What to Know Before You Hire a Consultant
5 things to ask yourself before you hire a consultant:
What is the scope you want them to do?
read your rules,
write you up a report,
write for you, etc
review your materials
What about your game do you want them to review?
Accessibility: (Ex: color blindness access)
Historical representation
LGBTQ+ Representation
What kind of game are you trying to create?
If you can be clear about it
What am I willing to change? What am I willing to not change?
Be up front with your consultant about this. If there is something you won’t bend on, tell them up front. They may decide that this is not a good fit. Example: You want Lovecraft’s racism to be in by NPCs. There are sometimes reasons why a LARP might explore questions of racism but not every consultant is ok with giving their stamp of approval.
What is your budget
Consulting is a real job with real expectations for compensation.
Do you want to consult with them in the future? LARPs are evolving things
So you’ve decided to hire a consultant for your LARP. Maybe you have been reading posts on Larping in Color and been thinking about your work so far. Maybe the latest controversy or headline has you wondering what your blind spots are. You open up a dialogue with a few different consultants to see who would be right for you and find yourself drowning in even more questions. Who knew there could be so many concerns with LARPing! No article could ever address every question or possibility but here are a few tips of questions to ask yourself even before you take the step of reaching out to consultants.
What is the scope of what you want a consult?
Maybe you’re still revving up your game and just have things for them to read. Maybe you have a site picked out and want them to visit it to think about accessibility. Whatever the case, you should have some idea what part of the game you want this consultant to do and how far you want that to go. This could be more limited because of their subject matter (reading one specific culture book) or it could be as extensive as them drafting a whole code of conduct. Knowing how much work you want them to do for you will help make arranging for contracts, payment, and setting proper boundaries if the work starts to look larger or smaller.
What about your game do you want them to review?
No one is an expert in everything. That’s the very core premise of why you would want a consultant to begin with but consultants come with their own experience and expertise. This author is blue/yellow color blind and could help give feedback on accessibility but cannot do red/green colorblindness for example. When picking a consultant make sure you know what you’re looking for and that will help narrow your field of search. Be prepared for the possibility of needing more than one consultant to hit all the needs of your game.
What kind of game are you trying to create?
Imagine you are walking through the darkness led by a game official. They stop your group and warn you that the adventure you’re about to go on includes themes of self-harm and triggers for claustrophobia. Warning at this time is a great idea, but what about before the game? Does someone have an essential skill on their character sheet without realizing it meant opting in to horror based content? For a consultant, telling them upfront what kind of themes, feelings, and experiences you want to evoke will be key. A prime example of this is bigotry. Marginalized people experience bigotry daily and often do not want to explore this in games while others may see games as a way of processing those feelings and experiences. Knowing if this or other delicate topics are something you want to explore is important to communicate to a consultant. Some will decline if they don’t want to work or advise on a game that explores these issues and that’s ok for both you and them. Always ask yourself: why is it important to explore this in my game?
What am I willing to change? What am I willing to not change?
Knowing what your game is about will help you answer this follow up question. If you have a game using the Legend of the Five Rings LARP rules and setting then it is baked into your setting to have inspiration from Japanese and Chinese culture. If you are running a Call of Cthulhu LARP then horror is baked in from the beginning. Set boundaries for yourself and know what kind of game you’re trying to run and why.
What is your budget?
You’ve asked someone to read over your rules and setting, give multiple pages of critical feedback, possibly have them write materials for you. They ask how much you can pay and you look at your bank account for the game and see that it is empty since you haven’t even run a game yet. On the one hand, you might say that means consultation comes later. On the other hand, aren’t you spending money already on props, costumes, and logistics? Even larps with a $0.00 budget functionally have some kind of budget when it comes to the game as a whole, so consider this an important step. Maybe you have a budget but it is not what you need. Consider applying for a grant from Larping in Color and if you have the money to chip in consider donating so that others can as well.
Written by Christopher Tang
