My Nerd Roots: Avalon LARP

It is time for me to show you my true nerd colors.

When I was a wee geeky lad back in middle school, I fit the stereotype well. I had few friends and had strange habits that all my peers just scratched their head at. I was awkward and looking for something to make life more exciting.

I found it in a LARP, specifically Avalon LARP (http://www.avalonlarp.com/index.htm). It took a few events, but eventually I found a slew of new friends and a great new escapism that let me be a frakking hero. I wasn’t just a dweeby kid with glasses trying to awkwardly talk to the popular cheerleader and crashing and burning, I was SVEN the mother frakking sword and shield wielding warrior.

I went month after month for years in a ever expanding world with plot layer on top of plot layer. I got to run around in the woods in the middle of the night and scare people and be scared. I got to be a part of a grand story that involved hundreds of different characters and people. Talk about your epic fantasy! In a world where Epic Fantasy tales such as George R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire and Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series are getting more popular, I got to live out those stories back in the 90′s.

Looking back, I have made so many great friends, and I have so many fond memories.

If you are a nerd looking for a new outlet to meet friends, have a good time, and even maybe get some exercise, well, I have just the thing for you. There are chapters in Virginia and in North Carolina to aid you geographically. Go experience something dorky and something new.