Does Anyone Else Find Con Games To Suck?

[Thunt]

I love conventions a hell of a lot. But I've always found that D&D or other RPGs played in a con gaming room often stick like orcish cheese gone bad. I just find that a nice, private game in my basement plays out so much better than a table of people who may or may not play well surrounded by other people screaming next to us about how much Alien vs Predator sucked. Or the kid playing the paladin who's about to save the party but suddenly gets screamed at from across the room...

"Hey Jerry! You want my last Cheeseburger?"

"Dude! I'm playing right now, hang on... wait, does it have pickles!?"

"Ya!"

"Then no!" Returning to the game, "Sorry, guys. Okay, my paladin sneaks up to the orc and.."

"Hey Jerry! Phil says his doesn't have pickles! You want it?"

"Okay, I'm coming over!"

Sigh. So my question is, am I a freak or does everyone else who games at cons find this to be the case too?

 

[Jonny Nexus]

Sometimes. But I've also had some spectacularly good games at cons. I think it just depends.

 

[tetsujin28]

In general, yes: they suck. There have been exceptions (Dave Hargrave at Polycon in '84), but those are rare. I tend to stick to historical miniatures at cons.

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

Generally speaking games at cons DO suck. Well, unless you are in mine.

See, the trick, I have discovered, is this: pick the right game to run (or play in) and make sure you, as the GM, know what you are doing. Frankly, I do not think many GMs put the proper thought into what they are running. Let me give some examples.

First of all, D&D is a real trap. The standard game is about 4 hours. What can you do in D&D for four hours? I suppose you could do lots of hack & slash which would be fun if that is all you want to do. But you really can't do much of an epic adventure. Maybe you could solve a mystery or something but then many people do not come to do that. This is why I would not run D&D at a con and I have not PLAYED D&D at a con in ten years.

Now, there are some games which lend themselves to being played at cons. Great games to get into would be Call of Cthulhu (All Flesh works here, too), Paranoia, any supers game or any spy game. (Of course, if you hate these games then that is its own problem.) But these games can have fairly simply plots or can really hinge on things other than hack and slash. I think that is the reason why Call of Cthulhu and Paranoia are so popular at cons - seasoned players know they can have a great time with them.

Another trend I have noticed for popular games is the 'gimmick' game. These tend to be very popular. Some examples of the 'gimmick' game . . .

I played in a game called 'Cereal Killers' a few years ago which was filled and had to turn away generics. The guy had been doing this for years (and continues to do it). He makes Champions stats for Kelloggs and General Mills cereal icons and creates an adventure. Honestly, it is not only funny but he has a great plot that goes with it. It was a great experience.

This year the table next to me one day was playing Toy Story vs. Muppets. These people were having a blast and really getting into it. I am not sure what system they were using (maybe Champions/Hero) but could not be sure. The amont of energy, excitement and role playing at that table told me it was a total success.

So in short, I think you have to pick the right game and read the description carefully (and pray that the GM has written the description carefully).

The past couple of years I have been taking my own advice to heart and really working on games that can be done in just four hours and have a great amount of excitement to them. In fact, Saturday night I always host a playtest with some dear friends to see if the game I run would be good to fit into my annual rotation of games to run at Origins and GenCon. Some really great games have come out of that playtest session.

 

[MavrickWeirdo]

Like a so-so pizza.

 

[Khairn]

From my experince, based on about a dozen Con's, the split is more like this

20% -Outstanding Games that are very memorable
60% -Decent Games that are rarely memorable
20% -Bad games that unfortunately are very memorable.

The 4 games I played at Dragon-Con last weekend fit that breakdown perfectly.

There are many things that can effect your enjoyment of the game, so trying to maximize those items seems a logical thing to do.

 

[Blue]

I've noticed that there are lots of different things gamers expect out of a game, and sometimes if you're in a mixed group they are at odds. There isn't any "one true way" to play, but unlike chocolate and peanut butter not all ways enhance one another.

I remember running a game at a con and there was a group that stayed together that really didn't have a style that I would have pciked as a player. Nothing wrong with it - they were having a good time, it just wasn't me. Since I was running, I felt a responsibility to give them a good time, and foudn myself falling into their rhythm and what they were looking for. We all (myself included) had a great time, but it was fairly foreign to how I played as a player. If I hadn't actively tried to match their style it could easily have turned out otherwise.

So I think that to have fun at cons, you need to be flexible and work with whatever group you're with.

Cheers,
=Blue

 

[Grand_Director]

I learned a while ago that role-playing games at cons often leave me awfully bored and frustrated. There are exceptions of course, but more often then not, it has never been the best. I will agree with KoS that the games that were good were either really focused, superhero, horror or had a gimmick.

I find that the best way to ensure I will have a good time at a con is to concentrate on board games. Of course, you can always get into a bad game this way as well. Nothing worse then playing a game against a bunch of people who know each other and getting ganged up on.

 

[Dagger75]

I try not to play D&D at cons. I like to play new games.

On of my favorite was a White Wolf MAge game. It was a blast. The cable company was stealing tiny pieces of life force through the cable boxes. It was fun.

Another was a call of Cthulu that took place durning the Civil War. Well I got de-Evolved into a Caveman by some wacky time traveling aliens and was SHOT DEAD by my own party 2 hours into the game. I sat there and listened to the game to see what happened and had a blast doing it. Needless to say the North shall rise agian.

Most of the games were meh, nothing special but nothing 2 bad.

One bad one was a White Wolf game with Mages, Vampires and Werewolf. There were 6 of us, 2 of each. We all woke up unconscious in a strange room. The GM's hope for party conflict was never hatched, we were all pissed about being captured and agreed to help each other get out and then go our seperate way.

 

[VirgilCaine]

One bad one was a White Wolf game with Mages, Vampires and Werewolf. There were 6 of us, 2 of each. We all woke up unconscious in a strange room. The GM's hope for party conflict was never hatched, we were all pissed about being captured and agreed to help each other get out and then go our seperate way.

What was the point of the game then? What could possibly have happened?