How to recruit quality GMs?

[GwydapLlew]

I'm working on recognition and perks. How do you suggest is the best way to approach the FLGS for swag? I'm already charging them for their vendor tables.

Prominent promotion. If you give out a Yu-Gi-Oh! (for example) booster to each GM, tell each of them that is was provided by Ye Olde Game Store. If you use a banner, add a 'brought to you by...' line and list anyone providing swag. It works, it's simple, and you'd be surprised how quickly people jump at it.

 

[BlackMoria]

I've DMed a few cons in the past.

QA issues can be done by observing the DMs run short 'test' sessions. Just by observing, you can in a short time get a feel about how rules savvy the DM is, how he operates his table and what sort of presence he projects.

As for quality DMs that are willing to game a con.... they are neither plentiful nor cheap.

At the cons I DMed, my admission was free for the entire con. Not that I had much time to partake, but I could enter other events without charge if my schedule allowed.

At the same cons, there was a hosptiality room for the DMs with a fridge full of pop, water and juices, coffee, tea, and a table with sandwiches and other eatables.

At the end of the three day con, the DMs got free admission to the end event, a medieval style feast with all-you-can-eat rack of ribs and half chickens (everyone else paid) Cutlery optional... (it was a medieval feast after all. The feast alone was worth the long hours running events.

Now, I am not saying that you need to run a medieval feast but the absolute minimum any DM worth his salt is going to accept is complete free admission and a very well stocked hospitality room. Subsitute free swag for the medieval feast and you should be golden...

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

Don't neglect the personal aspect-- targetted asking people matters. It's time consuming and unpleasant for many people, but it makes a difference, and there are many GMs who will say yes if asked directly but won't volunteer or respond to a mass e-mail. Sending a message to a list is not the same as sending e-mail (or even better calling or asking in person) someone one-on-one, especially if you have a relationship with them.

I don't make it to many cons anymore, but the main factors that affect my con-going these days are: 1. relationship to the staff/to the con (this factor predominates); 2. quality of the gaming experience; and 3. location. My favorite con (www.anonycon.com, coming up on Dec. 15-17 in CT, come play with us!) has terrific games, great GMs, and solid players, but the reason I go is because I care about the people who run it, even though I no longer live anywhere near it.

That said, if a con I didn't have a relationship with was trying to recruit me, quality of games would be the big factor for me. Do I trust the writers of the adventures I'm going to be running? I've run some really miserable mods, but I've also had an absolute blast running con games. If this is a big Arcanis event, are there "name authors" for the Arcanis campaign or setting that are writing for you? If so, highlight that. If there are things you can do to talk up the quality of your player base, that's also good, but that's harder to do in the abstract-- you mostly find out how good the players at a con are from how good they were last year. Obviously, targeting Arcanis fans will be a big draw for you-- "you love the campaign, you like the people who play it, this is the big thing."

Making it an "event" where there's something special or unique can also help, but that tends to help draw players more than GMs.

Finally, while I don't much care about this, many campaign GMs care a lot about slot 0s. If you can make slot 0s plentiful and well-organized, you can move people from the player to the GM column. (That's particularly important if you're asking your GMs to run the whole time-- 500 players to 84 GMs means every GM running, at least in the slot with peak player participation. Cons I've been associated with usually ask GMs to run 3-4 slots (out of 6-13), and are then super grateful to the stars who run more than that. If you're asking GMs to run every slot, you're both asking for a much bigger commitment and telling them that they can't play at your con.)

Hope this advice helps. Best of luck!

 

[Umbran]

I'd be more than happy to spend the time getting perspective judges up to speed on the story line, but how do I recruit and implement some quality assurance?

What would it take for you to commit to judging a living campaign set in Arcanis? Besides accomodations and entry to the con, what else could sway you? Every one has a price after all.

Well, I've been going to Intercon (a larp convention) for many years - the upcoming Interon G has some 70 GMs, I think, for something over 30 games running during the weekend. Each game is usually 4 to 6 hours long.

The big thing to getting GMs to come and run things is not the incentives (if I recall correctly, each Intercon game has two complimentary convention memberships for GMs - the GMs still have to pay for their own travel, room, food, etc, and if you need more GMs, that's just too bad). The con simply can't afford big incentives for 50 to 100 people. I doubt most cons would be much different, in that regard.

The basic thing is statistics - if you ask enough times, enthusiastically enough, into a community full of GMs, you'll get folks who think it'll be fun. And that's really what you want - GMs who want to do it for the amusement it'll bring them, right? Intercon starts trying to drum up interest a year in advance, but these GMs have to write their own games (usually characters, plots, and mechanics).

So, the basic way to get the people you need - advertise. Advertise, advertise, advertise! Find the places where most other cons get their GMs for their Living games, and start e-mailing them well in advance. Go to cons where Living games are playing, and have flyers to distribute, get a table, and get people to sit at it to recruit.

 

[Nightchilde-2]

I'd be glad to provide swag in exchange for ad space. Contact me at elysiumowner (at) nightchilde (dot) net and we can discuss details. ;-)

 

[Ceresco]

How about if instead of asking for volunteers, it was by invitation only?

Would that encourage you to get involved, so long as the other suggestions about food and entry are covered?

 

[Umbran]

How about if instead of asking for volunteers, it was by invitation only?

Would that encourage you to get involved...

Me? No. The only difference is a little bit of ego stroking ("We're asking *you*, instead of just any shlub GM!"). But it is a bit disingenuous - as if you've got a list of 82+ elite GMS handy that I just happen to be on? As if you won't be asking just about every GM you can find an address for?

 

[Endur]

It seems my first obstacle is that the projected attendance is approximatly 500, which means I wold need to get at least 84 qualified and better than comptent judges who could run LA with all it's own uniqueness and quirks.

It is pretty straight-forward.

First, figure out why you have a projected attendance of 500.

Are there that many local gamers who go to local cons?

Are there that many gamers who will travel from other places for your con?

Once you have identified who your audience is, then figure out how to persuade some of the audience members to judge games.

Your judges are not separate from your audience, they are a key part of your audience.

They want to have fun.

Set up judging slot 0s several weeks before the con.

Give Judges free admission to the con.

And so on and so forth.

 

[kenobi65]

First, figure out why you have a projected attendance of 500.

The reason for that projected number, I suspect, is that this is being planned as the biggest convention ever for the Living Arcanis campaign, with key campaign-shaping events occuring during the modules played at this con.

If you're at all into LA (and the campaign's active players measure in the thousands), and have the means to get there, it's shaping up to be a must-attend event. Thus, this con is likely going to have relatively few "local" attendees, and will probably draw from all over the U.S., and beyond.

 

[adwyn]

Years back our local con used to host a game for the primary GMs run by the gaming guest. Tracy Hickman and Zeb Cook were memorable standouts and it was a cheap perk that really meant something for the GMs.