It takes a lot of time, planning, effort and bureaucracy to run an Ongoing LARP. Over the years, I have seen many LARPs wither and die for various reasons, some of my own LARPs have died noble or ignoble deaths for various reasons. In my experience, there are five general categories of labor necessary to run an Ongoing LARP. Not all of these have to be done in the same way or by a single person, but missing any of these can be a problem.
Logistics
One of the most evident aspects of running a LARP involves the management of the logistics of game. While the most evident, this can be complicated, depending on the context of running the game. The most important aspect of this is creating a sustainable bureaucracy. Making sure that all the materials for game are prepared properly and that there is a workflow that means the work always gets done.
Site Management and Liaison. All games require locations. Sometimes, this is as simple as the basement of the Storyteller's house, but regardless, all locations require some degree of arrangement. This can mean the arrangement of payment for using the site, the reservation of the site in advance, regular communication with site managers, walking the space before and afterwards to make sure the site is not damaged, arranging payment if the site is damaged. A LARP without a site quickly stops being tenable.
Budget. It is the responsibility of the Storytellers to make sure the budget of the game is workable. Games have expenses. Site fees, printing, sets and props, food and drink, etc. Most Storytellers are not compensated for their work, even though they put in a lot of time for every game. Storytellers who do not make their budget generally have to pay for things out of pocket, which can really sink a game.
Setup. Storytellers are responsible for all of the elements of setup in gamespace. I usually arrive to the gamespace at least an hour before players are told to arrive so that I can put together the set and set up food and drink and check-in before they arrive. At the end of game, I have to pack up everything and transport it home.
Materials. Most games have some sort of required materials, whether it's character sheets, nametags, arm bands, beads and safety pins, etc. As the Storyteller, it is your responsibility to make sure those are there and available. This often requires printing things ahead of time, purchasing materials from stores,and at the very least, transporting materials to the gamesite. This can mean creating props that need to be present, or arranging for food if a game includes it.
Teamwork
One of the major responsibilities as a Head Storyteller is arranging for the collaborative work of the Storytelling staff. A storytelling staff that does not have a good collaborative relationship can end up creating additional work for the Head Storyteller and disrupt the workflow of the game. While there are methods of smoothing these processes, all of them require additional work at the outset.
Staff Selection. One of the biggest responsibilities as a Head Storyteller is choosing a staff to work with. My personal belief is that it is important to create a culture of collaboration, finding a staff whose methods of creative collaboration match yours. If you want people filling very different roles with absolute authority over their territory, then choose staff accordingly. If you want a collaborative group that meets and follows a 'yes, and...' strategy of idea development, then choose staff accordingly. One of the big obstacles that can obstruct a game is a mismatch of collaborative styles and it can make more work for all involved rather than less. This is one of the most important aspects of running a game and one of the easiest ways to make the game harder to run.
Staff Meetings. All staffs need to meet in some way. It is very important for information sharing, so that every member of the storytelling staff knows about every character and every potential plot development. My personal philosophy is broadly shared narrative responsibility, where everyone is familiar with every narrative thread, which requires work at a meeting to share information. Overall, I would not say that there is a prescribed number of meetings between games, but establishing a regular meeting schedule that works for collaboration is more or less required and is the responsibility of the Storytelling staff. Staff meetings allow for discussion of game topics in a way that gets everyone on the same page and prevents contradictions.
Collaborative Materials Management. A Storytelling staff needs shared materials. There are all sorts of materials that are important for collaboration, from plot outlines to character sheets to metaphysical notes. Most television shows have something called a show bible, it outlines the different aspects of the world as they have been defined. Collaborative materials can be the equivalent of a show bible, allowing easy reference and discussion. I've seen Storytelling staffs use wikis for this purpose, but I love google drive, myself. It allows a lot of selective permissions, so information can be selectively shared with players. For instance, if there were a secret document, writing it ahead of time for planning purposes is useful, so the Storytellers can refer back if necessary, but then a player who found a copy could get access to the document itself. This is also important for sharing general information with players. You can write 10,000 pages of backstory, but if nobody has access to it, it won't influence their play.
Supervising the Narrative
You might think to yourself, what trouble can an unsupervised narrative get up to? And the answer is "none" and that's the problem. One of the most important roles of the Storyteller is the holistic approach to the game narrative, finding ways to make sure the narrative stays coherent, that things mesh in some way, that there is a reason for being. In my experience, this is best achievable by setting the context for interaction before people create characters. It's hard to run a comedy of manners when everyone has created hard-bitten police detectives. Setting up the narrative context at the beginning allows for easier narrative supervision in the long run, because it sets up straightforward boundaries.
Interweaving Stories. So, the main aspect of this is interweaving stories. Players will come up with all manner of ideas, and it's part of the job of the Storyteller to find ways to fit those ideas into a single world. Part of the responsibility is finding ways that the suggestions and ideas of players can fit into the larger context. Sometimes, this means adding specifics to general ideas. When someone says they want to have a corrupt mentor, the Storyteller can say, "Yes, Lord Refa was your mentor!" and add the specific. Sometimes, this means changing details to fit the game world. When someone says they want to live on the Upper East Side of Chicago, you say "There isn't actually a North East side of Chicago, but the Gold Coast is probably the equivalent in terms of income." Some of the best examples involve tying two unrelated characters together, or say, noting that two people spying on the bus station might run into each other as well as into their quarry. Regardless, interwoven stories are some of the best kind of stories.
Pacing a Story. Stories don't pace themselves and having just the right amount of story for a given session/season/game is an art form. It's very possible to have too much story in a session, where everything is happening and things are so chaotic nobody knows what's going on. It's also possible to have too little, where the narrative stakes for a given session are resolved so quickly that the rest of the game is idle. Or that there simply isn't enough to engage the number of people present. I personally use two main tools for this. I have an overarching spreadsheet that tracks plots over time, making sure that things happen in order but not too quickly or slowly, and I have a beat sheet that I write up for every game, which details the events of the evening in 30 minute chunks. Overall, pacing a story is a way of maintaining stable momentum. A game must always have movement or it will stagnate, but too much movement and it can shake itself to pieces.
Information Sharing. One of the important specific aspects of running a game is sharing information in game. On the one hand, this can be a matter of setting up the world. Making sure that everyone is on the same page regarding things can be as easy as setting up a basic website to share basic information. But this also involves introducing new information to game. Clues or hints have to come from somewhere, and it can be hard to work in information without being too obvious or too obtuse. One of the rules of thumb I personally follow is to share information in at least two places, rather than giving it to only one person. Overall, making sure that information makes its way into game is a Storyteller responsibility, because generally speaking, the Storyteller should know all the game's secrets better than the players.
Player Management
So, the ideas that players need management may seem odd, and I want to be clear, this is primarily a matter of working with channels of information. Being a Storyteller isn't being some sort of puppet master, manipulating everyone, but the Storyteller is often the only person who is in contact with absolutely everybody in game. For larger games, this is often a matter of several people sharing the role, but generally, every player should have at least one contact point within the staff.
Sustaining Communication. This is useful just to maintain lines of communication. Whether it's creating and maintaining a mailing list, a message board, facebook group or just a list of email addresses for contacting people, it is the role of the Storyteller to maintain communications with all participants, making sure they know when and where game is and details like game fee.
Player Encouragement. Sometimes, players might become disengaged from game, not feel like their efforts are being noted. Communication between game can help re-engage a player with the game. It is part of the Storyteller job to do that encouragement. I like to do emails leading up to game with some players, to give them a sense of motion coming into game. This can be a good way of encouraging participation and giving them some energy to bring into game.
Walking the Space. One of the key skills for running a LARP is being able to influence the session on the fly. Adding or subtracting narrative momentum by giving emotional feedback or adding new information can make a better game. During game, it's important to walk the space, see what's going on, know who is involved in things and who isn't. That way, nudges can be made, players can be given hooks to follow.
Community Support
Being a Storyteller makes you a community leader, whether you intend to become one or not. It's not the only community where the ability to tell a good story and organize a bunch of people serves as qualification for leadership, but it's more direct than most in that way.
Attending to Player Problems. Sometimes players present problems. They may be interacting with other players in a way that makes them uncomfortable. They may be bullies or they may be constantly complaining in a way that makes the game not fun for other participants. As a Storyteller, it is your job to deal with these problems. Ideally, it is your job to notice potential problems and try to prevent them from becoming game breaking. I have seen games fall apart over a single player unknowingly acting in a way that offended others. Additionally, sometimes this is a matter of identifying potential problems such as inappropriate narrative actions. For instance, I don't allow rape in games that I run. Period. As a narrative theme it always causes problems. If someone indicates that their character would do such a thing, I would tell them no before it could possibly become the massive problem that it would become.
Keeping Lines of Communication Open. One of the keys to community support is making sure that the lines of communication are open and known to be open. Players should always be free to let Storytellers know if they are having problems. Any situation where a player is having issues and doesn't speak to a Storyteller because they don't feel they can is a failure in my mind.
Being the Bigger Person. Along with that, however, is the responsibility to be fair, to be calm and to listen. Being in a position of authority within a community means being the bigger person sometimes, not letting your own feelings or reactions cloud your actions. Don't play favorites. Don't take issues too personally. Don't let your own relationships with players get in the way of running the game in front of you. I'm not saying to ignore your own feelings or reactions, but the power of Storytelling comes with strings attached. With power comes responsibility and within a game, the power of an ST can be nigh absolute, with few checks and balances.
What to Take Away?
So, what do I want people to take away from this article. Ultimately, I want you to know that Storytelling is a lot of work. There are a lot of aspects of the job that I didn't know about until I started doing it myself and there are aspects of it that I learn as i continue to run games. This isn't meant to be the sum total of all responsibilities. I've done things like buy event insurance and get people medical attention as a Storyteller. I've been a relationship counselor, a social skills educator and an electronics repairman all as part of the general role of Storyteller. But do keep in mind that your Storytellers do all of these things, generally on a volunteer basis.
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