Article:
LARP Plot Tips: Reusable Modules

It is the job of every LARP Plot member to keep the players entertained. You are expected to put in the time and write enough story to get through the event without significant breaks in action. One tool that's great for doing this is the Reusable Module.

A Reusable Module is a module that multiple groups of players can run in a single event. On top of that, some Reusable Modules propagate between events, following the same theme with a slightly different module. Below is an example of a reusable module.

The Hunting Grounds - In this module, players can come in and hunt various beasts. Each event, you can have a race to see who can hunt down a certain creature/animal fastest with the winner getting a reward. Players can only attempt it once per event, as the people running the hunting grounds do not want to deplete the stock.

Here are some tips for setting up and running these Reusable Modules.

Forced Group Sizes
One of the benefits of being able to run a module many times is that you can limit the group size without alienating players - they can simply be the next group. This makes scaling difficulty much more managable and limits the scale that the encounters in the module.

Make it Easy to Set Up
You may be setting up and tearing down this module up to ten times a day (or more, depending on your game size). Don't make it too complex! You should have a set-up time of less than 10 minutes and require no more than 2-4 NPCs (depending on the size of your NPC staff). You want your players to do this module over and over again, and one of the best ways to ensure that is a short wait time and that it doesn't affect the other modules.

Make it Make Sense
You can't make every module into a Reusable Module. You need to have a reason that multiple people can do it but no one can do it multiple times. There are lots of ways to do this, from administrative restrictions to unexplained magical means. Above all else, make sure the players know it can't be repeated. If it smells like cheese, it's probably cheese.