After a year's hiatus from GMing conventions, we took the dive into virtual Chupacabracon this year.
I GM hosted two games of S&SoS this year, one filled up completely, the other empty. Which was abit of disparity from our first year which ended with 3 full games over 2 days. All in all, I'm not at all disappointed though.
If there is one thing I have learned, it is that GMing at conventions takes alot out of me. The preparation, the attention to detail and to the player queues. This is definitely more challenging to handle remotely as you can't always see body language or for that matter, even tell exactly who is speaking sometimes!
It is so challenging, yet so rewarding! Every time I GM, players surprise me with their responses and ideas and I learn something.
For anyone thinking about running a game at a convention who hasn't before, a few things:
Playtesting your adventure
While this is not necessary, and many GMs are masters of improvisation, having a playtest group can be invaluable. Running through the adventure can help you to work out all of the 'kinks'. You may spot a typo you made, a character sheet that may need another piece of equipment, a weak plot hook and so on. Additionally this gives you the ability to 'time' the session. By keeping track of how long this session takes, you can better make adjustments to time box it during gameplay at the con when you have a limited time alotment.
Separate the Necessary from Unnecessary Content
After having created your incredible work of art, you should spend some time reviewing which pieces of content are necessary to the gameplay and story experience, and which pieces simply add more flair or are even entirely unnecessary to advance the game. This can be tricky, you may be proud of that extra map you drew up and it might add hours of enjoyable game play, but if it puts you 2 hours over time, the players may never have an opportunity to conclude the adventure. Can you take the major plot devices from that encounter area and overlay them back into the adventure without the map if necessary? Can some encounters be 'evacuated' if need be of a puzzle or challenge at the last minute if the story must be streamlined?
Keep a mental note, or better, mark these areas in your written notes so that you can expand or compress your adventure as needed to suit the speed at which the table consumes your content.
Pregen Characters
Just always have some, and be sure to create more pregens than you have seats at the game if possible. This will at least leave players feeling less 'stuck' with a certain pregen.
Understanding Visual and tactile Aides vs Verbal Immersion
Visual aides are awesome, and can help with immersion and player engagement. Some tips on how or when to use them.
When you have a handout or aid to show the players, be sure to give a moment for them to digest this without your narration. When you give players something to view visually, you will be fighting with their attention verbally or otherwise, so use this as a chance to let yourself catchup. Reread a note you had, or answer questions another PC might have. PCs not reviewing the visual aid, could be asked for input and participation during this window, a simple 'what is your character doing?'.
Be prepared for PCs to draw wrong conclusions from a visual.. or conclusions that sound great, but you hadn't thought of them yourself!
PrePrint Encounter Notes / Monster Stat Blocks
I like to keep a separate folder for the monster stat blocks when I'm at the convention. Additionally, it helps to place them in order in which they are likely to be encountered in the adventure, this way I can minimize searching for information when the encounter comes up and focus more on exchanges with the players.
Keeping everyone engaged
It goes without saying that you want to keep everyone engaged. Remotely, this can be even more difficult when it isn't possible to make eye contact. However, be sure to give everyone an opportunity to act. During combat sessions, typically the mechanics facilitate this. However, out of combat, it may be necessary to periodically break and ask other players in the party, 'what is your character doing?'. This is a good way to remind everyone that they are acting as a group and gives less outspoken players a chance to interject.
Start with a lower level adventure
Adventures including characters with a limited range of abilities and powers helps to limit the amount of information you will need to be familiar with. Familiarity means less time spent doing page flip. Less time page flipping means more direct interaction with the players. In a magic or technological setting, it is a good idea to review the spells or special effects that may come into play before the game.
Ok, but I have done none of these things!
Don't panic! You've got this. The thing is, many of the other players may have been in your shoes. Additionally, everyone playing at the table WANTS you to succeed. Anyone joining a game wanting to see it fail is being disingenious and really doesn't belong there. Leverage this common goal of having fun to your advantage.
As a sidenote, there was an excellent seminar on running horror games this year. It was hosted by industry giants, Aaron de Orive, Darren Watts, James Lowder, Jeb Boyt & Ken Hite. Interestingly, when asked, they generally conceded that most horror campaigns they have ever run have been brief in comparison with other traditional rpgs. Many of them being 1 or 2 shots. I suspect this has a great deal to do with the story driven nature of horror and the need for buy in.
Anyway, all in all it was a great time and I hope that they can host some more games in person in 2022. I highly recommend this con for anyone looking to play some different indy games.
