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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Balsamic Dragon" data-source="post: 280588" data-attributes="member: 2433">I put this in a different thread from the "GenCon Needs GMs" thread, because I don't want to discourage folks from signing up.  However, this kind of last-ditch effort to get DMs for games that players have already registered for makes me pause.I have played in some great convention games and I have also played in some truly horrible ones.  And it all comes down to the whether there is a good gamemaster or not.  It seems to me that conventions have a hard time getting GMs at all, and therefor they will take anyone who is willing to give it a shot.  Gencon is case-in-point.  This is a HUGE convention, one of the biggest, if not the biggest, gaming convention.  They plan over a year in advance.  They have a large draw and a devoted fan following.  And they admit that they cannot get enough GMs.  More disturbing, they are willing to allow anyone to GM their events with no more qualification than signing up for free RPGA membership.  They are even willing to pay these sight-unseen GMs in room and board reimbursements.Even if, for argument's sake, there are more good GMs than poor ones, these people will have one week to prepare their adventure, assuming that they receive the materials that soon.  They will be running modules, RPGA written events, that, from my experience, often need a lot of tweaking.  And they will be seriously hindered in making any changes to the module that they might see as necessary or desireable in order to make the game more enjoyable for their players.  RPGA seems to be of the opinion that if you have an arguably well-written module, even a poor GM will be able to produce a decent game from it.  Notwithstanding the fact that many of their modules are poorly written, in my mind it is just the opposite: a good GM can make a poor module enjoyable, but not the other way around.  This all comes down to one point:  do people go to conventions to play in games?  Or is it more important to meet new people, buy new stuff, get autographs, attend panels?  I think all of these are important, but most important are the games themselves!  If I play in a great session with a new system, I will buy that system.  If get to play in a great world I haven't tried before, I will buy the sourcebook.  If I play in a great game with a great GM who is making the best of a poor world/system/module, I feel good that I haven't wasted my time buying the product, plus I get to play in a great game!  But if I go to a convention where the focus is more on the printed material than the flesh and blood people who make that material come alive, then in my view the focus is in the wrong place.  The RPGA wants new members and game companies want to sell their products and conventions want to sell more membership.  What these groups need to understand is that they need to appeal to gamemasters, get them interested, get them to want to go to conventions.  Come up with some sort of training process.  Come up with a rating system that works.  One based on actual skill, not the number of cons that one attends each year.GenCon has lots of players now, but how many of these players will stick around if there is no one to run for?  How many will want to GM when all of the rewards seem aimed at the players, not the gamemaster?  How many will bother learning how to be a better GM when GenCon will take anyone who is breathing and has an RPGA membership?Balsamic Dragon</blockquote>

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