What Makes a Convention Game Great?

[Piratecat]

Orrrr... my scanner's not scanning properly. Hmm.

Glassjaw has some great points. Whenever I run a one-shot with new rules, I make a one-page rules summary sheet for the players. It speeds things up immensely. In the same way, DON'T explain the rules exhaustively at the start. Explain the bare minimum, and just handle things on the fly as you go along.

 

[Calico_Jack73]

Those are some great pointers PirateCat and I'd like to say that I've always been an advocate of jotting down some notes and running an adventure loose and adaptable. However, this is why typically my own one-shot games run great but when I run a campaign I don't get the same rush and quickly get bored with it.

Do you have any pointers regarding planning/running a campaign?

 

[RangerWickett]

To players, your "obviously insurmountable plot device" may appear to be the "obvious tool for victory," or a "frickin' awesome thing that they want to use," rather than flee from.

Heh. Martian walkers: the best melee weapon in the game.

 

[romp]

Its not the system, its what you do with it ...

I have played in Piratecat's games before and he confirmed what I try to do as a GM. KidCthulhu also makes a point that I will reinforce since I use it often. Keep in mind what is going on "offscreen"; I always have several plots going on that might affect the players, or it might not. For instance in my infamous Hackmaster campaign I had three or four plots going that they players never saw, they were too wrapped up in their own little vengance quest. But every once in a while something would happen that would let them see the "wheels within wheels" (I think they are still wondering who the "Five" were ...)

In a con one-shot you do not need to be so grandiose. but you can use those off screen plots to keep things moving and jumpstart a bogged game.

 

[arwink]

Think really carefully about your first scene. I'll often put three times as much effort into the openining thirty minutes of a one shot as I will the rest of the session, since that first scene is really the space I have to ease players into the tone and style of the game they're playing.

At its core this is fairly obvious - in an action-adventure game you start with action, in an investigatory game you start with players searching for clues, in a character-driven game you start with interpersonal conflict. But sometimes you need to develop this in a little more detail - players used to tactically-oriented DnD action sometimes need to be shocked out of the mind-set if you're launching them on an over-the-top Feng Shui adventure. With that in mind, I'll go out of my way to set up a scene that would be near impossible to handle in DnD terms (such as starting the game in free-fall, which is an idea I borrowed from someone on Enworld and works a treat)..

 

[Bubbalicious]

I've never GM'ed. I think GM's playing in other people's games still tend to look at things from a GM's point of view. I'm not saying they don't play well by any stretch, but they do tend to help the GM's keep a game on it's "intended" path sometimes.

From strictly a player only point of view, I think the most enjoyable one-shots are when GM's are in control enough to where the inmates don't run the asylum (there's always at least one person who thinks every game is a contest to see who can spew the most words and/or noise from their mouths), but is not so controlling that you feel like you're "riding a rail". Some of the most fun I've had has been in games where things went completely off course, but the GM was slick enough (and familiar enough with the scenario) to keep play going without trying to "steer" too much.

Also having a table of players who don't take things too seriously and can go with the flow, as it were, is a huge advantage. One-shots obviously aren't the time or place for rules-lawyering. It's also helpful if players don't require much hand holding. If you really get lost or confused, sure, ask a question or get clarification, but try not to slow things down much and go along for the ride.

I'm also a big fan (and frequent creator) of cheesy one-liners and extremely bad puns!!!

 

[Pbartender]

Orrrr... my scanner's not scanning properly. Hmm.

Glassjaw has some great points. Whenever I run a one-shot with new rules, I make a one-page rules summary sheet for the players. It speeds things up immensely. In the same way, DON'T explain the rules exhaustively at the start. Explain the bare minimum, and just handle things on the fly as you go along.

Absolutely...

Here's an example of a cheat sheet I used for a Skull & Bones adventure during a Chicago Gameday...

 

[mcrow]

I ran a game @ Gencon this year and it was the first ever con game I ran (for people i didn't know). The bad part was that only two players showed up.

I decided to run it anyway because it was a company sanctioned event and the two players that showed wanted to game anyway.

Anyone had this happen before?

I had to water down the game a lot, and brought along a NPC (who I made sure did not over shadow the PCs). I found that I had to make up and cut out a lot more stuff on the fly than normal, just so the game would be playable with two PCs.

Overall I think that the game went well and we all had fun, but I'm pretty sure they had to know that I was streching a bit to make it work.

How do you hadle a short table when running con games?

 

[WizarDru]

I don't know that there's much that I can add, since PC nailed it so succintly above, other than to emphasize the flexibility. Most importantly, be willing to break any and all rules in service of the guidelines PC posted above. If you want to play in a game that's all about strict adherence to the rules, stop by the wargaming room.

 

[John Crichton]

To players, your "obviously insurmountable plot device" may appear to be the "obvious tool for victory," or a "frickin' awesome thing that they want to use," rather than flee from.

Heh. Martian walkers: the best melee weapon in the game.

Yeah, thems hurt. Ow.