Welcome, Adventurer

Live Action Roleplay, or LARP, is storytelling you do with your whole body. Instead of rolling dice around a table or steering a hero on a screen, you become the hero. You walk the tunnels, speak the words of power, raise your shield against the horde and argue with the goblin merchant over the price of a healing draught.

There is no script. A referee sets the scene and describes the world. A crew of volunteer monsters play everyone you meet, from shambling zombies to scheming nobles. You and your fellow adventurers decide what happens next. Every choice is yours, and every story turns out differently.

Labyrinthe is a full-contact game. When battle is joined, you really do swing your sword, and when an enemy's blade lands, you really are hit. The weapons, though, are LARP-safe props: foam built around a flexible carbon-fibre core, sealed in latex and painted to look like steel. They look fearsome, but they are designed to land safely.

• Every weapon is safety-checked before it enters play, and newcomers can ask for a demonstration.
• Pull your blows. Strike with control and ease off just before contact. A good blow is deliberate and cinematic, not hard.
• No stabbing, grabbing or grappling. The tips of the props are delicate and are never thrust at anyone.
• Avoid the head, neck and groin. No monster ever needs a head-blow to be defeated.
• The call “Man Down!” (or “Fire!” or “Glasses!”) stops all fighting at once, so anyone who needs help gets it.

The true magic of LARP is inhabiting someone else for a day. Maybe you are a battle-scarred dwarven warrior who distrusts all wizards, or a fire elf whose skin is marked with swirling red flame, or a priest of Talthar who carries hope into the darkest tunnels. When “TIME IN” is called, you speak as them, think as them and react as them.

Don't worry about slipping up. Forgetting your own character's name is a rite of passage, and other players will politely carry on. You are among friends.

Labyrinthe is one of the oldest LARPs in the world, and the longest-running multi-weekly LARP. It is played in the miles of ancient chalk tunnels of Chislehurst Caves in Kent. It is a High Fantasy game in the spirit of The Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones, with a deep history that its players have been adding to for decades.

Parties of 6–12 Mercenaries are hired to undertake quests. Some are as grand as saving the world from demonic invasion, and some are as small as finding an antidote for one poisoned villager. Along the way you'll talk, fight, and solve deadly puzzles.

Your path to the caves

1. Prepare for your visit: boots, food and finding the right event.
2. Create your character: choose a class and a race.
3. Learn what you might see: undead, elementals, wardings and traps.
4. Skim the rules, though the referee will brief you on the day.
5. Create your hero with the Hero Builder, and print your hero sheet and spellbook.
6. Book your first adventure by phone, email or online.