Megan V. Winslow/Town Crier
Summer participants in FanWar’s high fantasy role-playing league, which operates year-round, alternate between epic combat and more nuanced world-building, covering mercantile, political and thaumaturgical subjects during game play.
Warriors picked up speed beneath the oak trees, coming in a rush of broadswords, maces and pikes, shields worked in arcane heraldry. The melee broke into individual combat as helmeted warriors clashed, foam blade to foam blade.
They were charging across a hill in Palo Alto’s Mitchell Park as part of the FanWar live-action role-playing game, or LARP. These games take the myth-making of table-top fantasy games and bring them to life, with players physically portraying the characters they create, often with self-made costumes and props.