I reckon this is the best option, maybe we could all tip the bartender, they could also sell fizzy, nuts, chips on behalf on NZLARPS
You would need a Special Liquor Licence (the category covering one-off events which do not occur on licenced premises e.g. weddings). Application details here:
aucklandcity.govt.nz/council … efault.asp
The licence covers specific premises on one day. Every event would need a different licence, costing ~$65. If OTOH the alcohol is provided as part of the event, then it seems that no licence is needed (see the “You are not required to hold a special licence if” here).
For selling food, start here. There’s a PDF guide. Alternatively, if you know someone who is a caterer, or runs a coffee-cart, then they might be able to handle the entire thing.
I am a licenced Bar Manager if you need one on site for such occassions…
I knew being layed off and bumming around for 2 years would serve some purpose 
Also, I’d be happy to crew for a couple hours to make things more interesting for the rest of the LARP. Sometimes i find it hard for my Character to be doing something constructive the whole time. I must admit that at Teonn i’d just disappear for a kick back and pretend to be doing something else, these kinda times I could “crew”, I guess the hard thing would be distinguishing when you are crewing - but if its just 1x 2 hour time slot, that would be ok.
[quote=“amphigori”]Oops. Shame on me. I totally took him seriously!
Where’s the little blushy guy picture???
[/quote]
Don’t be ashamed. I had no idea of Adam’s opinions on this subject, and just thought he was being an ass. Again.
Adam, seriously. A lot of people on here DON’T know other people’s opinions on various subjects.
I thought that you were serious, and just rolled my eyes and moved on.
This certainly does sound like a good way to make up for player to crew ratio that crops up when everyone wants to play! And for all those people with extensive make-up, just give them a mask, a hooded cloak and bam, instant bad guy transformation.
I’d have a bit of fun being crew for a couple of hours during the weekend
I’ve always been with Bryn on the set dressing issue, but it’s pretty hard to help out with that stuff when I’m part of the Welly crew and can’t bring anything like that with me to Auckland
Thanks for the update Bryn, awesome to hear that you’re having a great time 
Being trolled is annoying, but can we stay clear of personal attacks, please?
[quote=“Bryn”]Personal Plot
In our campaign LARPs we are lucky that our characters backgrounds are often incorporated strongly in to the story line. This was the biggest (and best) difference between UK games and NZ games. In the UK at 400-500 player games it understandably isn’t a practical thing to do, instead you go make your own fun within the framework of the plot. [/quote]
There’s another approach in the UK. Profound Decisions runs Maelstrom and Odyssey, campaigns with about 1000 players at each event. They don’t do much in the way of “story line” or “plot”, instead the games are designed to make the PCs (and their groups) the centre of the action and the game revolves around their interactions.
This requires PCs to be quite proactive (and antagonistic towards some other PCs) to ensure there’s enough conflict to keep to rolling, but the games and settings are designed to support PCs acting that way, and players go in expecting aggro from other PCs so don’t get offended by it.
If we can’t get an actual liscened inn running, how about just having the set up place for one? It could work just as well having a large tent that is decked out to look like a tavern where people can come and go freely and everyone knows that it is the inn.
Is it really important to have the ability to buy food or drink there? or is an Inn more about having a place which is available to everyone and is neutral territory with the expectation that you will not (in most cases:P) cause trouble?
I’d love to see more decoration applied.
We need practical ways of doing it quickly, without having to hammer things into walls…
A tent could be good.
but if we have an existing building onsite which would work for it, then what are practical ways of hanging LARGE amounts of drapes or decoration quickly?
Are there freestanding solutions? Or ways of attaching things to walls without damaging the walls? If we were allowed to staple gun into walls that would be great, but I suspect that’s unlikely…
Hmmm…
[quote=“Zara”]If we can’t get an actual liscened inn running, how about just having the set up place for one? It could work just as well having a large tent that is decked out to look like a tavern where people can come and go freely and everyone knows that it is the inn.
Is it really important to have the ability to buy food or drink there? or is an Inn more about having a place which is available to everyone and is neutral territory with the expectation that you will not (in most cases:P) cause trouble?[/quote]
We’d established that the wood-clad hall next to the bunk areas was the inn/tavern in the first game. Anyone was welcome to come and drink/eat there.
I think what we’re getting at with this discussion is going a bit further to dress things up, make whatever area the tavern is look more like a Tavern even if it doesn’t function like one.
I personally think this would be an awesome project for a particularly keen player. Having a PC as the innkeep would be so very cool
[quote=“joker”] We need practical ways of doing it quickly, without having to hammer things into walls…
A tent could be good.
but if we have an existing building onsite which would work for it, then what are practical ways of hanging LARGE amounts of drapes or decoration quickly?
Are there freestanding solutions? Or ways of attaching things to walls without damaging the walls? If we were allowed to staple gun into walls that would be great, but I suspect that’s unlikely…
Hmmm…[/quote]
Theatre blacks on stands might be a good start? Or some other dark, heavy material. I think we’ve an issue with some of the existing rooms as they’re clad with painted cinder blocks (and you can’t get anything to stick to those!)
While it is not in traditional medieval tavern style large cushions everywhere! it makes seating so much more comfortable. And has the advantage of making the room look like less of a school dinner hall.
[quote=“NickPitt”]
We’d established that the wood-clad hall next to the bunk areas was the inn/tavern in the first game. Anyone was welcome to come and drink/eat there.
I think what we’re getting at with this discussion is going a bit further to dress things up, make whatever area the tavern is look more like a Tavern even if it doesn’t fucntion like one.[/quote]
Thats what i was getiing at when I said “a large tent that is decked out to look like a tavern”
Also I really do not like having the tavern in the upper hall at Teon. It was surrounded by the pirate groups cabin and as such felt more like their area than a free for all inn (i know it wasn’t, but it still felt that way). I was constantly on edge the whole time I was in there and it was not conducive to interacting freely with unknown characters. I really like the tent Idea because of this. or perhaps if we are hiring out the whole camp using that hall that is half way between the two bunking areas would be a more neutral option.
I reckon it’s good to be a bit cautious about enthusiasm for drinking at games.
I’ve seen a couple of abusive-out-of-control drunks at larps in NZ (perfectly decent folks when sober), and it’s enough to make me wary of too much focus on drinking. A drink or two is nice, but an unsafe fighter or emotional meltdown is not.
I reckon taverns and other social-gathering-points (like seedy gambling dens, big decorated faction headquarter tents, or whatever) are awesome for the atmosphere when done well, so totally agree with Brynn about that. A bit of food and drink adds to that atmosphere because it allows for a sense of “hospitality”, but it’s not worth getting tied in knots over licenses and whatnot - just do it.
[quote=“Zara”]
Thats what i was getiing at when I said “a large tent that is decked out to look like a tavern”
Also I really do not like having the tavern in the upper hall at Teon. It was surrounded by the pirate groups cabin and as such felt more like their area than a free for all inn (i know it wasn’t, but it still felt that way). I was constantly on edge the whole time I was in there and it was not conducive to interacting freely with unknown characters. I really like the tent Idea because of this. or perhaps if we are hiring out the whole camp using that hall that is half way between the two bunking areas would be a more neutral option.[/quote]
That’s a fair criticism I think you’d be hard pressed to avoid the pirates wherever you went though, we were a plentiful bunch! Still, if IC stuff leads to tension and conflict between groups (as we had at the first Teonn game), you’ll get that regardless of where you set up the inn.
I’m not so keen on the tent idea, but only because we’re coming into winter. That is unless we’ve got a very large and robust tent at our disposal
I’m so pleased that people are keen to offer their time to crew (at a convenient moment) and are excited about set dressing.
I assume anyone who plans to get drunk and obnoxious will do it regardless of if there is an in character place to do it or not. Which sort of takes that out of the equation.
Anyone keen to take on a tavern at Teonn assuming the GM’s like the idea?
Oh absolutely, but there was a huge difference in feeling between sitting down where the meals were served in the bottom hall and sitting in the ‘inn’ in the upper hall. when if both are supposed to be neutral meeting areas, there shouldn’t really be.
Perhaps the presence of an inn keep would help stop this though. After all, most of the unease came from the fact that while were sitting in a supposedly public and popular spot if someone came in and killed us all no one would have noticed until far too late…
Tents are horrible in winter, I completely agree.
Guns don’t kill people, hey? 
My comments weren’t about IC taverns per se, they were about the focus on drinking at games that I thought I saw developing in this discussion. People don’t plan to get drunk and obnoxious at games from what I’ve seen, it happens when there’s alcohol flowing, their mates are drinking, and they join in over-enthusiastically.
2 hours out of a weekend to crew. Just 2 hours? I’d be happy with double that. Or at least 2 hours a day.
Looking from another angle, giving a crew member a chance to play their character is another benefit of this kind of idea. Being dedicated crew is hard work and a chance to play their own character for a while is kind of cool. Of course there is a difference between the UK experience and the NZ experience in that the time spent crewing for a few hours compensates for having fewer crew. Which means most people playing, which means no one misses out on playing. Of course those people who love to crew don’t miss out either…
Oh yeah… and I got nzlarps a tent too. Our old family tent. Its tan I think. Not so much use as a ready to use prop (semi-modern, its 15+ years old) but its fairly decented sized. Its old, might only last a few games… still it could be dressed up and used for a larp prop… theres my (families) contribution.
I don’t mean this to sound overly critical but I’m having trouble phrasing it. Basically, not everybody is attached to the notion of playing “their own character”. When I choose to crew a game, I am very happy to just play whatever the GMs need me to, and a lot of people who go dedicated crew feel the same way. I love PCing, and I love developing my characters, but I think that there are less people than you think who need to play “their own character” to get satisfaction or enjoyment from a game.
Adding onto what Anna’s just mentioned, that’s what I absolutely loved about crewing for Wolfgangs, and more recently Jade Empire, the variety. Not having a PC was fine, because crewing was a blast, and I know many many LARPers agree with me, considering how often we all enthuse newbies to try and crew first. A weekend away at a LARP where you have no idea who or what you are going to play is absolutely great. It’s allowed me to go from priest to villager to gypsy to vampire to vampire hunter to Clan Lord to ninja to Imperial prince… you get the idea.
However, having said that, I am VERY VERY happy to try crewing for a couple of hours in a LARP that I’m playing in. Precisely for the above reasons. I’m that random type of person, .
Still, the issue of IC/OOC meta-knowledge must be taken into account. It’s the GMs responsibility to not let any players that crew for a little bit to get any hint of incoming plot, but also those players need to be aware of this issue.
[quote=“Robza”]Adding onto what Anna’s just mentioned, that’s what I absolutely loved about crewing for Wolfgangs, and more recently Jade Empire, the variety. Not having a PC was fine, because crewing was a blast, and I know many many LARPers agree with me, considering how often we all enthuse newbies to try and crew first. A weekend away at a LARP where you have no idea who or what you are going to play is absolutely great. It’s allowed me to go from priest to villager to gypsy to vampire to vampire hunter to Clan Lord to ninja to Imperial prince… you get the idea.
However, having said that, I am VERY VERY happy to try crewing for a couple of hours in a LARP that I’m playing in. Precisely for the above reasons. I’m that random type of person, .
Still, the issue of IC/OOC meta-knowledge must be taken into account. It’s the GMs responsibility to not let any players that crew for a little bit to get any hint of incoming plot, but also those players need to be aware of this issue.[/quote]
The easiest way for the players to be used as crew is to use them as generic types be it merchants or bandits or orks or slaves for sale or whatever you could do with more of in your game that don’t in any way need to know why they are there plot wise. For example: I was taken from my home, please help me! as the innate responce for a slave gives nothing for plot to worry about and if somthing does pop up - such as what town they are from - it can come up later if it is urgent to the plot.
Zombies:
Ok todays brief guys - you have all been raised by the dark lord Drall, he has a phylactory the players need to destroy so you will be guarding it for him. If the players manage to destroy it then they will be able to take down the big bad at tomorrow afternoons game - if not then tonight we will unleash wave after wave of zombies untill they throw down their weapons and surrender - whereby they will have to work for him and tomorrow will be attacking the nearby town of Birmingham.
You cannot say anything other than groan and moan as if in pain. Three strikes and you are down respawn at your spawn point or a nearby gm.
- no.
Ok todays brief guys, you are all playing 3 strike / hp zombies, once you are dead respawn on the gm or at your spawn site untill you are told otherwise. You are guarding this area so stay together and give the players a good fight!
-Yes!