For the occasion of International Youth Day, International Youth Centre of Burgas organized the first youth festival for fantasy and LARP “Sword and Magic”. And the experience was truly magical! The event ,,breaks” our reality and completely immerses us in the fantasy universe of the game hit Dungeons & Dragons.
The festival started with a real D&D gaming session. It was led by Dimitar Terziev (Nero) – a D&D master and a key part of the Burgas LARP society. Specially for the event, Nero created a unique D&D world in which participating youths became brave heroes defeating the evil. The youngsters played a full session and in the end of it they really became winners! A Character creation session was held in parallel with the game. In it, the participants learned how they can create fantasy characters. The purpose of the session was for the young people to recognise the positive qualities of the heroes.
After gaming session was over, the youngsters were engaged in their favorite game of treasure hunt. For this purpose, they drew ancient maps and hid their treasures in secret places. A fierce search began, which ended successfully – every young person had found their treasure!
You can’t truly step into the role of a fantasy character without visually transforming into one. Art workshops were set up to create full experience for the youngsters. These workshops provided the opportunity to make your own LARP costume and sword. Participants showed talent in making LARP props, and apart from exercising their creativity and dexterity, they had a lot of fun!
After transforming themselves into fictional characters, the youths participated in real LARP action. Nero organized short training session to help the youth to get into “battle mode”. After an explanation of the rules, a series of mini LARP tournaments was set in motion. During the rest breaks something surprising happened – mythical creatures appeared on the field! They spoke into riddles on the topic of “Bulgarian mythology”. Those who guessed the answers won special prizes – they were endowed with ,,superpowers” for every battle to come!
Emma from COUNTDOWN dance formation gave a striking finale to the festival. She managed to set the atmosphere on fire with k-pop random dance to hit k-pop songs!
Our first youth festival for fantasy and LARP was a huge success!
On the most youthful day of the year, we turned our wildest fantasies into reality. We touched magic that has the power to create new worlds. And we learned that we can be the authors of our own universe – one better place!
*Project No. BGLD-2.001-0002 “Establishment of a Youth International Center – Burgas” is implemented under the “Local Development, Poverty Reduction, and Enhanced Inclusion of Vulnerable Groups” program, funded by the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area (EEA FM) 2014-2021.
