GMs: Where and When Do You Run Games

[aramis erak]

My "Other" vote is Discord. Sometimes we add a vtt. Weekly. Currently Jackals.

I ran a one-shot of Classic Traveller saturday at Corvallis' C3 Con. DA1 Shadows.

I run a weekly game at the FLGS. Currently, The Fantasy Trip.

 

[greymist]

All the players are sitting in their own homes and we play via the Roll20 VTT. We started doing this when COVID hit and we decided to stick with it because it far easier than commuting to a single location.

 

[DragonLancer]

Primarily at our FLGS these days with a few home games now and again.

 

[Reynard]

I am a little surprised at how few GMs run at conventions.

 

[The Soloist]

We play online using Discord. More convenient for everyone.

We keep talking about renting the RPG room at the local gaming store, but it never happens.

 

[Reynard]

Also added to the first post as an edit:

I did not really present this question correctly. What I was really asking was "Do you run games OTHER than home games?" I get that a lot of people play online. What I wanted to know was how many GMs out there run at conventions, for game clubs, at stores or other games "with strangers".

 

[Belen]

I used to run games at the ENWorld NC Gamedays and at GenCon for the ENWorld crowd that used to hang there. I also ran a home game as a friend's FLGS in the early 2000s. Now, I just run online home games for friends.

I really, really, miss the old NC Gamedays. Alas, moving to the Camp NC Gameday format and having kids meant that we cannot attend. Allergies with no climate control alone gets us before we even consider the kids.

 

[payn]

I am a little surprised at how few GMs run at conventions.

Im not. While conventions seem to pop up newly every day, the attendance is still a drop in the gamer community bucket.

Further expanding on why I dont GM at cons, It can be a lot of work. Im into some war games and the thigns I run locally have been asked to run at cons. I've had no support beyond asking me to do it. It's more a labor of love with my friends and local community. For example, im driving 5 hours in a few weeks to Adepticon and hauling a ton of gear and running an event for 20-40 strangers is a ton of work. I got offered like a coffee to do it. I'd rather just play and enjoy my time.

 

[Belen]

Also added to the first post as an edit:

I did not really present this question correctly. What I was really asking was "Do you run games OTHER than home games?" I get that a lot of people play online. What I wanted to know was how many GMs out there run at conventions, for game clubs, at stores or other games "with strangers".

I used too. A lot. I stopped doing it after having kids and then Covid kept me away from the local community. I used to run a lot of demo games to teach people to play.

These days, if I recruit players, I have to meet them ahead of time to see if they would like my style of game or if we'd be a good fit.

There was a time when ENWorld spawned a lot of local mini-cons and meetups with regular gamedays in NC, DC, and Boston.

Rel still runs an annual Camp NC Gameday but I am not sure anyone is still active on ENWorld and the camp format just does not work for us now.

 

[Ath'kethin]

Currently I run three games regularly: every other week (or so) at my FLGS, every week at home for my wife and family, and every week on Roll20 for my 11yo and his friends.

I also ran playtests at Gen Con in 2022 for a module I wrote, which gods willing should see the light of day this year.