About

About Falnorian

Falnorian is an original fantasy game world created by its game master and run for more than fifteen years. It is an epic fantasy world with many of the trappings of such stories: magic, dragons, grand adventures, and more. It features a long-running central campaign that has been shaped by hundreds of players in its time. Each year, we follow a new set of storylines that take place across the game world; in each league and location, players work together to resolve the challenges posed to them by the story. The choices they make shape not only the current year’s story, but also impact the game world in lasting ways and influence all the stories told in years to come.

Falnorian is designed both as a game and as an educational activity. Players make a new character each year and get to try on many faces and names as those characters develop and change across the year. In the course of their adventures, players are faced with a variety of challenges: battles, riddles, cryptic characters, high-stakes negotiations and diplomacy, and a variety of physical terrain challenges. Few of these can be solved alone, and require players to pool their individual strengths and skills to face them together. These elements are designed to meet players where they’re at – and then challenge them to grow.

The stories themselves are interconnected and multifaceted: there is no one right way to approach or solve a given story, and what choices players make shape what consequences – both good and bad – will follow. Being able to see this story develop from their actions over time is a great way for players to practice critical thinking and problem-solving skills; and to build confidence and learn how to grapple with and bounce back from failure. The game is driven by and responsive to the choices and interests of the players; and, ultimately, it is what players bring to the game that makes it memorable and exciting.

About LARP

LARP is short for “Live Action Role Playing”. Like other roleplaying games, LARP is about telling a collective and collaborative story with a group of other people. What makes LARPs different from other roleplaying games is that it is “live action”: instead of rolling dice around a table, in a LARP you are physically running around on the field, sparring, and acting out your character as the story progresses. There are many styles of LARP, which can vary widely in rules system, focus, genre, and play style depending on the group: some LARPs focus heavily on simulated combat while others deal almost exclusively in acting and roleplay. Falnorian is a fairly even balance between both combat and roleplay elements, and players will find themselves drawing on both aspects of the game during events.

LARPs use soft foam props – called “boffers” – to take the place of swords. These are built to be safe to use with other players, and brought to each event by the game master. Players are welcome to bring their own boffers as well, but any boffers brought by players must pass a safety inspection before they can be used. The combat system loosely resembles tag and is a light- to medium-contact system; the game emphasizes finesse over force to keep it accessible to players of all ages.

About the Game Master

Kimberly Taylor is the creator of the Falnorian game world and its current Game Master. She is a writer, storyteller, and educator who has been GMing roleplaying games for more than a decade. Her interest in roleplaying games started with tabletop gaming and later expanded to include LARP; in both cases, she was introduced to it as a player and – thanks to a deep interest in telling stories – eagerly moved on to running games herself. Kimberly is the creator of the Falnorian game world, and is particularly interested in the use of roleplaying games as a powerful tool to inspire learning and growth in its players.

Kimberly’s background is heavily interdisciplinary; although her bachelor’s degree is in history she also has significant training in creative writing, theater and performing arts, child development, environmental science, and education. She draws on all of these in her game design and storytelling, and constantly seeks to learn new skills and new disciplines. In addition to her weekend leagues, she works with schools around the bay area to provide LARP classes, workshops, and afterschool programs. When not running LARP she enjoys a variety of outdoor activities such as hiking, camping, tracking, and chasing down frogs and snakes and other creatures in the hills and woods wherever she goes. She also enjoys writing, cooking, crafting, and playing board games with friends. She lives in Sonoma County with her spouse, who is a teacher himself and often helps with weekend events.