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Knight
 
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Last Login: Saturday, October 25, 2008 5:47 PM
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I am in the position of going it alone with a new business towards the end of the year. I have a plan A, but am considering a plan B and wondered what the feasibility was. So I'm asking for feedback.
If I can find suitable premises somewhere in the Midlands for an indoor LRP site for up to around 100 players, run along similar lines to the one in Leeds, would organisers use it?
Rental on modern warehouse space is prohibitive, but there are older buildings in unfashionable areas of the Black Country that might be cheap enough to make it viable. I would need to make maybe £50,000 a year to pay myself and all the expenses, which means having bookings nearly every weekend at around £1,000 for the weekend, and then diversifying into weekday events in other markets, or for smaller groups at a lower price.
Is this possible? Are there enough event organisers out there willing to consider £1000 for a site for a weekend?
One possibility for raising capital is a share issue:
> an organiser pays £1000 for a share, they get a £200 discount per event for 10 years (max 1 event per year) - buy 5 shares and run an event there every year for free.
> an ordinary larper pays £100 for a share, they get £5 off any event they attend there for 10 years (discount passed along to the site by the organiser).
Of course, if the site didn't run for that long, or didn't get off the ground, there'd be a guaranteed refund, proportional to the length of time it did run.
It's all fairly blue-sky atm, but all help shaping the idea would be appreciated. And if anyone fancies talking to me about partnerships, I'm open to offers.
Mindlib Mobile LRP Catering
Designed to meet the needs of the LRP event organiser.
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I do talk a good fight
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I doubt that you'd get 50 bookings at £1000 per weekend. There just aren't enough 100-player LRP events going on to make it viable, I don't think.
I tend to look for a site in the £200 to £400 a weekend region for Hyborian Tales (up to 24 players + about 5 crew). Scaling that up, yeah, probably £1000 for a weekend for a 100-player event is reasonable... but how many 100-player events are there, these days? Maybe some faction moots for LT... the occasional small to mid-sized fest event that usually has a regular site already... that's about it, I think. Even something like Shards rarely has more than 40 to 60 players.
Now, if you had a site that could take 50 LRPers but only cost £500 per weekend... maybe. If it was good enough, I suspect you'd have it booked up most weekends.
On balance though I reckon that the permanent site thing is only really viable if you either (a) get a semi-derelict site for a song or (b) have the capital to buy a site outright and the motivation to spend a LOT of time doing it up.
http://www.hyboriantales.com
PD: Ghostdance ("The most irritating curse I've ever encountered" -- NPC played by H.)
Riftworld: Rossar Kuug ("Clearly mad, because he thinks he's a Com-Trow Skirmisher" - Aela)
Hyborian Tales: Crew, cook, dogsbody, general labourer, toilet cleaner ("Dangerously overoptimistic ref" -- Tom Nowell)
Otherwise usually crew ("Quite spry & fit, & willing to wear a big costume & run around a lot" -- various event organisers)
"My other oversized foam weapon is THE LORD" -- Questionable Content
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Wag
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| Unblikely. You'd have to a) kit out the warehouse till its entirely IC before people would touch it. b) justify a thousand pound hire cost. Theres a lot of sites cheaper than that. I.e. the Keep in Burnley. And for a grand I can hire out three cottages on a farm with some public access land nearby for the weekend. c) find enough players, which there probably aren't especially as most poeple go outside except off season. The old alternative in London closed down and that was in a warehouse... just not enough attenddance.
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Champion
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And the Keep in Burnley has lots of extra features like.
Nowhere to sleep
Asbestos
Rats
Oh and a free broken car window with every purchase.
I hear there’s a dead asthmatic in the tunnel system somewhere.
---
PD: Mister Cry, Philosopher of Stone.
LT: Whimsy, Archer's Guild Fae Butler.
SOS: Kethren Fable, The Queen's Killer.
Vikings: Plot writing Mikey (with eagle eye action)
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Wag
Group: System Moderators
Last Login: Thursday, August 21, 2008 11:39 PM
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| There is a lack of indoor sites - especially as the keep is falling apart now. However, at the costs you are talking about there are few organisers who would use it. I'd use it at a cost of £500, though. Proivided it was well kitted out inside and also versatile - in other words able to cater for fantasy, modern day, and all points inbetween. I think your problem my be only considering weekends and only LRP. What if you looked at some way of providing regular use during the week? Maybe a paintball, lasertag or airsoft maze in the evenings? Maybe hire out to stag and hen nights? Corporate team building? How about hiring out as a film set for TV or film? You basically need something extra to bridge that gap between what LRpers are willing to pay and what you are able to afford.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Whispering God is your friend... trust the Whispering God... Ruins of Empire 1st - 3rd Feb, 2008, Gladstone scout centre, Chester
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Heroic Knight
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A decent site, I will hapily pay up to £500 for a weekend if it has some kind of indoor sleeping area and basic loos.
If there are good facilities, especially parking, kitchen, toilets, showers, beds, then I will potentially pay up to £800, subject to the size of the player base and what I'm trying to run.
Edit - just to add that I run small events for 6-20 players, and this is still my site budget. Most of the cost of any event I run goes on a decent site.
_____________________________
Maelstrom - Carl Whitesnake
Scavenger LRP - Organiser
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Champion
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As has been said before in another thread on pagga, you need to be as diverse in the sites usages as possible in order to break even and possibly even make a profit. Simply put, if the site is not being used, then you are losing money. It shouldn't really be up to the person hiring to pay an excessive amount to make up for all the outgoings during the time they are not using it. You need to consider what the site will be doing during the week between 9 and 5. If you can find something to bring in money during that time, you are laughing.
A few usage ideas to consider are:
Party venue,
Room hire (bands, societies, amature dramatics),
Banquets,
Performances,
Team building,
RPG clubs,
Airsoft,
Storage,
Theme bar,
Night club,
Coffee shop,
Tourist attraction (living history peeps walking around),
Cheap B&B type thingy,
Premises for a different business,
Weapon and costume workshop,
etc
I'm sure you have thought it through but its well worth digging up the huge thread on Indoor sites on pagga as some really useful points and ideas were put forward.
PD - High Chieftain Chatu, New Bantustan
Gnoll colony is recruiting!
(pm for details and about discount gnoll masks)
Gnoll Forum:
United Tribes of New Bantustan
PD Player Event:
The Chieftains Cavalcade 1659
A fine medley of games, banqueting, music and surprises for all friendly folk of the New World!
March 6th - 8th
Stockwood Iron Age Village LRP Site
(booking & Info at: http://www.gnolls.co.uk/event)
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Wag
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Last Login: Thursday, August 21, 2008 11:39 PM
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| And if it is in the right place, premises for hire to a shop or other business. Look up standard rates for hourly hire of facilities and see if you can't attract some people to use it. Also look at weekly and monthly rates for businesses to hire it. You may find that you can add up all these little things and make your 50K per year easily. The hourly hire rate will attract bands, theatre groups and other performers looking for somewhere to jam or rehearse. Needs to be cheap enough for them to afford. It will also attract local LRPers looking for somewhere to run Vampire and other interactive one evening style events and gaming groups. The weekly/monthly rate may attract someone (or more than one person) looking for somewhere to sell stuff or make stuff (weapons workshop). You may also be able to do something about storage for a fee - maybe put aside one room for this. There is lots that can be done for this. Offer all of it and see which ones come to you first. Then you can focus the business on what actually pays out.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Whispering God is your friend... trust the Whispering God... Ruins of Empire 1st - 3rd Feb, 2008, Gladstone scout centre, Chester
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