide costuming and makeup for the NPC’s The game is designed to be able to be played for just about whatever you like in a mythological setting. Several types of character concepts allow you to play: mage, healer, fighter, scout, assassin, merchant, thief and more. The game includes different races you could play from a normal everyday human to an Orc and everything in between, including many different types of Elf. Each race has its advantages and disadvantages to make the race more unique.
Magic is also a big part of Mythic Realms. There are five types of magic. Arcane, which deals mainly with protecting yourself; Elemental; which is mainly magic that deals elemental damage to another person; Mystic, which is healing magic for the living and hurts undead; Necromancy, which heals undead and drains life from the living, and Universal.
The Price chapter is in its early stages and should be running within a few months. The Salt Lake chapter holds events at least once a week. Dates and times along with information on rules, elements of the game, how to get a rule book, or any other information can be found on its web site, www.mythicrealms.com/.