Written by: Dan Diamond (Baron Diamond Banecroft)
Chapter One: The Prehistory and Golden Age of the Realms
It’s a bit hard to say when the Realms started because the Realms rules, event holders, and players evolved from several precursor games which all contributed bits of what we consider “The Realms”. It’s fuzzy, but the steps are described below. But before one can understand that story, you have to understand the larger social situation. The first Renaissance Fair in the United States was in 1963. The Society of Creative Anachronism started in 1966. Both of those in far off California. Tabletop roleplaying games started in 1971. It takes time for these ideas to spread and become popular. At the dawn of the 1980s, tabletop roleplaying was a niche activity and LARPing was just starting to exist: the first LARP of the sort we mean in a modern sense may have been Dagorhir in 1977. LARPs were quite a bit harder to even find. In 2024 a healthy variety of LARPs can be discovered in seconds through a search engine. In the 80s, you had to physically locate someone actually involved, and the most official way of spreading information was a mimeographed newsletter put together by an individual or small team with a lot of work and mailed monthly though USPS. And there was a backlash: the Satanic Panic started in the beginning of the 80s. This was a specious demonization of RPGs in general as allegedly contributing to actual violence and satanic cult activity. Perpetrated by religious conservatives and perpetuated in the media, some fanatics even contra-factually made the literally phantastic claim that the magic and demons imagined in RPGs were real, literal dangers. A similar attempt had been made by those same sources to portray video games as social negatives, but never quite so literally. But RPGs in general and LARPs in general had the advantages of being fun, exciting, and novel. Those starting into these new worlds were doing things on a nearly blank canvas and imagined worlds and ways of doing things never before seen. And it is in this backdrop of LARPing in its infancy that the story of the Realms beings.
The Game: In some sense part of it started in 1981 with Arrowstorm’s Game, widely referred to in later decades simply as “The Game”. The Society of Creative Anachronism is not a LARP but rather a medieval re-enactment society involving dressing up in medieval garb and combat, among a lot of other activities. Arrowstorm’s Game was not SCA but was SCA-adjacent and was billed as “SCA Fantasy Weapons”. Practices occurred at Keene State College. James Murphy (Sir Tao) played “The Game” and is the source of this information. He describes the combat system as using our familiar hit location boffer system, but the boffers being heavier (spiral wrapped duct tape) and calibration of blow strength significantly more solid. Similar to what the SCA currently uses for youth combat.
Rrathchllwyn LARP began in 1983 on private lands in Cannan NH. Neil Kusleika (Sir Eldritch) is my source for this, although I heard a lot about Rrathchllwyn when I started the game. Events often were replays of historical medieval scenarios. The site was exceptional: a lazily flowing river and fields which glowed with countless fireflies at night. Most impressive was a full-scale castle mock up, which I have seen. The main gatehouse/keep was very impressive indeed. It was sturdy enough in parts that someone frequently lived there. It got steadily less impressive as one followed the walls around away from the main gatehouse. For years the most serious injury/incident known to the game was the time a siege tower fell over onto John Wristley, breaking his arm. The Water Wars were fondly remembered and heavily involved the river. Labor Day frequently involved a castle siege. Sir Eldritch was brought into that game and trained by Lord Swan (real name not entered into Realmsnet), leader of the mercenary group “Freehold”. Sir Eldritch believes Lord Swan to be the mightiest warrior of the 80s. I faced Lord Swan in the early 90s and can confirm he was good and very fast.
Mid-Realm was a LARP which ran from 1985-1988. Jarrod Marshal (Lord Jarrod) is my principal source for this information. This was run in Ware NH as a for-profit business by Tom Cook (Character name not known to this author). Tom Cook had started in Arrowstorm’s Game and went on to found the Midrealm. After 1988 Tom and the site switched from Medieval LARPing to paintball, finding that more profitable. I found that there currently is a large paintball site in Ware NH (Adventure Paintball). I gave them a call and talked to Alex, who told me that Adventure Paintball did indeed begin in 1988. Tom Cook sold it to the current owners about 20 years ago. I was told Tom now resides in Florida and does Pirate Battles.
Lord Jarrod was trained in Mid-Realm by King Lisa using SCA-like techniques. Mirkshaw, a large nation in that era, originated from Mid-Realm. Mirkshaw was led by the impressively intimidating Lord Kugen and was a very disciplined and uniformed chaos group. James Murphy disagrees with Neil, naming Tom Cook as the mightiest warrior of that era. In Character, Tom led the Free City of Manchester.
The Lost Chest: John Wristley teamed up with Shannon Slate and Glenn Slate to found this LARP. James Murphy is the source of this information. This game had an experience point system which allowed characters more weapons and spells. Experience points may have been had by going into the woods and finding chests. James describes John as a LARP game designer who enjoyed tinkering with rules. I can confirm that part: in the early 90s I participated in yet another offshoot system by John widely called “Riz-System”.
The Realms: According to James, in 1987 Shannon Slate met with John Wristley (and possibly others) at Steve Johnson’s house. There they made agreements to conglomerate to found Shannon’s The Realms. Sometimes referred to as “The Realms of Valehaven” or “The Realms of Wonder”. Shannon started throwing more events. Two events he threw were the cornerstone of the Realms event season. One of those, Duke of Glendale, was very much like Queen of Hearts is now. Shannon came to the other precursor LARPs and successfully lobbied many of their players to come over and play the Realms. They didn’t stop playing their original LARPs, but rather there was a shared pool of players and their associated characters whose history intermingled. That’s why it’s fuzzy to say when the Realms Started: if the Sir Eldritch of today’s Realms remembers events (and Events) which happened at Rrathchllwyn, and likewise Lord Jarrod for the Mid-Realm, they are part of Realms history. With a shared combat system, players, characters, and history the Realms emerged thanks to general agreements to respect each other’s backgrounds and Shannon’s gift for applying a loose framework everyone could work with. According to James Murphy, Shannon backed the Realms fundamental principal of “If you can do it, you can do it” which meant you didn’t (and don’t currently) need to spend character resources to swim, or pick locks, or weave cloth, etc. But “if you can do it, you can do it” also meant unprecedented freedom to create characters and background. If your character history sounded plausible, that was what it was. If your background is too silly, no one believes you. This is what allowed shared history from the precursor LARPs. This principal also allowed anyone can form their own Realms Nation, and allowed the Nations from the precursor LARPs legitimacy in the Realms. I remember reading Shannon’s guidelines for the titles appropriate to these various sized nations. For example, a Barony needed six members, a Kingdom about 50 (and heraldry, certain positions manned, and throw a couple of events per year). These guidelines are roughly followed even today.
Another fundamental principal which makes this LARP The Realms was “We should all be doing this to have fun”, remembered by Bob Traynor as “the wisest thing Shannon ever said.” And Shannon apparently had some good ideas how to bring fun to his events. Duke of Glendale was very popular. Over the years I remember being told a few legendary tales which emerged from his era. For example, apparently one year he formed a huge dungeon in a field by mowing corridors and rooms and leaving tall grass as the dungeon walls. I remember Michael Palumbo (Panther) telling me about the indoor specially built dungeon Shannon made with actual, manipulatable harmless “traps” and locks which could be disarmed or picked. Allegedly, no dungeon ever approached those capabilities until the dungeon at 2010’s “Thief” night quest (the latter I can confirm was impressive indeed). And then there was legendary “Sacrifice” scene: Shannon was born with a concave indentation in his sternum, and he once took advantage of this to have his “heart” scooped out of his chest by NPCs in a sacrifice scene in a night quest. There was a hilarious story I was told by Kathy Journeay (Queen Meg) about a time Prince Bob was mind controlled by an (possibly “the”) Evil Mage. One of Prince Bob’s chief lieutenants learned of this mind control, but before he could convince others, Prince Bob fled and ordered those he passed to attack the guy who was after him. Thinking quickly, the lieutenant told those who confronted him, “Not me, that guy!” and, as he was a highly placed lieutenant, was believed and successfully passed the squad thrown into his path. Bob looked over his shoulder and was shocked to see he was still being chased, and twice more repeated ordering loyal squads in the area to stop his nemesis. Only to twice more be surprised to discover they had been somehow overcome (by a simple ruse) and the unstoppable vigilante was still on his heels!
In character, Shannon played Prince Robert (ubiquitously referred to as “Prince Bob”) of Valehaven. In character his actions mirrored what he’d done out of character: he convinced everyone to come together into one Nation just as he’d convinced everyone to come to this LARP. Most all the nations of that era were sworn to Valehaven. Folkestone famously did not swear, and non-nation groups like Swan’s mercenary company “The Freehold” were not expected to. But in general and loosely speaking, the Realms were effectively unified under one banner. In addition to Freehold, Folkestone, Manchester, and Mirkshaw mentioned above; other nations of that era included but are not limited to Darkvale, Blackwood, and The Amazons (OOC centered on Mt. Holyoke). Bob Trayor adds that a huge part of the Realms was centered on “The 5 Colleges”: Umass, Hampshire, Amherst, Holyoke, and Smith). Bob Traynor reports that Blackavar was founded by Princess Vrille in 1989. Steve Matulewitz (then Sir Pyr) reports that he joined the game in 89 and joined the mercenary company “The Eclipse”. Kathy Fey (Makta) also began in 89.
Shannon provided enough social order that most everyone was a part, and enough freedom that people were free to contribute. It was this freedom, however, which formed the seed which was to bring an end to the golden age… like King Arthur’s Camelot, a dream tarnished by a clash of strong personalities.
Coming soon: Chapter Two: The Fall of Valehaven, the author’s entry into the story, and the “end” of the game…in 1991, everything changed.