Article:
Creating a LARP Group: Finding a Location

In order to pick the best location for your LARP group, there is one important thing you need to understand: LARPers are addicts.

LARP is hard to come by in a lot of areas, so people will take what they can get. If you build it - they will come.

So what does this have to do with location?

Many people who start running games make the mistake of picking a camp because it has some cool features, like a castle or fortress. Truth is, there are really only three things you NEED from a location:

1. Can it hold everyone?
In your mission statement, you should have had a realistic number for the amount of players you'll be having in your game. Whether you're running an overnight game or a day game at the park, the worst thing you can do is pick a location too small for everyone to fit comfortably. Is the main community area big enough? Are there enough beds to support everyone? These are the questions you should be asking when picking a location.

2. Efficiency and Ease of Use
If you're running a small game, you don't want a huge camp. You want to make sure that the walks between the module area, the NPC camp, and the player camp are all acceptable. No matter how nice a camp might look or how low the price may be, if your NPCs have to walk over a mile to get to the players, your game is going to suffer.

A good trick is to ask yourself how many times you could make to the PC camp and back. If you can't make this trip more than 20 times a day, then your NPC camp is probably too far away.

3. Cost of Rental
Whether you're running the game for profit or not, LARP is a business and price is going to be a major issue for picking a location. In many LARPs, camp fees are the largest cost next to insurance.

If you're running an overnight game, expect to pay a pretty penny to rent the camp. If you're only looking to run a module or a one day, I would suggest using a public park to avoid cost altogether.

If you've got to choose between two camps that both meet your needs for holding everyone and being easy to use, pick the less expensive one. Features are nice, but they're not necessarily going to bring in bigger numbers.