The perfect packing list for a real D&D event – The 17 basics and 56 items for your inventory

Some LARP events offer sleeping accommodations in a hostel-style manner. However, most multi-day events take place outdoors. Here, you will camp.

Many visitors of a LARP event own an IT-compatible tent that is decorated accordingly, whether medieval, fantasy, or post-apocalyptic. Most of these are linen tents or yurts with guy lines.

Important: Check the website of the event you wish to attend. Often there is an option to come with a modern, regular tent. This is especially worthwhile for first-time LARP attendees. Proper LARP tents in a corresponding look can be quite expensive.

Regardless of what kind of tent you choose, it must definitely be wind and waterproof. It may be worth buying storm-proof pegs. Additionally, check if your tent fits within the allocated camping space per person for the event – including guy lines.

If you decide to go for an IT-compatible tent, you can choose from various shapes. Here are a few:

• Single-pole tent: These are good for one to two persons at most, as they take up little space overall.
• A-frame tent: So-called A-tents look like an A from the front and have a wooden frame over which a linen tarp is stretched. Depending on how cozy you’d like to be, around three people can fit here.
• Sachsen tent: These are elongated tents with round end pieces.
• Knight tent: This often refers to a square tent with walls and decorative flaps.

Dedicated shops include larpzelte.com, mittelalter-zelte24.de or LARP-Zelte.com. Often other players also sell their tents on Kleinanzeigen, Ebay or privately within LARP groups on platforms like Discord.

If space allows in your tent, I always recommend a camp bed. This way, you don’t lie on the possibly cold and/or wet ground. Additionally, items can be stored underneath it.

Anyone looking to create an IT-compatible interior for their tent can of course disguise the camp bed or directly build a wooden bed. However, that would be more advanced LARPing.

A high-quality air mattress is worth its weight in gold at LARP. Besides the camp bed, it forms the basis for your sleep. And good sleep is half the battle at LARP. The more comfortable you lie, the better.

I asked around in my LARP group, and a sleeping bag for all seasons is essential for most. Such a sleeping bag can be expensive, yes. But if you can’t sleep because you are too cold, you won’t enjoy the next day.

As a rule, just like with your outfit: Layer. In case of need, also take pillows and multiple blankets with you. If it’s too warm, you can simply push a blanket off. But if it’s cold and you already have all blankets on top of you, that will be difficult.

My bedding consists of my duvet from home plus a pillow and another two to three cozy blankets. In my first year at the Festival of Dragons, I was very cold and do not want to repeat that.

It gets bright quickly in tents. In shared sleeping rooms, someone always turns on the light at some point. To continue sleeping despite that, I recommend a well-fitting sleep mask that keeps the sun away from you for as long as possible.

In 2025 at the Festival of Dragons, I didn’t have one with me and I slept in a yurt with a larger hole in the roof. I was sometimes in bed until four in the morning, and at six o’clock in the morning, the sun would rise. Since I forgot my sleep mask, I woke up accordingly. Not cool.

No matter if you go to bed early and want to keep the nighttime festivities out or if you want to sleep long and not roll off your camp bed with families at 7 AM. Like at a festival, ear protection can also be worthwhile at LARP.

I’ve had good experiences with earplugs. Just check out what the drugstore around the corner offers.

A seating option doesn’t have to be a fancy Viking wedge chair, don’t worry. It can simply be a picnic blanket to sit on. Alternatively, a cheap or second-hand camping chair will also work – just throw a blanket over it.

But: Having a seating option in one way or another is incredibly important.