Hi everyone!
Today, I am preparing for my next big roleplaying game convention. That made me think I would share some tips with you about how I prepare. At that convention, I usually run around 13-15 games from Tuesday to Sunday (16 last year!). I thought it might interest people to know how I design these sessions and make sure I’m as prepared as possible.
Although I run a lot of games, I don’t think there’s any point in sitting at a table and running complete garbage! I like to make sure all of my sessions are somewhere between “Good” and “Excellent”. If I can’t look at my notes and believe they will be, I usually completely re-think the session.
First, I think about what the main story points I need to hit are; those make up the majority of my notes. I want players to have as many choices as possible… but that can also be a double-edged sword. If you just say, “Here’s a problem, go investigate,” you won’t know where they’re going or what they’ll do, especially with an unfamiliar group. So, for a convention game, I create a series of clues that lead them toward specific locations.
My aim is to make sure that certain events happen, specifically ones that will move them emotionally. Whether it’s joy, triumph, frustration, or sorrow, I think that’s ultimately why people come to my table: to feel something.
So I plan key events that will have emotional impact, then arrange them in a way that ensures they’ll occur no matter what path the players take.
I think of it a bit like a hurdles race. You can run however you like between hurdles – in this race, there’s an order, but no time limit! I know players will cross around ten hurdles. They might even skip one, which is okay most of the time.
Occasionally, I’ll need to guide them gently back on track to make sure they don’t miss anything important, but that’s fine too!
Set up your sessions like this and your game becomes unstoppable. You don’t have to railroad anyone, but you’ll always be ready for whatever happens. If you’ve never tried this approach before, I recommend giving it a go.
– Ed
P.S. Whether you’re a GM or not, I highly recommend CON-Tingency (http://www.con-tingency.uk/) – in my opinion, it’s the best RPG convention in the UK: more personal and focused than UK Games Expo and less rushed than Dragonmeet’s one-day programme. It’s my favourite convention of the year!
