I studied at university somewhat late in life but while there I was introduced to table top role play and to live action role play. We used to play games like Dungeons and Dragons, Toon, Runequest and Paranoia, among others, once a week and odd days on weekends or holiday periods. Then we started to go on adventures in the Forest of Dean and on Brecon Beacons. we also used to attend festivals.

The first festival of the year we went to was Mayfest. it was a good festival run for around 200 people and held in Devon. I continued to go after I had left university and enjoyed many good Mayfests. The year after the infamous 'Mudfest' (when it rained all of the time, 27 springs appeared in the camping field and it became so muddy only the hardy and foolish (like me) stayed until the end). The next year Gail and Kerys Woodcock cancelled Mayfest about six weeks before the event was to run. Not being one to have a good weekend spoiled, I got some help, Howard Titherliegh, and we ran the event for the next few years.

As Howard became more involved in a different lifestyle, he had his own business and it was becoming quite successful, he had less time and so had to give up Mayfest. In his place I formed the present team and we hope to continue for a good few years yet.

The event is run at Winkliegh in North Devon (UK). Near the edge of Dartmoor, the scenery is delightful. It is held upon a farm and Roger, the farmer, is extremely helpful and friendly.

We pitch the size of the event for between 150 to 200 players but run it differently to many other events of this kind. Our aim was to have a good active event with all the elements of adventure, for it to be as comfortable as possible and as inexpensive as possible. We also required that it be family friendly so that parents who wanted to play could bring their children without fear for them. To achieve this we instigated the following. Everyone is both a punter and a helper. part of the time they are playing and part of the time they are monstering or helping out around the site. Well folk will not accept this unless they are getting back something for it so we remind them that as we have no overhead on staff, we can charge less. Further, all of us pay! Even though we run the event we are players as well and this puts us on an equal footing to the rest of the players. Finally we run a reactive plot. This means that the plot reacts and changes according to what the players do, even a child can affect the plot. Everyone can get involved to the degree they want to so, apart from a few duties (most likely a bit of monstering) if they want they can sunbathe outside their tent all day and socialise most of the night or they can be completely involved in what is going on, fighting, scheming, solving problems and furthering their character.

For all of this to work we need to have a very simple system. This we have! Six year olds have played characters with a perfect understanding of what they can do and how to do it. Because of the numbers, the size of the site and the simplicity of the system it is very family friendly. Quite a few families attend almost every year. The rules were recently updated and are on the Mayfest Site. They are also available to view on the Live Action Role Play site.

The event has grown successful enough that we usually hit our targets for attendees and indeed for a few years have been turning folk away as we were fully booked. Any profit is ploughed straight back into the event. We are in it for fun not for money! The moment one starts to use it to generate income it becomes a task or work and loses something. We want everyone who comes to have a good time, including ourselves and generally we achieve this.

We have started up a site not only for Mayfest but also for live action role play in general. It is called larpweb. If you want to know more of the hobby then go there! You could also join the Mayfest egroups list. Go to Yahoo Groups and join there.

Sometimes a hobby can get a bad name. Role play has had its share of critics but for more on this see my rants page.