(A huge thanks to Aj Mooney for this brilliant guest post! Please read more about our author at the end of this blog! Featured photo also by Aj Mooney)
Let me tell you about my mistakes….
As a rather new initiate to the world of Freeform LARPing, filling out an application for a game can be really intimidating! There is a certain internal motivation to say “Oh I wanna play this LARP so bad, and I don’t want to be difficult or a drain on staff’s time. I’m sure I’d be happy playing anything, so I’ll say that any character is fine with me and surely that will make it more likely for me to get in.”
Having now been on the other side of the table in running the Dresden Files, I will tell you there is nothing that I hate more than seeing the words “I’ll play anything”. I say this out of love, because I 110% filled out my first couple applications this way, but those words mean that the applicant hasn’t considered what they really enjoy in their LARP experience and what kind of stories they thrive in telling. These four little words set players up for disappointment and LARP Runners up for frustration.
Two things to keep in mind here:
Firstly, understand the process for getting into the LARP. Most LARPs are lottery, or first come first served. This means that what you put in your application has zero bearing on whether or not you are actually selected for the LARP. Even if they have some component of selecting people from the applicant pool to fill certain difficult-to-cast roles, I guarantee you they are looking for someone excited about that specific type of play not for someone who claims to be totally flexible.
Secondly, you are paying hundreds, sometimes thousands after travel, food, and lodging, for this experience. While you may think that you’ll be happy playing anything when you first fill out your app, that will change when it comes time to pay up. You deserve a character that is worth that much to you!
Ok, now that I’m finished with that soapbox, here are a few tips and tricks to help you, help the LARP runners make sure you have a good time:
1. Do your research/Know what you are getting yourself into
Sometimes difficult content is inherently a part of certain LARPs. If you don’t like unequal power dynamics, you probably shouldn’t sign up for Helicon. If you hate surprises and mysteries, don’t play Real Royalty. And if being around sexual assault is triggering for you, DO NOT sign up for Conscience.
Now these games are all wonderful, and people rave about them. So when you find a LARP that isn’t for you, I’m so sorry. You are going to have FOMO (fear of missing out), and you will need to be prepared to say “no” to signing up multiple times, as your friends all encourage you to apply. I promise, you are not letting anyone down, you are taking care of yourself AND you are gifting that game to someone who will be able to fully engage with that content, rather than potentially taking a spot and then needing to leave play.
When I played Conscience, I had a really hard time. I had to go spend an hour in the safety room and then a few more hours off game taking a nap to re-set. I missed one of the biggest scenes for my group because of that, and I wasn’t there to add to my co-players stories. Now, I have no regrets. I did what I needed to do for myself. But if I had been more attentive to what I was getting myself into, I could have handled it better and been able to stay in game.
Now, that means you need to read all the content on the LARP’s website before you fill out that juicy application ok? Let’s make this promise to each other. Raise your right hand a repeat after me…..
Now, If you are going to push yourself to expand your boundaries, please be open and communicative with staff, and provide as much detail as you can. Because if you list your triggers as something broad like “sexual assault”, and then list your top faction as White Court (Sexual Predator Vampires), our Dresden Files staff is going to be very confused.
2. Define your boundaries:
I didn’t fully realize what this meant until the very experienced Ericka Skirpan sent me this write up of her boundaries:
“While I think my boundaries are outside the rules of this game, they are: no penetration (by dick, dildo, or by knife) no bodily fluids beyond saliva, and no body shaming. If you are going to hurt me, don’t hurt me enough that an outside medic would be required. I suspect your boundaries are inside of those ones, so let’s talk about them?”
This compact little statement made me sit up and go “OH dang. This is the level of definition I need when articulating what I do/do not want??”. What you will notice about her statement is that – even though I’ve never been to a LARP that would get anywhere near her boundaries – they leave nothing assumed.
When filling out your application, take some time to think critically about what would make you uncomfortable/unable to continue playing, and articulate it in as much detail as you can. Not only is this a good exercise to know thyself, but your LARP runners will trust you more if they see you putting thought into your limits.
Consider physical boundaries: Are you ok with people touching you? Grabbing you? Being slapped? Fingers in your mouth? Your buttcrack? Someone licking your face? Sucking on your toes?
Romantic Boundaries: Would you play romance with any gender? Kiss on the lips? Hear yourself described intimately? Have someone write smut about your character? How are you comfortable role playing sex? Most (not all) LARPS forbid genital contact, but are you going to fade to black, dry hump, or use some other technique?
Content boundaries: Is there anything that would take you out of the game or damage you emotionally if you encountered it? Body shaming? Slut shaming? Sexual assault? Pregnancy, miscarriage, or abortion? Harm to animals? Public humiliation? Being completely and utterly ignored or rejected? Being hated? Public speaking? Being betrayed? Suicide or self harm? Clowns? Spiders?
Content boundaries are THE MOST important thing to put on your application. Romantic and physical can often be reserved for more 1:1 calibrations, as long as your boundaries align with the floor of the LARP. What is this “floor” you speak of Aj? Well, most LARPs have a bare minimum content/physical boundary that you consent to by signing up. It should be in their safety doc, on their website, or a disclaimer as part of the application. WHICH YOU READ, RIGHT?
3. Envision your ideal experience
I for one have a tendency to look at the experience I really want at a LARP and then immediately go “God no, that is bad and/or wrong, I shouldn’t want that and/or everyone is going to want that, so CLEARLY I should play the exact opposite!”. Playing Conscience was the first thing that made me realize that it is really and truly ok to want what you want and like what you like. There are plenty of people out there who genuinely want to play the roles you cannot imagine being fun, so let them have them! Go chase the role that deep in your belly is the one you know you want.
A huge part of Conscience was the victim and perpetrator dynamic. For myself, I LOVE playing on the victim side of things but for YEARS have felt extremely awkward admitting that. It has took me 2 bad experiences and 3 freeform LARPs to realize that what I want out of a game is at least one good cry, and at least one fight and/or torture scene. And now I force myself to say that as frequently as possible so the awkward will start to fade.
Ask yourself “what is an experience I will be disappointed I missed if I don’t get it at this larp?” and then put that in your application! If you have several, put them all! This gives your game runner flexibility if there are multiple roles you might be a good fit for.
And yes, it might be incredibly uncomfortable for you to say “I’d like to play a blackhat guest at Conscience because I have some great ideas for how to oppress host characters” or “I would love to play a young innocent White Court Vampire because SA victim is MY THING”, but I assure you, we as LARP runners, have heard it all. We don’t judge you, we THANK you. Because we know it is awkward and can be hard to ask to play on darker material. See my future blog on figuring out what you want at LARP haha.
4. Don’t Take It Personally
If you don’t get cast as your ideal character, it is not necessarily that you did not fill out a good application. LARP Runners are balancing a lot of different things when slotting everyone into their roles. Often we cast hard-to-cast roles first, ones with the darkest content that need to be played safely, high visibility leadership roles, or ones that are just super niche. It then trickles down from there, taking into account gendered romance preferences, players who have flagged each other, and demand for certain types of roles. Believe me, we do our best, but there is ALWAYS a number of players unhappy with their casting. If you fall into this category, don’t panic, don’t take it personally, just get on the swap list and do it sooner rather than later. The sooner you get on that list, the more likely you are to get your ideal role. It can be super hard to sit and wait not knowing what will come, and my heart goes out to you. However, games often have a 20% drop rate, so the odds of something opening up that you will want to play are pretty good. Have faith, stay active, we will find you something!
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Ok! That turned out a bit longer than I expected it to! I hope it is helpful and demystifies the casting process as much as possible.
Oh, and as a P.S. we at Mooneybin cast by spreadsheet, so please, for the love of god, check the checkboxes and do not rely on a freeform answer to get you what you want. We filter the sheet by the checkbox, and THEN we read your freeforms. CHECK THE BOXES.
About the Author
(Author Photo by Matt Norris, Helicon USA Run 1 2025.) Aj Mooney (she/her) is the classic theater-kid turned LARPer and corporate sellout on the side. She has been playing one game or another since 2016 when she studied abroad in Serbia and happened to be placed in a LARPing household. With twin older brothers running the local boffer troupe, Aj dived in head first and has yet to come up for air. Between 2016 and 2024 she played numerous campaign style boffer and parlor LARPs including Dystopia Rising, Vampire the Masquerade, and Arcanorum, and a few short run games including Hollow Dawn and Legend of the Five Rings. Recently she has been dragged kicking and screaming into the world of freeform/consent based LARPing by dear friends who knew what was good for her. After taking 3 games to figure out what the heck she was doing with her life, she now enjoys it very much.
Recently she has helped write and run Dresden Files 1923 as part of Mooneybin Entertainment, and is preparing to co-produce Daemon (by Katrine Wind) and Conscience (by Not Only LARP) with her husband Sean. They affectionately like to joke that Sean drives the project truck at 80 MPH down the highway, while she perches on the back making sure everything is packed and strapped down. Together, they get where they need to go in one piece.
Now that she is an official LARP runner, she’s decided to have thoughts and opinions about things, and Ericka Skirpan has kindly lent her this blog space. Thanks Ericka!
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