It's a grey, overcast day with a cool breeze blowing over the field. The sounds of swords clashing fill the air, along with war cries and shouts of defiance. The battle is raging full force — knights exchanging blows with their opponents with longswords and axes while lords and ladies watch from their seats. Across from the field is a shopping plaza full of curious onlookers trying to figure out why there is a medieval battle taking place in this modern world.

LARPing, which stands for Live Action Role-Playing, is when a group of people play or act out a game or story in the real world. Instead of rolling the dice to clash swords with your opponent, as in a traditional tabletop role-playing game like Dungeons and Dragons, you suit up in your best real armor, grab a real (albeit wooden and completely harmless) sword and have a real battle. LARPing has been around for decades and spans the globe, and a particularly large society exists now right here in London.

Jenna Hegler is a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism and has been since her university days. "I went to Carlton and there was a society on campus called the Carlton Medievalists," she explained. "It was really just a 'gateway drug' to the SCA." After graduating university, Helger returned to London and got involved in the local group. That's where she met her fiancé, though she knew him only by his character name at first.

The SCA is "old, massive and worldwide," according to Hegler. "The world is divided up into kingdoms; where we are right now is called Ealdormere, which is more or less Ontario. Then it's broken down into local chapters. London/St. Thomas is called Trinovantia Nova." Within Trinovantia Nova there are approximately 75 to 80 members, although they rarely convene simultaneously. "Usually at a local meeting there are about 20 people," said Hegler.

The Known World Handbook is a basic introduction to all the elements of the SCA, including a guide to the language, costuming and etiquette. "There are a vast number of choices for characters you can create," she said. "The SCA encompasses everything from the early Romans to about 1550 AD. At a feast you could have a Roman guard sitting next to a Tudor lady." With such a wide variety of choices of who to be and what to do, and with a schedule that could keep you busy nearly every night of the week in London if you were involved in everything, the SCA is everything that a history-loving LARPer could want.

The SCA is much more than simply dressing up in costume and pretending you're in the Middle Ages; a large part of the society's activities centre around fighting. There is heavy fighting, which involves swords; thrown weaponry, which involves knives and axes; and archery. "It's really safe," said Hegler. "We have martials who check your armor and weapons all the time to make sure no one gets hurt. The weapons are all made of rattan and rubber, so they can't actually slice you up." The SCA also offers activities for those who enjoy more peaceful pursuits including sewing, cooking, brewing, herb-craft and different kinds of dance.

Hegler said newcomers are made to feel welcome, and that there is a strong sense of community within the SCA. "Every group has a person whose job it is to make new people comfortable, to make sure they know a few things and really to get them to their first event."

If the Middle Ages, swordfighting and sewing aren't really your style, but you're still interested in LARPing, there are other options out there. For fans of the supernatural, particularly vampires, there exists a Live Action Role-Playing game known as World of Darkness. "It's essentially a vampire-by-night sort of game," explained Dan Stark (name has been changed to protect privacy), who was at one time very active in that game.

"I enjoyed doing dramatic arts in high school, and after I graduated, this was a way to continue that for me," he said. World of Darkness is a form of LARPing that takes place in public, yet in total secrecy. "You could go into a bar or a restaurant and have the game going on and no one else knew," explained Stark.

World of Darkness is a complex game with its own mythology and extensive rules. "There are books available that set out the rules," said Stark, "and there are guides to creating your character." The mythology of the game follows the idea that the biblical Cain was the first vampire, making him the most powerful, and every generation he sired had weaker powers than the last. Every character has three major traits: mental, physical and social.

According to Stark, many of the players were eager to take the game to the next level. "A lot of people got into costuming with it, and that wasn't always feasible to do in public." He added that the reason for the secrecy from the public was because "vampires aren't supposed to exist in real life. If you're found out by a member of the public, that would be a big problem." To adapt to the deeper involvement of the game, "We started having private sessions. We would rent a place out for a night and then everyone could come in full costume while maintaining that secrecy."

If you love to get dressed up, act out things that would regularly never happen in your day-to-day life or you're really into fantasy worlds, LARPing might just be the thing for you. Live Action Role-Playing is a great way to play games and meet some awesome new friends.

Both the SCA and World of Darkness are still going strong, with opportunities for playing both games available locally. For more information on how to get involved, visit sca.org or worldofdarkness.com