What a week it’s been. I’d like to provide a personal and transparent update on the state of CHARIOT LARP and The Geek Initiative. Don’t worry – it’s all GREAT news.
Using just a few posts on Facebook, CHARIOT LARP sold out of two full runs.
I think people are curious about the immersive digital nature of the game, and they’re also drawn in by the affordability of a multi-session game. I am also working with the LARPers of Color group to plan a PoC-only run of CHARIOT, which we’ll have more info on soon.
Lastly, there is a woman-only run in the works and a private (non-streamed) run specifically for people whose jobs or safety concerns prevent them from participating in a live streamed game.
chariot larp
As a person with chronic illnesses, I understand how health issues (and sometimes financial constraints) can prevent people from attending the LARPs they want. I really hope this game helps anyone overcome some accessibility issues with LARP.
CHARIOT LARP: ZETA Tickets on Sale
CHARIOT LARP: ZETA is a Saturday-only run of the game. You still get the same amount of gameplay, but sessions are grouped together (two sessions per Saturday). This is to accommodate prospective players who are busy during the week. You can find more info about CHARIOT LARP: ZETA and ticket information here.
CHARIOT LARP: ALPHA (Test)
This week, I’ve been working with our alpha testers regarding character creation. I have a complete draft of all the game materials, but I’ve been tweaking and finalizing those. It’s become evident that each and every player and character will change the course of the game depending on what is important for them to explore.
Our crew member Sharon, for example, decided that culture was extremely important to her character. Marshall expressed a desire to explore a particular stage of grief. Kathleen desired a political element, and our relatively new LARPer JodyLee talked about expressing her character’s grief and journey through art. Dave changed the canon history of the game with his concept for an engineer: CHARIOT’s propulsion engines will be named for his character.
You can see my interview-style character creation process in our videos:
Challenges and Solutions
I’ve faced some challenges with CHARIOT LARP this week:
I must make my deadlines and complete existing client work, which takes my time away from CHARIOT. (I’ve scaled this work back and have given over fully to game design as a career, however!) I’m not taking on any more writing work unless it’s related to LARP, and I’m being more selective about my editing projects.
I’m streaming on an old MacBook Air. Despite following best practices, the tech is old, and when I’m running sound through my Mac, any non-me sounds come through very quietly.
It’s time to admit that I’m pretty good with these LARP ideas and game designs. I’m an ideas person. My friends have to remind me to sleep. I’m obsessed and I have entrepreneur-brain. However, I’m NOT a business person. I’ve had several business meetings regarding CHARIOT LARP and other LARP ventures. I’m determining how best to work with partners to:
- Run more CHARIOT LARPs and pay GMs to do it
- Scale this business
- Launch my other ideas and keep myself primarily in development / launch phase to keep growing
- Generate a revenue to pay my editor-in-chief and other staff for their work
- Manage the business and finance
- Upgrade ye olde website’s UX so it’s easier to add more runs and help you find information faster
As a result, I have limited my initial CHARIOT runs to games that I can manage if necessary, and I’m training two back-up GMs in case of emergency – and to run more games. I don’t want any players to have less than a fantastic experience, though, so I’m doing this slowly and carefully. I would love nothing more than to sell a few hundred more tickets – and based on interest, I could. I also need the money to catch up on the bills I got behind on when I was offered a very unfair contract in a previous opportunity. However, I want to ensure that I can:
- Deliver wonderful games to people who have already purchased tickets
- Properly train my GMs
- Update my tech
- Scale the business appropriately and manage the money responsibly
- Create a full system that is accessible and pays all contributing team members
So thank you VERY much for your interest! The next month will see the rollout of limited runs and there are also many more ideas in the works. I’m just focusing and doing my best to do everything right.
Thank you so much for your interest and for contributing to my success.
