New live action role playing group meets in Marquette, plans fall immersive event

MARQUETTE, Mich. (WLUC) - A new live-action role-playing group in Marquette spent Sunday afternoon having fun. It’s also planning a fall event.

Known as LARPing, members say it’s gaining popularity.

Marquest is a group of medieval fantasy fans in the Marquette area. It is putting on a ticketed LARPing event, ‘The Battle of Banded Iron’ on Sept. 23 at the halfway location between Marquette and Big Bay.

Members gathered Sunday at Mattson Lower Harbor Park to play games and spread the word about the group.

“A big thing that we’ve been talking about is the resurgence of Dungeons and Dragons and other role-playing games that have just become really popular over the last one or two years,” said Caben McKendrick, a member of the Marquest admin group. “I think this is a really good chance for people to get together in the community to socialize, and not just in a little D&D group, but with a whole myriad of people. You can build your own characters. It’s fun creating stories, creating lore and getting together and having that shared experience. I think what we’re going to do, like this, is have a ton of community events so people can get together and do that, even without going to the ticketed event.”

Tickets for the Sept. 23 event go on sale June 17 for $150 each. There will be only 60 tickets sold. It’s for people 21 and older.

“(Today) we’re just having some fun, hitting each other with swords,” said Nate Graves, Marquest Owner. “But the main event is going to be a very immersive experience, where there’s a whole lore and world that we’ve built to have people immerse themselves in as a character. There’s a socio-political undercurrent to the game that we’re playing.”

Graves says to follow Marquest online or on social media (Facebook & Instagram) to stay up to date on future meetings.

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