Last year was my first year and it was great. This year I am thinking about running some games. I have run many games but not in a convention setting so any advice for how to convert a 'regular' game into a convention game would be appreciated. I would like to run a few different games: *AD&D 3.5 Low level adventure (2-3) with some cool puzzles (math and science related) I built this as an intro to a great campaign. Its a little geekey. *Robo Rally - I'd run the board and keep the mechanics on track. As a software engineer I love this game! *AD&D 3.5 High Level "contained" adventure - escape from a mirror of soul trapping owned by a litch (a very old favorite of mine). With this one the focus is on player interaction and letting the high level chars personalities collide. I am not sure if it will work with strangers. * Great Dalmudi????? Thoughts? How do I start and make something fun..... and to keep me from looking like an ass (as in osarious Tomb of Horrors run last year) :lol: :Edit - There is enough time I could rewrite either of those 3.5 games as 1ed...... hmmmmm D
There's some great articles in Dragon if you have the CD archive, in particular the ones in Dragon 70 (which you would want to reverse engineer as a DM since it's written for players), and 108. I'm sure Frank Mentzer can offer some useful insight, too, of course
I found a great resource online sometime ago: "How To Write Con Scenarios." Some great advice on how to pace encounters; how to write a start, middle, and end; and how to fit it all into a 3-5 hour timeframe. I've posted it to my Google account for free downloading for anyone as I find the info within very useful and insightful.
I've created and run a dozen or so games for conventions. So I'm not a crusty old salt, but I'm not a n00b either. My basic advice would be to keep it simple and keep it linear. Think in terms of 4-6 scenes with not more than 3 combat encounters for a 4 hour game. A typical structure for this might be: Scene 1: Establish motivation. What are the PCs trying to accomplish and why is it important to them? Scene 2: Investigation/Search/Talk to people. PCs start off in pursuit of their aims with incomplete information Scene 3: Encounter. They find something. It tries to eat their brains. They get closer to their goal. Scene 4: Encounter. Massive setback. Something goes horribly wrong. They are in it up to their necks. Everything just got harder. Scene 5: The final confrontation. PCs are face to face with the Big Bad and finally accomplish their goal. Note that I'm not saying that's the ONLY possible structure. Obviously this can vary all over the place to fit the needs of your story idea. But in terms of complexity and number of scenes, it's just about right for a 4-hour session. In general, everything moves at about half the pace you think it will at a convention game. And I've never had a group of gamers at a convention complain about a game ending 30 minutes early if the story was engaging and they felt like they accomplished something.
My structure usually goes: 1. Snap-bang opening encounter - Something mundane goes horribly wrong or something pops up to eat the PC's brains. 2. What the what? - The PCs investigate WHY something went wrong or what that thing was that tried to eat their brains. Investigation and questions ensue. 3. An Obstacle - Whatever caused the original problems (The Big Bad) is onto the PCs' meddling. It sends a problem for them to deal with (cut brake lines, more brain-eaters, a ticking bomb). 4. We're Here! - PCs arrive at The Big Bad's front door. Time to start snooping around the villain's lair, looking for an entrance, picking locks, whatever. 5. They're Not Welcome - Evil bad things attack the PCs as the approach The Big Bad's location. 6. It All Comes Down - The PCs find The Big Bad and many dice are hurled.
Thanks for the feedback guys! After making some changes and getting all the encounters straight did you then play test it a few times? Also, I am not sure about using pre-gen chars or not. I think its more fun to have content in game then using the time to create basically disposable characters. I am wondering how polished it needs to be since I think the best games are where things go off the rails a little bit. I think I may be on the verge of over thinking this. It’s time for me to put pencil to paper and see how each game turns out. D
I try to playtest my games (except Paranoia, 'cause you know, there's about an hour of content and 3 hours of people shooting at each other), especially if its in a system I don't run that often. I always feel really bad when I don't play test and game-breaking things happen. They can still happen if you play test, but I don't feel bad about it then.
Tournament games are somewhat different in that: You don't have to worry so much about PCs dying (it's not fun for them to die 10 minutes in unless they've done something inexcusably foolish, but as long as they get some solid game time before their demise, it's all good). Likewise, failing the mission is not a catastrophe, either. That frees you up to make the mission more challenging (not brutal, just challenging), which in turn makes it more exciting. Unlike home games with friends, convention players don't know how you rule things or how 'thing are' in your games. Expect character generation (best avoided entirely with pre-gens), equiping, spell selection, and general play to be much slower than usual. Be really prepared with hand-outs, reference charts, etc. People don't bring all their books or may be playing a system they last gamed in 15 years ago. Unlike home games where you can stretch the end of the session if need be, or leave off and pick up next week, convention games usually come with a hard stop (so people can get to the next game), unless you're running a real late-nighter and have explained in the description that it goes until 'whenever'. That means you need to be sure what you've got planned will fit. It's much better to end an hour earlier than expected, than to need an extra hour (which you aren't going to get) to resolve things. Playtesting (in general) and for game length is helpful. Also, if you think the game will be long, register it for a long stretch. You're not confined to certain 'slots'. You also don't have to worry about giving players game-breaking items/power (or conversely, about crippling them or depleting them of items, either), so this allows certain freedoms.
I was thinking of running some games this year, just not sure if there will be any interest or enough interest. Any Interest in the following games? Gangbusters Titan Knighthawks
I promise you that Gangbusters will fill up fast and there will be people standing next to the table trying to get in. Very popular system.
Definitely use pre-generated characters. You will probably have the only rulebook, and the entire session will end up being spent doing character creation at the table if you don't provide pre-gens. There will always be that one guy that takes forever to pick out equipment, or tries to figure out how to maximize his character. Having pre-gens lets you do some fun things: You can balance the party. You can establish relationships among the pre-gens in their little bio blurbs, and you can establish some backstory relevant to the scenario. I playtest my convention games with my local gaming group and do a 30-60 minute feedback session at the end. The feedback session can be tough to manage, since friends don't want to tell you that your game sucked. I usually start of by asking them to be brutally honest and critical because my goal is to have a good game to bring to the convention, then ask specific questions of them: How was the pacing for you? When did the game seem to drag? Did you like your character? Were the combats too tough, too easy? Was the story too complex, too simple? What are your ideas for making it better?
