Hello! We’re Flatpack Forge, and we make accessible and affordable DIY armour kits out of foam (and all the other necessary gubbins) for Live Action Role Play (LARP) and cosplay.

We’re a small team (Gwynn, Jack, and Meg) based on the South Coast, and we’ve been enjoying LARPing for a few years now. We all met playing D&D, with Meg and Jack meeting in 2017, and Gwynn joining the group in 2018, so we have a long history of roleplaying and general nerdiness. 

Gwynn is the ultimate brains behind the idea, and designs and builds all of the helmets himself. Jack takes the lead on photography and promotion, while Meg does a lot of the content and copy-writing, and general badgering of Gwynn.

Onto the reason we’re here: LARP is incredible, but the cost to get all the fun kit can be expensive – especially if you want to experiment with your costume, or an unfortunate incident befalls you on the battlefield, or you want to spend time monstering so your actual character doesn’t die (we see you). We wanted to do something to lower that barrier to joining in the fun, so we created Flatpack Forge.

Our DIY foam armour kits make it easier and cheaper to try LARP for the first time; to upgrade your kit when the mood (or necessity!) strikes; to experiment with new characters, and to have the joy of making something with your own two hands.

The other thing for us, and I think for a lot of our community, is that making your own costume is actually one of the most fun parts of LARP. Foam armour usually needs specialist tools, experience, and a lot of trial and error. So we’ve put together some kits that mean you get to do all the fun bits, and we do all the head-scratching, complicated bits.

Our foam armour kits, made in a lovely little workshop in West Sussex, give you everything you need to build and customise your armour without needing a full workshop yourself. All you need to bring is some time, creativity, enthusiasm, and a pinch of patience. We’ll guide you through the rest, with our easy-to-read guides, supportive videos, and UK-based support directly from us.

Once you’ve built it, it’s suitable for wearing whether you’re nursing an ale in the tavern or charging into battle. It’s armour made to be worn and whacked!

Build it. Paint it. Run around a field in it.