Dixon’s live action roleplayers love fantasy, forge real-life bonds

Imagine: You’re locked in jail cell with other adventurers, a veritable menagerie of characters.

Small bones are scattered about the place. You turn to your compadre, a rogue with feline characteristics, and ask “How are your lock-picking skills?”

This is the opening scene for members of the Dixon’s CER Live Action Role Playing group as they start their game at Lowell Park.

The Pinetum section of the park is the perfect spot to get lost in a medieval fantasy. The towering trees provide shade and protection; there are ferns, mushrooms, grasses and plants. It is a setting like Middle-earth of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.

The players in this game of imagination — they call it a LARP — collectively tell stories of conflict. Their characters conjure magic, engage in combat with weapons made of foam, and work together with cohesion to resolve puzzles and get out of a tight spot.

Jake Wallin, 29, of Dixon founded the group 10 years ago. At the time, it was simply to bring people together through the use of imagination.

“It’s very therapeutic,” he said. “Imagination can bring and heal people together.”

Wallin explained that engaging in gaming is how he met his wife.

What looks like organized chaos is actually a choreographed act of storytelling and problem-solving that uses a somewhat strict set of rules. Sometimes rules can be fudged.

According to Wallin: “We also follow the Rule of Cool and Rule of Fun. We are willing to bend the rules slightly in the moment for more fun.”

Each player has developed motivations and deep backstories for their character. The players rely on this information to their thoughts and actions as the games progresses from scenario to scenario.

Amid the clatter of shouts and instruction the word “check” would be sometimes be used to temporarily halt the action for safety or when game play needs to catch up with the action.

The group is planning a large three-day event centered on Saturday Oct. 22. The group welcomes novice and seasoned players.

For more info on this gathering, reach out to CER Midwest, Kingdom of Northbourne (Midwest US Chapter/North IL) on Facebook.

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Jake Wallin, left, gamemaster for the Dixon City Live Action Role Players sets up a scenario for his players during their gathering at Lowell Park on Sept. 23. Wallin founded the LARPing group 10 years ago, setting up a chapter here in Dixon and one in Roanoke, Virginia. “Imagination can bring people together and can be healing,” said Wallin. He can attest to it: He met his wife thorugh gaming. (Alex T. Paschal - apaschal@shawmedia.com)