In all my time in zine culture (my main hobbyist subculture outside of game and game design spaces) and in witnessing the rise in popularity of TTRPG zines, something has kept bothering me. There aren't enough LARP-related zines, either zines that contain rules for running/playing a LARP or just zines where LARP is discussed in some way, whether in the form of perzine (personal zine) or infozine or photo zine or something else. I've come across some over the years, enough to make me want to see more. So, what do I do when I want to see more of something creative? I create a jam, of course!
Suggestions for types of zines you could make:
- Write a short LARP scenario and lay out the materials in the form of a zine
- Lay out a LARP you've already written in the form of a zine
- Write a LARP with pre-written characters and use zines for character sheets
- Write a zine about your experiences playing a specific LARP
- Write a zine from the point of view of your LARP character
- Write a zine to introduce people to LARP
- Write a zine to convince potential new players to join your campaign LARP or attend some other LARP-related event
- Make a photo zine of all your cool LARP photos
- Write a zine to teach people how to make something for a LARP (costuming, makeup, boffer weapons, spell packets, props, etc.)
- Make a zine to use as a prop in a LARP
- Make an art zine of LARP character art
Rules:
- Must be suitable for Itch. And no hate speech or jam spam!
- Must be a zine*
- Must be connected in some way to LARP (live action role-playing)
- You can submit something you started previously!
- You can submit something unfinished!
- You can submit a small zine!
- You can submit a super long zine!
- You can submit a paid zine or a free one or a pay what you want zine!
- You can submit a placeholder page!
- You can submit a page with a link to where your physical zine can be bought!
- If you are open to physical or digital zine trades, consider listing your contact info on the project page!
- Have fun!
*What counts as a zine for the purposes of this jam?
People love to argue about what counts as a zine. For the purposes of this jam, your zine is a zine if you call it a zine... but you have to be able to explain in your own words what makes it a zine. This is primarily to keep people from using this jam to submit jam spam, but it will also force you to think about what zines mean to you. Your explanation doesn't have to agree with anyone else's explanation. It could even contradict what someone else considers a zine. That's fine and dandy! Just don't use this jam as an excuse to submit something that you don't actually consider a zine.
Some signs that something might be a zine (but none are required for it to be a zine):
- it is a self-published booklet
- it is a handmade publication
- it isn’t put out by an established publisher
- it adheres to a DIY ethos
- it doesn’t have an ISBN
- it has under 1000 print copies
- it is intended for a niche audience
- it isn’t a commercial product (the aim is not to earn a profit for the creator)
- it isn’t as polished as a commercial product
- it is made by one person or a small group of people
Resources about LARP:
Resources about zine making:
Have fun!
Olivia Montoya