How to die well

The average lifespan for a human character in Zombie LARP is measured in minutes, not hours. It’s best that we tell you this straight-up: your character will almost certainly die. We estimate that the total human character survival rate across all our events to date has been about ten percent – and when players do survive, luck usually plays a part in it.

Zombie LARP gameplay is meant to be this dangerous. The constant presence of imminent death keeps the adrenalin levels high. Knowing that your next bullet could be the last you ever get the chance to fire is what keeps the game fast-paced and frightening. If you go down in combat, you have to hope that your friends like you enough to wade through the zombies and drag you to safety. And if you’re the last one alive, or you’re lost in the dark, alone, your life depends on whether or not your gun jams. Our simple rules and realistic combat system (“fire your NERF gun or swing your axe – if you’ve hit, you’ve hit!”) means that combat happens terrifyingly fast. Jump the wrong way at the wrong moment, or abandoned the barricaded door too soon, and you’re doomed.

Your chance to be a human character might be over in minutes – but our veteran players agree that one minute spent inside the simulation feels like an hour of normal life. Time speeds up in this game – or slows down, depending on how you look at it. We guarantee that these events – however brief – will be etched onto your memory for years to come.

With this in mind, your character’s death is often your best chance to write yourself into the many legends and myths of Zombie LARP. If you talk to seasoned Zombie players, they will all have a story about a time that they died. Most will have several. Ask a Zombie player about their favourite memory of the game, and it’s almost invariably a good death – sometimes even someone else’s.

When you come to Zombie LARP, do your best to survive – run, kill, and do everything you can to stay alive – but when the end comes, die the most exciting, heroic, tragic, dramatic or melodramatic way that you can think of, because a good death is something you’ll remember for the rest of your life.