Professional GM Diary: Pre Planning part 3

[Captain_Commando]

For those of you unfamiliar with "Caravan of Blades", it is a pay-for-play DnD 4e campaign that I'm planning to run as an income supplement. I posted some threads on this earlier on several different forums for brainstorming. There was a lot of negative feedback but a few decent comments and suggestions here and there helped me get on track in making this possibly work.

Feel free to make comments and suggestions. The forums have been helpful so far minus the much naysaying and implied if not blatant insults.

Marketing for the campaign, which will be in Manhattan (NYC) will be focused towards college students. I'm going to be scouting the in-door food courts at the NYU campus as first on my list of possible locations. I'll be advertising at the other colleges and within the local gamer community as well. I expect at least half of my customers will be newbies (I'll also be running some free short teaching games on the side) and infrequent gamers looking for a quick gaming fix between sessions or campaigns. This campaign will be especially convenient for people with hectic schedules. Convenience and session/writing quality will be the biggest selling points for this campaign.

The campaign will be comprised of episodic one-shot mission-based sessions for up to 7 players (I've had games of this magnitude so don't worry). The PCs will be members of a large adventuring company "The Blades of Fortune", and will be given a job to complete each session. The company will be traveling across many lands often stopping at cities where adventurers can find commissions hence the title of the campaign.
The sessions will last for 2 1/2-3 hours each and will be hosted three times a day three days a week (9 weekly sessions) for 20 weeks. Entry fee per player will be $5 per session. I'll make seat reservations available through e-mail.
At this point the first week of the campaign will probably be the second week of March. Both the first and last weeks of the campaign may be free.

There will be an over-arching storyline that connects all of the sessions together, updated weekly in a series of fictional writings on a forum website that is supporting this campaign with an entire messageboard dedicated to the setting and campaign story (a very generous gesture from the person in charge of the forum).

Every session within the week will feature the same general area (same city, etc.). There will be a list of missions that the party can choose from at the beginning of each session. No mission can be repeated but some missions may be tied together. Taking a mission in one session may open up the choice of a new related mission in a different session of the same week.

The sessions will be run as structured sandbox style. Each player will have a printed handout that has a map of the main area and surrounding areas. Obvious places of interested will be noted on the map but the party can go wherever they can think of. They will have a choice of missions but they don't have to do any of them. The noted map helps keep the players from getting lost though. Some places will be noted as being hotspots for activity regarding any mission chosen by the party or to the over-arching story. Whether or not the party taps the hot spots, they will have an effect on the weekly update. The world moves forward even if the party doesn't (though the party will probably pick a mission to do since they're paying for the session).

The party's actions each session may have an effect on what goes on in following sessions within the same week.
The results of all the sessions will be posted on the website so players can see why there was an explosion in the other side of town in the middle of their adventure (just an example of what may occur).

Character death will be curtailed by a magical insurance policy in which characters can choose to switch with a backup when their hit points reach 0 or less. If a character would die, then the switch is automatic. In order to keep combat exciting, there will be a system of "battle challenges" that affect how the encounter's outcome affects the story.

I will make a large number of pregenerated characters available for players who don't like the character generation part of the game. Players can bring in their own characters as long as they follow the same guidelines as the pregens. All character generation will be out-of-session.
The design of the story and type of the campaign allows players to easily mix-and-match their chosen pair of PCs each time if they want to try out different types of characters.

All gaming materials will be brought in by me including stationary and dice. There will be plenty of miniatures and map/dungeon tiles will be used as well. NPC interaction will be enhanced with "face on stick" puppets (printed pictures of faces attached to chopsticks) and appropriate voice acting. Printed handouts will include story text, pictures, and session maps.

Payment will be cash up-front at the beginning of each session, with a no refund policy after the first hour. There will also be rules of conduct posted on the website.

The campaign will feature an original setting with some final fantasy inspired elements though no trademark terms will actually be used. The setting will also be monotheistic religion friendly to attract customers that might otherwise be uncomfortable with polytheistic type settings.
Since the campaign is mission-based and the PCs are part of larger group of PCs in the story, it won't affect continuity to be playing with different people every session.

The messageboard for the campaign is currently under construction so there's not much to see but if you want a peek at the fiction being written for the campaign, you can go to viladin's final fantasy d20 project forum at:

http://ffd20.orgfree.com/phpBB2/index.php

The campaign stuff I've posted so far is in the Crystal Core Campaign setting board. I'll be posting heavily in a little over a week from now. There's also a lot of homebrew goodies in the other ff d20 boards at the site.

 

[wedgeski]

I think this makes for very interesting reading, and I wish you luck. I see you've dropped the price per session to $5, which I think is a good move. I like the structure you've put in place, with regards to keeping the party focused on their goals with tagged maps and so-on. That's going to be an essential starting point, although you may find, if your games attract a lot of people, that you can loosen that structure into something a little less blatant and let the PC's just follow their noses. I see why you've done it though: vague, directionless play is not what you want to be doing when you've paid good money for a spot at the table.

Are you going to ask for deposits or a booking fee? Missing or very late players could be a severe detriment to other people's enjoyment of the game.

Conflict resolution? I would imagine paying customers will have little patience for disruptive or otherwise annoying players... and the definition of 'annoying' will vary wildly person-to-person. A clear system for sorting out disputes, or moving players between games until they're comfortable, might be needed. An absolutely iron-clad table and house rule document is also a must.

If popular, you're going to have real issues with each player's sense of their own gratification. Players who elect to join a game without having to pay a fee still pester the DM to do things in a way which suits their own preferences; imagine this multiplied a 100 times by the sense of entitlement that your players will get because they're paying you to be there. A fair, anonymous, structured system of feedback would probably help here.

Good luck!

 

[Captain_Commando]

Are you going to ask for deposits or a booking fee? Missing or very late players could be a severe detriment to other people's enjoyment of the game.

Conflict resolution? I would imagine paying customers will have little patience for disruptive or otherwise annoying players... and the definition of 'annoying' will vary wildly person-to-person.

If popular, you're going to have real issues with each player's sense of their own gratification.

I'm planning to put up an e-mail address for free reservation. Otherwise, it'll be first come, first served. I'll be prepared to adjust the game to be fun even if there is only a single player.

I will be posting up a detailed rules of conduct thread on the support board and will be passing around a printed copy of rules of conduct around the table at the beginning of each session. If a particular person breaks the rules, they are immediately kicked out. The players at the table will also have the option to "vote" someone off the session.

The last campaign I ran had wildly varying levels of player energy. Some were a bit shy while others were pushy spotlight hoggers. I learned a lot from those games about cycling player responses so that everyone had a chance to contribute. I like to use the word "meanwhile" when cutting back and forth between players. I try to treat the entire party as if they're doing things at the same time which technically they are. I try to blend player actions with narrative to make all of the party's actions flow smoothly back and forth.

 

[Stormtower]

This was an interesting read. I'll keep my doubts to myself and offer this bit of constructive criticism:

If your service proves popular and you find yourself with a table of 5-7 players, your scheduled session times won't allow for much individual spotlight time for your paying customers.

In the RPGA at major cons such as GenCon and DDXP, we run tables of 6 players through 4-hour adventures, and allowing for a bit of roleplaying, a skill challenge or two, and 2-3 combats generally eats the entire 4 hours. Even then, a DM must focus hard on pacing or risk not finishing on time.

With 7 players (potentially) and a 3-hour time block, you will realistically have time for 2 combats and a skill challenge AT MOST. Your adventures should be based around this metric... no more than 3 total encounters, no more than two of which should be combats. Otherwise, you're unlikely to finish your adventures in one sitting, which is part of the point of your service, right?

 

[Captain_Commando]

With the "battle challenges", there will be always be more than one way to end the encounters in this campaign. Combined with careful use of minions vs. regular/elite/solo monsters, and making sure that I "act" them out appropriately, I should be able to keep good time while keeping the players satisfied.
When I first DMed with 4e, my biggest mistake was not properly utilizing the minion concept. That made combats last longer than they should have.

Some "battle challenges" may result in defeating enemies as well. For example, keeping a giant crab occupied in the middle of a room so that a party member can hit a switch that opens a large trap door in the floor under the crab...cinematic narrative ensues, and the party moves on the next step in their adventure.

I'm considering a progressive time limit for each player to make decisions during his or her turn. After 1 or 2 minutes, only at-will or basic attacks/utilities can be used. After 2 or 3 minutes, only move and minor actions can be used.
...Maybe. I think I'll make this an option for the players to decide each session.

I'm thinking about doing a 5-10 minute quick review of the rules at the beginning of the session so that players can make decisions faster.

With the labeled hot spots on the map, it should help pace the non-combat wanderings of the party to give more time for combat and skill challenges.

Since character creation will be done out of session, I won't have to worry about that eating up time either.

 

[tenkar]

Are you going to be using the food courts at NYU as your gaming location? My memories of hanging out at NYU are a bit hazy nearly 20 years later, but I remember having to occasionally dodge security to gain access, as I was a college student from another college.

I wish you luck. You haven't chosen as easy path, as the paying customer is much more demanding then one that plays for free.

 

[Captain_Commando]

Are you going to be using the food courts at NYU as your gaming location? My memories of hanging out at NYU are a bit hazy nearly 20 years later, but I remember having to occasionally dodge security to gain access, as I was a college student from another college.

You're right. I checked online and you need a student ID to get in any of the buildings, though some complain the security is a bit lax in checking cards.

I'll see if there's any place close though. If I don't find any good place within short walking distance of a college campus, there's always more well-known locations like the indoor public food courts at Grand Central station and the South Street Seaport.
As long as food and a toilet are less than a few minutes away.

 

[tenkar]

I'll see if there's any place close though. If I don't find any good place within short walking distance of a college campus, there's always more well-known locations like the indoor public food courts at Grand Central station and the South Street Seaport.
As long as food and a toilet are less than a few minutes away.

Therein may lay another problem for you, depending on whatever rules the venue might have. It might not be posted, but many fast food locations, even public food courts, have a seating time limit. They rarely enforce it, but if you are going to be sitting there for 9 hrs a day 3 days a week you very well make their radar.

I am talking from experience here (my avatar isn't just a pretty picture). Even if it isn't posted, once you are advised of it you'll be responsible to follow it. Now, you might be able to find space in not-for-profit community centers, but as you are charging for a service that might not work.

If your gaming group gets rambunctious you might also draw unwanted attention. What you want is a nice, quiet corner where you are out of sight and out of mind.

On a side note, I wouldn't advise making it obvious that you are running a "for profit" enterprise. Even if they don't mind your extended stay, you'll be violating the "no soliciting" rules almost every location has in place. They won't be happy with you using their space for free as you make money.

Don't let me discourage you... I'm not knocking what you want to accomplish, I'm just trying to point out some areas of the law you might run into issues with.

 

[Baron Opal]

When I ran a pay to play referee service I made sure that I had a 4 hour block minimum and that I was in someone's store. In my case, it happened to be a game store. The manager didn't mind that I was being paid a long as people were welcome to join if they asked. That it was a paid service made kept my numbers under control.

This gave me access to a table, public restrooms and a food court. Being in someone's store let me be there under their lease.

 

[tenkar]

NYC is kinda poor when it comes to game stores with gaming areas... the rent is just too damn high to put aside space that could be generating direct income. I remember some coffee houses were offering game nites... cant find the link now... they might work as a gaming location if things could be worked out with the management.

The thing is that using someone else's "private space" to make money without permission is generally frowned upon. The space the original poster wants to use isn't public but private, and as such he needs to be aware of the issues that may arise.

I think the service he wishes to provide is one that may be well received. The issue is the logistics.