How to recruit quality GMs?

Piratecat · Dec 10, 2006

Wow, interesting. I had no idea.

Ceresco · Dec 10, 2006

Piratecat said:
Wow, interesting. I had no idea.

Yeah, it was just announced yesterday. The writing has been on the wall for over a year though. The RPGA did not support any Arcanis events in 2006.

PCI stepped up at Origins and put together "The Gathering" to replace what would have normally been the RPGA's responsibility. It was a major success. Origins has become the major Arcanis event of the year. I'm definately curious about what the announcement in the Spring will be.

kenobi65 · Dec 10, 2006

Ceresco said:
Yeah, it was just announced yesterday.

I haven't heard one way or the other, but I suspect that Living Spycraft would also be getting the boot from the RPGA, for the same reason.

Beyond those two, there are only two other RPGA campaigns these days that aren't directly owned / run by RPGA:
- Living Death, which is premiering their finale in February.
- Living Kingdoms of Kalamar, which could still be getting RPGA support because Kenzer & Co. holds a D&D license from WotC (and, thus, WotC makes money on the sale of Kalamar books).

kenobi65 · Dec 10, 2006

der_kluge said:
I don't go to Cons who only offer RPGA games. I definitely wouldn't GM at one.

You should really consider changing your focus to offering all kinds of games, not just "Living" games. You're going to get a much better response.

As Ceresco / Ed notes...the intent for this is that it's going to be a highly-focused con, for Living Arcanis fans. As I noted earlier, I think most people are going to be in one of two highly polarized camps:
(a) "I will kill or die to attend this."
(b) "I am not interested in this AT ALL."

The issue is, if this turns out to be as big as is being suggested...it's gonna take a LOT of DMs. The base of the LA DM population is, surprise surprise, people who also like to PLAY LA. Given that what is being proposed for play at this convention are going to be modules that are key to the LA storyline, I think finding people willing to "eat" the modules is going to be very challenging; most of your willing DMs are going to really want to Slot 0 these, so that they can play them, too.

Thus, it's going to be INCREDIBLY important for the modules to be ready a month or more before the con, so that Slot 0s (maybe several iterations of them) can be done. (And, Ceresco, you've played RPGA games long enough to know that that kind of timing is pretty out of the ordinary for an RPGA-type con.)

The other option, which it seems like Ceresco is trying to gauge in this thread, is bringing in DMs who have little or no prior connection to LA. Honestly, I'd be surprised if you could get many people of that sort to volunteer...you'd need to compensate the hell out of them, and, even then, if they don't know much about the campaign, you'd possibly be providing a sub-optimal game for the players.

Ceresco · Dec 11, 2006

kenobi65 said:
As Ceresco / Ed notes...the intent for this is that it's going to be a highly-focused con, for Living Arcanis fans. As I noted earlier, I think most people are going to be in one of two highly polarized camps:
(a) "I will kill or die to attend this."
(b) "I am not interested in this AT ALL."

The issue is, if this turns out to be as big as is being suggested...it's gonna take a LOT of DMs. The base of the LA DM population is, surprise surprise, people who also like to PLAY LA. Given that what is being proposed for play at this convention are going to be modules that are key to the LA storyline, I think finding people willing to "eat" the modules is going to be very challenging; most of your willing DMs are going to really want to Slot 0 these, so that they can play them, too.

Thus, it's going to be INCREDIBLY important for the modules to be ready a month or more before the con, so that Slot 0s (maybe several iterations of them) can be done. (And, Ceresco, you've played RPGA games long enough to know that that kind of timing is pretty out of the ordinary for an RPGA-type con.)

The other option, which it seems like Ceresco is trying to gauge in this thread, is bringing in DMs who have little or no prior connection to LA. Honestly, I'd be surprised if you could get many people of that sort to volunteer...you'd need to compensate the hell out of them, and, even then, if they don't know much about the campaign, you'd possibly be providing a sub-optimal game for the players.

All of your obsevations are correct, and ones I am trying to find solutions for. I am currently involved in an ongoing discussion on LA Talk about how to get qualified DMs for Arcanis. Perhaps it's a pipe dream, but I think I can over come many of the obstacles for holding an ArcanisCon in 2008.

I believe with proper coordination and some fancy foot work on my end I could arrange for many slot 0s. I'm not as concerned about those, I'm more of the belief that every once on a while you have to make a sacrifice for the good of the team. I've alwys thought of gaming as a community event, where the enjoyment of all the participants was the goal, not who owns what.

edward-

Umbran · Dec 11, 2006

Ceresco said:
I believe with proper coordination and some fancy foot work on my end I could arrange for many slot 0s.

Okay, I've been involved with the organization and running of several sci-fi and larp cons in the Boston area, and I've never heard the term "slot 0". Is it a Living game term?

Ceresco · Dec 11, 2006

Umbran said:
Okay, I've been involved with the organization and running of several sci-fi and larp cons in the Boston area, and I've never heard the term "slot 0". Is it a Living game term?

Yes, Slot 0 is a RPGA term. It means that as a judge you get to play in the event you are running before the convention so that you don't have to "eat" it so that others can play. This way judges don't get left out on the story and loot with their faovorite PCs. It is predominately a Living term, but it applies to all events run for the RPGA, Living or Classic (which have regretfully gone the way of the dodo). It is a nice thing to do for your judges, but by no means mandatory.

kenobi65 · Dec 11, 2006

Ceresco said:
It means that as a judge you get to play in the event you are running before the convention so that you don't have to "eat" it so that others can play. This way judges don't get left out on the story and loot with their faovorite PCs.

Just to elaborate a bit...because the RPGA tracks what you play, once you DM a particular adventure, you are no longer eligible to play in that adventure (foreknowledge and all that). With Living-style campaigns, obviously, your PC then would miss out on whatever transpires in that module (XP, treasure, favors, etc.), although Living Arcanis does have a rule that lets DMs that "eat" modules gain XP for one of their PCs for doing so.

The term "Slot 0" comes about because such play happens before the regular convention (in which games would be scheduled in Slot 1, Slot 2, etc.) These days, a fair number of Slot 0s get done online, since it can be difficult to get judges from different cities together before the con.

Ceresco said:
It is a nice thing to do for your judges, but by no means mandatory.

No, it's not mandatory, and, in too many cases (particularly at the big cons), it doesn't happen, because the modules aren't ready until the 11th hour.

Still, it can be a mighty big carrot, esp. for conventions offering modules that are particularly important to a campaign. While there are, indeed, some DMs who are willing to "take one for the team" (and, from my experience, I think Ceresco is one of them; he was my DM for a LA module, and the LA Battle Interactive, at Origins last summer), but my fear is that there aren't as man of them as you'd like.