this is lower silesia, about an hour and a half's drive from the regional capital wroclaw, not far froma beautiful place. it's been here for a long time. absolutely stunning. really sets the scene for what i'm going to be in for for the next couple of days. i've come to this gothic palace to take part in a live action role—play, or larp. for the next three days, this is not the castle, but fairweather manor, an english country house, and the year is 1917. right in the middle of the first world war. this is the costume room. this man is the brains behind it all. what is larp? have you ever played house, as a kid, henry? yes. you played the father who is angry and scolding his children because they did not do their homework, or maybe you played one of the kids, not wanting to do homework and wanting to play soccer instead. this is that, just with more complex stories, better costumes and hopefully a little bit more interesting locations. it's pretend play for adults. larping grew out of the dungeons & dragons scene in the 1980s. as some of its players got older, their ambition grew, and t