Games - NERO International

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	Games - NERO International

NERO International is a Live action role-playing game (or LARP) played in the United States and Canada. NERO stands for "New England Roleplaying Organization", but this is actually somewhat of a misnomer, as the game has expanded beyond its original New England roots. It is a "boffer" style LARP that uses simulated combat with padded weapons.

At a NERO game, players gather at campsites on weekends that local chapters designate as events. Most chapters run an average of six to ten events a year. A group of staff members write the plot and story for the event, while a cast of volunteer NPCs play the roles of monsters and townspeople, helping to sustain the illusion that the campsite in the woods is actually a medieval-fantasy town. The heroes of the event (or PCs), play the part of adventurers, nobility, and various ne'er-do-wells that are spending the weekend in the town. Every chapter of NERO operates in the same game world, Tyrra, on the same in-game continent, Avalon.

Players of an event pay $40 - $80 (depending on the cost of living in that part of the country) to play their characters at a typical weekend event (one-day events are sometimes held, as well as the occasional four, seven, or even the nine-day event). Through battle with fantasy monsters, and by solving puzzles and other challenges, characters earn treasure in the form of gold and silver coins (actually brass and aluminum tokens minted for the game), magical components, or enchanted items. Characters also earn experience points for surviving the weekend, which they can use to buy more skills and become more powerful.

Origin and History of NERO International

The first gatherings that would later become NERO were held by Ford Ivey in rural Massachusetts, under the name "Weekend in the Woods" in 1986 after seeing some European LARP's. Over about two years, along with around two dozen friends, they refined their rules and learned more about running LARP games amongst themselves, until in March 1988 they changed their name to the New England Roleplaying Organization and began to operate a larger fantasy LARP event. Promoting his game from the game store he owned, his first event had an attendance of around 150 and it slowly grew over the next three years to be a very popular roleplaying game in the Massachusetts area, until it reached national prominence almost overnight.

In September 1991, Dragon Magazine had a large article about NERO that catapulted it to overnight fame in the roleplaying community. Suddenly, NERO was not a popular local game, now it was a nationally known game, being promoted to the roleplaying (especially Dungeons and Dragons) community. Players came to NERO from around the United States and from Canada. Attendance at events rose rapidly, and 700+ players per event were not unknown.

Many players who came to NERO from afar wanted to play this game back home, without travelling across the entire country for every game. Within months, new "Chapters" were licensed by the home NERO game to use their system, name, and setting. Over the next few years, dozens of new NERO chapters would be founded across the United States and Canada, while the original NERO changed its name to "NERO Massachusetts" to make it distinct from other new chapters, and the administrative function of the game became known as "NERO International".

In 1998 after several years of hard work by NPCs, Monster Camp and Plot Committees, Ford Ivey sold NERO International to Joseph Valenti. Under Joseph Valentis administration, NERO International has concentrated largely on standardization of rules (earlier, chapters were allowed great discretion on changing the standard rules), as well as unification of the in-game setting. NERO continued to grow rapidly, reaching over 50 chapters in 2005, with most of the United States within a one day drive of a NERO chapter.

A major reason of the popularity of NERO over many smaller LARPs is the expansive "chapter" system. Since NERO shares one game world, player characters can be played in any chapter at any time. Thus, dedicated players can travel to other chapters besides the one they normally play at to play more often, play in a chapter with a style of play that suits them, or to play when it is more convenient for them. There are many players who play almost every weekend by travelling, or those who regularly play at several different nearby chapters.

Offshoot LARPS

Some early chapters of NERO later quit the organization to create their own LARP, often with only minor modifications to the game. The SOLAR LARP in Atlanta, Georgia was one of the most successful offshoot larps, and LIONE Rampant also became a popular LARP in New England. Other larps, licensed by NERO International to use their rules system have also been created, like the Wildlands South and Onyx Hollow LARPs.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for NERO International ]

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