Peter La Grue (real name
James H. Haren II) is the man responsible for creating the
LARP known as
Amtgard.
Though not much is known of La Grue's early life, it's evident that corruption and failures plague his life (there is evidence of a fraudulent inventor's investment corporation that either he or his father ran until it was closed down by the FTC.) Never truly successful, he spent months on couchs and floors, in basements and halfway houses, struggling, but never quite making it. All he wanted was power.
In the late 70s and early 80s, La Grue was a member of Dagorhir, a Live-Action Wargaming Club, as well as Emarthnguarth, a Live-Action Roleplaying Game. Never quite satisfied with his power in either of those groups, he took the rulebooks from both games, cut and pasted them into one frankensteinien conglomeration. This production he took to El Paso, TX, and in April of 1983, he introduced it with "Attila the Hun's Birthday Bash."
Though very few people showed up to play his little game that day, it was the right sorts of people - gamers with lots of friends. La Grue soon had what he desired most: Power.
The real mystery starts a few months later: why did he abandon his nascent group so abruptly? True, Amtgard has grown strong without him (some say despite him), but that does not explain why he would leave when he was on the cusp of so much potential power.
We still see Peter from time to time. A department store Santa here, a homeless bum there. Whenever he is seen, it's always accompanied by threats and accusations. One of the earliest members whom Peter has a special place in his heart for, has been forced to put a restraining order against him to keep him from stalking her. But Amtgard still survives. Thrives, really.
Strange that.