This is my first time at GaryCon, and I'll be running a few events there, a couple of which still have open seats. Another attendee has contacted me asking to play in one of those open seats. I'm not sure quite how to reply. Does GaryCon has a system in place where you can register for open seats on site, or do people show up and the GM makes a call?
If your game is 'off the books' (not in the ticketed event list), you can fill it however you like - get unofficial online signups, reserve spots for friends, put out a signup sheet at the con, take walkups, etc. If your game is officially registered, tickets are available online until they run out or event registration ends. After online event registration ends, there's a 'blackout period', then* at the con, they become available again at the front desk, if any are still remaining for that event. * Last year, on-site ticketing was implemented, and I would assume it will return for 2013. viewtopic.php?f=3&t=832&p=10598&hilit=pegboard#p10598 I don't know if they are available Wednesday or not until Thursday morning. Tickets for events always need to be honored. GMs can, at their discretion, seat more people than were ticketed. However, if you do this at all, please use restraint. Some types of events are 'the more the merrier' and some aren't. Getting into a game unexpectedly can be fun, but having lots of downtime between turns because there's 10 players in an event you thought would be 6 when you registered may not be. (Speaking for myself, I prefer no more than 6 in a 'typical' RPG event, and would ideally rather have more like 3-5 in most of them.)
Didn't see any ticketing system this year (Last years looked like it really worked well). Only tickets I saw were a few already assigned to people wo decided not to play or couldnt make it. Extremely confusing this year trying to get into a game (you had to hang out at the table and hope there was an open seat).
Yeah, I liked having the tickets there in 2012. Not sure if their absence this year was a deliberate decision or snafu/resource issue. We'll see if any of the core staff know. (They may be taking a well-deserved vacation from GC issues for awhile, though.)
fwiw... I almost always accept more players than are signed up. If you show up and we're under 13 players (noting that they only prereg 8 but I may have 1-2 friends there already) -- if n<13 then you can prolly play. My record in the 21st century is 16, iirc. But in the beginning ('70s), the groups were sometimes bigger, 'cause good DMs were Very Rare (1%). Frank Mentzer
It is true, Frank is extremely gracious when running games beyond the offered seats. I have also tried to do this as well, unfortunately having to turn away players for the first time this year. As such, I will run multiple CyberPunk 2020 events for GCVI.
