What Sets the Shards of Orn Apart?

If you already know your way around a boffer weapon and a spell packet, we'll skip the explanation of what a LARP is and get right into what sets the Shards of Orn apart from the other LARPs in town.

The Website

At other games, the fun stops when you leave the event. At the Shards of Orn, there's plenty to do between games on our website. In fact, the entire game is managed right here. You can learn new skills and actions, manage your character's treasure, go shopping in the bazaar, read custom rumors and game lore, chat with other players, or roleplay in the forums. Come game day, anything you've done on the site will be reflected in play.

A Casual Atmosphere

At the Shards of Orn, we prefer a laid-back, cooperative play style. Players are encouraged to stay in character, but it's not a hard requirement, treasure is divvied up via random pull after every adventure, and player-versus-player (PvP) content is strictly opt-in through the alignment system. This makes it possible to play a solo character or even *gasp* a good guy without having to grow eyes in the back of your head, something unheard of in many LARPs. The overall feel is one of sitting around a gaming table having fun with a group of your friends. There's still plenty of drama and immersion, of course, but it's more about having fun than being "hardcore."

An Ever-Expanding (Yet Intuitive) Game System

In contrast to other LARPs where new rules and systems come out yearly at the most, things change all the time at the Shards of Orn. New classes, races, skills, actions, and treasure are always being created and refined, most often in response to player feedback. It's the sort of game that never stagnates, with an endless stream of new options and challenges to whet your appetite. Best of all, the system is built to accommodate these changes gracefully while keeping things simple and intuitive.

A Robust Treasure System

Imagine being able to make treasure for yourself the moment you walk into the game. At the Shards of Orn, you can. With the right skills and actions, you can harvest the resources, create the items, name them, and enchant them, not to mention buy them, sell them, and trade them, all online at the click of a button. Any treasure your character owns is printed out with your character sheet at the game, and any treasure you acquire at the event is checked back into the website right after the game.

Affordable Game Dues

Other local LARPs charge as much as $50 per event, or charge annual membership fees on top of event dues. At the Shards of Orn, your first event is free, and every event after that is $30. As a non-profit, we do our best to operate right at cost to keep the game affordable for our players, and even go so far as to maintain open financial records in order to be as transparent and accountable as possible.

A Fast Check-in Process

Ever waited in line to check in, update your character, and get your tags? How many hours did you have to wait to get started the last time you attended a LARP? At the Shards of Orn, all character creation and updates are managed online between events. All you have to do is show up, check in, and get your character sheet. The whole process takes minutes, not hours, which means more time spent playing instead of waiting in line.

A Great Group of Players

The list wouldn't be complete without mentioning the lifeblood of the game: Our players. You'd be hard-pressed to find a friendlier, more helpful community of nerds anywhere.

Sound like fun to you? Join the adventure today!