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  1. Act, Don’t React 
  Live Action Role Playing (LARP) is a form of community 
  based entertainment where a group of players takes on 
  roles in a shared world. This entertainment comes from 
  engaging in stories, fulfilling goals, performing quests, and 
  interacting with other people (whether talking, fighting or 
  otherwise). 
  Overseeing these players are GMs (specific games might 
  call them narrators or some other title), it’s their 
  responsibility to make sure the game runs smoothly. GMs 
  might also provide quests or reveal prompts and clues 
  that lead to new twists in the story, but there are typically 
  only a few GMs and there are many players. As a player, 
  if you spend your time waiting for a GM to tell you what 
  to do, you’ll probably waste your time waiting around 
  before the GM gets to you, then waste other player’s time 
  while the GM is dealing with you. 
  Use common sense where you can, do things for yourself, 
  make your own stories while events unfold around 
  you…when things start happening, get involved.  
   
   
   
  
   
   
  2. Play Fair 
  Remember at all times that everyone in the LARP is 
  present to have a good time. They may have paid money 
  to be involved in the event, and they may have paid even 
  more for any costuming or other accessories they have. 
  Everyone has an expectation that things could go well in 
  the game’s unfolding story, or could go badly for them. 
  But regardless of how things go, they expect everyone to 
  play by the rules. 
  Once the game is over, everyone should walk away as 
  friends knowing that the events of play unfolded due to 
  story circumstances or character choices (that way they 
  can return to the next game and plot revenge). No one 
  should ever walk away from a game feeling that other 
  players cheated during the course of play. This can lead to 
  players leaving the game altogether, and can even lead to 
  entire games collapsing when arguments break out 
  between multiple players. 
   
   
   
   
   
  
   
   
  3. Remember That It’s Only a Game 
  Sometimes things go wrong, sometimes you need to take 
  a deep breath and a step away from any bad situations to 
  gain a moment of perspective.  
  If you feel that someone has cheated in some way, let one 
  of the GMs know when you get the chance (don’t 
  interrupt them if they’re in the middle of something, but 
  make sure the event is still fresh in your mind when you 
  do let them know). 
  In LARP events where politics and alliances play a role 
  you may end a session feeling betrayed by someone. In 
  LARP events with combat, your character might even be 
  killed. If this happens, remember to keep the story events 
  and the real world separated. After the session, have a talk 
  to the player of the character who “did you wrong” 
  during play, especially if the scene was particularly tense 
  or dramatic. Discuss the scene from a bigger 
  perspective… Was it a good story? Did it entertain 
  people? What was enjoyable about it? What didn’t you 
  like? You don’t need to congratulate someone for causing 
  you issues in game, or even walk away as good friends, 
  but at least walk away from it without bad intentions 
  toward one another.  
   
  
   
   
  4. Learn the Rules 
  Every LARP system has its own rules. The GMs should 
  know these rules, and in most cases they should be 
  relatively close at hand when things get too tense, but 
  they shouldn’t have to handle every single issue that 
  might arise during the session. 
  A new player attending their first session isn’t expected to 
  know all of the game’s rules before they start playing, but 
  after a session or two they should have grasped the 
  basics, and any specific rules that might commonly come 
  into play with their character (someone playing a fighting 
  character should generally understand the combat rules, 
  someone using spells should generally know rules for 
  their magic, etc.). 
  Given that point 2 is “Play Fair”, you can generally 
  assume that other players will know the rules for their 
  characters and will use them correctly, but after a few 
  more games you might want to learn the common rules 
  that other players use to their advantage.  
  Don’t try to learn everything about the game rules, 
  especially if it’s a complicated rule set. But try to learn 
  enough to keep things running smoothly in most 
  situations. 
   
  
   
   
  5. Learn the World 
  Just like the different rule systems, most LARP 
  campaigns and events have their own settings. They may 
  have unusual races, new interpretations of traditional 
  fantasy races like elves and dwarves, they may have well 
  known places, famous historical events, religions, 
  customs, or any number of other details. Sometimes these 
  setting elements are written down, sometimes they are 
  known to the GMs and key players to be revealed during 
  a game event, sometimes they are developed on the fly by 
  players and characters as the story develops. 
  Consider how much you know about the real world. Most 
  people don’t have a comprehensive knowledge of cultures 
  or events beyond their immediate lives. When getting into 
  a game, don’t expect to learn everything about the world 
  before you play, or even before the end of the first 
  session. But if the game has races (or factions), get to 
  know who is in charge of your group, who else is 
  important in your group, and what places or events are 
  significant to them. Then learn a bit about the other 
  groups you commonly associate with (as enemies or 
  allies). 
   
   
  
   
   
  6. Set Yourself Goals 
  In most LARP systems, you won’t start with the heroic 
  character you first envision. This gives players something 
  to work towards, and a motivation to keep coming back 
  to events. Hopefully it shouldn’t take too many games 
  before you settle into a role that’s close to what you had 
  in mind. Don’t worry if your original ideas change into 
  something else by the time a couple of game sessions 
  have elapsed, such is life. LARP is about telling 
  stories…stories are journeys, and journeys have 
  steps…each step is a goal and a goal you set for yourself 
  is often more satisfying when it’s achieved. 
  Or you could look at it another way, think about what 
  you want your character to be known for, then start doing 
  those things. 
  In a LARP event, there will always be things happening, 
  but it isn’t the responsibility of other players to keep you 
  entertained, and there’s only so much that GMs can do. 
  Many of the players around you will have set their own 
  goals for their characters, and they may sweep you up in 
  them, but if you want to develop a reputation for 
  yourself, you’ll need to start setting goals of your own. 
  Discuss these goals with the GMs and organisers, they 
  might be able to work them into larger stories. 
  
   
   
  7. Engage in the Stories Around You 
  Some might describe LARP events as somewhere 
  between tabletop play and a MMORPG. There are 
  typically dozens of players, some with conflicting 
  agendas, some needing allies, most with enemies.  
  As soon as a character chooses a side, they will make 
  friends and enemies, they’ll instantly become a part of the 
  wider narrative. But a character who doesn’t choose sides, 
  has a harder time because they have to work alone and 
  have to make more entertainment for themselves.    
  LARP is an inherently social event. If you aren’t going to 
  socialise and engage with other players and their 
  characters, you aren’t getting the most out of the event. 
  Stories have typically been devised by other players, the 
  GMs, and the Organisers. They’ll typically appreciate it 
  when you help them out (or engage their story by adding 
  a bit of conflict to it). If you engage in the stories and 
  goals offered by others, there’s a better chance that they’ll 
  engage in yours when you need the help.     
   
  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  
   
   
  1. Develop a Character 
  The first time you attend a LARP event, you typically 
  aren’t expected to wear a costume, have your own props, 
  or even know what’s going on. After a couple of visits 
  though, it’s good etiquette to get into the spirit of things. 
  Costumes for medieval/fantasy larps can be easy to make, 
  often a sheet cut to size and a belt can be worn in a 
  variety of ways (as a toga, a tabard, a cloak). Or you can 
  always visit a local party supplies store or discount shop. 
  If your LARP uses weapons, these might be a bit trickier 
  or more costly. 
  Just as important as costume are the mannerisms you 
  adopt for your character, any accents you may use, or 
  common phrases used by the character.  
  Develop a background for the character, use your existing 
  knowledge of the game setting and anchor certain 
  elements of your characters background into them. You 
  don’t need your character to have been everywhere, or 
  been a part of every historical event (in fact it’s better if 
  you don’t do this). Choose a few key times and places, 
  think about them, work them into conversation during 
  the game. Don’t just watch the world, be a part of it. 
   
  
   
   
  2. Short Term and Long Term 
  The Noob Guide said that it is good to develop goals for 
  yourself, by the time you’ve played a couple of games you 
  have probably accomplished one or two of these and 
  your character should be more comfortable for you. So 
  now it’s time to start thinking about new goals and long 
  term agendas. Have a good balance of things to aspire 
  toward (no more than 3 or four in total, because 
  otherwise you’ll inevitably forget some).  
  Short term goals are things you can accomplish in a game 
  session or two. Perhaps aim to organise trading 
  agreements with someone, avenge your honour against a 
  roughly equal foe, recruit a key person to your faction, 
  build something, it all depends what your game is about, 
  and what you see as your character’s role in it.  
  Long term agendas are thing that might take half a dozen 
  sessions or longer. Aim to take control of a faction, create 
  and recruit an entirely new faction, lay the seeds of 
  destruction for another character (so you don’t get 
  implicated in it)…these are the plans that will typically 
  require the support of other players, they will lead to 
  climaxes that other players talk about (when they get 
  revealed), and they may shift the landscape of play for a 
  long time to come. Just remember that they don’t always 
  succeed. 
  
   
   
  3. Help Bring the World to Life 
  Do you have a special skill in real life that might be 
  translatable into the game? How can you use this skill to 
  make things more fun for the other participants? 
  If you’re an artist, you might draw maps or character 
  portraits for people. If you can sew, you might be able to 
  help people with their costuming. If you can fight well, 
  you might be able to share your combat skills with new 
  (or less capable) players. If you’re a writer, you might be 
  able to chronicle the history of the setting. Even if you’re 
  just energetic and enthusiastic, you can help set things up 
  or carry equipment to let the organisers and GMs focus 
  on their part of getting the event ready. If you’re 
  charismatic but don’t have ideas of your own, be the first 
  follower of any good ideas proposed by others, use those 
  ideas to promote the idea’s originator and inspire the rest 
  of the community.  
  Everyone involved in this hobby comes to it from their 
  own backgrounds, with their own resources and their 
  own expectations. It’s a shared community of imagination 
  and everyone deserves the chance to contribute to it. 
   
     
  
   
   
  4. Assist the GMs 
  In most LARPs, there are few GMs and many players. 
  After a couple of games, you might know the rules as well 
  as the GMs, you might have a group of friends within the 
  setting or even factional followers. You don’t need to 
  take a position of leadership within the game (not 
  everyone can be the head of their own faction), do 
  something that you are comfortable with. Become the 
  scribe for your faction (chronicling their deeds), the 
  keeper of rituals (whether mystic or religious), the banker 
  (monitoring money or even favours traded), flagbearer 
  (who inspires morale), or come up with some other role 
  where the other players can come to you for assistance 
  without needing to bother the GMs. 
  At the end of a session, write a report of the activities you 
  oversaw, make a note of who did what and the 
  ramifications of those actions (or expected ramifications 
  if they haven’t happened yet). 
  GMs and organisers can’t be everywhere, they can’t see 
  everything, but players often expect them to know these 
  things. 
   
   
  
   
   
  5. Engage New Players 
  After a few events, remember back to what it was like 
  when you attended your first session. Were the players 
  friendly? Did their actions make sense? Did you feel 
  included in their activities? 
  Consider what you liked about the greeting you received, 
  and the good advice you were given. Emulate those 
  actions with new players and give the same good advice. 
  If someone is having trouble creating a character, or can’t 
  decide the best path to take for the concept they’ve got in 
  mind, give them examples of what you’ve seen so far in 
  the game, or introduce them to someone who might be 
  able to clarify matter for them. 
  Consider also what you didn’t like about your 
  introduction to the LARP events, then think about what 
  it was that kept you coming back. Try to make sure you 
  don’t repeat any negative patterns with new players, and if 
  you think they are feeling the same way you felt in the 
  first few sessions, encourage them, and use stories about 
  the game to tell them about how much better it gets. 
   
   
   
  
   
   
  6. Working Together 
  In a tabletop rolepaying game, a small group of players 
  often works together to accomplish something, but they 
  may also engage in infighting and betrayal. The majority 
  of activity comes from the players and their characters, 
  everyone else met along the way (known as NPCs) are 
  potential allies, enemies, or exist in a grey area with their 
  own agendas; they are often simply bit characters and 
  occasionally recurring roles.  
  In a LARP, there are far more players, and typically far 
  fewer NPCs. Most the characters met during a LARP will 
  be played as the protagonists in their own stories, the 
  recurring roles in some stories, and the bit parts in other 
  stories. Some LARP events might be so large that certain 
  characters never significantly come into contact with one 
  another.  
  To make an impact on the overall storyline of a LARP, it 
  helps to join up with a team or faction. This helps GMs 
  organise stories around manageable chunks of the player 
  base, and it helps players achieve goals by spreading the 
  load among multiple characters (each with their own 
  specialised skills). 
   
   
  
   
   
  7. The Power of NPCs 
  While NPCs aren’t as common in LARP as they are in 
  tabletop roleplaying, they can still make an appearance or 
  play a significant role in a story. 
  GMs and organisers may take on the role of NPCs to 
  help guide an event’s storyline in a specific direction, or 
  maybe provide skills and knowledge necessary to open up 
  certain quests to the players. In some cases, they may 
  offer the opportunity to play NPCs to those players who 
  have shown they are good at a certain style of play, or 
  who possess real world skills that match the NPC’s 
  persona. A warrior NPC might be offered to one of the 
  better fighters among the group, a sneaky ninja to 
  someone who is naturally acrobatic, a diplomat to 
  someone with a good speaking voice, a flamboyant 
  wizard to someone with the flair for the dramatic. 
  Often the organisers will offer some kind of reward to 
  the player who is willing to take on their roles for a 
  session (maybe reduced event fees, or bonus XP/Gold 
  that may be applied to any of the player’s regular 
  characters). If the chance to play an NPC is offered, there 
  will usually be some kind of significant story event for the 
  character during the session. Use the opportunity to play 
  something different, take risks without jeopardising your 
  regular character(s). 
   
  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  
   
   
  1. Be Confident 
  I’ll be straight up here, if you have decided to take the 
  next step, and have offered your services as a GM, be 
  ready to face the darker side of some players. 
  Some players unable to resolve issues for themselves will 
  expect you to have the answers for them, other players 
  will expect that they have paid their money for an event 
  and now it is your duty to entertain them. Some players 
  will deviate from your carefully planned storylines and 
  will introduce their own elements of chaos into the LARP 
  session. 
  Accept these events, take them with a grain of salt, don’t 
  let them get to you. Without GMs, a LARP event has a 
  nasty tendency to degenerate into a bunch of like-minded 
  people engaging in anecdotes about previous events, pop-
  culture references, or other hobbies.  
  As a GM it’s not your job to entertain people, it’s your 
  job to facilitate the shared imaginary realm, the 
  entertainment comes from players interacting with one 
  another through their characters. A good GM focuses the 
  group, keeps them “in the zone”, offers new ideas when 
  the activity starts to stagnate, and doesn’t take shit from 
  players who are trying to bully their way through a 
  situation that’s meant to be fun for everyone.    
  
   
   
  2. Be Consistent 
  All LARPs have written and unwritten rules (we’ll get to 
  the written rules later). The unwritten rules are referred to 
  in some circles as a “social contract”, these are the 
  expectations of play and the things a typical player can 
  justifiably expect from participating in a session. Such 
  things might include: 
  - The chance to improve your character. 
  - The opportunity to tell a communal story with your 
  character in the setting. 
  - Coherent and logical rules. 
  - The chance to state your case when things go wrong. 
  - Fair judgements from impartial GMs. 
  It may seem common sense stuff, but many LARPs have 
  crumbled when one or more of these expectations is not 
  handled in a balanced and consistent manner. 
  If players see that GMs aren’t handling things fairly and 
  consistently, they often see no reason to continue playing 
  fairly themselves. As long as people are playing within the 
  spirit of the rules, don’t punish the actions of their 
  characters (unless in-game means justify such a 
  punishment). As soon as players breach the rules of the 
  game, pull them into line quickly. 
  
   
   
  3. Understand Ramifications 
  Ramifications can be bad. 
  Sometimes as a GM, you will need to punish someone. 
  This may occur within the game as a punishment for a 
  character acting against the laws of the setting, or it may 
  occur out of game as a punishment for a player caught 
  cheating. Make sure you know the difference between 
  these, and make sure the player concerned is aware of 
  why they are being punished. 
  They can also be good. 
  As a GM it’s also your responsibility to make sure 
  rewards are offered fairly when people complete goals, 
  fulfil quests, or perform necessary tasks for NPCs. If your 
  game uses experience points, make sure these are handed 
  out appropriately, and any expenditures are correctly 
  applied to improve the characters concerned. 
  On a wider level, learn the dominant quests and goals that 
  are unfolding in the game. Try to keep track of how close 
  these goals are to completion and what obstacles continue 
  to stand in the way of the characters concerned. Finally, 
  be aware of how the game might shift (for the better or 
  worse) once these objectives have been reached. 
   
  
   
   
  4. Know the Rules 
  A new player is expected to learn the basic rules. On top 
  of these, an experienced player is expected to learn a 
  variety of rules concerning their regular activites. The 
  players typically expect a GM to know all of the rules, 
  without needing to resort to fumbling through a rule 
  book. 
  Sometimes this just isn’t possible. There are rule sets that 
  are intricate and rely on the interaction of various sub-
  rules in such arcane ways that very few people could 
  understand the full complexity of them. In this case, it’s 
  probably recommended that each GM tries to get a good 
  grasp of the common rules, then have specialist GMs 
  dedicated to specific categories of rule knowledge. 
  If you don’t do something like this, it is almost 
  guaranteed that the game will automatically streamline 
  itself. Some rules will be forgotten, others will be 
  removed because they don’t make sense without the 
  forgotten rules, and eventually the game being played will 
  not match the rule set as written. This in turn will 
  frustrate players who’ve written characters to take 
  advantage of certain rules (refer to sections 1, 2, and 3 to 
  see how to deal with what happens next). 
   
  
   
   
  5. Know the World 
  Most players come into a LARP to explore a fantastic 
  world of escapism. They don’t know everything about the 
  world but they expect to find people who do know 
  enough about the setting to immerse themselves. 
  Like the rules, sometimes a game setting will be simple 
  and it is easy for players to understand it (it might even be 
  based on a variant of the real world, and thus 
  players/GMs can use their general knowledge to fill in the 
  blanks). Sometimes the settings will be so baroque and 
  complicated that a dozen trained scholars could spend 
  their lives analysing the complexity and still will not be 
  able to piece together the full picture. 
  Discuss this with the other GMs (since this is a LARP, we 
  assume there are multiple GMs), assign an area of lore to 
  each of them. One might specialise in the history, while 
  another handles the magical lore, another for religion, and 
  another for the current heraldry and court rankings. 
  Otherwise, the community of GMs might divide up the 
  setting knowledge by races, or geographical regions of the 
  setting. 
  Keep the knowledge consistent, have it written down 
  somewhere for players to access if they have 
  appropriately knowledgeable characters.  
  
   
   
  6. On NPCs and Playing while GMing 
  If you’re going to play, play.  
  If you’re going to GM, GM. 
  Keep these separate. 
  If a GM is playing their character in game, and they get 
  into a conflict with another character, there may come a 
  time when a GM’s advice/adjudication is necessary. Since 
  the GM present is involved in the conflict, their words 
  might not be considered impartial and a second GM may 
  need to be called in. This pulls resources from the rest of 
  the game, and can be very annoying for the players. It’s 
  not being consistent, it’s safer to not play a character at all 
  (especially not one of your PCs).  
  Occasionally, the need might arise to introduce an NPC 
  into the game to keep things moving. Where possible try 
  to get one of the players to take on this role, even if they 
  only do so for a short period of time. In a worst-case 
  scenario, take on the role of the NPC, but make sure you 
  costume appropriately so that people realise you are not 
  in “GM-mode”. Also, when you do take on an NPC, 
  avoid deus-ex-machina…don’t do things for the players, 
  offer clues and facilitate their ability to do it for 
  themselves. The players have come to be heroes of their 
  own stories, not to watch NPCs get the glory. 
  
   
   
  7. The Big Picture, The Little Picture 
  The big battles, the dramatic stand-offs, the grand 
  rituals…these are the things that people look forward to, 
  and the events that people discuss well after the event. 
  Big events like this involving a sizeable chunk of the 
  players should be rare, no more than once every game or 
  two. Making events like this more common diminishes 
  their impact on the game.  
  Instead, pay attention to the small things. Personal 
  vendettas, lost children, gathering resources, making 
  allies…a variety of tasks. These are the mundane events 
  that keep the game going between the dramatic moments 
  of climax. These are the tasks that help define characters 
  in the long run, and put those big events into context. 
  As a GM spend a bit of time with small groups of players, 
  and if you’ve got the resources available make sure that 
  GMs spend time with individual players to discuss their 
  motivations, their goals and their agendas. This also 
  means that you don’t need to come up with all the ideas 
  for the game by yourselves, and the players get more 
  input into the direction of the impending storylines. 
  
   
   
    
   
   
   
   
  
   
   
  1. Respect the Players 
  Once you’ve gotten to this level of things as an Organiser, 
  there can be a tendency to focus on big picture elements 
  of the game, and real world aspects such as group 
  finances, venue hire, liability insurance, organizing as a 
  non-profit (or profit driven) company, and other legal 
  requirements. These are definitely important to the 
  ongoing welfare of a legitimate LARP organization, but 
  don’t forget that without the players none of this would 
  be possible. 
  If you’re going down the professional route, the players 
  will be paying for the events you run. You need them to 
  keep coming back in order to keep your game alive, and 
  the finances in the black. Try not to let the players leave a 
  session unsatisfied, and if they do leave unsatisfied try to 
  make sure it’s not because of something that has been 
  done by the GMs or the Organisers. If there has been an 
  issue of conflict between the players, you can either call a 
  discussion between those involved at the end of play, or 
  wait 24 hours until the tension has passed and emotions 
  have cooled. In an age of social media, it shouldn’t be 
  hard to keep in touch with everyone involved in a conflict 
  situation, but try to discuss the resolution in person. Keep 
  things civil, and try to get back to the fun as soon as 
  possible. 
  
   
   
  2. Be Prepared to be Firm 
  The first step in resolving a conflict issue should be a 
  calm discussion between the players involved. The next 
  step should be the impartial adjudication by a GM. If a 
  conflict issues reaches the Organiser, it should be because 
  these two steps have failed to reach an agreement. 
  If you are running things professionally with a group 
  constitution and bylaws, there are probably a series of 
  protocols to go through when players have disputes and 
  punishments for offences. These typically include 
  suspensions from games, but could result in expulsion 
  from the group. Hopefully things don’t get that far, but 
  always be prepared in case it does. If membership fees 
  apply to players in the LARP, make sure everyone has 
  access to the relevant constitution and bylaws. 
  Even if you aren’t running things in a professional 
  manner, make sure everyone knows what could happen if 
  they breach the rules of the game, or get into heated 
  arguments with other players (outside the context of the 
  story and game). Once you’ve laid out these rules, make 
  sure you stick to them in every case where they apply, or 
  be very specific and open with everyone as to why a 
  change of policy has occurred in a particular case. 
    
  
   
   
  3. Keep it Fun 
  As the Organiser, it isn’t just your job to simply apply 
  rules and punishments, nor to take care of all the dirty 
  work behind the scenes. You’re here to have fun as much 
  as everybody else. Take on the role of a prominent NPC 
  in the game (perhaps the king, a local bandit lord, a 
  prominent CEO). Make it known that this role is reserved 
  to the Organiser, and that if someone wants to take down 
  the character in play, they are effectively volunteering for 
  the role of Organiser (and all that entails) out of game. 
  Otherwise act as a coordinating GM, the fill-in person 
  who keeps track of the wide scope activities in the game, 
  and the person to back up any rule disputes where 
  another GM might be unable to take care of the problem. 
  If you see someone looking bored, offer your assistance. 
  Find out what is bothering them, and how you can help 
  the situation. There might not always be an answer, 
  sometimes people just need some alone time, or get 
  overwhelmed by the action and drama unfolding around 
  them. But it’s better to be sure that this is the case, rather 
  than allowing something darker to fester. 
    
   
  
   
   
  4. Don’t Worry if Things go Awry 
  Some GMs carefully plot story structures months (if not 
  years) in advance. They limit the choices of players so that 
  their destined plot elements come into play regardless of 
  the decisions of the players involved in the LARP. Think 
  of computer games with specific cut scenes that are 
  always present regardless of the actions you might take 
  between them. 
  Occasionally, this might be interesting. More often, it’s 
  better to not plan too many things in advance; allow the 
  decisions of the players to prompt new elements of the 
  story. You might take this slowly, carefully working with 
  one or more of the players over the course of many 
  sessions to build up a dramatic story arc that will envelop 
  the game.  
  But if a character dies during the build-up, or if a player is 
  unable to make it to a session (or moves away and can no 
  longer attend games), be prepared to follow another path 
  to reach your goal, morph it into something new, or 
  abandon it altogether for another plotline that involves a 
  sizeable portion of your players.  
  Life rarely moves in straight lines, and neither should 
  your LARP. 
   
  
   
   
  5. Get Ready to Ad-Lib 
  Things may change slowly, you may get notification that a 
  player is unable to show up to an event; but more often, 
  they change quickly. A player just doesn’t show because 
  of a scheduling conflict they forgot to mention, maybe 
  there’s a car accident, or an illness. It could be halfway 
  through a game when a pivotal character in the storyline 
  is killed by some freak conflict, or suffers from some 
  curse that was prevents them from fulfilling their destiny. 
  This sort of stuff happens all the time. The easy way to 
  avoid it is to not have a coherent and consistent storyline 
  planned, let the players work out everything for 
  themselves. But when this occurs, you find that most 
  players just end up aimlessly drifting through the session.  
  Provide impetus and drive, point the characters in a 
  certain direction and let them go. They might shoot 
  straight toward your intended goal, they might curve 
  around toward it, or they might take your drive and end 
  up somewhere completely different. Don’t stress out 
  about the events occurring in game, as long as the players 
  are having fun along the way. 
   
   
  
   
   
  6. Don’t Micromanage 
  Give the players and GMs scope to do their thing. LARP 
  is about immersion in the world, letting go of the 
  mundane everyday, and using a set of game rules to tell 
  stories. A style of LARP known as Australian Freeform 
  doesn’t even use rules as an intermediary between the 
  imagined world of the story and the physical world 
  outside it. In Australian Freeform, the GM simply helps 
  adjudicate when players can’t decide who would come out 
  on top in a conflict or dispute, many players in this style 
  of game consider it a failure if they have to get GMs 
  involved at all during a session. GMs and rules just get in 
  the way of their escapism. 
  Not all LARP can be that open though, and that style of 
  play can be intimidating to players who like a bit more 
  structure.  
  Get to know your players, get a feel for how they are 
  reacting to the rules and storytelling techniques in effect. 
  Guide the whole show with a light touch; a prompt here, 
  a rule explanation there. The more you get involved, the 
  more stressed you’ll get, and the quicker you’ll burn 
  yourself out as a GM and Organiser. 
   
    
  
   
   
  7. Many Hands Make Light Work 
  Delegate.  
  Spread the knowledge load and the responsibilities of 
  running the game among the GMs and the experienced 
  players. Use these two groups as your most valuable 
  resource in the game. Many of these individuals will be 
  passionate about the game, but won’t have the inclination 
  to do the back-of-house paperwork and take care of the 
  business side of things.  
  Organising a good LARP might be possible for a single 
  person if there are only a half dozen players, but the 
  common rule of thumb in Australian Freeform indicates a 
  GM for every five players plus a coordinating 
  GM/Organiser. You can probably drop the number of 
  dedicated GMs if you’ve got experienced players who are 
  willing to take on more of the load, but for over twenty-
  five years this has generally held up as a good ratio. 
  If you’re having trouble getting players to help out, offer 
  incentives to them; perhaps bonuses to their characters in 
  game, access to exclusive character types (as mentioned in 
  section 3), or reduced cost for attendance at special 
  events.          
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Kid Friendly/5. Simple LARPs/A Little Guide To LARP.pdf