Game Masters

Roleplaying conventions are a great place to try out new games both as a player and as a GM. As a player all you really need to do is show up and be prepared to share the spotlight with the other players. As a GM though there’s a little more to it. 

Running a game at a convention is a great way to test your GMing skills and to focus your storytelling. If you’re a seasoned veteran behind the screen, running a game for people at a convention will only be a little different to running for a group of friends in a regular game. It’s not necessarily any harder to do but because of the constraints of the convention format there are some things worth keeping in mind.

The biggest constraint is that, generally, convention games are limited to one four hour slot. This might seem like a long time, it may even be longer than your regular game sessions, but unlike those sessions, con games have specific time-related things you’ll need to accommodate, if they’re going to be satisfying.

The first consideration is that a convention game should offer a complete story arc within the session’s time-frame. Unless you’re running a game like Microscope, it is poor form to leave a story incomplete. As a result, keep an eye on the clock and be familiar enough with your story that you know which pieces you can cut out or narrate through. It may be hard to leave out one of your favourite scenes but nothing is more important than giving your finale time to play out.

With this in mind though, there are several things you can do to maximise the amount of playing time in your session.

• Create characters in advance or at least have a very streamlined character generation process.

• Prepare, prepare, prepare. Have your rules and tables ready to hand out so no time is wasted leafing through rules (unless this is part of the fun e.g. Dungeon Crawl Classics and Rolemaster critical and spell tables)

• Leave plenty of blank space in your story notes so they’re easy to follow and your game keeps moving.

The last time-related thing to keep in mind is that people will want to spend some time at the end of the game talking about what happened. They’ll also maybe want to talk about what might have happened and possibly the system as well so be open to sticking around to chat after the final scene. This is an important part of the con experience.

For those keeping track, this means that between initial setup and debrief you should bank on having about three hours of playing time. In a perfect world you’d practice the game ahead of time, perhaps with your regular group or online at sites like Discord or roll20.net. In all likelihood though, you’ll be playing through for the first time. This is okay, but to maximise your chances of success you should be familiar with the game and system and, if it’s not an original, see if any other people online have run it at a con and what their experiences were.

Aside from time constraints, there are other important considerations when running con games. One is that it’s not only possible, but likely, that at least one of the players at your table will have signed up because they want to learn the game system. Resist the urge to just do everything for them, instead, consider creating a sheet with a short summary of some core rules. This is a great way to save on explaining time and keep new players engaged. 

Along with those people who may be new to your game system you may also encounter people new to roleplaying altogether. These people are extremely valuable. Treat them well: you may be responsible for deciding if they’ll continue in the hobby or not. Additionally, expect them to have no idea about the type of equipment roleplaying requires, so have extra dice, pencils, and miniatures (if you use them) on hand. 

Another vital skill for a con GM to have, and one that has a significant impact on your players’ enjoyment, is the ability to track and share “spotlight” time amongst the players. In a regular game this is not such a big deal as this spotlight can shift from week to week. In contrast, you’ll find that as people have varying levels of forcefulness in a social setting, you’ll need to be far more vigilant about the access your players have to the spotlight. Keeping a little tally sheet of instances where each player is in focus can help you make sure everyone gets a time to shine. A simple way to achieve this is to look at the beats in your story and then create characters such that they all get a chance to come to the fore at some point.

Lastly, but not leastly, as the GM you’re responsible for maintaining an appropriate tone at your table. The Code of Conduct for your con should spell out these expectations but in brief, you should have zero tolerance for any language or behaviour that makes people feel uncomfortable. 

None of this means that you have to ban salty language and mature themes, but you should note that these are likely when you submit your game description. It is also wise to talk about mature elements ahead of time. A good way to broach this is to say “X, Y, and Z might come up in this story, how do people feel about that?” If these things are problematic for any players firstly, try to find some compromise but it may be that, ultimately, the game is not for them, and that’s okay.

Now, by no means is this intended to be an exhaustive treatment of how to run a con game. Like most things, there’s no substitute for experience but once you’ve run a few, you’ll probably get to like the challenge con games present.

How to Run a Convention Game

(IntrigueCon Edition)

Sections in Italics are mandatory.  Everything else is optional advise

Before the Convention

1. Read and understand the Code of Conduct for the convention.  These are an important set of rules to help keep the games safe and fun for everyone. 

2. Consider using safety tools in your game.  These allow the players and the GM to be on the same page for the type of conduct that will be acceptable for this game.  There are several different websites that cover this topic, including Safety Tools for Tabletop RPGs - Tips and Ideas for Tabletop RPG GMs (dramadice.com) or you may prefer to have a short conversation amongst the group. An accurate and transparent game description will also help in this respect.

3. Choose a system and scenario that you want to run.  Plan to spend no more than 15 minutes or less describing mechanics. For some people this may be why they have signed up for the game, others will want to play and learn as they go along, a third group just liked the sound of your story and don’t care about the mechanics at all.  Be ready to cut out some of the less important parts of the system in order to keep the game moving.  You need to be able to fit the entire game into a 4 hour time slot.

4. If you are not sure of the scenario that you want to run, consider emailing the customer service department of the publisher of the system.  They may have suggestions for or even free copies of scenarios that they run at conventions themselves.  These scenarios will be well playtested and designed to fit in a 4 hour window.

5. Unless character creation is a critical aspect of the game, use pre-generated characters.  Pre-gens allows you to easily tie the characters to the story and ensure that each character can contribute meaningfully to the adventure giving everyone time in the spotlight.

6. Make player handouts including a short summary of the rules for easy reference, 1 page or less is best.  Keeping a page or two of critical rules handy for yourself. Who doesn’t like a nice security blanket?  

7. Sign up for IntrigueCon and create a game.  To do this, once you have a profile and are registered for the convention, click on the drop down menu by your name and go to your profile.  Then under “Game Library” click “Add a Game”.  Fill out the entire form.  If you aren’t sure on anything just put in a placeholder name and make sure to use the box for Save as Draft.  Once you have everything the way you want, click “Save”.  The scheduler will then reach out to you to ask what time slot you want the game in.

Scenario Design and Selection

1. Pacing is king at conventions.  You only have a small 4 hour window to run your game. Your game may not start on time but it must end on time.  Your players have other games to attend after yours.  This means that you have to watch your pacing much more than at a home game.  This is the biggest difference between convention DMing and at home DMing.  This means you need to plan your scenario accordingly.

 A typical breakdown of that timing is as follows.

• 30 minutes for teaching the system and character selection/player introduction

• 30 min to introduce the scenario and get the game started

• 45 min first scene location

• 15 min mid game break

• 45 min 2nd scene

• 1 hr Grande Finale

• 15 min game wrap up

2. You can take the above breakdown and mix it up a bit.  The most important steps are system introduction and Grande Finale.  You have to have enough time to wrap up the scenario and, critically, to talk about what happened. This is more important than a lot of people realize. 

3. When choosing a scenario, consider the above breakdown and make sure that you have enough time to cover what you want.  Also consider whether the scenario highlights the strengths of the game you are playing.  This may be someone’s first time playing this game system and you want to lean into what makes this game system fun.

4. If there are any content warnings for the scenario make sure that you inform the players before they sign up.

5. Consider running a scenario that allows theater of the mind.  It is often faster to run theater of the mind than it is to use maps and miniatures.

Before leaving home

1. Print off any character sheets, handouts, cheat sheets etc that you will need to run your game.  If possible print off 2-3 more copies than you think you need in case you want to add one more player at the game.  Collapsible folders are excellent for carrying the paperwork.

2. Gather up any materials you need.  This includes pencils, erasers, dice, index cards, sharpies.  If you are running with maps, gather up miniatures, maps, etc that you need to run the game.  Include miniatures for the player characters if you are using minis.  Also if you are using maps, consider drawing the maps ahead of time so that the players don’t spend their time watching you draw.

3. Pack snacks and drinks.  Staying hydrated during the game is critical.  As the GM you are talking more than anyone else and will quickly get thirsty.

4. If you are running off a laptop, pack an extra extension cord so that it can stay plugged in.

5. Double check that you have everything.

At the Convention

1. Arrive early.  Take some extra time to set up, relax and get settled.  Put your pregenerated characters and rule handouts where your players can browse through them.  This is the quiet time to chit chat and get comfortable knowing your players.

2. Choose a position at the table so that you can easily see the clock.  It is easy to lose track of time during the game.  It is helpful to be able to glance quickly at the clock and adjust your pacing accordingly. 

3. Once it is time to start, get right into it.  Introduce yourself and welcome the players to your game. Make sure the players know about whatever safety tools you are using and that they are encouraged and expected to use them if needed.

4. Remember that you are now on a tight clock and that the players are expecting to be able to complete the scenario.   A convention game is not the time to worry about railroading.  You may have to steer the game rather forcefully to complete the scenario.  If you need to railroad somewhat, do so.  Just make sure that the players still control their characters.  (GM secret, feel free to move the ending of the scenario to where you need it to be for timing purposes.)

5. During the game, make sure that all of your players are getting engaged and enjoying themselves.  Keep mental notes on who is getting the least scene time and make sure to give them opportunities to jump into the action and do stuff.

6. At the halfway point give your players time for a break to go to the bathroom and get snacks.

7. If you are running low on time, make sure to smash cut to the grand finale.  If you absolutely have to, just tell your players what happens before the finale and jump them to it.

8. After the game, congratulate your players and thank them for attending.  Listen to any feedback they give you.  Give yourself a pat on the back, you just ran a great game at a convention!