What to do for D&D in Hobby Convention ?

[questing gm]

There is a hobby convention going to happen in my city and they've offer a table/booth for Dungeons and Dragons. Seeing that tabletop roleplaying is almost unknown among the other hobbies (there would be booths promoting cosplaying, comics/manga, Magic:The Gathering and Warhammer), this is a great opportunity for me to promote the game.

What do you think I should do with the space given ? Do I run a demo-game but how am I going to cater everyone that drops by our table and ask to play a game ? What are the most effective ways to promote the game ?

Would really appreciate any advice or ideas given guys, this is a great opportunity not to be missed to grow the D&D hobby in this part of the world.

 

[Rackhir]

Definitely use miniatures. They provide visual feedback and if you use the the right ones they can be very eye catching.

I would probably set up something very simple and tactically oriented. Defending a castle from a horde of Orcs or something along those lines. If you have people who stick around for a while, level up their characters after an hour of playing or something like that. Perhaps have a "boss" monster with a particularly eye catching miniature show up every hour. If people's characters die, just hand them a new pre-generated character.

Make ABSOLUTELY sure you know the rules well. Especially for anything funky that might come up like Attacks of Opportunity, Grappling, etc...

Keep everything as simple as possible.

 

[Dragon Snack]

Do you have the Basic box set? It's probably more geared towards introducing people to the game (although I've heard mixed messages about how good it actually is).

Are you familiar with any other RPGs? A more rules-lite system may be easier to run with completely new players (although I'll bet the M:tG and WH players are more familiar with RPGs than you give them credit for). Alternately, just ignore the rules and run something fun that gets them rolling dice...

 

[questing gm]

The D&D community has been very small and we don't have a LGS to provide us with supplies.
So that means we don't have miniatures (and battlemats) and the Basic Box set.

What we're trying to do for this convention is to introduce the game to a wider public so that we can draw in more players and more people to be interested in tabletop roleplaying. Unfortunately, I'm (who have been given the table) not familiar with other rules-lite game (except if you include D20 Modern) so i guess this would turn out to be a purely D&D table.

 

[pogre]

The D&D community has been very small and we don't have a LGS to provide us with supplies.
So that means we don't have miniatures (and battlemats) and the Basic Box set.

So, I guess that rules out my original suggestion of setting up a massive 3d dungeon with master maze and hirst arts stuff - jammed to the brim with monsters and a few ready to go character sheets is right out...

Could you draw a dungeon out on a big piece of paper and use something to approximate monsters and PCs?

 

[Quartz]

Consider running Paranoia instead. Any time any clone dies, the next person waiting takes their place.

 

[questing gm]

I don't know what is this Paranoia concept you speak of.

 

[Quartz]

The Computer is your friend, citizen. .

Only a commie mutant traitor would fail to recognise the superiority of the Computer.

The books are hilarious. I've little sense of humour and less sense of comic timing so I can't GM it to save my life, but it is screamingly funny.

 

[Festivus]

Do you have the Basic box set? It's probably more geared towards introducing people to the game (although I've heard mixed messages about how good it actually is).

Are you familiar with any other RPGs? A more rules-lite system may be easier to run with completely new players (although I'll bet the M:tG and WH players are more familiar with RPGs than you give them credit for). Alternately, just ignore the rules and run something fun that gets them rolling dice...

I suggest the Black Dragon edition of the basic set. The Blue Dragon edition the player sheets aren't nearly as clear for new players. I have no idea why they skimped on the second version of this. The basic game is great for teaching new players how to play, however it takes several hours to complete. Not sure how much time you will have but you could just run a few rooms from the adventure.

 

[Kaladhan]

Miniatures would have been the way to go. Paizo has a good dungeon that you can play at GenCon. You have to select a character and you have 15 minutes to go the fartest in the dungeon. After that, you can tell them that D&D has more social aspects than this demo.

If miniatures are really not an option, then I'm not sure what you can do. Can you organize a gaming day in your city and have the booth promote that? One table at the hobby convention is not enough to do actual gaming there. You could promise that the gaming day would include introductory scenarios for newbies.

 

[Dragon Snack]

Where is the convention going to be?

Some companies have teams that run events at cons (WotC has "Delegates"), maybe one has a team member close enough to help out.

Alternately, since you are willing to run this, you could look into joining yourself - although I have no idea what WotC expects out of a "Delegate" or gives them for support. A quick search turns up this link: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=retailer/support/delegate

It's more of a review of the Delegate program for retailers, but it has an email address for applying to become one...

 

[FATDRAGONGAMES]

You might want to consider downloading the free quickstart rules for Castles & Crusades. It is a rules-lite d20 fantasy game that really captures the feel of original AD&D. Character creation takes about 5 minutes and combat is very fast paced. You can get the free rules at www.trolllord.com

 

[questing gm]

The convention is held in a shopping mall for two days. I had an idea of instead of running a demo game on the spot, I would be handing out flyers with basic info about the game and what is roleplaying all about. Then I could provide a contact number for interested people to have a private introductory session with them on a seperate date.

How's that ?

 

[Dragon Snack]

My gut instinct tells me they will take the info and forget about it after they get to the next booth (I've run demos at Cons before). My cynical side says that the only ones that call you will fill at least 2 out of 3 negative gamer stereotypes. The decent ones will take your info, fold it up in their back pocket, then wash their pants...

But don't let me discourage you.

While I don't think that is an ideal situation, I would be hard pressed to come up with a better plan. Even running a demo game would be very hard in a shopping mall setting, since the majority of people there will not be there for the convention.

I think experience will be your best teacher, once you know what you are getting into you can figure out what works best. You can start with the handouts, but have something short prepared if someone expresses interest.

From my experience running demos, a crowd draws a crowd. If you have someone doing something more people will be interested in doing whatever it is. If nobody is doing anything, nobody will want to check out what you are doing.

 

[Boss]

I agree with Kaladhan, your best bet to give a feel of the game is like what Paizo does at cons now. Set up a small dungeon with prepackaged adventurers, etc. Make sure there are multiple directions the party can go in, and give them a real-time time limit to get as far as they can. Then do a short Q&A (no more than 5 minutes) and hand out info sheets. This gives anyone coming by a chance to try the game and get further information. Paizo goes further to offer a chance at prizes, but I don't see that as being something you would really want to do.

I know I had fun at Origins playing their quick game.

 

[questing gm]

Is there anywhere I can get a sample of Paizo's demos ?
I think I get the idea but need to see it for myself.

 

[LostSoul]

It sounds like you don't have much time to keep people occupied. I'd do something like 15-minute "scenarios", and have a bunch of them. Pre-generated characters, sticking close to familiar fantasy tropes - surly dwarf fighter, elven archer, etc.

Hand out the characters by showing them the minis. Give them their stats on an index card. Keep the feats and options simple. Fireball, magic missile, cleave, rapid shot. Maybe put a little bit of complexity in there for savvy players to pick up on.

Once the characters have been picked, pull out the battle mat. Put down the minis, then jump right into the scenario:

"Okay, you guys are in the dungeon of doom, looking for the gem of eternal power. You've fought your way through hordes of evil monsters, and you've found the gem! There it sits on the pedestal! What do you do?"

For opponents, use things that are tough enough to provide a challenge, but not too tough. No save-or-dies. Use things with low ACs - nothing's more boring than doing nothing but missing on your turn. Killing PCs is fine, just don't kill one off early.

At the end of the scenario, make sure it leads into something else just as exciting:

"You've made your way past the traps, defeated the zombie hordes and their necromancer leader, and have finally taken hold of the gem of eternal power. And that's when you see the dragon poke his head into the room: 'Foolish mortals, only I can use the power you now hold!'"

I'm sure you can come up with better scenarios, but you get the point. Something that drops the PCs right into the action.

 

[Zander]

I second everything said by LostSoul above.

In addition, I would have fixed gaming times with a sign on the table saying when these will be, e.g. "Dungeons & Dragons demo games at 11.00am, 12.00 noon, 1.30pm, 2.30pm, 3.30pm and 4.30pm." You could include some fluff at the top of the sign, e.g.:

"Dungeons & Dragons: The game where YOU'RE the hero! Step into a magical Lord of the Rings-like world and play a quick elf, surly dwarf or cunning wizard. Can you defeat the evil dragon and save the kingdom?

No experience of Dungeons & Dragons required. All are welcome!"

Ensure that none of the characters get killed - but don't tell the players that. Players like to be challenged but no one enjoys having their character die. As already suggested, use pre-gens. Have more than enough copies of each pre-gen and invite players to keep the character record sheet of their character after the game, thereby giving them a souvenir.

 

[Desdichado]

Duh. Booth babes in skimpy costumes.

 

[questing gm]

Thanks for the great ideas, Zander and Lostsoul. I got myself a lucky break when I spoke to the retailer that sells Magic in town today. Guess what, he had an opened pack of D&D miniatures actually sitting in his shop and was glad that it could come of use. He has offered me to use them and the miniature map that came with it.

Also, the Magic guy is also selling the Basic Box Set (it is the one with the softcover PHB right?), so I was thinking of getting a box to run for the demo. The demo schedule is a great idea which gives me time to actually run with the new/interested players through a short adventure. While those who didn't get a chance to play and stand around to observe the game, which still gives them an opportunity to learn how the game works.

For the adventure, I'm looking at the Dark and Stormy Knight free adventure from the WoTC site. For each session, I'm thinking of switching the monsters (or maybe the whole adventure) so no one would recognize the game I'm running and gives a fresh feel for every session.

As for Hobo, we have cosplaying chicks from the cosplayers club and maybe I could talk to them to help me, especially those cosplaying as characters from fantasy animes.