Firebeetle
Explorer
Pogre asked for some advice on this thread http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=181193
about starting gamedays. I thought it was such a good idea, it deserves it's own thread.
ATA (Annoying Twerp Alert): This thread is for folks who want to run their own gameday. If you have something negative to say about the RPGA or the RPGA experience or other non-constructive criticism, stow it. Go start your own thread and don't detract from the conversation with your need for negativity.
I’ve only just begun and have two gamedays under my belt and two more planned, so my capacity for advice is limited here.
Scheduling and Preperation:
1.) You’ll want to scope out whatever other gamedays are in the area and plan for a day that doesn’t conflict, probably on a Saturday, one month or more in the future. If there are no local gamedays, then you don’t have anything to worry about. Naturally if you are doing this in a store you’ll need to consult the owners. In store advertisements would be a good idea.
2.) Select your modules from the RPGA website, you’ll need the name of your site and an area code along with your RPGA number and dates. Select your mods, ask for good mods from another organizer or triad member if you are not sure of what to pick. MAKE SURE you have an introductory mod selected, these should be on your home region site. A new RPGA gameday means new RPGA players as a rule, so you’ll always want to have an introductory adventure prepared.
3.) Your adventures will be available 3 weeks from your date, they won’t be 2 weeks from your date, so be sure to download them when you can.
4.) Recruit judges from among your buddies. Have them take the herald test if they haven’t. If they’ve never played, run the intro mod for them so they become RPGA and then make sure they have copies of it (see below) so they can run it in the future if need be. I’ve got one judge from my home table and I’m working on two more.
5.) Gather what you will need. These include:
• RPGA cards (write RPGA for more if you need to) You’ll want ten minimum.
• Print off your adventures, double-sided if you can. I use a komco machine and bind them, using a pocket folder split in two as a back and front cover.
• Print off your AR records. You can do this on pretty paper if you like, but you should do it in color. My region has started doing one page summaries of adventures, which go great on the back side.
• Read each mod you personally plan on running, making notes about any special maps to bring and what miniatures to use. Give the mods to any other judges you have recruited (see above) and have them provide a mini list if they cannot provide for themselves.
• Gather materials, making sure you have battlemaps, pens, lots of sharpened pencils, and anything else you need to play and can easily carry. Don’t be afraid to bring extra supplies, I carry extra dice, a box of various size miniatures of common ilk, and plenty of character sheets, log sheets, and the like. A filing box or accordion file is a good investment.
6.) Decide if you’re going to charge a fee. I don’t. If you’re in a retail shop, you’ve got support and the shop is getting customers in the door. This works quite well, I’ve seen people go get a Player’s Handbook straight off the shelf, pay, and then sit down to play a mod. If you’re not in a site, you may want to charge a fee to offset costs. If I were to run a gameday outside of a store, I would charge $2 per person per mod, $.25 for character sheets, $.50 per pencils, $.25-$.50 for other paper work, and I would have dice and PC minis available for sale. Concessions would also be a natural.
Web presence:
1.) Scope out all local gamedays to you (local is pretty broad here, I hit all of KC’s groups and I would hit all of Jeff City’s groups if they had any.) Presuming they have group pages, join them all and then make a mailing list that has each in it.
2.) Create a yahoo or google group for your gameday. I’m very proud of mine at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pair-a-dice_lost and you are welcome to sign up and check it out. If you don’t want to go through that bother, send me your e-mail and I’ll send you an invitation. The purpose of the gameday group is a common place to post news and for members to communicate.
3.) Decide how you will allow people to sign up for games. The easiest way to do it is to use a spreadsheet/database function on the group site. I opted for the much more complicated but very pretty warhorn.net site, my page is at www.warhorn.net/pairadicelost. You simple request a site, and they give you one. The site works on donations. Although it’s a great site, I really have trouble with people using it to sign up. If I had to do it all over again, I might just use the database option and keep it all on one site.
4.) Announce to all the world that you’ve got a gameday, be sure to include the who, what, when, and so on. I make my initial greeting on my site description the e-mail I send out as well. Be sure to apologize to those who subscribe to different lists and get the message multiple times.
The Gameday Itself:
1.) Prepare to be underwhelmed. My fellow judge and I had NOBODY come to our first gameday. However, where there is a judge there is a way. We rounded up players hanging about the store and ran a mod. Many were first time players, three are now regulars and they’re bringing friends now.
2.) Come early if you can, once you get there you’ll be bogged down with getting things going and a little extra time doesn’t hurt.
3.) Things I haven’t needed yet but I’m made are an RPGA HQ sign and standees for different tables with names of D&D characters on them for easy mustering. Maybe one day I’ll have enough tables to use them.
4.) Think a little before setting tables together. Obviously, you’ll want to think about APL and a balance of players. If you’ve got 8 players and 2 judges you have two tables of 4, not one of 6 and two guys with “tough luck buddy.” I try to avoid putting the annoying high school kids with my judge that hates annoying high school kids.
Other notes
1.) Events are good, we had a terrific crowd for Worldwide Gameday. I’m trying this magic again by having a year-end “retirement party” for outgoing mods.
2.) Go to other events, especially cons. I’ve got at least one new judge out of this, and you get to meet and network more. People have a face to attach with your name.
This first message is meant to be a "living document" that will be added too and modified. Please feel free to give further advice, or discuss the above advice, as you will.
about starting gamedays. I thought it was such a good idea, it deserves it's own thread.
ATA (Annoying Twerp Alert): This thread is for folks who want to run their own gameday. If you have something negative to say about the RPGA or the RPGA experience or other non-constructive criticism, stow it. Go start your own thread and don't detract from the conversation with your need for negativity.
I’ve only just begun and have two gamedays under my belt and two more planned, so my capacity for advice is limited here.
Scheduling and Preperation:
1.) You’ll want to scope out whatever other gamedays are in the area and plan for a day that doesn’t conflict, probably on a Saturday, one month or more in the future. If there are no local gamedays, then you don’t have anything to worry about. Naturally if you are doing this in a store you’ll need to consult the owners. In store advertisements would be a good idea.
2.) Select your modules from the RPGA website, you’ll need the name of your site and an area code along with your RPGA number and dates. Select your mods, ask for good mods from another organizer or triad member if you are not sure of what to pick. MAKE SURE you have an introductory mod selected, these should be on your home region site. A new RPGA gameday means new RPGA players as a rule, so you’ll always want to have an introductory adventure prepared.
3.) Your adventures will be available 3 weeks from your date, they won’t be 2 weeks from your date, so be sure to download them when you can.
4.) Recruit judges from among your buddies. Have them take the herald test if they haven’t. If they’ve never played, run the intro mod for them so they become RPGA and then make sure they have copies of it (see below) so they can run it in the future if need be. I’ve got one judge from my home table and I’m working on two more.
5.) Gather what you will need. These include:
• RPGA cards (write RPGA for more if you need to) You’ll want ten minimum.
• Print off your adventures, double-sided if you can. I use a komco machine and bind them, using a pocket folder split in two as a back and front cover.
• Print off your AR records. You can do this on pretty paper if you like, but you should do it in color. My region has started doing one page summaries of adventures, which go great on the back side.
• Read each mod you personally plan on running, making notes about any special maps to bring and what miniatures to use. Give the mods to any other judges you have recruited (see above) and have them provide a mini list if they cannot provide for themselves.
• Gather materials, making sure you have battlemaps, pens, lots of sharpened pencils, and anything else you need to play and can easily carry. Don’t be afraid to bring extra supplies, I carry extra dice, a box of various size miniatures of common ilk, and plenty of character sheets, log sheets, and the like. A filing box or accordion file is a good investment.
6.) Decide if you’re going to charge a fee. I don’t. If you’re in a retail shop, you’ve got support and the shop is getting customers in the door. This works quite well, I’ve seen people go get a Player’s Handbook straight off the shelf, pay, and then sit down to play a mod. If you’re not in a site, you may want to charge a fee to offset costs. If I were to run a gameday outside of a store, I would charge $2 per person per mod, $.25 for character sheets, $.50 per pencils, $.25-$.50 for other paper work, and I would have dice and PC minis available for sale. Concessions would also be a natural.
Web presence:
1.) Scope out all local gamedays to you (local is pretty broad here, I hit all of KC’s groups and I would hit all of Jeff City’s groups if they had any.) Presuming they have group pages, join them all and then make a mailing list that has each in it.
2.) Create a yahoo or google group for your gameday. I’m very proud of mine at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pair-a-dice_lost and you are welcome to sign up and check it out. If you don’t want to go through that bother, send me your e-mail and I’ll send you an invitation. The purpose of the gameday group is a common place to post news and for members to communicate.
3.) Decide how you will allow people to sign up for games. The easiest way to do it is to use a spreadsheet/database function on the group site. I opted for the much more complicated but very pretty warhorn.net site, my page is at www.warhorn.net/pairadicelost. You simple request a site, and they give you one. The site works on donations. Although it’s a great site, I really have trouble with people using it to sign up. If I had to do it all over again, I might just use the database option and keep it all on one site.
4.) Announce to all the world that you’ve got a gameday, be sure to include the who, what, when, and so on. I make my initial greeting on my site description the e-mail I send out as well. Be sure to apologize to those who subscribe to different lists and get the message multiple times.
The Gameday Itself:
1.) Prepare to be underwhelmed. My fellow judge and I had NOBODY come to our first gameday. However, where there is a judge there is a way. We rounded up players hanging about the store and ran a mod. Many were first time players, three are now regulars and they’re bringing friends now.
2.) Come early if you can, once you get there you’ll be bogged down with getting things going and a little extra time doesn’t hurt.
3.) Things I haven’t needed yet but I’m made are an RPGA HQ sign and standees for different tables with names of D&D characters on them for easy mustering. Maybe one day I’ll have enough tables to use them.
4.) Think a little before setting tables together. Obviously, you’ll want to think about APL and a balance of players. If you’ve got 8 players and 2 judges you have two tables of 4, not one of 6 and two guys with “tough luck buddy.” I try to avoid putting the annoying high school kids with my judge that hates annoying high school kids.
Other notes
1.) Events are good, we had a terrific crowd for Worldwide Gameday. I’m trying this magic again by having a year-end “retirement party” for outgoing mods.
2.) Go to other events, especially cons. I’ve got at least one new judge out of this, and you get to meet and network more. People have a face to attach with your name.
This first message is meant to be a "living document" that will be added too and modified. Please feel free to give further advice, or discuss the above advice, as you will.
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