I'd never even thought about what mosses need to grow well until I opened this thread. So, I took a walk around our property and noted where moss is growing well and came up with a couple of observations.

We have very sandy soil, but much of it has a layer of decayed leaf litter over it. Contrary to what you might expect, the moss tends to grow on the bare sand patches not where there's lots of organic matter. Though it needs a fair amount of moisture, it seems to not like having perpetually wet feet and the sandy patches drain best.

Moss also seems to do best in areas that get a fair, but not excessive, amount of sunlight. It's a green plant, so it has to have sunlight to survive, but too much direct sun dries it out. We seem to have the most moss on the margins of cleared areas such as walking paths where there's a bit of direct sun part of the day, but shade from the trees and bushes much of the time. I think some of us have a tendency to associate moss with relatively dank, dark environments, but that's not where it does well. It likes dappled and partial sun.

So, if I wanted to try to cultivate moss, I'd start with the soil. If it doesn't drain well, add a layer of sharp sand. Then evaluate the light. If the area where you want the moss to grow is in either perpetual shade or direct sun, see what you can do to increase or decrease available light. Plant, remove, or transplant vegetation to get available sunlight into the partial, not full, shade range.