 Howdy how's it going, my name's Davy Chappy, and I am a professional LARP Hunter. Over the years I've caught and collected many LARPs and considered myself a pioneer in the trade, and now I'm bringing my own expertise, and not the advice of the LARPing subreddit, so that you can find the closest LARP to you and finally get started on your Pokemon journey. As always keep in mind that the majority of this is just my opinion, and that I am a North American LARPer, which either means nothing to you at all or it explains everything. But with that out of the way, let's begin. So, LARPs are everywhere, hiding in the woods for hunters to stumble across and wonder if they've been isekai'd, but purposefully finding one is like purposefully finding another person who is into your niche indie music. They basically don't exist. You can go your entire life not knowing about the secret world that lives among you until that fateful day when you see a guy in a gnome costume scurrying back to his hole and following that gnome man will change your life forever. In less metaphorical terms, the easiest way to find LARPs is to already be a LARPer. Word of mouth is the strongest form of advertisement the hobby has, and word of a LARP will spread to all other LARPs in the area, either out of curiosity, or because we're all nosy bitches who love drama. The advice be a LARPer doesn't help if you're not one, though, and word of mouth has the obvious drawback that it rarely extends out of the hobby. Nobody talks to non-LARPers about LARPing except me when I drink, and most games are owned by boomers who have as good a grasp of the internet as Congress, so online advertising is either non-existent or heavy-handed, and it gives a bad impression that leads to people just not bringing it up one way or the other. This leaves you with the uncomfortable mission of making friends until you find one who LARPs, because the LARPer recruitment strategy is the same as multi-level marketing. Start with your friends first. LARPer's passion is intense and all-encompassing, and we will not shut up about moments from our favorite games to anybody who we can trap in the bonds of friendship. If you go searching for a LARP, you're really searching to find a LARPer, and luckily, that LARPer is me. Here's my discord. I will answer your LARP questions, but if you don't want to ask the guy in the internet that you can cast your net out anywhere, because while we don't go out of our way to gush about our hobby, if you leave the door open, someone will come and break it down. That then leaves the question, if you're not looking for a LARP per se, how do you find a LARPer? Well, like I said, LARPing is still struggling to leave 2010s, and the majority of the communities will be on Facebook. You can search by location, and at least in Michigan, where I'm situated, there's a central state group, plus a bunch of spin-off groups about different aspects of LARPing. Every LARP I've ever seen also has a Facebook page dedicated to it, so at the very least, you can use the Zuck to get in contact with people who can help you out. Also, when COVID hit, LARPers suddenly lost the live action, so they were forced kicking and screaming to learn about new internet tricks, and that led to the discovery of Discord. Nowadays, about 70% of the LARPs that I research have their own server, which makes my life a whole lot easier, because I can get direct questions in a chat room without waiting for a Facebook group moderator to let me in. I see this becoming the standard for the future, but Discord doesn't really have any good search functionality, so it's just an upgraded word of mouth, a good repository for knowledge once you've got it, but you're still going to have to rely on Facebook and Google to get that first step in. And there are a couple of online repositories for finding LARPs near you, but as with most things fantasy, they're not entirely cohesive, which is such a shame. The biggest question I get asked in my videos is, how do I find a LARP near me? So there are people who want to give it a try, but since LARPing is so... experimental, nervous people need their handheld or else they'll let the bad part of their brain convince them not to be cringe and free. In America, I look at dystopia rising as the most technologically-minded LARP on the scene. When you log on to the website, the first thing you find is this handy map of gunland filled with links to every state where there's a game. Each link has its own website with its own information and a link to its own Discord and Facebook so that you can find the community ASAP. I know I talk about DR a lot on my channel, but, like, it's embarrassing how much better they're doing compared to the rest of the hobby. The thing that really gets me about the LARP scene is that we all know the system is bad and it's at least one of the main things keeping the hobby down, but we don't have a proper solution. I'm currently trying to get a comprehensive searchable database created so that interested players will finally have just a single link shoved into their hands instead of the promises of, if you look for it, you will find it. Because taking two steps to reach information is one step too many, but I'm not a graphic designer, coder, computer nerd, I'm just an internet funny man who likes things way too much. So if you're interested in working together with me on this project, shoot me a message. Maybe we can work something out. Right now, that's about as much information as I can give you in regards to finding your first LARP. There's no better answer than find someone to help you on a personal level or just look it up on the Google. I wish I could be more help and if a better service becomes available, I'll do a recap video to signal boost it. Until then, fellow LARPers can put their strategies for finding LARPs in the comment section of this video and maybe the stars will align and some of you lucky viewers will find just the information you need to get started. But wait, I put this ad at the end of the video because there was nowhere else to put it, please don't click off. While finding your own local LARP, maybe a difficult endeavor never let it be said that finding your costume has to be and that is thanks to Bug Schneider, the medieval apparel store of your great-great-grandmother's dreams. By browsing Bug Schneider, you too can dress like they do in the movies and with my referral code CHAP, you can save 15% on all of your purchases so that you can save your gold for more magic items. Whether it be coys, cows, cloaks, or capybaras, Bug Schneider has the fantasy fleece wear for you so you can check out the store today and remember that discount code to save your Schmeckles. Bug Schneider, clothes for your deepest fantasies. But that'll about do it. I hope you enjoyed this video. You can find my socials in the description below and maybe support me on Patreon so that I can afford trail mixes. I travel the woods in search of more LARPs. But yeah, deviel.