Every Sunday, a forest along Parksville’s busy beachfront transforms into something out of a storybook. There, members of the Lost Cove Live Action Roleplay club don elaborate costumes and step into another world – immersing themselves in a day of imaginative play rarely seen among adults.
“It’s fun. They’re a really great group of genuine people who are really excited about everything we do and there’s no pretense, there’s not anyone trying to be cool, or trying to be anything they’re not,” said Nathan Cass, a member of Lost Cove Live Action Roleplay.
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“We’re playing, and as adults that’s very rare. We often sit at home, and we don’t play games,” said David Morgantini, also a member of Lost Cove Live Action Roleplay.
“They’re amazing. These are some of the coolest people I know,” said Lost Cove LARP member Gwyn Ackroyd-Wipper.
Players travel from Ladysmith to Campbell River to make the weekly event, which, according to Cass, is an escape from the pressures of trying to fit in. Lost Cove members range in age from teenagers to their ’50s.
“During the week, this is what I’m looking forward to a lot of the time,” said Lost Cove LARP member Nathan Cass.
“It’s 100 per cent the highlight of my week as well. I look forward to it every week,” said Jade Tyndall, a Lost Cove LARP member of nearly two years.
Tyndall said that the players costumes are homemade, and their weapons and shields are heavily padded for safety, and made for economy.
“It’s really cheap, you can make most of the weapons for like 20 bucks,” said Ackroyd-Wipper.
Yet for Port Alberni father Jesse Cass, the club’s impact is nothing short of priceless. Cass told CHEK News that he brought his teenage son to participate in LARP about a year ago, and soon joined in.
“It’s become his happy place. I came here to watch the first few times and every time after that, he was just having so much fun that I wanted to join in,” he said.
The Port Alberni man said it has forged a new bond between him and his son and given him a new freedom to be himself.
“I was always too worried about what people thought about me, and the first few times I came here I didn’t want to put on the weird stuff, I didn’t want to say the weird things, it was whatever. I was really self-conscious about it, and the level of honesty and earnestness that everyone had here, it just sucked me in and I was like ‘If they don’t care, I don’t need to care either,’ because these are the people that I want to be here with,” said Cass.
“There is no other way to describe it, other than freeing,” said Tyndall.
“And the amount of people who just walk by, and stop and smile, and watch us have a good time is so fun. Whether they join us at some point or not, just seeing people go ‘this looks so fun,’ is really fun,” said Lost Cove LARP member Lola Jaques.
Live-action roleplay has become contagious on mid-Vancouver Island. Lost Cove has grown from just five players two years ago to more than 70 members, and Jaques told CHEK News they are happy to welcome more, any day.