Article:
Creating a LARP Group: Mission Statement

Creating a LARP Group is a new series focused on people who want to start their own LARP group, from a local school group to creating your own game using a unique set of rules. I will still be writing LARP Plot Tips on Fridays, but this Creating a LARP segment will be run on Mondays.

Setting Your Goals
So you've finally decided to pull the trigger and start your own group. Good for you! You will now get a chance to see LARP from a whole different viewpoint, one that few have actually experienced. It will be difficult at times but, if done properly, can be very fulfilling.
The first thing you must do is set the goals you have for your game. The best way to record these goals is to put them on a mission statement that you can revisit from time to time. That way you can figure out if you've been trying to meet your goals, or if your goals for the game have changed.

Here are a list of things to include in your mission statement. There are other things you can add, but these in particular can help your game.

Business or casual?
Are you doing this in hopes of making some money? Are you just doing this for friends and don't care about what happens? Is this going to be a non-profit organization?

Game size?
This includes both your ideal game size and how many you will reliably have playing the game a year from now. Games with fewer players can afford a bit more "Spirit of the Rules" gameplay, where larger games will need more structure.

Rule set?
What rule set do you plan on using? If you are using an existing set, have you received permission to do so? If you've made up a new game, do you have enough of a rule set to get started?

How many games?
It's nice to have an idea of how many games you plan on running in a set time frame. This will help you budget for your overhead, being able to spread it out amongst the games. This also gives some insight on how much work you need to put into the game, leading into the next point.