Laravel does a lot of work for you to magically set things up.
the biggest problem is setting up your host file so that it points the public directory properly.
After that it is just making sure that your permissions are set properly.
Laravel 5/5.1.x
the log file should be:
app (laravel.com) / storage / logs / laravel.log
Also watch out for the the cache directory in the bootstrap folder. I had to change permissions on it which I never had to do before 5.1.
If you get a white screen or other errors, many times it is because of permissions ;) That is if you don't consider a mistake in your code.
The other thing to watch for is properly namespacing your files.
<?php
namespace App\Modules\XYZModule\Http\Controllers;
class ModulesController extends Controller {
The namespace after the opening tag for php helps laravel to find your files. So, you don't have to have a big file like registry to call all your includes.
Laravel is really fun after you start to get to understand it. Also, you will become a better php programmer after you have used it for a while :)