Logistics Information

<BODY BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#C0C0C0" LINK="#FFFF00" VLINK="#808080"> <TABLE WIDTH="400" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0"> <TR> <TD> <P ALIGN="CENTER"><IMG SRC="../images/mhb1.jpg" ALT="Magic Horizons Title Graphic" ALIGN="BOTTOM" WIDTH="398" HEIGHT="162"></P> <H2>Starting A New <EM>Magic Horizons</EM> Chapter</H2> <P>Unlike tabletop RPG's, <EM>Magic Horizons</EM> cannot be played with just yourself and a few friends around a table in someone's basement. To play Magic Horizons requires substantial preparation and numerous participants to be successful. There are two basic ways to start playing <EM>Magic Horizons</EM>.</P> <P>The absolute best way is to join the International Fantasy Gaming Society (IFGS for short). The IFGS has adopted the <EM>Magic Horizons</EM> rules under its umbrella of sponsorship. The benefits of this association are legion - you have access to a well-founded organization that has years of experience running and producing LARP games. Your local chapter has numerous members willing and eager to play. They will have costumes, weapons, props, and usually radios. Finally, the IFGS provides Liability and Minor Medical insurance for only $2.50 a day per person. You will not get that deal anywhere else. To contact the IFGS: IFGS, PO Box 3577, Boulder, CO 80307-3577 (303)443-1012 or <A HREF="mailto:IFGS@aol.com">IFGS@aol.com</A>. The URL for their web site is <A HREF="http://www.ifgs.com" TARGET="_top">http://www.ifgs.com</A>.</P> <P>If you can't find an IFGS chapter (or don't want to) you can start your own chapter. You will need: a) a bunch of people and b) a bunch of money.</P> <HR> <P><FONT SIZE="5"><EM> Finally, the IFGS provides Liability and Minor Medical insurance for only $2.50 a day per person. You will not get that deal anywhere else.</EM></FONT></P> <HR> <P>How MANY is a bunch? The smallest game of <EM>Magic Horizon</EM>s needs about 15 people to run successfully. Bigger is better. By 50 people the game really begins to show the dynamics that make it work so well - three to four adventuring teams, a substantial Town community, and enough NPC's and staffers to keep everyone happy. How you get those people is up to you, but we recommend word-of-mouth, posters at colleges, game stores and comic stores, and putting on demos at local conventions.</P> <P>Once you have a solid core of players, you'll want to consider a policy for encouraging players to bring in newbies. Southern Wisconsin has done it by offering 100 SAP for every new player brought into the game by an existing player. Other options include a lower rate for "spectators", a lower "first time" fee for new signups and holding a regular game or practice at a science fiction convention or a gaming convention, with reduced rates to enter.</P> <P>How MUCH is a bunch? To start you will need: rule books, enough weapons for all the players and all the monsters, enough costumes for the NPC's, money (or some kind of representation of silver and copper), and equipment tags. <EM>Magic Horizons</EM> does offer a starting package with all of the books, coins, paperwork, and equipment tags you need to start, plus enough pre-written games to keep your players busy for several games. Contact Jayson Gralewicz (<A HREF="mailto:jaysongr@mail.execpc.com">jaysongr@mail.execpc.com</A>) for exact prices and content. Weapons average about $5 each, costumes $3 or so (just use tabards and headbands to start), money and tags are pretty cheap if you just use paper. You will need enough money to rent a site (we've used state parks, YMCA camps, and Boy Scout camps with equal success).</P> <P>Most importantly, and we cannot stress this enough, you have to have liability coverage. A standard $1,000,000 policy for a year will run about $2500 if you can even get it. We recommend using an entertainment insurance specialist (like Allied Specialty 1-800-282-6776) who will at least have some idea of what you are doing and can get cheaper coverage.</P> <P>Once you've got the details down, such as insurance, site fees, props and the like, you'll need to look at setting fees for people to play the game. You should anticipate having 30% of the on-course participants being NPCs and 70% of them being PCs. We recommend that NPCs be charged a lower admission rate than PCs, as this provides a cheap way to get into the game. (New players should be encouraged to NPC the first time, and a lower entry fee helps that.) If you set your break-even numbers per game at 30 players, with 9 of them NPCing and 21 PCing, you probably won't be far wrong, although having a reserve of cash on hand to put on three to six games at a slight loss is always a sound idea.</P> <HR> <P><FONT SIZE="5"><EM>Most importantly, and we cannot stress this enough, you have to have liability coverage.</EM></FONT></P> <HR> <P>For actual advice on setting up and running games, the Game Producer's Guide and Monster Manual is a gold mine of information and practical advice acquired through years of hands-on experience. It comes with the chapter package, or can be purchased separately.</P> <P>Finally, <EM>Magic Horizons</EM> was never intended to be run as a for profit enterprise. As a Not-For-Profit you get all kinds of benefits - cheaper insurance, access to some areas, easier tax reporting. By comparison, a for profit enterprise suffers from control burnout, basically, the owners of the company can never leave the game committee (it's their money on the line) and this leads to all kinds of bad things, such as stifled creativity, sameness, and rigid gaming.</P> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0"> <TR> <TD><A><IMG SRC="../images/left_h.jpg" ALT="Left End Of Scroll Bar" WIDTH="32" HEIGHT="116"></A></TD> <TD><A HREF="../info/info_toc.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../images/info_h_n.jpg" ALT="[Logistics]" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" WIDTH="45" HEIGHT="116" NAME="info"></A></TD> <TD><A HREF="../game/game_toc.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../images/game_h_n.jpg" ALT="[Game Info]" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" WIDTH="60" HEIGHT="116" NAME="game"></A></TD> <TD><A HREF="../misc/misc_toc.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../images/misc_h_n.jpg" ALT="[Miscellaneous Information]" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" WIDTH="62" HEIGHT="116" NAME="misc"></A></TD> <TD><A HREF="../faq.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../images/faq_h_n.jpg" ALT="[Frequently Asked Questions]" BORDER="0" WIDTH="58" HEIGHT="116" NAME="faq"></A></TD> <TD><A HREF="../new.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../images/new_h_n.jpg" ALT="[What's New]" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" WIDTH="52" HEIGHT="116" NAME="whatsNew"></A></TD> <TD><A HREF="../index.html" TARGET="_top"><IMG SRC="../images/home_h_n.jpg" ALT="[Magic Horizons Home Page]" ALIGN="BOTTOM" BORDER="0" WIDTH="59" HEIGHT="116" NAME="home"></A></TD> <TD><IMG SRC="../images/right_h.jpg" ALT="Right End Of Scroll Bar" WIDTH="22" HEIGHT="116"></TD></TR></TABLE> <P>Problems with the page? Email <a HREF="mailto:burnside@itis.com">Ken Burnside</a>.</P></TD></TR></TABLE></BODY>