Cute little monsters… Yes, you heard me right. I said “cute little monsters.” There was a time when all monsters I saw were cute. But then I found Elfwood and often had some trouble smiling bravely at the large fanged smile the monsters threw at me. My courage seemed thin.

When I first started live role-playing (“Larping”), I found out that orcs are as scary to look at in real life as they are to see on a screen. Especially when you are seeing your self in a mirror, standing over 6? tall and wearing an orc mask. You might understand that I was glad that I was the one attacking, and not the one being attacked by creatures such as the orc I was playing at the time.

The most hilarious monster I ever encountered at a larp was a big blue bunny-rabbit. Well, it was about six foot tall, had large floppy ears, and was leisurely walking towards some unsuspecting players. Again, I was glad I wasn’t the one being attacked. I’m not sure whether I could have refrained from laughing.

This is not what most people would call furries though. To be honest, I’ve never seen a furry or anthro in a larp. There are numerous pictures on Elfwood, but somehow in larp, they seem to be left out.

There are some exceptions to this, of course. I spoke to my friend Martine Spaans who played a skaven called Skarla Crosspaw at Shiverz larp. The name ‘skaven’ comes from Warhammer. It is a rat-like humanoid, that has some human traits but still is a rat. They repeat half sentences, like an echo, and are quite intelligent.

“The best thing about playing a furry at a larp is the fun of being a not-so standard race, and, of course, making the outfits. I spend a lot of time on making the outfits. I even made my own mask...”, Martine explains. “The best thing about Skarla Crosspaw was that she was very submissive, but at the same time sneaky and backstabbing. Skarla made a lot of money selling information…Skaven are very self-centered. I guess that any experienced role-player could play one, if they had a costume and could imagine being a skaven.”

The key to playing a furry or anthro at a Live Action Role Play is the costumes and – most important– the masks. There are numerous places where you can order orc or undead masks, but a skaven mask can be hard to find. Therefore, Martine made her own mask.

“First I made a mold with clay, of which I made a cast. Then I poured latex into it layer by layer. In the end, I colored it with latex coulouring. The mask is re-usable, of course. I intend to keep playing Skarla at Shiverz until her behavior gets her killed.”

The mask can be seen in the Lothlórien gallery of Martine Spaans.