Rel
Liquid Awesome
I had a wonderful time, as usual. The games I played were fun, interesting and (also as usual) taught me how to be a better GM. The games I ran were full of fun players who I hope all had a great time. How could they not? It was Kobolds Ate My Baby!
Thanks to everybody who came, especially those who came from so far away. And also thanks to the new folks who came and jumped in with both feet! It was a pleasure meeting you and I look forward to seeing you again in a few months.
With all that said, there were some concerns raised by some who attended (and some who I don't think attended but who raised similar concerns in this thread) and I wanted to address that now that we are not right in the middle of the game day. If I understand these concerns correctly they revolve around the fact that there were several games that were not open for anyone to sign up for using the normal registration process. I have thought about this (and discussed it with a few people) considerably since the Game Day and it has had me asking myself, "What are the core principles that drive the manner in which the Game Day is organized?" So here they are with a bit of explanation:
The NC Game Day Will Be Free
There has never been, and so long as I'm the one organizing it, will never be, any fee or charge of any kind required to participate in the NC Game Day. This is important to me for a host of reasons centered around the handling of money. So long as the Game Day is free then I feel no pressure to drive up attendance. Anybody is welcome to attend but I do not want to be trying to "sell tickets" in order to defray some kind of cost. Nor do I want to be in the position of NC Game Day making a "profit", which brings about questions of what should be done with that money.
Now, my experience with NC Game Day is that it utterly defies the old addage that "anything free is worth what you pay for it". I would absolutely be willing to pay money for a similar product (in fact most years I do. It's called "GenCon"). That said, I guarantee NOTHING. I don't guarantee that games you want to play will be run. I don't guarantee that the games you want to be in will have slots available. I don't guarantee that the games you play will be fun (ok, fine, I'll guarantee it if it's Henry's game). I don't guarantee that your character won't get killed 20 minutes into the session. I don't guarantee that Mountain Dew will not shoot out of your nose.
I am in no position to guarantee any of that. You are not being charged for it. Now, historically speaking, I deem it likely that there will be fun games, that many of these will have spots available, that you will have fun in them and that your character won't be killed 20 minutes in. You are on your own about that Mountain Dew thing. But I've been to nineteen NC Game Days now and I've had a blast at every single one. Anyway, onto our next guiding principle...
I Won't Tell a GM How To Run Their Game
I am simply not in the business of doing this. I won't tell a GM what system to run, how long to run it, when to start, how many players they should have, which players they should have or whether it is a good idea to kill off your character 20 minutes into the session. Even if I did have any inclination to do this kind of stuff, how would I enforce it?
There was some mention made that there should be slots open in games for people who show up the day of the event. The fact of the matter is that there ARE slots open in games for people who show up the day of the event. There were open slots in games available minutes after this particular request was made. But I think it is impractical to require or perhaps even to request that this be standard practice. Most games have pre-generated characters. Many have character generation that does not lend itself well to making characters on the spot (Dread is a good example). The idea that a GM should not be trying to fill their available slots prior to Game Day on the theory that they need to save some space for players that they don't know, who may not attend, who may not even exist is just kinda strange to me.
Finally, I've talked about this some before upthread, but I think it bears repeating...
NC Game Day Is A Social Event, Not Just A Gaming Event
I have had literally dozens of people over the years tell me that the reason that they enjoyed coming to the NC Game Day, in preference to some of the other events they have attended in the past, was that it wasn't just "Show up. Game. Go home." I turns out that a great many of us have become friends over the years. Very good friends in many cases. And this is the thing about which I am most proud when it comes to the Game Day.
Now it is indeed a fact that, as a result of these relationships, there are games that become full before they are ever posted on the NC Game Day website. These are games being run by excellent GMs, whose talent is known, and who are approached by friends that know they are running a particular game who say, "Hey! That sounds like a blast! Mind if I play?" So, in the face of an enthusiastic, excellent player, who also happens to be a good friend that you only get to see once or twice a year, the GM says "Sure!" I don't see anything wrong with that. And, even if I did, I don't know how I'd stop it.
However, I'll let you in on a dirty little secret: Many of those games end up with empty spots in them as we get down to the wire. Unfortunately people discover that they can't make it to the Game Day or find that they have overbooked themselves (a known downside of failure to book your games through the official website, btw). And so you'll hear people at the Friday night gathering saying, "I turns out that I've got an open spot in my game tomorrow if anybody is interested." Happens all the time.
"But what if I'm not there on Friday night?" you may ask. Well, the only thing I can say is that, again, this is a hybrid social/gaming event. It always has been. If you do not participate in the social aspects then you probably won't reap the full rewards of some of the gaming aspects.
So those are my thoughts in a rather sizable nutshell. If there are any further comments, questions, criticisms or whatnot, feel free to make them known. We've got several months now before our next Game Day so plenty of time to make adjustments if necessary.
Thanks to everybody who came, especially those who came from so far away. And also thanks to the new folks who came and jumped in with both feet! It was a pleasure meeting you and I look forward to seeing you again in a few months.
With all that said, there were some concerns raised by some who attended (and some who I don't think attended but who raised similar concerns in this thread) and I wanted to address that now that we are not right in the middle of the game day. If I understand these concerns correctly they revolve around the fact that there were several games that were not open for anyone to sign up for using the normal registration process. I have thought about this (and discussed it with a few people) considerably since the Game Day and it has had me asking myself, "What are the core principles that drive the manner in which the Game Day is organized?" So here they are with a bit of explanation:
The NC Game Day Will Be Free
There has never been, and so long as I'm the one organizing it, will never be, any fee or charge of any kind required to participate in the NC Game Day. This is important to me for a host of reasons centered around the handling of money. So long as the Game Day is free then I feel no pressure to drive up attendance. Anybody is welcome to attend but I do not want to be trying to "sell tickets" in order to defray some kind of cost. Nor do I want to be in the position of NC Game Day making a "profit", which brings about questions of what should be done with that money.
Now, my experience with NC Game Day is that it utterly defies the old addage that "anything free is worth what you pay for it". I would absolutely be willing to pay money for a similar product (in fact most years I do. It's called "GenCon"). That said, I guarantee NOTHING. I don't guarantee that games you want to play will be run. I don't guarantee that the games you want to be in will have slots available. I don't guarantee that the games you play will be fun (ok, fine, I'll guarantee it if it's Henry's game). I don't guarantee that your character won't get killed 20 minutes into the session. I don't guarantee that Mountain Dew will not shoot out of your nose.
I am in no position to guarantee any of that. You are not being charged for it. Now, historically speaking, I deem it likely that there will be fun games, that many of these will have spots available, that you will have fun in them and that your character won't be killed 20 minutes in. You are on your own about that Mountain Dew thing. But I've been to nineteen NC Game Days now and I've had a blast at every single one. Anyway, onto our next guiding principle...
I Won't Tell a GM How To Run Their Game
I am simply not in the business of doing this. I won't tell a GM what system to run, how long to run it, when to start, how many players they should have, which players they should have or whether it is a good idea to kill off your character 20 minutes into the session. Even if I did have any inclination to do this kind of stuff, how would I enforce it?
There was some mention made that there should be slots open in games for people who show up the day of the event. The fact of the matter is that there ARE slots open in games for people who show up the day of the event. There were open slots in games available minutes after this particular request was made. But I think it is impractical to require or perhaps even to request that this be standard practice. Most games have pre-generated characters. Many have character generation that does not lend itself well to making characters on the spot (Dread is a good example). The idea that a GM should not be trying to fill their available slots prior to Game Day on the theory that they need to save some space for players that they don't know, who may not attend, who may not even exist is just kinda strange to me.
Finally, I've talked about this some before upthread, but I think it bears repeating...
NC Game Day Is A Social Event, Not Just A Gaming Event
I have had literally dozens of people over the years tell me that the reason that they enjoyed coming to the NC Game Day, in preference to some of the other events they have attended in the past, was that it wasn't just "Show up. Game. Go home." I turns out that a great many of us have become friends over the years. Very good friends in many cases. And this is the thing about which I am most proud when it comes to the Game Day.
Now it is indeed a fact that, as a result of these relationships, there are games that become full before they are ever posted on the NC Game Day website. These are games being run by excellent GMs, whose talent is known, and who are approached by friends that know they are running a particular game who say, "Hey! That sounds like a blast! Mind if I play?" So, in the face of an enthusiastic, excellent player, who also happens to be a good friend that you only get to see once or twice a year, the GM says "Sure!" I don't see anything wrong with that. And, even if I did, I don't know how I'd stop it.
However, I'll let you in on a dirty little secret: Many of those games end up with empty spots in them as we get down to the wire. Unfortunately people discover that they can't make it to the Game Day or find that they have overbooked themselves (a known downside of failure to book your games through the official website, btw). And so you'll hear people at the Friday night gathering saying, "I turns out that I've got an open spot in my game tomorrow if anybody is interested." Happens all the time.
"But what if I'm not there on Friday night?" you may ask. Well, the only thing I can say is that, again, this is a hybrid social/gaming event. It always has been. If you do not participate in the social aspects then you probably won't reap the full rewards of some of the gaming aspects.
So those are my thoughts in a rather sizable nutshell. If there are any further comments, questions, criticisms or whatnot, feel free to make them known. We've got several months now before our next Game Day so plenty of time to make adjustments if necessary.
