Member of the LARPing Community. August 28th, 2025. Photo Credit: Tye Brown/The Sentinel
On a random afternoon at the Campus Green, a Kennesaw State University student might see a group of students fight with what appears to be fake swords and shields.
This is probably the closest a student can get to seeing a real-life medieval jousting match. The romantic image of a renaissance fair comes to mind while watching the fights held with delightful energy from the participants.
Naturally, curiosity about the sport is inevitable. A leader of the group, KSU student Lillia Matheney, explained the world of fake fighting known as LARPing, or live action role play.
Matheney is a cybersecurity major and has been involved with LARPing for one year. She got into LARPing at KSU by simply approaching one of the LARPing booths and asking about D&D. The rest is history.
Matheney started by explaining that there are different kinds of LARPing groups. The group at KSU is part of medieval roleplay organization Amtgard, and they focus more on the fighting aspect of the sport.
“We are international,” Matheney said regarding Amtgard. “We have places in… Japan and France and stuff like that, but we have parks all over the country”.
However, some groups do lean more into the roleplay portion.
“We also have class games, which is more into the… roleplay aspect of it. If you know D&D, we do a lot of classes from D&D,” Matheney said. “We have rangers, paladins, healers- things like that.”
D&D, or “Dungeons and Dragons,” is an imaginative tabletop roleplaying game. LARPing brings the characters, chaos and fun to life by allowing D&D fans to transform the game in a full-body experience.
In order to participate, a person needs equipment. Matheney said that a lot of groups have loaner weapons available at no cost. The Amtgard group at KSU offers loaner weapons, which is nonprofit and entirely free for students.
While the group on the Green is primarily seen with swords, other props like bows, arrows and even armor are frequently.
When LARPing, there are several roles to take on in each group. Matheney explained what her responsibilities are for the KSU group.
“My role is usually prime minister of our park. So, I take care of all the paperwork, the money [and] I make sure everything goes smoothly with entering people into our system, which is called Orc,” Matheney said. “But if I am fighting, I usually play a druid with a glaive.”
Matheney has not met any of the other country parks, but she interacted with fellow LARPers from all over the United States.
Matheney stated that the LARPing community is partially connected to a fandom like D&D. Matheney said her friend also does LARPing connected to the musical “Epic,” for example.
Matheney explained that LARPing has brought her many connections with her peers and a place in a kind community.
“LARPing to me means a lot because before LARPing I moved from Florida, and I didn’t have any friends. I stayed kind of secluded for over a year,” Matheney said. “It means, to me, community and a lot of friendly people that you get to meet and bond with.”
The KSU LARP community is practically unproblematic apart from a few people who take the sport too seriously, according to Matheney. She explained that not only are the LARPers peaceful internally, but KSU students seem unbothered by the group most the time.
“I think we are welcomed. Sometimes they kick us off the Green. Which is not their fault [and] it’s not our fault,” Matheney said. “It’s just what it is. People set up other things, but they definitely don’t treat us poorly at all”.
The Amtgard group at KSU is absolutely free unless a student wants to give money.
The group offers citizenship for $6 a month, which allows LARP members to vote for office positions if the student wants that privilege. However, citizenship is not required, and the Amtgard group welcomes any student to come out and try the sport at no cost.
The KSU LARPers meet every Wednesday from 1pm to sundown on the Kennesaw campus and every Thursday on the Marietta campus at the same time, according to Matheney.
