Vesna Kurilic

I’m not one to say that every larp packing (usually for outdoor events, but not neccessarily) is doomed to fail, but I am one to admit that many a packing adventure under my command did fail, and some of them beautifully so. I’m sure you’ll have a reason or two to add of your own – but some things seem to be universal.

#1 General pre-event chaos. When you look into the chaos – wherever you look, whenever you look, however hard you try to prevent it – the chaos is going to look back. And it is going to follow you around. (Especially in the apartment.)

#2 Lack or packing experience and/or overconfidence in one’s own packing skills. I’m guilty as charged – forcing things to fit into smaller backpacks might work for the trip to the site, but it makes for awful trips back. (One of the many reasons I’m starting to pack extra plastic bags for events – empty, of course.)

#3 It’s like a children’s field trip, only for grownups! Of course we’re gonna use that extra large-and-heavy pot. We’ll find the time for cooking sometime between the colonial guard’s initiation ritual and  the temple’s evening prayer. After we take care of all of the undead. Cooking during weekend larps. Sure.

#4 Overcrowded carpooling (although it’s a lifesaver). If you share the load with someone else (like a memeber of your pack or your s.o.), it’ll definitely help in terms of packing and carrying stuff. But there’s almost no way to arrive to the larp site alone – it’s always a person too many in a car just a bit too small – with gear for another two people, at least. Of course you’re going to hold a bottle or a rucksack or a bag in our lap. If you end up holding another larper, the car might be more than a tiny bit too small.

#5 Expect the unexpected doesn’t work – and there is no such thing as perfect weather forecast. Sure, I’ve already witnessed more than once the event where rain (or snow) started literally minutes after the game ended. Still, you can be almost positive that during the game (or in the night hours) you will be colder and/or warmer than you could have predicted.

#6 Fragile ingame items (*khm* You want to take all of our goblets, dear?) vs. heavy camping items, weapons and endless amounts of bottled water. Even when you share the load with another person, there is still no way to fit the water in a backpack. Something will always hang from the straps. There is no “ideal” packing when you’re taking stuff for at least one extra person per person (your character/s).

#7 Bad, baaad backpacks and bags. I’m sure it’s them, not us! Once I have enough money to buy all the perfect packing gear… yeah, I wish. But I’m definitely looking into packing cubes. Who knows? Maybe it’ll become another one of larper’s lifesavers.