User:Gvball22/Dan Markle

Daniel J. Markle, also known as King Markalien, is a man shrouded in mystery, yet widely known as the founder of LARP.

Dan Markle has been proclaimed by many as the initial creator of "LARP" - Live Action Role Playing. While it is unclear as to when and where the first LARP event occurred, it has been linked to soldiers in the Vietnam war, entertaining themselves while not on the battlefield. Usually these soldiers would dress as their favorite film stars or as enemy soldiers and would play out scenes from a battle or movie.

Among those soldiers to first use LARP as a means of entertainment was Dan Markle, who fought in Vietnam over the years of 1969-1974, primarily in Saigon and the surrounding areas. After the war ended, Markle took his newly found hobby of LARP to Washington D.C. where he founded the first ever LARP organization in 1977, called "Dagorhir". While Dagorhir has changed names several times throughout the past 4 decades, it remains the most widely recognized LARP organization in the world.

Currently, Markle resides in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and is the co-founder of the regional chapter of the Dungeons & Dragons LARP organization along with Andy Fosdick - now called "Markaliens" after its Creator and King. He has also been an employee at an undisclosed employer for approximately nine years, although he has been recognized as working there over 10 years.