Kanar on a Budget by Craig Jarvis
So you would like to play Kanar, but money is tight.
You've got time, but gas is expensive, food is expensive, yearly dues are expensive, and the monthly event fee is expensive.
However, I have some suggestions.
Gas:
Car Pool. Make friends, talk to people, find out who is coming near your house, and who is going back that way. Ask questions and do the math on gas mileage and your share of the fuel cost. No need to be rude, but be honest and fair with them. If it's 60 miles and they are driving a Sentra that gets 30mpg, they are using 2 gallons of fuel, and you owe them the cost of one.
Food:
Pack a lunch. In fact, pack six. Friday night, Saturday breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and Sunday breakfast and lunch. These are meals you would have eaten at home anyway, so the cost is the same whether you eat them in a swamp or in your living room. Fill a milk jug with water or lemonade and use it. If you need some variety, go to the Inn and barter some labor for some food. The Inn always needs labor. If they don't need you right then, ask the townsfolk if they need firewood, raking, cleaning, anything for enough coin to buy a meal.
Yearly dues:
If you can't afford $20 once a year, Kanar might not be right for you.
Monthly Event Fee:
$20 can be easy to come by, or easy for which to barter. Make friends, meet people. Find someone that desperately needs two hours worth of unskilled labor, for which they will pay you ten dollars/hr. Be awesome and entertaining, and the slightly more fortunate will pay just for the joy of your company. Offer to dig a trench, collect firewood before, after or during the event, repair a wall, fix a shirt, transcribe lyrics, dig out a fire pit, haul six inch diameter deadfall to Tim's Fort...
And if all of that fails, volunteer to play an NPC for the entire event. As long as the GM knows before 5pm on Friday, the GM can waive your event fee.
Cost breakdown:
A three-day event lasts 48 hours. Let's assume you are a die-hard Kanerd and can magically sleep for eight hours on Friday and Saturday. The remaining 32 hours of non-stop immersive roleplaying splendor costs you twenty dollars, or roughly $0.62 per hour of entertainment.
Originally posted in the Kanar Facebook Group.