Bloodroot: A Lookback on Season One

A year ago, Gamers XP took a shot on a crazy idea—LARP born from the lore of their store-wide DND game. As season one of Bloodroot Requiem LARP comes to an end, I'm here to answer all your burning questions: What is LARP? What is Bloodroot? What have you nerds been doing at that camp for the last year? 

What is LARP?

LARP stands for Live Action Roleplay. You know when you were a kid and you found the most perfect stick? Suddenly, you and your friends were sword fighting in an epic battle against evil foes… until someone picked up a pine cone and chucked it at another kid's face. Then everyone had to go home, and Ricky had to go to the hospital. Thanks, Ricky. 

LARP is just like that, but much safer. We use latex weapons with a fiberglass core for fighting and soft latex throwables for chucking at our friends' faces. The rest is all imagination. 

A table set up in our tavern with several props used for game.

Imagination and props. So many props. 

When you arrive on site, you’ll be directed to the largest building to check in. Here, in the Taproot Tavern, you see nature and history have combined, and we’re taken to a world where people greet friends and bleed for one another. Then you get to create a character who will join those ranks and begin shifting the narrative. 

We’ve all played or watched a video game. You’re a character. You have HP. You pick skills. You craft the bare bones of a backstory and character flaws (we hope). Storytellers send you out on quests where you have to solve the problems of this world. Sometimes solving those problems means killing monsters. Sometimes it means creating a baby deity. Solutions are solutions.

Bloodroot

In the world of our story, we've been at war for 200 years with a maniacal demon lord who gave up his humanity for power. He's been defeated, but now the survivors have to pick up the pieces and live. 

Bloodroot is the town we’ve built from nothing but ruins. Bloodroot is the story of hope in the face of adversity. Here, players can dive into the politics of settling a town, explore a land still healing from centuries of trauma, or defend their new home against the evil presences that still remain. No one person in Bloodroot will have the same experience. 

One of the first goals in Bloodroot was to establish a governing body. In our first gathering, we the people created and voted in the Council: The Blade, The Bones, and The Heart. The Blade is in charge of defense, war, and punishment. The Bones represents the internal affairs of the town like infrastructure, education, and commerce. The Heart is responsible for political outreach and ambassadors. All nice and neat ideas. Putting them into action has come with their own issues but, in our defense, most of us were farmers and soldiers. We don't know much about government - except that taxes are important. 

Two player characters, a dryad and a dragonkin, investigate a text they've found during a quest.

One of our other goals at the start of the season was finding food. Who knew that food was a valuable resource? People were willing to die for a sack of onions. In the Great Onion Massacre of Year 1, many of our people fell to 0 HP, nearly taking an early game’s trip to Death’s Door.

After proving ourselves worthy through a series of tests, the people of the forest nation of Talonwood offered their aid so we wouldn't starve as Bloodroot continued to grow - in narrative and in the minds of her players. We helped a nearby hamlet with a mysterious haunting and earned the deed to a silver mine in the process. We thoroughly ticked off a coven of witches, a group of sentient plants, and the fish folk of the river. In one of our earliest gatherings, we turned an old spirit into a young god—Coyn, a god of commerce and generosity. His following is coming along nicely; I'm certainly not just saying that as one of his ahem GODparents. Guilds have been established to aid the town and those of different skills. Some may only be talked about in whispers. Bloodroot has her secrets.

Events really took a turn when a goddess made an appearance in Bloodroot. When she was mortal, the continent had been her home, so she decided this was the perfect place for a destination wedding. (In real life, the game runners actually got married. When nerds fall in love, magic happens.) Divine attention was not what we needed, however. With a new god created here and several deities visiting, we've drawn the eye of a divinity-hungry monster by the name of the Huntsman and his pack of feral wolves. 

That's where our finale leaves us. The Huntsman wants Coyn’s spark of divinity. The demons and cultists on the mountains to the north have noticed us. The witches and plants are still pissed. We have more enemies than allies (though at least the Salmon King is on our side now. We still don’t know if that’s a good thing). But Bloodroot will persevere even if some of us die to water its roots. 

Looking Back, Looking Forward

Swords (and fish) up for Bloodroot.

Those of us who entered the world of LARP as complete newbies a year ago now have experience to share and a hoard of stories to tell; and these were stories that everyone--players and staff--had a hand in shaping. They left us laughing, in tears, or in awe. Every Bloodroot player has added something to the world and the experience.

So, now that your questions have been answered and you know what to expect, how does being a nerd in the woods with your friends sound? There’s adventure to be had and stories to craft. I hope to see more of you in Season 2 where you can add your story to our little town, too. In a year, who knows what stories we'll share.