There’s a rumour going around that some people would like more cheap larps. There’s another rumour that some people want big fantasy larps. Hypothetically, how could both of these be achieved together while maintaining an immersive quality?
The five big costs of larp are venue, food, costume, props, and makeup.
Rather than booking a venue, you can use a freely or cheaply available space. Public parks and private land can be cheap or free, but usually don’t include accomodation. Which suggests that the cheap big larp is unlikely to be overnight, unless it’s using something like camping.
Food adds a big chunk of price when included in the larp fee. Centralised catering in theory reduces the cost per person (we fed Mordavians for $12 over a whole weekend, which seems pretty cheap to me for 5 meals), but if that added price is going to put people off then the solution is to not include food in the fee. Players can then bring their own food, and even their own portable cooking facilities if the event runs over meal times. They can then decide for themselves how much they want to spend on food.
Players can also decide for themselves how much to spend on costumes, props and makeup. Player kit could also be supplemented from the NZLARPS gear with only the maintenance cost required.
Out of all this I see two options:
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Weekend-long self-catered camp-out events. This is what the big larp events in the UK look like. They will still have substantial costs to hire a suitable camp site, and suitable sites that can be booked exclusively for an event don’t seem that common in New Zealand from what I’ve seen. You might be able to run such events with quality immersive atmosphere for $15-25 a head.
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One-day events with no sleeping over. Run from say 10am to 6pm, with players instructed to eat beforehand and bring their own premade lunches. There could be food available for purchase with real money, as an opt-in service for those with more money than desire to pack lunch. You could probably run such events for $5-$10 a head.
Of those two, the second option will be far cheaper because you can do it for free in a public park. It would also be far easier to organise, and the barrier to entry is lower (putting a whole weekend into an event is a big ask). Such events could still have huge player numbers, complex characters and involving reactive play. They could also be run more regularly than weekend events, because they would be less work to set up and the cost to players would be lower.