Something quite remarkable is happening out in Poland. Claus Rassted has taken the concept of Harry Potter and turned it into a LARP. To be honest if you’ve not heard of this I’m not sure where you’ve been living for the last few months – it crops up most days on my Facebook feed.
The LARP is spectacular. The whole event has high production values and of course it helps that the organisers have bagged themselves an eastern European castle. But they are attempting something bold – the organisers have asked for $50,000 from crowdfunding.
Real effort has gone into making the whole project a high-end affair. The photography is pretty flawless, the video is excellent, and the whole thing feels like someone has taken the helm and pulled together a coherent vision. There is talent working behind the scenes on this one, and it’s not just the game designers and the plot writers.
Right now (as I write this post) they’re almost at $20,000 which really is quite some achievement. The campaign is open until the end of April on Indiegogo and the organisers have promised that if they get funded a million dollars then they’ll be attempting to buy a castle with the money. Buy a castle for LARP! Amazing! I wonder how much it might cost to take a coach load of us out there?
Anyway, I urge your to put your hand into your pocket if you’ve got a few quid spare. Funding this huge project would mean a whole load of amazing publicity for the LARP scene in general, plus a totally awesome Harry Potter LARP would be given the funding to continue into the future. I’ve pledged for a copy of the book, so hopefully I’ll have a sneak peak of that to show you at the end of the year.
Successful crowdfunding on this scale opens up all kinds of possibilities for organisers in the future. This could be a brilliant tool for launching new LARPs and operating as a kind of pre-sale arrangement. The key is, of course, how to generate hype which is something I look forward to exploring further in this blog as success stories begin to emerge.
1 Comment
Hi Charlotte – thanks for the kind words. We’re at just over $26,000 right now, and are slowly gathering momentum. If you want to have a chat about the project, you’re more than welcome to send me a mail at claus.raasted@gmail.com– 😉