At 1:30 a.m. Saturday morning, guided only by the light of a full moon, we followed a pair of witches into the woods.

Six hours ago, this place had been a Lutheran Church summer camp. Now, it was Dead Mist Valley, a dangerous place where zombie hordes, raiders and wild animals were just a few of the things trying to kill us.

In fact, it wasn't long before I was mauled by black-clad "mist cat." Fellow Oregonian/OregonLive reporter Lizzy Acker ran for help but was nabbed by some kind of evil monkey farther up the trail.

"Start screaming so someone will save you," the mist cat whispered. So, while kneeling in the mud, in the woods, in the middle of the night, in a completely surreal experience, I screamed until I went hoarse.

It felt great.

Live Action Role Playing - or LARPing - requires players to let go of inhibitions and embrace the ridiculous. It's improv without an audience. You operate within a shared storyline and set of rules, but otherwise you determine how you respond to situations.

This opportunity to be you, but not you, becomes an unexpected mental health exercise that helps everyone from socially-awkward nerds to veterans dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Dystopia Rising is a post-apocalyptic zombie wasteland LARP with a network of games played across the country. Once a month, a hundred or so participants with the Oregon chapter spend a weekend dressed in costumes, armed with foam weapons and living in a fictional, dystopian world.

"In a lot of ways DR is a civilization-building game more than a zombie game," said Jedediah Tressler, who co-owns the Dystopia Rising Oregon franchise with Autumn Wright. It's more of a wild west scenario, with characters working together to "carve out a little chunk of civilization," he said.

How to kill zombies in the woods in Oregon: LARPing with Dystopia Rising

It's not hard to simply dodge zombies and mist cats, especially if you're willing to hide in the woods for a few hours. But that's not the main point of Dystopia Rising. Much of the game involves working collaboratively with other players. Characters have professions. They build weapons and trade potions. They establish a system of justice and governance. One player has started an in-game newspaper.

Daniel Duncan, 27, of Springfield, plays a character named Doc Quinn. The world of Dystopia Rising includes in-game religions, like the Church of the Telling Visions (or TV for short). In the dystopian future, old television show scripts have been discovered and interpreted as religious texts, so "Quinn" is the equivalent of a Biblical name.

"I like to tell people that I'm not a doctor but I play one on weekends," Duncan said.

Duncan, who played only his third game last weekend, made Quinn naive and sweet-natured so he'd be able to act out a more interesting character arc.

"There are so many people who go in with really fierce, strong, protective characters ... and I'm not an experienced enough LARPer to know where to take it from there," Duncan said. "If I go in with this sweet character, he has a lot of room to grow and change."

It also gives him a safe place to explore feeling vulnerable. In the real world, it can be hard to admit you need help, but Quinn has no problem with that.

"Being able to play a character who needs to ask for help is cathartic in a way," he said.

We also met several veterans who played Dystopia Rising as a kind of therapy for PTSD. Raven Campbell, 32, of Corvallis, spent 12 years in the Army National Guard including a deployment to Iraq. He had never participated in role playing before learning about Dystopia Rising from a roommate. He got hooked.

The exercise, he said, helps "retrain my emotional responses to outside stimuli.

"The main problem I have with interacting with non-military people is when I am surprised, startled or surrounded by people, due to my experiences ... I am constantly expecting a life or death threat," he said. "During the normal play of DR, these things happen often, but it's never a life or death situation ... so though experiencing these events, it dilutes the training and experiences I've had."

And having some military training definitely helps when sneaking around in the woods. Players take shifts as "non-player characters," portraying the zombies, mist cats and raiders who terrorize the town. The evil monkey that caught Acker in the woods? We later learned it was Campbell in a mask.

If you can get past the idea that this all sounds absolutely bonkers, it's a ton of fun. More than that - it's healthy. Once a month, spending 48-hours without a phone, Twitter feed or political argument is mind-clearing.

The live action game also lets us explore different personality traits without real life consequence. What's it like to be a bit meaner or sweeter? Braver or more vulnerable? More masculine or feminine?

Alyssa Hoover, 30, of Milwaukie, plays a queen priest named Pixie Sunset. Hoover, who has bipolar disorder and social anxiety disorder, said Pixie is a version of herself who is more outgoing, daring and confident.

"DR lets me open up sides of myself that I don't necessarily get to open up as much," she said. "It lets me explore different possibilities about who I am, how I interact with the world."

Ironically for a place where you regularly run for your life, Dystopia Rising is a safe space. No one will touch you without first asking, "Do you consent to physical role play?" Storylines about rape, racism or sexism are prohibited. Other players are willing to help newbies learn the ropes, which is particularly helpful if, say, you didn't read the entire 477-page survivor's manual before your first game.

In a world where anyone can play a murderous bad guy, most people choose to be kind. Twice, strangers saved me from certain death.

You can leave a weekend in the apocalypse feeling surprisingly good about the future of humanity.

 -- Samantha Swindler

@editorswindler / 503-294-4031

sswindler@oregonian.com

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