Overall Planning
Decide what the driving factors of your decision to run are. Maybe you have found out you have a site, and you just want to put on an event there. Maybe you have a concept to run an event for a certain group of people "I’m going to bid an event for the Cthulhu campaign run by George." Maybe you have an establish author group, and you know the group is going to run something, but you don’t know what. Usually one or two items are set in stone, and all the others start out mutable. This may seem elementary, but it is a good thing not to be confused about. Determine if there is a hurdle to your basic plans. For example – does running the event depend on Joe not going to school, or on the Days Hotel Bayonne being available on the 22nd of August. Check any basic assumptions.
These are some common driving factors:
Site: We found a great bed and breakfast, and we’re going to run an event there
Audience: We are going to run an event for the Call of Cthulhu group
Event: We are re-running "The Milquetoast Event"
Time: We need an event for the weekend of the 31st of October
Get an idea. Determine if it is feasible. Here’s a hint. It has been proven that just about any concept "would work." Basically, what you have to determine is whether or not it is within your capacity to do the concept justice, and whether it would be fun, and whether you could sell it to people. This is an extremely subjective state, and there are no hard and fast rules. Here are some useful questions to ask yourself though:
Decide on the basic parameters of the event. This is important to do early on. More staff contention comes from misunderstanding on this point than on any other. While this is a little less subjective than evaluating the idea, it is still somewhat subjective. You also need to be aware that this sort of thing will change. Here are some good things to consider
Sit down and do a thorough re-read of the product. I’ve always found I’m either amazed or appalled at what I find. Sometimes you are surprised that an event that seems like it was ages ago still has fairly high quality writing that seems respectable now. Other times, you are amazed that the thing actually ran. In one case, I talked to another GM about a rather old property, and arranged to borrow a copy – reading it I found that it was only barely an event – there was less material than most four-hour events have today – yet the event was run full weekend at the time.
There are three areas where you need to examine older properties:
Writing – standards of writing have changed over the years. The oldest Theatre-Style LRPs were run sixteen years ago, and there are LRPs still being run which were written ten or twelve years ago. You need to critically evaluate the writing. What was a good full weekend character when events ran at science fiction conventions might not keep a player busy for four hours today. Then again it might. The only real check on this is to hand some of the characters around, and see if people think they look fun to play, or would be satisfied to get them. If the answer is "no" you need to decide how to expand the event, or perhaps you need to consider if it should have a shorter run. Perhaps it might be entertaining as a four-hour event now.
Mechanics – are the rules and mechanics still usable. Many older events have combat systems or mechanics that would seem childish or out of place today. Others embody timeless elegance. Consider if the mechanical system for the event will stay the same. Consider every system. For example, don’t write the "forged currency" system out, but leave in the forger character who depends on it for a plot. Were there problems when the event originally ran. If so, can they be fixed – what problem will the fixes cause. Would a combat or simulation system playtest be a good idea? Did some system in the event depend on something that is no longer available (a conference room with a big table, a huge ballroom, a particular type of land at a campsite). A common problem with four hour events is that the event revolved around some property (a battle map, a deck of cards) which was difficult to produce, or is irreproducible, and the event needs to be dramatically restructured to work without the property.
Staging – how was the event originally staged. In particular, were any of the more impressive elements of the staging a function of the site, and are they reproducible – for example was a big scene in the event staged at a swimming pool which is now unavailable. Was cast used, and should cast be added? What level of special effects are required? Take a good overall look at how the event was put on before. Currently, nothing is changing faster than the level of staging considered appropriate for a live event.
Talk to others – if you’re a novice, or even if you’re not, talk over your basic plan with someone you respect. Don’t intentionally pick a "devil’s advocate" who enjoys tearing ideas apart – pick someone experienced who you can trust to tell you what problems or difficulties they see. But encourage honesty – if there is a big problem, this is the time to find out about it – not once production has started.
Standard Properties - often times you will be in the position of having been asked to run "something....anything" at a specific time and place. Don't despair, even on short notice. Instead make use of resources like the LARPA GameBank and the Shakespeare Eclectic Science Fiction Interactive Theatre Scenario Archives
Copyright 1998 , Gordon Olmstead-Dean. You
may reprint or cite, providing the source is attributed.
Some of this material has appeared previously in
identical or substantially similar form in the LARPA Periodical
Metagame