Here’s a list of scenarios (not larger than 20 players) that I have played and would recommend for new larpers.
Curse of the Pharoah
Freeform Games, 6-19 players
My in-laws ran this game for me for my birthday a few years back. On the upside, the 19C archeology genre is fun and there are lots of interesting things happening between the characters. On the downside, the mystery is pretty unsolvable and some events may seem scripted. Of course, some players like the occasional big scripted event, they create big moments that everyone is involved in. Works fine with just 9 players.
A Dead Man’s Chest
Freeform Games, 12-16 players
I played this at Chimera when Anna Klein ran it. Again, I had a strong sense of there being good inter-connectivity between characters. There were several characters that I could interact with in some depth, as well as with the overall flow of events. It didn’t feel as scripted as Curse of the Pharoah, apart from the requirement for a vote - but that still left things in the hands of the players, really.
The Black Hart of Camelot
Ryan Paddy, 18-24 players
This is more of a serious/dramatic scenario than the Freeform Games ones, it’s probably not the right choice for light-hearted fun. From some feedback I’ve read from players I think it might be best to set expectations of an emotional, tragic kind of scenario based on the Arthurian literature where a lot of characters will fail to get what they want. Daphne ran it in Dunedin with 10 people or so, so the minimum of 18 might be exaggerated. It has rule options for foam weapon combat and rock-paper-scissors. In my (biased) opinion, it also does a pretty decent job of linking characters together.
Betrothals and Betrayals
Donna Giltrap & Debbie Cowens, 13-14 players
I liked the Regency + supernatural setting of this scenario, and if your players like Jane Austin or Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell then they’ll get excited by it. I found the characters were quite clear archetypes which made them fun to play and interact with, and the contrast between the characters was well-designed so you’d have interesting interactions.
I wouldn’t tend to recommend Much Ado About Something, I found it too loosely designed for my tastes. It rested strongly on using challenges to get information out of people (rather than well-developed characters who had reasons to share information), and the challenge mechanic was fun at first but wore thin.
I don’t know that I would recommend Vox either. I didn’t realise this when I chose to run it, but it’s rather a railroad. I spent quite a bit of time fleshing out the characters but they still need work to put PC interaction at the heart of the game. To solve the railroading the Big Plot needs work too, to give the PCs more options and influence. Happy to supply my version though if anyone wanted to look.