The Cog Boys, a gang of sunglassed intruders, darted into the center of the village, disrupting the unofficial Bounty Hunters Guild meeting around the firepit. Raising their Nerf guns, they opened fire.

The guild’s half a dozen or so members – including a droid, mutant, medic and mad scientist – quickly scrambled to defend themselves, pointing toy guns back. Combat spread throughout the village center.

Thad Bailey, playing a feathery half-raptor half-human mutant, rushed to a gray two-story tower made of plywood. From the second story, Bailey had the perfect vantage point to aim a small brown Nerf pistol at the intruders.

Meanwhile, Bailey’s twin, Atticus, playing a reptilian creature with a leg-length green tail, exchanged fire – and foam bullets – with an assassin dressed in black.

This was only one combat scene in Star Hunter II, a live-action role-playing game hosted at Burgundar – an 11-acre wooded site with a village of eight permanent structures in Harrison.

WHAT IS LARPING?

Live-action role-playing, or larping to regulars, is an imaginative outdoor play that mixes acting, improvisation and collaborative storytelling.

“Imagine you’re playing Dungeons and Dragons, but instead of having a paper sheet and dice in front of you at a table, you’re outdoors in a costume and you’re doing the things that you would do in a game,” said Garrett Leavitt, the president of Burgundar, one of two venues in the state specifically designed to support the hobby.

Owen Williams, left, 25, of Winslow, engages in close combat with Dave Cormier, 51, of Bath, while paying Star Hunter II. Larping is imaginative outdoor play that mixes acting, improvisation and collaborative storytelling. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

Leavitt estimates that between 400 and 500 larpers are scattered across the state. The scene in Maine, he said, has really taken off in the past 10 years.

There are two main styles of larping, one-shots and campaigns, and both can be found in the state. While one-shots have a short timeline, campaigns play out over many gatherings, sometimes for years. Maine’s largest campaign, MystWood, has been running for more than a decade, and its players are immersed in all elements of life in the Middle Ages.

When larping, each player has the option to either staff the event or step into their character role. Staffers, or non-playing characters, jump into roles multiple times at a gathering to help move the story along.

In this particular cyberpunk game at Burgundar, players defended the last remaining plot of natural land from greedy actors on the hive planet of Corrovant.

FAMILY MATTER

Thad and Atticus Bailey, who turns 18 in August, figure larping is in their DNA. Their father, Joel Bailey, who played mad scientist Dr. Meiloorum in Star Hunter II, raised them on stories of his escapades during the 1990s at the New England Roleplaying Organization in Massachusetts and taught them how to play Dungeons and Dragons.

Two years ago, the trio decided to check out the larping scene in Maine, and they discovered a supportive community with events nearly throughout the year – what Thad describes as “an instant family.”

Leavitt said the games are kept alive by a “core group of people who have the gumption to do it” and their families. The Baileys, who live in Biddeford, larp just about every other weekend during the summer, and they love immersing themselves in their characters. Joel Bailey, who works as an insurance agent, said that his twins have autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and larping provides a healthy outlet that “helps them express themselves when other things are hard.”

Thad Bailey, who uses they/them pronouns, said that the community has been supportive of their journey with their sexuality and gender.

Atticus Bailey wears costumed feet while playing a reptilian alien character named Lenti Charris. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

Like the Baileys, the McFarlands are multigenerational larpers. Truax McFarland, 53 and a physics teacher at Hall-Dale High School, founded the Maine Adventure Society Incorporate, the oldest larping venue in the state, 30 years ago in Jefferson. After road-tripping down to Massachusetts for larps affiliated with NERO, he decided that he could do it himself.

“That’s how larping grows,” McFarland said. “Everyone has ideas to do it better.”

McFarland’s son Connor, 20, inherited his father’s passion for the hobby. While donning foam Roman combat armor and draping a trench coat over his shoulders for his power-hungry character in Star Hunter II, he joked that he’s been larping since he was in the womb. Now, he films, compiles and posts videos of his adventures.

Connor, who grew up playing at both Maine venues, said that games at MASI involve more exploration because the property is so vast. The wild and green 80-acre site features multiple fields for battle and 10 temporary structures made of cloth and tarp that can be swapped out depending on the theme of a game; the venue typically hosts nine games a year.

COMMUNITY

Maine’s two venues inspire each other. Noah Hersom, one of the founders of Burgundar, said that playing at MASI motivated him to acquire the Burgundar property. Now, the venue hosts about 20 games a year, even in winter.

It takes a lot of effort to preserve the large wooded properties, and neither spot has a big budget. Burgundar hosts volunteer work weekends multiple times a year, usually in the offseason, Leavitt said. The Baileys have come to help.

Heather Guerin, left, 27, of Waterville, playing as a battle droid, squares off against Bob Dunham, 43, of Lewiston, playing a “space raccoon.” Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

Many dedicated larpers play at both venues. Ty Guerin, the self-proclaimed owner of the largest Nerf gun collection in the state (more than 250, he says), organized Star Hunter II. He larps every weekend with his wife, Heather, and the hobby is at the center of their relationship. They’ve been larping together for 11 years.

They were high school sweethearts, living a town over from each other: he in Winslow and she across the bridge in Waterville. Ty brought Heather into the world of larping shortly after they started dating at 17.

He proposed at MASI, and they got married at Burgundar, the first wedding to be held on the site. It had a medieval theme, so they could “play as prince and princess for the day,” she said. They wore crowns and cut their wedding cake with a sword. Since their wedding, there have been three more at Burgundar, and Heather Guerin sees hers as “the prototype.”

The hobby is also welcoming to newcomers, and Leavitt offers them this advice: read the rule book to get up to speed, visit a local thrift store to put together a first character kit and bring an extra pair of socks to the first game to prepare for the elements.