In response to a throwaway comment here on “how many larps run more than once?”, I did some number crunching using the LarpResume database of larps. This dataset is patchy - fairly complete for NZ, Intercon, and the major NE US cons, with smatterings of UK and elsewhere - but probably good enough to get an idea from among those communities. The results? Of 606 games listed (including some duplicates), 4 have never run (!); 299 have run once, 139 twice, 72 three times, 38 four times, 19 five times, 13 six times, 6 seven times, 4 eight times, 1 nine times, 4 ten times, and 7 more than ten times.
The full dataset is here.
I’ve also started coding games for nationality, countries they have run in, and whether they are published. I’ve extracted the NZ data to a seperate tab. FYI
- There are 106 NZ games in the database. Which is a phenomenal output when you think about it - we’re writing a fairly significant number of games (should I add a “year first run” column?)
- 58 of them have only run once.
- the NZ game with the most overall runs is “Black Hart of Camelot”
- the NZ games with the most runs in NZ are “But Nobody Loses and Eye!” and “Bad Dreams; Alien”
- the NZ game which has been run the most overseas is “Black Hart of Camelot” (US, Canada and Australia)
Also, those seeking inspiration for what to run at future Chimeras and Hydras could do worse than looking at the list of the most popular games overall and running one of those (many are publicly available).