Every once in a while, someone feels bad about "only" paying $20 or some other low price for an event. This is a quick post to clarify a few things.
The "pay what you can"model is very intentional. We (the game staff) came up with it, and pitched it to RFR. "This pricing is meant only to make the game affordable to people of less means" is a true statement.
Every player registration is one more person enjoying the game, and, more importantly, one more person to enjoy the game with. More players make for a better game for all the players --- it's explicitly part of the design (look up "network effect" on wikipedia sometime for a metaphorical explanation).
Each player, even if they pay only $20, brings us more money. Our food budget is really efficient, meaning even $20 is more than the increased cost of one more player.
Now, obviously, we also need to worry about "breaking even" to keep the game (and all of RFR) sustainable. With variable pricing, calculating even a simple break-even point is a little hand-wavey...but for this game it's generally, currently, a little over 35 players. That does mean we have, as of this writing in spring of 2026, operated at a loss, except for one or two events --- larp camps have gotten expensive in recent years.
So what can you do to help?
If you are a player with disposable income, you can always register for greater than the default price!
The reason we scale the max price to $80 more than the default price is, specifically, to offset the minimum price being $80 less than the default price.
For anyone, throwing an extra $20 or whatever into your registration would make a difference.
If you pay at door simply because you don't have a credit card, you are allowed to pay more than $20. (Some people already do this.)
RFR's finances are a little tight these days (again, larp camps have gotten expensive), but we are currently confident we can stay sustainable without excluding people.
Every once in a while, someone feels bad about "only" paying $20 or some other low price for an event. This is a quick post to clarify a few things.
Now, obviously, we also need to worry about "breaking even" to keep the game (and all of RFR) sustainable. With variable pricing, calculating even a simple break-even point is a little hand-wavey...but for this game it's generally, currently, a little over 35 players. That does mean we have, as of this writing in spring of 2026, operated at a loss, except for one or two events --- larp camps have gotten expensive in recent years.
So what can you do to help?
RFR's finances are a little tight these days (again, larp camps have gotten expensive), but we are currently confident we can stay sustainable without excluding people.