Theatre Style Live Roleplaying Events
Helpful Tips and Suggestions - Chapter IV
 

IV. Production

Production Schedule

At this point, you know what your event is about, and have some idea how big it will be. You’re looking for a venue, and you’ve decided what kind of staff you might have, and decided what to charge. Now you need to set up a schedule to produce your event.

Some writers like the luxury of having the written product in the box before they advertise an event. I’ve seldom had that luxury. It is riskier to advertise an unfinished product, but it needn’t be a turkey shoot with many things left unfinished at the last minute. Follow some simple procedures, and you’ll find you have your event ready with a little time to spare. Don’t worry though, secondary tasks will expand to fill the time available.

There are several tracks of work that must move forward at the same time if the event is to be prepared on time.

Primary Writing Track

Graphics and Production Track Promotions Track Physical Track Staffing Track


Here is a sample 18 month schedule for a large full-weekend game
Say 40-60 players.  Obviously a shorter game with less writing or fewer characters could be produced in a shorter time frame.

2000 January

Initial Ideas meetings

2000 February

Hotel Contract for June 2001

Produce Flyer with information

2000 March

Announce Event at Intercon XV

Plan advertising campaign

2000 April

Hold preliminary writer’s meetings

Begin writing background and character drafts

2000 May

Begin to recruit core GM staff to supplement writing team

2000 August

Commit to basic rules system, character list, bluesheet lists

Plan playtests (Oct, Nov) for any rules systems that need testing

Lock down core GM duties

Preliminary list of properties

2000 September

Swing advertising into high gear. Ads in Calendar and Metagame.

Major promotional effort at Intercon 15.5

2000 October

Check progress on character and background writing.

Set meeting dates for revision meetings in January

2000 November

Check registration levels. Agree to cancellation policies, minimums, and recovery plans if the event is not showing good registration by January 1. Pull advertising if event is full, push advertising if event registration is flagging

2000 December

Begin cast and technical staff recruiting, provided registration is good.

2001 January

Draft copy of the event should be complete

Begin revision, crossreferencing, spell checking, grammar checking

Draw up list of Cast characters

Planned events have been decided on

Draw up list of properties

2001 February

Call to borrow properties

Make acquisition plans for properties that cannot be located

Contract out for any costuming that needs to be made

2001 March

Final advertising push at Intercon XVI

2001 April

Final revision of all printed materials

Art and Graphics ready to go

Plan to finalize cast and technical staff

2001 May

Go/No Go decision based on registration

Distribute full materials to registered players, or post materials on Web/E-mail

2001 June

Final cast briefings, and training session if needed

Print Badges, folder labels, stuff materials

Complete all prop building

Quality Control Check

15 June – run date

Planning for the Event

In the old days, we passed out character sheets, and then "ran the event." Which meant that the event actually ran itself, while we panted along trying to keep up. Sometimes there were events that were supposed to happen. We didn’t really know how to make them happen, and we often relied on players to be savvy enough to try and gather everyone together.

Today, we know that "planned events" are the foundations that an event revolves around. These are all of the "staged bits" that take place between opening and closing. Weddings, funerals, coronations, councils, terrorist attacks, G-men raids…all "planned runtime events."

Planned runtime events fall into two major categories, Set Pieces, and Contingency Events.

Set Pieces are things that will happen, no matter what the players do. This may be because of deus ex machina (we will ensure that there is a terrorist bombing), or because of planning and tradition (of course the cotillion Saturday night will go off as planned).

Contingency Events are things that might or might not happen, but which the GMs need to be prepared for. For example, a funeral service. The person who you plan the service for might not die after all. Or someone else may die instead. Weddings, court-martials, etc. are all contingency events.

The GMs can dictate the set pieces in the event, but the event itself will dictate contingencies. Do you have a plot to restore the King, which you expect to be successful? Then you need to plan on having a coronation as a contingency event.

Planning for all runtime events, involves the following elements:

Properties – any special items needed? A crown for a coronation, A gavel for a trial

Cast - any special staff. A bailiff for a trial, an Archbishop for a coronation,

Effects – smoke for a bombing. Music for a dance.

Food and drink – tea for an afternoon tea, champagne for an evening party and so on

You’ll want to figure out your planned runtime events early, so that you can include them in your inventory of properties. You’ll also want to make sure you know which cast members are responsible for taking what roles at what planned events – or at least make sure your cast director knows what parts are needed.

Remember a few basic rules about planned runtime events. First, don’t schedule trivial events at a point where they are no longer viable. Except in a humorous game, scheduling the judging for the garden club contest after the alien invasion is probably a bit ludicrous. There is nothing like the sight of thirty players standing around nervously at some event that they are attending only because the GM said the "have to." Put your less significant events forward, ahead of any events that tend to change the basic nature of the world, or of the players’ lives.

Planned runtime events are the framework that your entire event revolves around. Don’t shirk, and don’t expect runtime events to "plan themselves" or be "player driven." The characters might have years of experience planning certain types of events – but the players will need to be shepherded through them, because they lack that experience.

Pre-Opening

Many event producers assume that their responsibility begins and ends with the moment that the "curtain goes up," usually at a rules briefing. Don’t deceive yourself. Your responsibility begins the moment that your players walk through the doors of your venue. Even if they’re early. If you are ready for them, you can create a favorable impression.

The most organized event in the world will not be ready at noon on Friday. There are matters of setup, and they take a finite amount of time no matter how organized the production team is. And while it is sometimes true that "more hands are better," it is sometimes more the case that players distract the technical staff and runtime team from setting up the event.

The goal then becomes to entertain the players who arrive early until it is time to start. We’ve found that a wonderful device is video. Set a VCR up, and play something that is vaguely thematic. This distracts the players while the staff gets set up.

You may also wish to have refreshments out, or even have a "pre game" scenario where players can begin interacting. It all depends on the nature of your event, particularly on whether time is critical or not.

Opening

Some events open with a major planned runtime event. Others open with a dramatic event – Tabula Rasa opens with an emergency evacuation. The Four Aces opens with a gangland killing. Some events open with a rules briefing. No matter what, remember this. In general this is your first real point of contact with your players. Make a good impression. Do not assume that things will "pick up" after the "boring rules briefing" is gotten out of the way. Make sure your lead-in builds confidence and interest in the event, and you will quickly be rewarded.

Downtime

Schedule downtime in your event. Above we discussed the importance of scheduling dinner breaks. Move your event along in chunks that your players can manage. Make sure you allow time for your staff to rest...and eat...and sleep.

Teardown

Remember that you cannot get off of your site instantaneously. Plan to have your crew ready for teardown. This may require sending a GM who is a good "host" along to your Dead Dog Party, while the technical staff and other GMs do teardown. Figure out where everything is going, and have a plan for breaking down the game. If possible, begin packing Saturday night.

Testing

During the production phase, you may come up with new rules systems or elements that you aren’t certain will work. Test them extensively, either privately, or by holding a "playtest" of the mechanical system.

Quality Control

The mark of a really well produced event is having had time to do a quality control check on it. If you are planning on taking a printed game to a site where you won’t have access to your computer and printing equipment, this is critical. You must at least have done enough QC to make sure that you have all the components. Quality control should ideally check for the following things:

Copyright 1998 , Gordon Olmstead-Dean.  You may reprint or cite, providing the source is attributed.
Some of this material has appeared previously in identical or substantially similar form in the LARPA Periodical
Metagame
 
 


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