A character is the basis for participation in the game. What makes LARP special is that you are the character and thus slip into a different role. In our case, a character who fits into a fantasy world. No character in LARP is a typical “hero”. Instead, they are people who live in this world. Only the story that you experience with them may make them a hero one day, or not. For a character you need a rough background, questions like:

Where is he from?
What is his social and financial status?
What abilities does he have and what does he know about the world?

should have been answered before the first game.
Always remember that you have to be able to represent it. It's certainly attractive to play the well-traveled knight or magician or noble. You just need the entourage, the equipment and the background knowledge.
Characters who are not quite as high on the social ladder and whose knowledge of the world is more limited are therefore better suited for beginners, because they need less and simpler equipment and less background knowledge. A farmer or day laborer or even a simple mercenary at the beginning of his career is easier for a beginner in LARP to bring to life and are good springboards for developing the character over time.

“Suspension of Disbelief” is important in order to get involved with the game world and the other players in LARP. It describes the human will to engage with fictional worlds to the point that we believe their internal logic. So e.g. B. in Harry Potter the fact that magic exists in this world and works according to certain rules. Or in Star Wars that ships can fly faster than the speed of light. At the same time, we hide disturbing elements that disrupt the effect of the fictional world. For example, we overlook the crew that can be seen in the background of a film scene, or the wind turbines in the background in LARP. This also includes the fact that magic doesn't exist in reality and that it is clear to us that the other person is just throwing a foam ball, but in the game it is a powerful fireball and we react to it accordingly.
Without this effect, we would hardly have any fun reading books or watching films because we would hardly be rooting for the protagonists or be afraid of the antagonist. Reality would have a firm grip on our imagination. “Suspension of Disbelief” allows us to observe and perceive a fictional world as real, without at the same time forgetting that it is fictional. For LARP it is one of the central psychological mechanics for becoming part of the game world with your character.

Fantasy in all its facets may be the most popular background, but it is far from the only one. More frequently used backgrounds with existing series of events are e.g. end times, vampires, wild west or sci-fi. In addition, there are LARPs in specific fictional universes such as Witcher or Harry Potter. The area of ​​EduLARP in particular, i.e. LARP with a focus on knowledge transfer, offers exciting backgrounds. Politics or alternative history topics are often taken up there. History also offers great backgrounds, so why not go for the Roaring 20th or the time of the Celts.
Backgrounds are as varied and unlimited as the organizers of the LARPs. The same applies to the style of a LARP; while fantasy is often more action-heavy, vampire LARP thrives more on intrigue. The LARP scene actually offers the right setting for everyone to find something that suits them.