There are a few different styles of event:
One Off
A story/scenario that happens over the course of a single event. An example of this is a murder mystery evening.
Campaign
This is an episodic scenario/story that is played out over multiple events. It usually involves a static camp(s) that the characters operate from. Often, groups will leave their camp temporarily to go on related adventures (see below). These events are almost always over multiple days (usually a weekend) and require camping. An example of a campaign might be an on-going war with many battles, missions and diplomatic negotiations along the way.
Adventure
These can also spread a story over multiple events but they take the form of an adventuring party travelling a path and having encounters along the way. These mostly happen in a single day but can also be as part of a campaign event. An example of an adventure event might be to travel through hostile territory to capture an magic relic that will save someone’s life.
Sandbox
This style of event gives the characters resources, undiscovered lands and tools to develop their own society, allies and technology and then lets them develop at their own pace. They often encourage character against character altercations too. These style of events are very much the Minecraft equivalent of LARP and are not very common due to the amount of effort and complexities needed to maintain them.
Experimental
This is a sneaky catch all for anything that doesn’t fit into the other formats. There are many weird and wonderful LARP ideas that are completely outside the box. For example, YouTube LARPer, Mo Mo O'Brien, wrote a 5 minute game called “Stock & Barrel” which is both great fun and far from the norm.
