On Running Public Games
Running public games can be rewarding - sharing the hobby with new people - but it can also feel daunting to get into. This post aims to shed some light on how to successfully run public games with confidence.
I’m part of a board game and tabletop RPG club for social gaming culture, which offers various types of games for anyone who wants to play them, so I have run and organised my fair share of games at conventions and events. I will focus on both the side of the GM, as well as the organisation of public games in general.
Know Your Audience
The kind of game people expect to play might vary depending on where you are, so you’ll want to manage expectations accordingly. If you’re comfortable adapting your style, you could even do that. But what does that entail?
Running Convention Games
The experience of running games at conventions can vary widely depending on how it’s set up. Having pre-booked tickets can help immensely with getting interested players to the table, but is not always an option. If you need to recruit on site, make sure enough people are available to explain the games (or the hobby as a whole) while the GM(s) run theirs. It also helps the GMs running their games to deal with any arising problems, if there are other people helping out too.
At conventions that don’t cater specifically to the hobby space, like Comic or Anime Conventions, people usually need a quick description what the hobby is about before even considering joining your game. A good session length is often just an hour - people often don’t want to commit multiple hours of their generally limited time at the convention.
How to make a game run shorter
- Be upfront about the time limit
- Bring premade characters, briefly explain only the most important rules of the game
- Let the players know that quick decisions will make the game more interesting
- Decide on a few aspects of the game you want to highlight and mercilessly cut the rest (if you’re using a module, cut anything you deem less interesting than the rest)
- Start the game as far into the action as possible, force them to act immediately
- Give them a clear goal to reach and 2+ easy to understand hooks to act upon
- At the end, give them a short outlook on how a full session/campaign usually looks like
Running Games at RPG-Specific Events
Events where playing the game is the main activity often attract people who are a lot more serious about the game. Personally I’m a fan of games that run on the shorter side, but I’ve had people wish for more after sessions of 2-3 hours. Being able to adjust your session length depending on your group's preference can be a valuable skill to have.
How to make a game run longer
- Give the option to make their own characters
- Ask questions about the characters and their relationship to each other at the beginning of the session
- Introduce a twist or unforeseen challenge, something is not as straightforward as it seems
- Ask if they want to have a Q&A about how to run the game afterwards
- Bring a backup game that can be played quickly, either another short mission or something else altogether (I always like to bring Going for Broke or other GMless games)
Running Storytelling vs. Traditional Games
Without getting too much into “trad game” discussions, there often are certain expectations from people who don’t have any experience with games that are less about mechanics and more about storytelling. I’ve had a player once flat out tell me “I don’t know what this game wants from me”, because there weren’t many mechanics to attach to and to guide your actions.
There also often is hesitation to play anything else than D&D, because that is the comfort zone and the one thing they have already learned to play. And I might not go so far as to say D&D is a good game for getting into the hobby, but it certainly is palatable for the masses. Everyone has somewhat of an idea what a high fantasy game is about and it has a much broader audience than other genres. Media like Baldur’s Gate, Stranger Things or even Big Bang Theory have made the name known, even outside of the niche.
The game club I’m a part of is regularly asked to specifically run D&D, because that’s what many people ask for.
I’m not saying to just run D&D, but to be aware of people’s expectations. Let people know of the difference if they ask and urge them to try something new. I’ve had so many great games with people getting out of their comfort game and try new genres and more narrative rulesets. And maybe you can even rekindle someone’s joy in the hobby, by showing them something new.
And if you want to run traditional games like D&D that is great too! They're often harder to run in shorter timeframes, but nothing is impossible with some tinkering.
Organising Large Events
Organising large events for playing tabletop rpgs seems daunting, but it’s surprisingly easy! The biggest step is of course the location and getting into detail here would be beyond the scope of this article. Once you’ve got that down, these are the usual steps we take.
- Get some GMs on board and let them fill out some info
- The game they’re running
- How many players they can run for (minimum and maximum)
- Should players be any minimum age
- Game language, language of the documents/character sheets
- Needed materials
- Agreement to use safety tools
- Possibly get some goodies for the GMs, including drinks
- Have a way for players to register either for the event or a specific table
- Do some advertising
- Get anything the GMs need, if they don’t bring it themselves
- Send some basic info around a week before to the GMs
- Send a reminder to players and GMs on the day itself (this drastically decreases the no-show rate in our experience)
- If necessary let GMs know beforehand if there is a chance their table won’t take place (and offer them a place as a player)
- Be prepared to have 10% of your GMs cancel on you for various reasons
- Be prepared for a no-show rate of around 10% of players (but don’t count on it - sometimes all show up)
Last but not least, have fun! If you foster a positive atmosphere you'll meet incredible and so many diverse people at those events and I always learn something new at them.
Safety Tools and Other Must-Haves
About that positive atmosphere! Getting everyone to feel welcome often has to be actively pursued. Safety Tools are an absolute must-have in a public setting. They are not only about comfort, but also safety of people whose safety is not always a given in a public setting with strangers. With safety tools in place difficult topics can be approached with confidence. Read more about safety tools and why they are important in my article here.
Safety Tools are also a good way of dealing with problem players. Having the social rules of the game laid out makes it a lot easier to tell people off should they cross any lines. Generally, true problem players are relatively rare in my experience.
Content Warnings for topics that can’t be written out of an adventure are also always a good idea to have and to be upfront about; same as the general tone and genre of your adventure. This way people can make informed decisions about what they want to play.
I also recommend giving people the opportunity to show their preferred pronouns. I usually give out index cards where everyone can write down name and pronouns for themselves as well as their character and also have a name sign including pronouns for myself.
Conclusion
A lot of the advice here was to adjust to your table’s preference. It’s always important to remember that you as the GM are a player too. The aim was not to tell you to change a game in a way you don’t like. Not every game will be a good fit for every player. What I do hope is that I was able to offer some tools to craft the experience you want.