Can LARPing Change Your Life?

(Guest post by Ken)

Each year that I’ve brought my kids to Dallas Fan Expo, there is one absolute must-do activity: Jedi Padawan training, sponsored by the local chapter of the Saber Guild, a Star Wars live-action roleplay (LARP) organization. The kids line up and get practice sabers and are taught by what appear to them as 100% authentic Jedi some basic lightsaber moves and then have to pass a test of their skills. The Jedi training them then put on a combat show, facing off against some just-as-authentic looking Sith who interrupt the proceedings. 

The costumes and saber choreography are impressive each year and this year I took the time to talk with several of the participants and get to know them a bit better and learn about this Saber guild. What I learned was fascinating and reinforced for me the positive power that role-playing can have in multiple ways.

Why and how do people role-play? The reasons and means are broad and diverse. Roleplay can be basic and surface level; cosplay for example is, at its core, a very basic form of roleplay, and LOTS of people do that. Not just people who go to cons either—on October 31 most people you know suddenly become cosplayers and thus very basic role-players. But of course, the members of the Saber Guild I witnessed were roleplaying at a level far beyond cosplay. This was LARP-level in all its glory. 

LARPing comes in many forms and many fandoms, whether general medieval roleplays, or those tied to major franchises like Star Wars. The main difference between a cosplay and a full-fledged live-action roleplay is that with LARPing, you go beyond just dressing up and maybe adopting some behavioral tweaks. You become fully engaged in that role like an actor in a play, except there is no script. You’ve become a different person, an actual Jedi or Viking or wizard. You have an identity and you put yourself into that life. 

So again we ask why? Well, the surface level answer is: fun. People enjoy it and leaning into imagination is something that adults can enjoy as much as children. But there’s lots of reasons beyond just fun for some people. Speaking with members of the Saber Guild, for example, I learned various reasons why they would spend to give up hours and hours of time to learn saber arts and wear costumes, performing often at over twenty events per year, all while taking on a whole new personality and living like a Jedi or a Sith. Beyond the fun of it, some enjoy honing skills in combat or sewing. Some are there for the strong sense of community and friendship with their fellow Jedi or Sith. For others there is an even deeper therapeutic effect—being someone else for a while helps you decompress from the stress of your “real life,” and then go back to that life better able to face and handle it. 

Collectively the Saber Guild has a charitable purpose as well: at many of their events they raise money for Make-A-Wish Foundation, and they even help volunteer for Star Wars themed wish granting ceremonies for terminally ill children. That’s a level of LARPing that is changing the world for good. 

I admit my curiosity in Star Wars based LARPing was more relevant this year, as in an unexpected way I’ve found a similar thing unfolding in my own life. I’ve been working on getting back into exercise and wellness lately and signed up for an online fitness training course offered by Paul Clingan—who offers Star Wars themed workouts. He encourages participants to create an alter ego for themselves and train as if for the Grand Army of the Republic. He wears a trooper mask in the workout vids and leans into the Star Wars roleplay in all his content. At first it seemed cheesy or kitschy. Then I found myself really getting into it. And I realized that this little injection of fun and putting my mind into a different ego state required for roleplay made exercise the most enjoyable and motivated it’s ever been for me. In fact I’ve never been more consistent in my life at working out and have never pushed myself harder. 

I’ve made the mistake before of categorizing roleplay enthusiasts (and there are many communities from LARPers to “furries” and beyond) into a “weird” label. I hereby repent. I’m learning more than ever lately that a little roleplay goes a long way. It can aid therapy, motivation, and stress relief and even bring in money for ill children. Maybe we need to all relax and let a little more roleplay and imagination into our lives. Kids do this naturally and it’s one of the ways we’d all benefit from being a little more childlike. 

But I Can Carry You

“I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you.”

I’m not a huge Lord of the Rings fan (a cardinal sin, as a card-carrying geek, I know) but this line popped into my mind when praying about about my daughter last month, as the school year ended. We could tell she was having a hard time leaving preschool for kindergarten. She may not have been able to articulate her feelings, but my wife and I could tell she was acting out due to anxiety. I’m not sure how this line from Samwise Gamgee applies to me and her exactly… I know I can’t take the big feelings from her, but I wished I knew how to help carry her through this.

Since the school year is over and she started adjusting to summer break, it seems like she's doing much better. Still it's hard being a parent and seeing my kids struggle. It needs to happen and it's part of the experience of mortality, but that doesn't change the fact that it's hard. As she grows up, she'll learn to manage her anxious feelings. But still I can't get the thought out of head about carrying her load.

And that impression left me thinking about how Heavenly Father views us. Being all-powerful, it seems reasonable that God could take away the anxiety and challenges we encounter. But as much as I'd like my anxiety lifted away forever, I know that's not how the Plan of Salvation works. If Heavenly Father jumped in whenever I had a problem, I wouldn't learn anything. It's like if I could have kept my daughter in preschool, so that she wouldn't have to face the heartache of leaving her friends and her teacher. However, she's growing up and she needs to learn and grow more.

Bringing it back to my relationship with God... It's a struggle with my mental health and my anxiety, because I'd love for a respite in which my anxiety is taken away even for a time... but that's not how life works... 

“I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you.”

Heavenly Father can't take the pain away. Heartbreak, anxiety, and struggles are what help us grow and develop as children of God. Though He can't take it away, He can carry me. That's why He sent Jesus Christ to perform the Atonement. I'm still figuring out what it means for a loving God to "carry" me, because on a day-to-day basis it still feels like I'm carrying it alone. But as I look back, I can see the footprints in the sand, seeing where I felt alone, and remembering that He has carried me through experiences I thought would rip me apart from the inside.

So while I don't understand how He carries me, I can keep moving forward and keep trying... especially on the days I don't want to try.

LDS Geeks Podcast #43: Disney Parks (Part Two)

One of my favorite things about going to the Disney Parks is the character meet-and-greets. It touches part of the inner child that heals my soul (or something less cheesy perhaps). Regardless of the cheese factor, I hope you enjoy our discussion about some of our favorite characters.

--Spencer

How to Speed-Run a Comic Con

Heyo! Tyler here. It’s been a while since I’ve written for this blog. My last post was actually the last time I attended Fan Expo in Dallas (see my article “Bulbasaur at the Zoo”). I just barely graduated from medical school and have been trying to make the most of my time before I start residency. As part of that, I planned on attending Fan Expo in Dallas this year. However, I later found out that I had a family event that same day. The family event schedule was “perfectly imperfect” such that I would only be able to attend about 2 hours worth of the con if I wanted to get to my family on time.

I considered backing out. But the Fan Expo I had gone to two years ago had been so much fun, and I had missed the con last year due to schooling – who knows the next time I’d be able to go? I suddenly found myself relating my situation to something from my college days. I had a group of geek friends who I would hang out and play video game with. One time, we all watched a speed-run of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. This was a game that I had played multiple times throughout my childhood. I was astounded to see the tricks people had figured out to complete the game in record time. As of today of me writing this article, the current world record to complete this game is 3 minutes, 47 seconds, and  900 milliseconds, something unfathomable to me, who spent hours playing through it. This memory then made me ask myself: “Is it possible to speed-run a comic con?”

Granted, there are certain mechanics that only work in a video game due to coding. (Sorry, no wall running or sequence breaking in real life). But what are the principles necessary to “speed-run” a comic con? Here are some of my ideas:

Evaluate Your Limitations

There many different rule sets for speed-runs depending on which game you are playing. For example, that 3m 47 s 900ms Ocarina of Time speed-run only got through the main storyline (called any “Any% speed-run,” not all collectibles required). However, there are other speed-runs that focus on completing every quest, collecting every collectible, achieving a 100% on the game (suitably called a “100% speed-run”). Super Mario 64 is a classic speed-run game to illustrate the difference between Any% and 100% speed-runs. Some people just try to make it to Bowser ASAP. Others only want to beat him after getting every single Star.

You have to figure out your own limitations with what time and resources you have, or just what you constraints you’d like to put on yourself for whatever reasons you have. 

Decide Your Priorities

Once you figure out your limitations, decide what is most important to you. What activities would make the experience feel like a success for you? There aren’t IRL “achievements” you unlock like on games, but you can decide for yourself, out of everything, what you want to focus on. Fan Expo runs over the course of 3 days. They pack the place with enough things to do to fill that time – celebrity meet-and-greets, cosplay meet-ups, panels, and so much more. In my case, I had 2 hours. I made the choice that I would focus on a few goals for that time:

1. Find something Gardevoir-related for a friend
2. Buy something for myself, for memory’s sake
3. Find a rubber duck that was advertised as a part of Fan Expo’s scavenger hunt (more on this later)

Make sure you list yours out as well to keep you centered on your purpose.

Beware of Time Sinks

For speed-runners, every millisecond counts. There are slip-ups that are classic for wasting time. Speed-runners have ways of planning around those, or at least minimizing the damage they do. You have to form your own strategy. Traffic, parking, and registration are classic time sinks for comic cons. But there are certainly more depending on what you’re attending. I also think it’s wise to plan to avoid the big time sinks, but learn to stay flexible when unexpected things pop up. For example. I tried to plan for traffic and parking this year, but didn’t do so well at it. I drove in early to park and hopefully get into the con on time. But unfortunately, traffic was a lot more than anticipated. Plus, getting through the lines to get through security and getting my pass ate up a lot of my time. It was a good 45 minutes by the time I actually got settled in. It made me a bit stressed, to be honest. But I had to force myself to remember the next point…

Keep Moving Forward

A time sink that many don’t plan for is discouragement. Speed-running requires precision and basically perfection. However, when you lose time, there is no use in wallowing in self-pity about it. The best speed-runners are resilient and accept that we’re human and mess up sometimes. But they keep focused and keep moving forward in order to avoid losing any more time. So while I did lose 45 minutes right off the bat, I recognized that the most important thing was that I was with people that I cared about, and that very fact would make the experience memorable no matter what else happened.

Have Fun!

Some people think speed-running to be masochist because you are so focused on perfection just for an arbitrary record or goal. Yet, speed-running in general prevails, not because of the pain and effort required to do it, but because there are people who honestly love the endeavor and find some amount of joy in it.

Therefore, my advice if you’re going to speed-run a comic con – don’t come from a place of constraint to perfection. It’s okay to want to optimize the little time that you have there. But don’t let strictness keep you from finding joy in the journey. There are great moments to be had, treasures to be found, and wonderful people to meet. Don’t be so focused on what you wish your experience to be that you miss out on recognizing how great your experience is in reality.

My Fan Expo 2025 Experience

I came away feeling my comic con experience was a success. I so wish I could have done more, but that’s a sign that the organizers did their jobs right. I hope to come back next year, ideally without any other scheduling conflicts so I can stay for a longer time.

I ended up completing all of my personal goals for this comic con this year. I spent time with incredible friends who even helped me fulfill some of my goals! (It’s a lot harder to find something Gardevoir-related on the vendor floor that isn’t “sexualized” than I realized). This con is definitely one for the scrapbook that is my greatest memories.

And as a final explanation: one of my goals was to find a rubber duck. Fan Expo was Back to the Future-themed this year, and they had a rubber duck scavenger hunt throughout the convention hall. My family grew up watching the Back to the Future movies all the time, so I was very eager to find a duck. I looked for the entire time that I was there… could not find one. But literally, on the way out, I found one right beside the exit! It wasn’t quite Back to the Future-themed, but it was still enough for me to say:

“Comic con speedrun: Success!”

Conventions are Better with a Friend

"Am I getting lame or are Cons getting lame?"

I sent that question to a friend as I wandered the floor of Fan Expo Dallas last Friday. It's been two years since my last Fan Expo and last time I struggled with heightened anxiety at the convention center. Still, I love cosplaying and I love the merchandise and the artwork... so I want to continue loving Comic Cons. But this Fan Expo didn't have any celebrities I was excited to see (and that I could afford), so celebrity meet-and-greets and celebrity panels weren't appealing. Since only one of my friends could come on Friday night, that first lap through the convention floor ended up being solo.

But then I met up with that friend and a few others on Saturday. Sometimes I like to think I'm introverted and would much rather keep to myself at an event like Fan Expo, especially when the atmosphere can be overstimulating at times. However, during the time I spent with friends at the Con on Friday and Saturday, I realized the social aspect is what I like most about the event. 

On Saturday morning I took to walking the floor with a friend who had never been to a convention before. We chatted and caught up (since we hadn't hung out since last summer) while I looked for a potential souvenir from Fan Expo (I ended up picking a Newt Scamander wand for my cosplay, since my kids broke my old generic wand). Seeing a convention through the eyes of a newbie is always refreshing, especially when buying all the great artwork isn't practical.

With a new job this year and my kids getting more and more interactive and hyperactive, it's been hard to get together for some guy time. I managed a trip to the temple earlier in May, but before that it had been months since our group got together. Even when it wasn't about the convention and I was just chatting with my buddies, it was enriching. Like my favorite YSA bishop once told me, the scriptural assertion that "It is not good that the man should be alone" applies to more than just marriage. It's healthy for men and women to have other friends besides their eternal companion... but in our modern world sometimes it takes extra effort to get together and connect. 

I still enjoy cosplaying for an event (I lost track of how many people commented on my Perry the Platypus that pulled my Phineas cosplay together). I love scoping out artist alley for the future date that I have a man-cave to decorate. And when there's a celebrity I love, I'm still giddy to meet them. But enjoying the cosplay, the art, or the meet-and-greets with a friend changes the experience. It's also not a bad place to make a new friend (that's how I met Zack and Jacob Smith).

So next time an event comes around, grab a friend and bring them with you. Just like mortality in general, it's better to go with someone. Make a friend or bring a friend. Your mental health and your Comic Con experience will thank you!

Where You Are

         I’ve said it before and will probably continue to say it as long as I keep writing and saying things that people listen to or read but music is a powerful way of communicating emotions, ideas, and thoughts about a myriad of topics. This post will center on a song from the first Moana movie and some lessons and thoughts I’ve had from it. The song is “Where you are” which is a favorite to listen to and watch in our household. It sets the stage for the conflict that Moana has between her love and desire to be at sea and her love and desire to do what her parents want her to do. The most recent time I heard the song, I was reminded of two general conference talks about being present where you are. The first was a talk from Elder Stanley G. Ellis, then a general authority seventy.

“One thing we have often been taught is to bloom where we are planted⁠. Yet sometimes we are tempted to migrate to some new area, thinking our children will have more friends and therefore better youth programs.

"Brothers and sisters, do we really think the critical factor in the salvation of our children is the neighborhood where we live? The apostles and prophets have often taught that what happens inside the home is far more important than what our children encounter outside. How we raise our children is more important than where we raise them.

"Certainly there are other factors involved in deciding where to live, and thankfully, the Lord will guide us if we seek His confirmation.”

The connection between this quote and the song, “Where You Are” comes in the phrase, “bloom where you are planted.” I love the phrase from the song, “you can find happiness right where you are!” Moana felt the pull to go to the ocean but perhaps before doing so, she needed to learn to find happiness in her current circumstances. Sometimes, especially in a world of social media where comparison can truly be a thief of joy, it can be easy to see another’s circumstances and think that I need to change my location or do something different to be happy.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m always a fan of improving one’s situation, but I believe the Lord can help us do as President Nelson has taught and find joy no matter the circumstances of our life.

Another talk that came to mind while considering the idea of “finding happiness where you are” was from President Unchtdorf, then second counselor in the first Presidency. He shared the following story in October 2008: 

“Some years ago in our meetinghouse in Darmstadt, Germany, a group of brethren was asked to move a grand piano from the chapel to the adjoining cultural hall, where it was needed for a musical event. None were professional movers, and the task of getting that gravity-friendly instrument through the chapel and into the cultural hall seemed nearly impossible. Everybody knew that this task required not only physical strength but also careful coordination. There were plenty of ideas, but not one could keep the piano balanced correctly. They repositioned the brethren by strength, height, and age over and over again—nothing worked.

"As they stood around the piano, uncertain of what to do next, a good friend of mine, Brother Hanno Luschin, spoke up. He said, 'Brethren, stand close together and lift where you stand.'

"It seemed too simple. Nevertheless, each lifted where he stood, and the piano rose from the ground and moved into the cultural hall as if on its own power. That was the answer to the challenge. They merely needed to stand close together and lift where they stood.

"I have often thought of Brother Luschin’s simple idea and have been impressed by its profound truth. Tonight I would like to expand on that simple concept, ‘lift where you stand.’”

This is another illustration of the importance of doing what you can where you are. Moana never gave up on her dreams of being an explorer and going to sea but she did her part to lead when she could. She “lifted where she could.” 

With all I have written here, I feel the need to explain that I am not advocating for staying idle or staying in an unhealthy relationship or situation, rather I am simply trying to share that there is something about being present and doing what you can to make a difference “where you are.”