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Live Action Role Play Gives Homer Youth An Outlet

Photo by Quinton Chandler/KBBI
Homer Shire listens to end of day announcements

A Live Action Role Play Game filled with wizardry and swordplay is gaining popularity with Homer Youth. Some say it’s a welcome outlet in a town with few activities for young people.

Role Play Games have been a sensation among kids and adults for years. Perhaps the most famous example is Dungeons & Dragons. RPGs offer immersive worlds that can be explored in multiple formats like board games and of course video games.

Live Action Role Play Games follow the same pattern except the games are played in real life locations and the players literally become their characters. On Saturday nights the gym of Christian Community Church fills with the battle cries of monsters, heroes, wizards and all kinds of fantastical creatures.

“I play a Gallic barbarian. I’m basically like a berserker. I’m mostly charging into battle with a shield and a sword and destroying the enemy lines,” said Nolan Bunting.

18-year-old Nolan Bunting is leader of the mercenary company known as the Iron Gauntlet inside the world of Amtgard. He helps organize the game. Bunting says the game draws a decent crowd of about 20 people regularly but they’ve had as few as four and as many as 45.

 

Credit Photo by Quinton Chandler/KBBI
Amtgard characters playing a game.

It’s not easy to describe Amtgard and do it justice but Bunting gave it a shot.

“Imagine Lord of the Rings mixed with an historical reenactment where you get to play your favorite characters. You get to play the great wizard, Gandalf, or you can be the great warrior who just charges into battle,” said Bunting.

The games they play still take a little explaining. One player gave a rundown of the last game of the day.

“It’s called ring a bell. The cone is the bell. We’re trying to ring it. That team is defending it. We have to use a short sword so we can’t just throw stuff at it or anything like that. We have to get by them before they kill us so we can get the point,” he said.

 

Credit Photo by Quinton Chandler/KBBI
Amtgard players play Ring the Bell.

They also play standard Capture the Flag and there are variations of Capture the Flag that include monsters which can be controlled if their magical items are stolen. Sometimes teams just do battle with no objectives other than to kill each other.

Amtgard draws worldwide participation with groups organized under their municipalities, states and countries. Homer is a Shire inside the principality of Alaska which is a part of the Kingdom of Dragonspine.

“And that is Alaska, Texas and Nevada,” said Rowyn Cunningham.

Rowyn Cunningham is 16 and he is an heir apparent in Homer’s Shire. The rules don’t allow him to be the monarch because of his age, but for all intents and purposes he is the leader of the group. According to dragonspine.net the kingdom actually encompasses: Alaska, New Mexico, California and Arizona. 

“We have a Barony in Kenai, we have a Duchy in Fairbanks, we have a Shire in North Pole, we have a Shire in Palmer and we have a Barony in Anchorage,” said Cunningham.

Cunningham says the groups meet online once a month and they meet in person four to five times a year. As more people join, the Shires have the chance to upgrade to a Barony and then the Baronies can upgrade to a Duchy.

The game is fairly complicated but that is part of its appeal. The longer players stick around the stronger their characters become and the more they learn about the inner workings of Amtgard. 

Cunningham says Homer needed this badly. 

“Homer kind of sucks for the youth. There’s really not much for the youth to do at all unless you like looking at art or taking walks in the woods. This is a distraction to get people away from the streets and the drugs and such,” said Cunningham.

Cunningham brought Amtgard to Homer last spring with help from his mother and Bunting. He says there’s something here for everyone including people who just want to socialize.

 

Credit Photo by Quinton Chandler/KBBI
Rowyn Cunningham makes announces the next week's activities.

“There’s also events where we have questing which is more role play oriented. Once a week we also have crafting days called A&S days [or] Arts and Science. We make our weapons and our garb,” said Cunningham.

And there’s even a place for people interested in more mundane work. Cunningham says Amtgard is a corporation. The Shires, Baronies and Duchies all have bank accounts, budgets and they do lots of paperwork.

Normally the game is restricted to ages 14 and up but Homer has gotten around that. Younger kids can join as apprentices if they have an adult mentor sign up with them. 

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Local News LARPAmtgardDragonspineCommunity Christian Church