For over two years, I was warned. I’ve been designing and talking about running a substantial in-person live action role play event for a while. More experienced designers said it would take double the time I planned for it and warned me about a lot of unexpected expenses, hang-ups, and potential legal/liability issues.
Fortunately, I listened to them, and was largely prepared to plan an event almost a year out. In a few instances, I got lucky with my planning—and in other aspects, I totally missed the mark but gave myself enough lead time to troubleshoot.
I’m still several months out from CHARIOT, but have already learned some lessons I’d like to pass on to larp organizers looking to plan their first event.
Clearly Define Staff Roles (and Pay)
I have one staff member who has been helping me run larps from nearly the beginning. It’s the world of gaming, and while I try to pay them $15-$20/hour to come close to a living wage, they always go above and beyond because they care so much about keeping larp accessible, which is what my digital format does.
They are the best. They organize everything and wrangle me, but I can see it’s stressful, and I can’t afford to pay for all that they do. That’s not fair.
So I bartered with another friend who is good at admin tasks and I got them an assistant. Now they’re able to focus on more high-level stuff and direct the admin. Clearly defining roles is preventing burnout—not just for them, and for me. And now my admin will get her husband’s sci-fi novel edited in exchange for her time.
You Can’t Buy Hype, But You Can Buy Marketing Expertise
I launched ticket sales. And waited. And hoped. My team didn’t do or say much. A few people hyped things for me, but it was a one and done situation.
Then I found my superfans! These are participants and team members who randomly post about costuming for my larp, and continually lift my spirits (and get other people interested in it). The value of an engaged larper, even if they’re new, is extremely high. Aside from lifting my morale, they keep me inspired—and keep bringing people into the larp.
I also have a few players who offered to answer a few questions, or provide props or expertise. I draw a hard line when it comes to labor, but a few offhand questions about subject areas that will make my larp unique? I’ll take it.
I chose to go with LARPed for marketing help. I quickly learned that one person cannot design, organize, and promote a larp. I’m not the most organized person. I’m kind of brilliant when it comes to the vision. I’m a solid marketer, but it’s much easier to do when it’s someone else’s larp you’re marketing. Now I know the LARPed team has my back, and they’re truly hyped about being there.
Publish a Public Timeline, Keep a Private Timeline
Big mistake: I’m behind on my public timeline about when I’m doing what. It’s not the worst, since it’s early on, but I really want to instill trust and confidence in my community. What I should have done was keep a private “ideal” timeline and a much more public worst-case scenario timeline.
That said, I’ve kept everyone updated on progress. They know I haven’t forgotten about them, and I’ve offered them opportunities to be active in developing the game world, and that means something. I also did something else right: I started planning very early, which means there’s room in the schedule for learning.
Ticket Sales Slumps Happen
Some days I sell multiple tickets. Most days I sell none. It evens out, but let me tell you—it caused quite a panic when I launched and sold just two tickets. I’m fine disclosing that now (since I am on a solid trajectory for at least breaking even and having enough players to make the larp engaging), but it was scary at first.
Once I got the marketing engine rolling and was able to have someone else make “the ask” for me, it became a lot easier. As it turns out, some of my community members had been waiting on a personal invitation—and here I was afraid I was being too pushy.
This is only the beginning of what I’ve learned. Check back for Part II in this series to learn about game balance issues, and not being able to please everyone.
