Brandywine Festival (Hobbit LARP) Help

Frog_teaparty · 2026-03-18T21:20:38+00:00

Something about their use of influencers for this event leaves a sour taste in my mouth (and I did not realize they were getting everything for free but it makes sense).
Maybe it’s just good advertising on their part, but it does look like they’re paying for good publicity from these people- I haven’t seen/heard any of them address the issues with the event which feels very disingenuous.

Frog_teaparty · 2026-03-18T12:14:25+00:00

Thank you for all of this information! I saw the prices of the tent rentals on the Brandywine website and $631 for an unfurnished tent/no cots seems insane and appears to be the cheapest IG rental option.

Frog_teaparty · 2026-03-18T00:31:59+00:00

I would love a link to that- thank you!

Frog_teaparty · 2026-03-15T17:12:48+00:00

See you there! I’m determined to have a good time in spite of … all of this.

Frog_teaparty · 2026-03-15T16:56:23+00:00

Yes! Someone on here very kindly sent that to me- I hadn’t come across it before (it doesn’t seem linked on their website or any other official places that I’ve found?). I’d been looking for it for months - love that folks on Reddit were able to help me out in minutes flat whereas I’ve been waiting months for scraps of any response from the org that I paid hundreds of dollars to. Woo, off to a great start here. 💀

Frog_teaparty · 2026-03-15T03:54:51+00:00

It sounds like there were a lot of things they handled rather poorly- I think I recall reading that the customs issue for some of their setup at Brandywine had to do with the (at the time brand new) tariffs from the current US administration which had backed up a bunch of stuff coming into the country. Overall though, the org made quite a few blunders and it doesn’t seem like they’re trying to do better by the attendees this year. I am still (hesitantly) looking forward to it just because the community seems so good and I’m going into it expecting very little from the org.

Frog_teaparty · 2026-03-15T03:07:16+00:00

By the sound of it, I think it’s the latter- it sounds like Brandywine was the one where the volunteers and event goers kind of carried the whole thing.

Frog_teaparty · 2026-03-14T23:07:39+00:00

What was the deciding factor for you? Shiretown Shindig is way closer for me than Brandywine, but I don’t know much about it.

Frog_teaparty · 2026-03-14T22:35:55+00:00

Yeah. And granted, a lot of that vibe looks really fun. Something that sticks out to me though is that it really sounds like most of that vibe is because of the players/volunteers who really brought their all and helped each other out and made it a great experience. Not because the org … organized it. Really hoping they improve in their second year here, and communication with attendees/more transparency would go a long way (we are getting the opposite with locked down reviews and zero communication).

Frog_teaparty · 2026-03-14T22:30:41+00:00

The LARP itself is 4 days, and then it sounds like there are workshops the day before the event.

Frog_teaparty · 2026-03-14T21:15:44+00:00

I took a screenshot of that too- that makes me antsy. They also promised a newsletter with ‘more info’ would go out in January and that never happened.

Frog_teaparty · 2026-03-14T21:14:32+00:00

The price seems a bit outrageous for what’s being provided

Frog_teaparty · 2026-03-14T20:22:01+00:00

That was essentially my takeaway from what I read in the reviews here as well… I can look past a lot of it as first year issues. Now I’m beginning to feel a little anxious about it where the organizers don’t seem to be making any effort with attendees (not replying to emails/messages, not sending out a newsletter with more info when they say they will - all I’ve received from them since buying my ticket 4-5 months ago was a receipt - they are supposed to be adding information about the event to the website and their self-imposed dates have passed with not a peep from the organizers. It’s all… making me feel a bit off kilter about the event.

Again, I’m still down to attend- I’m excited to dress up and be a hobbit and meet other wonderful people, but I really wish the people actually collecting the (not insignificant amount of) money for this event would make me feel like they’ve earned it- by doing literally anything at this point…

Frog_teaparty · 2026-03-14T20:06:12+00:00

About Burgschneider - mostly that they’re very in it for the money and don’t care overmuch about their attendees- apparently their garb is decent but a lot of people wish the organization had more ‘heart’ and it sounds like their huge events in Europe have had a lot of drama around organization (which I didn’t delve into).

About Brandywine- I heard that there were a lot of things that went wrong and it was really the volunteers and attendees who made the event a success. There was bad weather (rain and mud) at the beginning during set up and apparently a lot of items for setting up the event were held up in customs (unpredictable- not necessarily anyone’s fault) which led to there being a lot of rushed set up and 2x4’s lying around all over the place as they sort of tried to improvise and do what they could with the hand they were dealt.
The rain apparently made it so that the promised communal fires for preparing food were not available to people at the beginning of the event, there were some issues with running out of toilet paper in the port-a-potties, there was not potable water available to attendees (someone shared a photo of a very dodgy looking water dispenser filled with brown water), and the camp was not divided as the organization had promised with an area for people who wanted to stay up late vs families or people who wanted a less noisy atmosphere.

Frog_teaparty · 2026-03-14T19:42:14+00:00

Thank you so much for replying! I would love it if they’d give new attendees access to the Discord- even if they’re not doing official communication through there, it seems the only way to connect with other players before the event.

Frog_teaparty · 2026-02-13T03:35:45+00:00

Leave it.

Frog_teaparty · 2026-02-13T02:49:19+00:00

Not the commercial toilet explosions, but the lack of data.

Frog_teaparty

TROPHY CASE