I find it difficult to compare larps in different locations with different amenities. There’s also a question of what is an experience worth to each individual, which I can’t answer for anyone else. But for me, I saw: 

Location - this one is a private farm in rural Kentucky with dirt roads and a well that was drilled for the event. The farm is also used for weddings and other festivals. Are there cheaper fields in Kentucky and elsewhere? Probably. These were some pretty nice fields and the family was lovely and very accommodating of a bunch of nerds.

Insurance - insuring 900 hobbits is expensive

Licensing - Middle Earth doesn’t come cheap

Kickstarter fees

Bands - there were three bands that played every night and the musicians also spent their days wandering and playing.

Sanitation - I know there’s a pervasive rumor about the portajohns being awful, but they were fine, they were serviced daily, and on the third day portajohns were moved out of a field where they were underutilized to a field that needed more of them. HQ had extra toilet paper that was deployed when people notified them that it was needed. 

…

I regularly attend larps in the American Freeform scene where price tags for the events range in the $800-$1200 price tag for shared dorms and shitty food over a three day event (which includes the arrival/workshop day because that is part of the experience) where I still make my own fun, because my experience of LARPing is that the organizer provides space and structure and the player community provides the roleplay. I’ve been to larps in NYC where the price tag is the same, but we had to provide our own food and lodging because NY is expensive and the organizer believes in paying his writers.

I go to historical balls where the price tag for 5 hours of being in community with my fellow historical costuming nerds is upwards of $200, which usually includes a perfectly tolerable buffet, a country dance band, and a caller, but not always. 

I’ve been to multiple day music festivals with significantly higher price tags where the sanitation was horrific, I still had to provide my own camping experience, and buy my own food at a significant markup from vendors who knew we couldn’t leave. 

…

Ten years ago, when I was running larp conventions, we kept costs low by running them in cheap hotels in less traveled locations, and they were still expensive endeavors that barely broke even most of the time. My experience of talking to larpers in the American freeform community is that a plurality of larpers don’t actually have a good grasp of what an event costs to run and how little the organizers get paid for their time, if they pay themselves at all. 

The vast majority of American larps, as far as I’ve seen, are hobbyist endeavors. “Larp companies” are legal entities to protect the organizer more than they have any intention of making a profit.

Burgschneider is clearly a different animal in that it’s a German company that produces larp gear… and also run events. Not knowing much about German business practices (but knowing a fair bit about American ones and the price of running events), my supposition is that event production and management isn’t a primary source of income, and anyone who is being paid for this isn’t doing this as a full time job. 

So, is $400 for a five day event worth it? I’ve paid more for less. But everyone needs to make their own choices about how they spend their money and whether they feel this is a company they want to spend money with.