I have just connected with my local gaming convention, and I want to try my hand at gamemastering there. Now as I stare at the registration form, I am asking myself which game should I run.
The online consensus seems to be that a convention roleplaying game needs to be either simple or familiar. Generally, players need to be able to sit down at the table and begin playing with minimal instruction. Convention games have limited time slots, so you need to be able to start playing quickly so that you have time for a satisfying completion.
What makes for a simple game?
A simple game is one that does not require a whole lot of knowledge of game rules to play. Such games do not have long lists of skills, attributes, and other abilities for players to familiarize themselves with to play the game.
One way to recognize simple games is to look at their character sheet. A character sheet that fits on half of a page is definitely on the simpler side of games. One game that capitalized on simplicity is game rules is ICRPG by Runehammer Games, which is shown by its straight-forward character sheet. Its stripped-down game engine is reminiscent of the d20 system that some of your players might be familiar with. Plus who wouldn’t want to measure distances with a banana? (See this great post about it.)
Another thing that makes a game simple is the equipment required to run the game. The more familiar it is to players, the more they will feel comfortable with your game. For example, the six-sided dice and decks of playing cards will likely be familiar to everyone at the table. This will make it easier for GMs to give instructions because they won’t have to help the new player distinguish the different playing tools. For example, the GM can simply say to a player to “roll two dice and let me know if you roll higher than a seven.” In this situation, the player can easily grab two dice, roll them, then let you know if they succeeded or not. This contrasts with other games that have a number of funny-shaped dice for new players to puzzle over. (Not to knock the funny dice, but in this case, we are looking for familiarity).
I recently played my first game of Vaesen, which uses both six-sided dice and playing cards. The dice are used for task resolution and playing cards indicate turn order in combat. Using these tools makes Vaesen pretty accessible
What makes for a familiar game?
Familiar games include those that many convention attendees have had some experience with. They are nice to run during a game convention because so many people come to the table with prior knowledge of how the system runs. With these players, you can start up the game as soon as everyone is settled into their seats. These veteran players can also help any new players at the table. For example, an experienced player can help a new player find a stat on their character sheet or to identify the elusive d12. With this help, you (as the game master) will be able to focus on running the game.
What are some examples of familiar games?
Perhaps the most recognizable game today is Dungeons and Dragons. As one of the oldest roleplaying games, it is a popular game at the conventions I have attended. In fact, at my local gaming convention, the Dungeon and Dragons Adventurers League get its own section in registration during registration. All the other games are combined together in a different catalog. Anyone looking specifically for a D&D game can find a long list of games for which they can sign up.
Another popular game is Pathfinder. At Gen Con in Indianapolis, players and game masters fill an entire ballroom. This system not only benefits from having many mechanics originally inspired by the d20 system but it also has a high-adventure fantasy setting, which is a mainstay in RPGs. On top of that, Pathfinder has a large fan base. You will find many people at a convention who are excited to play this game and could be a great resource as you run you game.
Next, stepping away from fantasy, there is also the game Call of Cthulhu. Set in the early 1900s, it deals with mysteries and horror set in a world partially created by the novels of HP Lovecraft. This game has been around for a long time and also has a faithful following of fans. While its character sheets are on the more complicated side, Call of Cthulhu revolves around a system based on percentile dice. Once someone learns the basics of this system (especially with the help of friendly CoC fans), they should be up and running in no time.
A quick search of the internet also shows a number of other impressive games that are garnering the attention of gamers. While they might not have the notoriety of D&D and the other games, many on the convention goers might be familiar Dungeon Crawl Classics or Cyberpunk Red or, perhaps for the truly brave, there is Blades in the Dark.
What if the plan is to teach a new roleplaying game to others who are unfamiliar with it?
Some GMs come to conventions because they’re excited to show off in a new game that they love. With that in mind, these game masters know that they will have to teach the system to most of the people who sit down at the table, if not all of them. But there will be many who come to your table just to learn about your game. In my case, that is what I am often interested in during a convention. I want to try a new game before I buy the books. So, give it a try but remember to be patient with players as they familiarize themselves with the rules and tropes of the game.
What if I want to run a game that is both complex and unfamiliar?
There are hundreds of role-playing games out there these days. Not all of them are simple and many of them are unfamiliar. Still there are probably lots of people who are very interested in playing that game and learning it from you. One way to go about introducing these more complex games is to keep in mind those two initial ideas: simplicity and familiarity.
As we tackle the complexity of a game, let’s take a page out of the video game designers’ playbook. GM should introduce only one gaming skill at a time, if possible. Jane McGonigal references this process in her book SuperBetter. She explains that while playing Super Mario Bros., we start first by learning to jump. We jump to get on top of things and jump to gain treasure. Once we have mastered jumping, we must learn to jump over a moving target. When we accidentally land on some monsters, we learn that is how we can beat them. Through this process of one simple game mechanic at a time, video game designers teach us to play their game.
So, in complicated games we need to break them down too. You might want to make a list of the most common mechanics in the game. Rank them according to importance then choose the the most crucial one. Next look at the adventure you are planning to run and ask some of the following questions:
- Is it possible to use that mechanism in the opening scene? Or do I need to re-write the opening scene so I can emphasize this mechanism?
- Is there a way to use that same mechanism in several ways?
- Is there a way to remove any other mechanisms for this one scene so I can focus on only the first one?
If you can do that, then you can introduce your players to one gaming skill (or variations of one skill) at a time just like in Mario.
In addition to simplifying the learning of the game rules, you can increase its familiarity by introducing ideas from the game setting such as its background or culture. Is there something about your game setting that sets it apart? You could provide pictures or simple objects that exhibit those traits in your game. For example, if you are playing a post-apocalyptic game, you can relate your game to other movies and media that use post-apocalyptic settings. While they might not fit exactly into your game, these pictures will help to spur the imaginations of your players. You might even include pictures or cultural ideas as part of the backgrounds of the pre-generated characters. The more you can make your world familiar to the players, the more they will identify important themes and tropes that fit into your game, which will hopefully make them more excited to play.
In a nutshell, if you have a game that is unfamiliar to your players then you need to show them some things related to your game with which they are familiar. If you have a game that is complex, then you need to break it down and teach the individual pieces to the players at their own speed. The goal hear is to help your game become familiar and simple for your new players.
Conclusion
There are lots of games that would fit in well in a convention setting. Two guidelines for choosing your first game to run at the convention would be that the game is simple and that it is familiar. Simple games avoid complexity in rules that slow down gameplay. Familiar games invite veterans to help you run a better game and embrace the common tropes of your genre. By choosing a game that fits these criteria, you will find yourself freeing up more headspace so that you can run a great game.
All text copyright @ www.consaves.com
Photo by Caleb Jones on Unsplash
