Need help Organizing AZ Game Day

I would like to try to organize an AZ gameday, but don't know the process of doing so. Can I please get some help from those that have succefully organized Gamedays? Thanks.

I asked the same question a few months ago and got some good advice.

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=140465

reveal said:

I asked the same question a few months ago and got some good advice.

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=140465

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Yikes! I totally missed your thread back then, reveal. Looking at the dates I see that I was right in the midst of "Air Conditioning Debacle, 05". Sorry about that.

My advice here applies to your concerns as well as Frukathka's:

1) Get an idea of the pool of people that you have to work with. Decide who you're trying to recruit. Just ENWorlders? Folks from the local gaming store? Gamers who post in other online forums?

2) TRY TO FIND A FREE VENUE. Other folks may differ in opinion on this but I can tell you that I wouldn't be organizing the NC Game Days if we had to pay for the venue. When money gets involved then you suddenly have a host of other issues to deal with. If your venue is free then you don't have any minimum attendance that must be achieved in order to defray the costs to a reasonable degree. If necessary, host the Game Day in somebody's home and keep it small. But I'd rather it be small and free than big and for a fee any day.

3) Get some GM's to sign up to run games. It helps if you yourself are a GM and are willing to run games too. I recommend that these be posted in the first or second post in a thread here in the General forum. But that is also because (when I started out with the first NC Game Day) I was only trying to recruit from ENWorld. Have the GM's in question specify how many players they want for each game.

4) Pimp the thread hard and look for players to fill those slots. Again, I was looking for ENWorlders but I wasn't above finding gamers from off-board, getting them to sign up here and adding them to the games. This struck me as a great way to recruit players for the Game Day as well as new faces for ENWorld.

5) Add "extra stuff" if you can. I LOVE gaming with ENWorlders. I also love just chatting with them in person. We added a "pre Game Day dinner" at the 2nd NC Game Day and we've always gone out for dinner afterwards at a nearby restaurant. This is a great chance to just hang and talk as well as chat over the fun events of the day (it is always fun to hear about the games that you didn't get to play in) and, perhaps most importantly, get feedback about what to do differently for the next Game Day.


That's the basics from my perspective. I'm happy to field questions as always.

Rel can I ask you what some of the free venues you have had in the past are? Have they all been people's houses?

I could book the library for free but the gameday would be over at 6p.m. Most commuters said that they wouldn't feel like it was worth it to come to the gameday if they had to quit gaming by 6.

Most of the guys that are coming have commited to paying 5-10 bucks, but I would prefer a free venue. Any ideas would be great.

Thanks.
-Shay

P.S. Wasn't really trying to hijack the thread Fru but I am in the same boat you are in it's just that I am docked in Ohio and you are docked in AZ.

shaylon said:

Rel can I ask you what some of the free venues you have had in the past are? Have they all been people's houses?

I could book the library for free but the gameday would be over at 6p.m. Most commuters said that they wouldn't feel like it was worth it to come to the gameday if they had to quit gaming by 6.

Most of the guys that are coming have commited to paying 5-10 bucks, but I would prefer a free venue. Any ideas would be great.

Thanks.
-Shay

P.S. Wasn't really trying to hijack the thread Fru but I am in the same boat you are in it's just that I am docked in Ohio and you are docked in AZ.

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We've always used the NC State University Student Center. Thankfully we've had ties to the place through students (notably NCSUCodeMonkey who's now up in Boston). We have tons of free space along with tables and chairs and so forth. They even arrange them how we want them in advance.

If you're not lucky enough to have that sort of thing available then I recommend gaming stores that have table space. Having a bunch of gamers pour in is bound to result in some sales and I also recommend that the proprietor sell drinks and snack foods since we gamers seem to be fond of such things.

I'll reply more fully later but I've got to go deliver some stuff for work.

One final comment:

I don't see anything wrong with having a Game Day in someone's home. To me the only important thing about a Game Day is having fun. It doesn't need to be big or fancy. The ones that Piratecat hosts in his home look like an absolute blast.

We're fortunate that we have access to a lot of free space that is perfect for running a dozen games at once. But it has been (and will continue to be so long as I'm helping to coordinate it) part of the mission statement of the NC Game Days to be free so that all the baggage that comes with charging a fee to cover a lump sum cost for the venue never becomes a consideration. I just don't need the stress and I certainly don't want to put my relationship with any of the fine folks of ENWorld in jeopardy over $5-$10.

shaylon said:

I could book the library for free but the gameday would be over at 6p.m. Most commuters said that they wouldn't feel like it was worth it to come to the gameday if they had to quit gaming by 6.

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We typically run until 8-9PM before we knock off to go to the Rock-Ola Cafe for the wrap up dinner. But 6 doesn't strike me as dreadfully early. If you only run 4 hour slots then you could easily fit 2 games in by starting at 9:00 and taking an hour lunch at 1:00. Then you could all head out for dinner somewhere.

If folks are really intent on gaming into the evening then you could move from the library to an indivdual home or homes for the "night owl gaming".

Rel said:

Thankfully we've had ties to the place through students (notably NCSUCodeMonkey who's now up in Boston).

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I am lucky that I don't have to worry (much) about attendance. I can't count how many gamedays we've had in Massachusetts, but this is my first time hosting one.

Unfortunately I have only been able to go to one gameday so far, due to scheduling conflicts. This past spring I realized that if I held the gameday, then I could choose a date that fit my schedule. (Saturday October 22nd)

And when you have DM's like:

Capellan
GlassJaw
NCSUCodeMonkey
Piratecat
SilverMoon
Varianor Abroad

Then you really don't have to worry about attendance

Thanks for all the advice. Thread saved.

You would be about 4 hours from me. Game weekend would get me to come, as long as it is in the "off" season so hotel rates would be under $40.00/night.

I'll be living in Elfrida by September 30th, if everything goes well.