#5: Am I Getting Paid for This? [Archive]

Ryan Paddy

05-09-2006, 10:22 PM

Having been the only person to comment on the last two columns, I feel that I'd be shirking my duty not to comment on this one too. ;)

I've run a larp for the last five years. Around 2 main events per year, with around 50-70 people at main events, and numerous smaller events of around 30 people. Website here: www.mordavia.com

Money is a very real issue. I suspect some larps never start because the enthusiasm outweighs the organisers spending capacity. I was lucky that when I started running these games I was already earning well enough to be able to cough up several hundred bucks for a weekend's venue and food in advance, knowing that I'd get it back from the players in game fees. Actually, some co-organisers co-funded the first couple of events because we wanted to share the risk of making a loss around, but the point is we were lucky to have the money at all.

Here's what I've learned from that experience. Note that I'm assuming you have income from your players. If you're spending money on each event in a larp, you can entirely expect players to repay it in game fees. It would be unreasonable for them not to.

First, a comment on cashflow. Cashflow is king. It's often not a question of how much you can afford, but how long can you afford it for. If you have to pay a scout camp a big deposit several months before a game, you may have the money on hand but can you afford to be down that amount of money for all that time? Likewise, you have to pay for materials for props and ingredients for food in advance. There are two solutions to this cashflow dilemma.

1) Get your players to pay in advance. The best way to make this happen is to give a discount for early payment, and then set an early payment date that will get your money back not too long after you've spent it - or ideally before you spend it, creating a positive cashflow. A discount doesn't have to mean that you're losing money. Just increase the cost of the event, and then reduce it for early payers. You'll find that a lot of people still won't pay early, but at least they'll be paying more which will also help you recoup your costs.

2) Make sure your events make enough profit to pay for the up-front costs of your next event. It may take a couple of events to get to this stage, but it's well worth it. Combined with early payment discounts and sensible budgetting, this should mean that you don't have to spend any of your own money on preparing for events.

Note that for both of these solutions to work properly, you have to be good at separating your personal finances from your larp's finances. A separate bank account isn't a bad idea, but either way you need to track every expense and every earning. Also, you need to be up front and honest about whether you're making a buck off your larp. I never made any money from Mordavia, but it didn't cost me anything either.

Also, I'm now proud to have have a Suger Daddy of sorts. Mordavia had gotten to a state where it has a very large store of equipment that has been acquired over the years, and it also had a strong positive cashflow. The campaign was due to finish up, so I agitated for the formation of a society to inherit the resources we'd developed. Some other larpers were thinking similar thoughts, and out of it came the New Zealand Live Action Roleplaying Society (nzLARPS - www.nzlarps.org ), a non-profit organisation dedicated to advancing local larp. I gave all the Mordavia resources to the society, and now the society is in a position to fund larps in the region and lend them the equipment that was created for Mordavia. That means nobody here has to go through the same slow start-up process and self-funding that Mordavia did, and that includes any future larps I might want to run.

I strongly recommend forming local non-profit societies to fund your larps, although it only works if you're operating on a non-profit model. You'll have to erpay the society after running events, but at least you won't have to pay for anything out of your own pocket.

Grop

05-10-2006, 03:17 AM

Hi, I am member of a non-profit RPG association based in South-East France and I have to confirm money is our main concern (well, maybe after having fun and having a local reputation).

To fund our LARPs (which are generally a loss of money, I mean we spend more money than players pay) we have other activities, mainly games for kids paid by the cities, that bring money and good relationship with our home city (10000 inhabitants, yes that's small but administration is light and small associations matter) to which we may borrow places, furniture and vehicules for free.

We also do our best to be friends with cultural associations: they have all the skills you may need, and can provide you with great NPCs or accessories.

Non-profit association is a good form of organisation, as long as you don't want to earn money. In my place we find it natural to do this just for fun.