D.T. Pints
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JACKERCON 2018: WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY June 22-July 1st
Posts: 2,857
Currently Playing: D&D 5e, Pathfinder, DUNGEONWORLD, Star Wars Edge of the Empire
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Post by D.T. Pints on Sept 7, 2012 8:53:54 GMT -8
Hail Ye Knights of Douchealot! (was that a first ;D ?) Just leaving this here to start the shameless pimpin' of my CON up here in lovely Homer, Alaska. First one I've ever done so any advice and the requisite naysaying is certainly appreciated. My question to the Knights of the Douche-shaped table: If you could suggest FIVE games to be offered at a three day CON what would they be ? I want to have a novice to experienced level of games. Oh and one has to be Laser Ponies for the kid's part of the CON... Cheers, Curt J (d20Pints). www.facebook.com/GreatAlaskCON2013
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 7, 2012 9:04:23 GMT -8
I'd expect something in GURPS Something in HERO Something in Savage Worlds Something Pathfinder ....Those are the systems I'm sure any good happy-jacker will suggest. Now, for game themes, the only real important thing is to keep it varied. Make something for everyone to enjoy, not just a load of fantasy games.
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Post by inflatus on Sept 7, 2012 9:17:39 GMT -8
Those four, Fate, Fiasco, Paranoia and DnD (pick an edition).
You may also want to give the card and board gamers some love.
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Post by jazzisblues on Sept 7, 2012 12:50:46 GMT -8
The question I would ask is what are the games being played in the areas you realistically hope to draw visitors from?
Running a lot of GURPS (much as I love GURPS) in an area where nobody likes GURPS (I know Stu, perish the thought) wouldn't be much of a draw to your event. So I would talk with FLGS owners and organizers of groups like Meetup and such in the areas you hope to get people from and find out what they're playing.
Cheers,
JiB
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D.T. Pints
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JACKERCON 2018: WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY June 22-July 1st
Posts: 2,857
Currently Playing: D&D 5e, Pathfinder, DUNGEONWORLD, Star Wars Edge of the Empire
Currently Running: DUNGEONWORLD, PATHFINDER
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Post by D.T. Pints on Sept 7, 2012 13:36:45 GMT -8
The question I would ask is what are the games being played in the areas you realistically hope to draw visitors from? Running a lot of GURPS (much as I love GURPS) in an area where nobody likes GURPS (I know Stu, perish the thought) wouldn't be much of a draw to your event. So I would talk with FLGS owners and organizers of groups like Meetup and such in the areas you hope to get people from and find out what they're playing. Cheers, JiB Thanks JiB, That's kinda what I'm thinking as well. But, I also want this to be a chance to introduce the hobby to as many noobs as possible. So, besides having really just kickass systems that I love, I want to make sure I include some games that people can sit down with a pre-gen character and get a fairly decent understanding of the system in four hours. I liked hearing that the Traveler HJ game (at Gateway) was played by some that have never played it before and they didn't feel lost. It seems that the majority of gamers near me favor 4E, Pathfinder, and 3.5: We here in Alaska don't get out much. So the opportunity to get folks to try on some new systems would be great. But, you can only get so many people to show up to a movie they've never heard of...
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Post by uselesstriviaman on Sept 7, 2012 16:19:29 GMT -8
The question I would ask is what are the games being played in the areas you realistically hope to draw visitors from? JiB Thanks JiB, That's kinda what I'm thinking as well. But, I also want this to be a chance to introduce the hobby to as many noobs as possible. So, besides having really just kickass systems that I love, I want to make sure I include some games that people can sit down with a pre-gen character and get a fairly decent understanding of the system in four hours. I liked hearing that the Traveler HJ game (at Gateway) was played by some that have never played it before and they didn't feel lost. It seems that the majority of gamers near me favor 4E, Pathfinder, and 3.5: We here in Alaska don't get out much. So the opportunity to get folks to try on some new systems would be great. But, you can only get so many people to show up to a movie they've never heard of... I completely agree with JiB - it depends upon what games are popular in the area. But I have to ask: are YOU planning to run five RPG games in three days?! If you are, I've gotta raise a red flag. Ain't no WAY one GM should ever tackle that much for one convention. There'd be so much prep work required that it'd be overwhelming. (And this is coming from the guy who spent over 200 hours last year prepping for a single convention game!)
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D.T. Pints
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JACKERCON 2018: WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY June 22-July 1st
Posts: 2,857
Currently Playing: D&D 5e, Pathfinder, DUNGEONWORLD, Star Wars Edge of the Empire
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Post by D.T. Pints on Sept 7, 2012 16:55:56 GMT -8
NO...no...uh no. The PLAN (hidden inside my droid) is to have several GM's from our area run games. I might run only one maybe two. I've been to several cons and they appear to be quite the Shite-ton o' work but I find the thought of many nerd's piled into a room rolling dice to be very rewarding. 200+ hours to prepare ? holy keeripes man! Did you feel that it was worth it ? Games I run at cons usually require about 20 hours of prep over several weeks. Again my hope is that at least some of the attendees will be willing to try a new game/system and open some horizons. We are "The Last Frontier" (as it says on our license plates). Thanks for the feedback.
A tentative schedule is thus:
Friday (in the p.m.) 7:00 orientation/sign in 8:00 Three "Events" 1. 4E Game 2. Pathfinder 3. Munchkin 12:00 To THE BAR!
Saturday (in the a.m.) 10:00 Five events 1. 4E Game 2. Pathfinder 3. Savage Worlds 4. Talisman Board Game 5. Laser Ponies
3:00 Five events 1. 3.5 Game 2. Pathfinder 3. GURPS (supers) 4. Talisman Board Game 5. Descent Board Game
7:00 Five events 1. 3.5 Game 2. Red Box OSR 3. Pathfinder 4. Paranoia 5. Descent/Arkham Horror Board
12:00 To The BAR!
Sunday:
10-2 Four events Fantasy Flight Playtest Time (There's a grip o' Warhammer freaks round here:)
1. Warhammer Fantasy v3 2. Dark Heresy 3. Only War/Deathwatch 4. Rogue Trader
Like I said all very tentative. But, I agree with Shoe that the themes are varied and interesting. We shall see...
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 7, 2012 21:22:20 GMT -8
Okay, I lived six years in Anchorage, went to Homer alot for Salmon and Halibut fishing, trying to figure out how you can hold a con in a town with all of 1000 people living in it:)
More seriously though. Since AK does tend to shew D&D and derivatives I'd have at least a few games based off those, its not hard to put together a four hour adventure in most of them and then you can have a party of pre gens and or let players make their own.
I'd also recommend Traveller and FATE as both are extremely easy systems to play and run, and are great for new players. Probably something in Savage Worlds as well. I'd do pre gens with all of these though, perhaps leave the Hindrances/Edges open for the Savage Worlds characters so people can pick those.
Also the idea of a bunch of geeks playing Munchkin in the Salty Dawg amuses me greatly.
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D.T. Pints
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JACKERCON 2018: WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY June 22-July 1st
Posts: 2,857
Currently Playing: D&D 5e, Pathfinder, DUNGEONWORLD, Star Wars Edge of the Empire
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Post by D.T. Pints on Sept 8, 2012 10:42:40 GMT -8
Nice! I wondered how many once and future Alaskans were HJ listeners ? Yeah Homer's winter population is about 5000 now, so my immediate nerd pool is about 25. Then with Soldotna, Kenai to the north where our FLGS lurks just 1 1/2 hours away (so close!) There's probably another 100 or so. Thhheennnn....there's Bosco's Game Store in Anchorage with at least 10-20 folks looking to come down for the weekend. Like I said earlier if I can get 50-75 people total, I'd be pretty happy. That way during the four-five event slot periods hopefully 30-45 people will get to play in games.
Thanks for the suggestions.
And for certain there will be some dice rolling at the Salty Dawg!
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Post by uselesstriviaman on Sept 8, 2012 22:52:43 GMT -8
Ah, okay. Do you already have a pool of recruited GMs, or are you hoping to get volunteers to run these games? If you've got that many GMs, you're way ahead of the game. If not, you'll probably have much better luck asking for GMs to run games they want to play, rather than make 'em run specific games that fit your mold. We held our own inaugural convention here in our part of the Midwest earlier this year. Fortunately we had the help and support of our FLGS, and it was a physical location where GMs could register their games. Are you trying to organize this all by yourself, or do you have a group of people working together? If you're tackling this monstrosity all on your own, you may find yourself overwhelmed. (And here's where I showed off my stoopidly big convention game.)
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D.T. Pints
Instigator
JACKERCON 2018: WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY June 22-July 1st
Posts: 2,857
Currently Playing: D&D 5e, Pathfinder, DUNGEONWORLD, Star Wars Edge of the Empire
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Post by D.T. Pints on Sept 9, 2012 11:05:33 GMT -8
Wow Useless(that's a fun one :-D)... You got Mentzer to run some games! That truly is pretty cool man. How'd that go ? I think we could probably get Sarah Palin to run her Raid on Russia From My House campaign, but she's expensive. How many folks attended Xenocon ? I'll have look at your schedule from the con and steal some ideas. I created that Facebook page instead of my own website, can't decide if making my own webpage is worth the time. As far as GM's go I've got five GM's to work with right now that again mainly want to run Pathfinder/3.5 and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay V3. My hope is to find a few who want to introduce the Alaskan nerd horde to some new games. But looking at our FSLGS (Friendly Sorta-Local Gaming Store...4.5 hours by snowspeeder) They do D&D and Warhammer (40K) and lots and lots of Magic. However, they do sell a wide range of RPG's so we'll do some trolling there. www.boscos.com/1-907-274-4112/events.htmlSorry for the ramble, but I do really appreciate the feedback. Cheers.
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Post by jazzisblues on Sept 10, 2012 6:30:33 GMT -8
Sounds like a fun time.
You might also want to try introducing some of the "new" systems at meetups before the con so people can give them a whirl before the big show too.
Cheers,
JiB
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Post by uselesstriviaman on Sept 10, 2012 14:12:30 GMT -8
Actually Mentzer had to bail on us - he was a no-show. Other than that, it was a damn great weekend. Apparently I was less pessimistic than the other organizers; they all estimated we'd only have about fifty people show up all weekend, but we doubled that. I think 102 was the official tally at the end. I fully expect to do better than that next year, and I'm hoping we can actually double the attendance next time. We've got a core group of about ten people who are all working together to make this succeed. When all was said and done, this year we had 27 GMs schedule 47 events for a 2-day convention. Things you need to do EARLY for a convention: - Find and book the hall
- Split up responsibilites among the organizers. (Decide who is doing what.) Event submissions; vendor registration and recruiting; event catalog/convention program booklet; SWAG bags for convention attendees; website administration; badge information and creation. All of these will have to be done by someone, and it's better to get that stuff hammered out beforehand.
- Get GMs to register and run games. Again, I'd recommend that you allow the GMs to run games they want to run.
- Find vendors willing to join the party. Gaming vendors usually like having a gathering of their specific market demographic all gathered under one roof - they can be a HUGE chunk of your moneymaking (or at least get you closer to breaking even), if handled well.
- Arrange for special events (if necessary), such as Pathfinder Society games. Tournaments can be big attendee draws, as long as there are fans of the game willing to join in the fun.
- Advertise! I can't stress this one enough. There's an annual convention that takes place 45 minutes from my home, and it's been going on for over 20 years. The ONLY reason I learned of its existence is because I stumbled onto their website during a google search last year. If people don't know you're having a convention, they can't come. It's that simple.
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jimto
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Post by jimto on Sept 11, 2012 9:24:32 GMT -8
Other than that, it was a damn great weekend. Yes, very much so. I made the drive over from Des Moines and had an insanely great time. Things you need to do EARLY for a convention: - Advertise! I can't stress this one enough. There's an annual convention that takes place 45 minutes from my home, and it's been going on for over 20 years. The ONLY reason I learned of its existence is because I stumbled onto their website during a google search last year. If people don't know you're having a convention, they can't come. It's that simple.
What con was that? Also, you're correct about the advertising. Last year my FLGS had an advertisement for a con in Omaha that took place the same weekend as Xenocon. Nothing fancy, just a small stack of B&W paper advertisements, smaller than 6"X6" set on the counter. Very easy for someone to pick up and put in their pocket. Since no one else from Des Moines is a member of the C-Team and I stay out of my FLGS for long stretches, no one there knew Xenocon existed. I can help you get that corrected this year if you need an assist.
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Post by uselesstriviaman on Sept 12, 2012 14:35:48 GMT -8
That'd be Gamicon in Iowa City. Since no one else from Des Moines is a member of the C-Team and I stay out of my FLGS for long stretches, no one there knew Xenocon existed. I can help you get that corrected this year if you need an assist. HELL yeah! We can most definitely always use more advertising.
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