I wrote my Master’s thesis on Harry Potter, and I’m currently in Europe shopping for a castle to use as a writer’s retreat, so I was excited to see that a Polish-Danish coalition of HP fans have put together a crowdfunding campaign on IndieGogo to run a 3 day Live Action Role Play (Larp) in the historic Czocha Castle.
To be clear, this is an unauthorized Harry Potter event, so nothing from the Harry Potter universe will be used – no names or particular magical spells or items. But you’ll still get that “College of Wizardry” experience.
I had already bought a magic wand to support the campaign, but now that the project is so close to reaching its $50,000 goal, project organizer Claus Raasted reached out to me on Facebook. So I went ahead and bought a ticket to the event.
Here’s the thing, I can’t actually go myself. We plan to be in the USA this year for the holidays. I bought this ticket just to give away to one of you. Update: Claus just told me he’ll offer a bonus ticket, so two people can come together!
If you want these tickets ($748 value), are available Nov. 12th-15th and can get to Berlin or Wroclaw, just tell me in the comments why I should give it to you.
If you can’t make it, consider getting an awesome custom-made magic wand or one of the other items offered on the IndieGogo page.
Watch the video for more information.
PS) I’m also really impressed by the considerable press this project has gotten, so I hope I can get Claus and his friends to help promote my own project (which needs to raise $1million to buy a castle), in exchange for time at my castle to continue running these events.
I’m a philosophy dropout with a PhD in Literature. I covet a cabin full of cats, where I can write fantasy novels to pay for my cake addiction. Sometimes I live in castles.
10 Comments
I am a HUGE fan of not only Harry Potter but also Roleplaying and one of my big dreams is to meet with other people like me and have fun.I have always wanted to LARP with other people and this would be a dream come true.If I won these tickets I think I would spontaneously combust.Not only that but I am currently writing my own story about witches and wizards and have been stuck.This would be a get place to come up with more ideas for my story.Not only that but I could take my best friend with me who has always wanted to visit another country and to see a castle.Plus just like me she is obsessed with the Harry Potter world.
Hi Leann, if you get this can you email me? I can’t find a way to reach you from your comment…
My love for writing and books started with Harry Potter, it’d be a fantastic opportunity to go to the Polish event or get a wand. I love the series too much to be picky.
I would love to win the tickets for my daughter, who is a huge fan of Harry Potter. I read the first book to her when it was only available in English and translated it to German while reading. I spent nights with her in front of the local bookstore when the next Harry Potter came out. She has been playing in online Harry Potter role play forums, but has not been to a LARP yet.
Hi Derek, this event sounds fantastic and I would love to win the tickets! My husband and I are starting an 8 month world trip in September. We’re going to start in Scandinavia and work our way down through Europe. We’ve been searching for fun activities out of the norm and this would perfect. Both of us love Harry Potter, these stories are also the reason I decided I wanted to become an author. I’m sure we can find a way to fit a couple wands and robes into our packs, I can only imagine how we’d explain that one to the security agents at the airport! Thanks!
Aman, unfortunately you have to be 18 years to join us at Czocha. See you in a few years!
Just a quick note: Unfortunatley, you have to be 18 years or older to participate in this event.
Hi! I would absolutely be amazed if I won these tickets!! I have the BIGGEST fan girl moments any time I see something harry potter. I could never afford to get the money to get the tickets myself 🙁 Im going to a community college and my aunt just had her fiancee and dad pass away. It was sudden and unexpected and she is as big of a harry potter fan as me. She would absoultely love it if she could go and maybe it would lift her spirits!
Like many other kids from my generation, I’ve dreamed of going to Hogwarts ever since I started reading the Harry Potter series when I was seven years old. To me, it was a perfect school, nothing like the boring muggle school I went to every day. However, when I reread the books as a young adult, I began to notice some problematic things about the working of the magical world and even though I’d still run off to Hogwarts any day (duh, learning magic!), I now think that if I were a student there, I’d try to question many things that wizards seem to accept at face value and challenge their more conservative views.
And of course going to the College of Wizardry would be the closest thing to going to Hogwarts and a unique chance to interact with a world that was inspired by the works that shaped my childhood more than anything else did. I’m very curious about the ways in which the College of Wizardry reflects the Harry Potter universe and the elements that might have been done differently. Not to mention the fact that I’ve fallen in love with the Czocha Castle as soon as I saw it in pictures!
If I won these tickets, I’d offer one to my friend that I met online thanks to Harry Potter and whom I’ve only seen in person once because she lives far away in another country.
When I was working on a paediatrics floor as a medical resident, they told me, “Don’t get sick.” I was only working three out of four weeks because I had to present at a conference in California, so I wasn’t allowed to miss a single day. Of course, during my hyper-packed schedule of seeing sick kids, I caught the most disgusting bug and couldn’t drag myself around the emergency room, but missing even that single shift jeopardized my entire rotation. I consoled myself by reading my favourite Harry Potter (Goblet of Fire) in between sleeping and submitting to illness.
Happy ending: I passed the rotation. I read all the HPs, in sickness and in health. And I would love to wizard-LARP at a Polish castle.
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