At the risk of being pounched on by my opponents in these matters, I have to say/ask...
Wonder why we haven't had those kind of numbers since then?
I believe that when the group as a whole, from the top down, support the "roleplay" aspect of the game... we have more people, who have more FUN!
People can talk all they want about how most players don't want RP. But, after almost 20 years of being in Amtgard, I can tell you this... Numbers go up when the game is fun for everyone. And the only way to get lots of players, is to have a good game, with something for both sides Stick & Flurb alike.
We don't grow by just trenching, but we also don't grow by sitting around just pretending to be in a LARPG, or sitting at our computers and bitching at each other over our differences.
We "GROW" by building together a common story, where Swordsmen of Skill and Valor meet Wizards of Great Power... where Assassins stalk the woods and Monsters lurk in every dark corner.
I disagree that we haven't had Role Play in years...
Kings, Queens and Knights are "roleplay". The Court itself is "roleplay". In forgetting the titles that have been earned, the positions that are held and the "proper respect" that is suppose to be given to those in High Office, we loose a good portion of that very "roleplay" that sets us apart from any sport in the mundane world.
Even as recent as when Kenta is talking about, back in McFadden's reign there was "organized" RP being posted and played. I say "organized" with a grain of salt, but none the less, it was out there and it was working.
No, Amtgard will never be what it was to me, in the "old days". But, I have seen the magic time and time again... in sparks of creativity and cooperation between players who normally never agree.
Everyone can make a difference. Everyone can "play a part", without having to be "an Actor", some are just better at playing themselves. The point is, that each of us make up the magic and we can make it better than it ever was in the "old days", but we can't forget what makes us different from the mundane and we have to keep that part of us alive.
Delphos
. Every roleplaying game needs a setting and a plot. Writing adventures for a tabletop rpg is time consuming. For a larp it's twice as bad. Monster garb, props, write ups for monsters, maps, background stories ect.... this takes a lot of time for one person. Doing this every week is a daunting task. Too many people writing story lines and trying to run adventures destroys continuity from week to week. At FK it generally falls to the park champion to write and run any quest for the reign. Perhaps each park's monarchy could appoint a group of three people (one from each officer, or maybe the officers themselves) to organize roleplay for the reign. Write storylines, review adventure ideas submitted by players, review persona histories of players, build props, maintain a collection of monster garb ect. Roleplay needs to happen at a park level to keep those interested in this aspect of the game coming out week after week. As for attendace I believe my parks relatively high numbers can be attributed to a lack of competition. Wichita Falls has no HFS group, no NERO, no IFGS, and our local SCA group has dwindled to near nothing. We are quite literally the only game in town. Demos and flyiers are as rare here as they are in the metroplex. I would love to see a strong recruitment push kingdom wide. I will start in my own back yard (metaphorically - we have had trouble with this being done literally 
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