From the Introduction: The idea behind Heartlands is to stand alone rule wise while keeping in mind several others LARP groups many of our players attend and allowing an ease of transition between them to avoid confusion. The core group behind Heartlands previously worked on and ran other LARP systems and used this experience in the design. Unlike some larger LARP systems, where characters tend form a number of different factions or groups which interact with each other, while sometimes facing off against other creatures, Heartlands style our games differently. Typically our events and games focus on a party of characters undergoing a mission or task, facing and attempting to overcome opponents, traps and monsters which are in their way. Most other factions and groups encountered will be NPC's. This means that all the action and encounters will involve everyone who attends and the characters played are often in the middle of things and able to get straight into events without difficulty or missed opportunities.