The Framingham Maker Space is very cool! The community there is small but packed with amazing people. The boffer swords were a hit with a good number of the attendees. We had five people, six if you count me, playing and learning by the end. I’ve been asked to put together three classes in August; Boffer Sword Construction, Shield Construction, and basic combat practice. As plans firm up, I’ll provide more details.

I realized something while at the Open House. I reflexively expect a negative reaction when I mention or explain larp. This conclusion was possible because no one there reacted the way I expected. When walking into a Maker Space it feels fine to say “I’m a larper”. It’s a safe space.

I started playing Red Box D&D in the early 1990’s. The D&D moral panic had been going for a while and RPG’s were lumped in with all the evils of the world. The mildest reaction to saying RPG was a wrinkling of the nose and a ‘that’s weird’. Larp wasn’t something we really discussed in public. For the most part it still isn’t.

So being able to walk into a ‘public space’ and say “I larp” and be accepted for that, as a craftsmen was something to cherish. To have other people be interested and actively want to participate, was icing on the cake. The night could not have gone more perfectly.