Cebu LARP Society Launches Potterworld Workshop

The Cebu LARP (Live Action Role Playing) Society launches their second Potterworld Workshop last May 23, 2015 at the Ayala Cebu Business Park from 10:30AM-3:30PM. IT was not like any other grand event that markets to the nerd and geek market, but the attendees and members of that organization were able to engage in fun activities, even though only few attended.

The Cebu LARP Society is a new, indie non-profit organization that was founded by Paul Dy. He stated that the function of the Cebu LARP Society is to get people who are fans of the old medieval, fantasy culture of sorcery, swordery and wizardry to gather and engage in workshops, activities and live role playing. Dy was able to experience previous “larping” events in the past, and this made him want to bring this kind of hobby to Cebu and witness it expand. The organization is currently composed of less than ten members, a mix of both professionals and students, which is a good start for the organization. The Cebu LARP Society mainly favors to the Harry Potter fandom, reason why they formed the Potterworld workshop.

The Potterworld workshop did not focus mainly on the Harry Potter culture, but the new members were also taught the basics of live action role playing in terms of what terms to use, what to do when role playing and the specific roles assigned to people.

The Potterworld workshop officially started with the first activity which was the Sorting Hat Ceremony, where the new members of the Cebu LARP Society had to be sorted in their houses which are either Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw or Gryffindor.

The second activity was a lesson on Harry Potter spells and spell orbs. The members were taught how to properly cast spells with makeshift wands and spell orbs. The Game Master applied this to a demo where the members had to go against each other on a wand duel, where the spells and spell orbs were applied.

The attendees of the Potterworld Workshop prepare for a wand duel against each other.

It was also applied to the third activity which was the reenactment of the Battle of Hogwarts which occurred on May 2, 1998 on the final book of the series Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The Game Master role-played as the giants, werewolves, and Death Eaters and the members had to role-play as students from the battle, this activity tired out everyone since it involved a lot of running under the sun.

The Game Master gave instructions on how to reenact and play the Battle of Hogwarts prior to the activity.

The afternoon started with a lesson on divination. Supposedly, the last activity, Qudditch, a sport in the Harry Potter World, was supposed to push through but due to everyone getting tired from the Battle of Hogwarts activity and the hot weather, the activity did not push through.
The overall workshop was pretty simple, it did not have any basics that any workshop would have such as speakers or a proper program flow, but the attendees had fun experiencing the Harry Potter culture, especially since they are all Harry Potter fans.

This is just the beginning for the Cebu LARP Society, for now they are done with their second workshop. Dy has a lot of plans for the future for the Cebu LARP Society. He stated that he wants to be a spiritual successor for this hobby. He even plans to incorporate the Lord of the Rings fandom in future events. Dy already has plans for the next few events for the next few months, one of them being a swords and shields event that will happen somewhere around June.

The medieval, fantasy world will never exist here in the real world, but that does not keep the fans from continuing to show their love for Harry Potter and any other fantasy fiction they are into, they can act it out through role playing and still keep the love for it in their hearts.

Hopefully in the next few years, the Cebu LARP Society will become notable for its fun and successful events Dy Plans to incorporate in the future. The Cebu LARP Society is still accepting new members, so if you’re a fan of Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, swords, sorcery, or anything that belongs in that genre, you are welcome to join and experience the magic with them.