First of all, we’re super excited to hear about your ideas, and we think it’s amazing you are considering expanding the amazing Witchards Universe. There are so many stories to tell, and we are looking forward to hearing about yours.
This document exists to make it easy to get an understanding of what it means to create a Witchards spin-off game. We’ll outline what we expect from you, and we’ll also tell you what we can help you with.
The Conduct
First of all, it is important to adhere to the Witchards Code of Conduct. We feel it is a pretty low bar to clear, so it shouldn’t be the thing that trips you up. You can read the code of conduct here.
The Lore & Quality
Make sure you work within the established lore. Walking a tightrope between quality control and managing confusion about what is canon and what is not, we expect you to work within established lore. You can read about the existing lore in the Lexicon and the Player Handbooks.
If you have an idea that is so good you think it would make an excellent addition to the Witchards canon send us an email about it, and we’ll work with you to see if we can add it to the lore.
It is important for us to ensure that the quality of Witchards events meet certain standards. You are working on top of a property and universe that many people have spent thousands of hours creating. We expect you to be mindful and respectful of that work, and make sure that your players can easily join other games in the Witchards Universe, without having to editorialise their experiences. What happens in the Witchards universe is a part of the Witchards universe, and we think it is more fun if everything is at least somewhat coherent.
The Safety
Our players are our biggest ressource. It is vitally important that they are appropriately looked after. You should take all possible steps to ensure that players can communicate allergies, dietary requirements and other special needs to you.
If at all possible you should endeavour to have a team member whose sole focus is Player Care. This becomes a hard requirement if your spin-off is a for-profit event.
The License
You must agree to the Community Content License. Any content you create for your spin-off must fall under this license, and if you create any new content or lore you must submit it to Witchards for approval. We all play in the same sandbox, and so it is important that we can somewhat agree on what that sandbox looks like.
For Profit?
Finally, the really gnarly stuff.
A lot of work and money has gone into creating this universe and we share a common responsibility to make sure that it stays viable and healthy. That means if you are running a “for profit” spin-off we require you to pay a royalty to Witchards for use of the universe and existing content. These will be negotiated on a case by case basis. Reach out to us and we’ll talk you through the process. It sounds a lot worse than it is, we promise.
FWIW, we define “for profit” as any situation where the organisers keep whatever profit is left over when all bills have been paid, or where the organisers have been paid a salary. This is the exact same model as Witchards own events are subjected to.
What do you get in return?
We will gladly feature your larp on our website, and share it broadly with the community. Including it in our newsletters and marketing it along with our own events.
Storytelling in the Witchards Universe
Build your stories and games on top of the almost decade long played and shared history of Witchards, College of Wizardry, Bothwell and more. That’s a whole lot of world building in one quick stroke.
Props and costumes
You’ll be able to rent costumes and props from our vast catalogue of items. The cost is extremely reasonable and exists to cover maintenance and repairs for regular wear-and-tear, as well as transport to and from our storage at Czocha.
If you need special effects, we can also help with that and you can bring on some of our teams trained professionals to help design, implement and execute you event.
Easy ticketing
If you want to we can even help you with some of the more boring stuff, like ticket sales and ticket management. We handle all your ticket sales, and you just have to make sure to run a fun game.
For ticket sales we take a flat fee of 7.5% of your ticket price to cover transaction fees and administration. Tickets sold via Witchards.com adhere to our standard terms and conditions, so as an organiser you should familiarise yourself with them. Specifically the part about cancellations and refunds.
Funds are released when enough tickets have been sold to guarantee that the event will run, minus 20% that Witchards retains to cover any refunds that need to be processed until the event runs.
