I'm excited to report that I just signed up yesterday to run a Labyrinth Lord game at a weekend RPG convention next month here in Berlin (BurgCon 20). I've never run a game at a con before, and I don't think I've ever run a game in that sort of "in public" environment even...I've decided to use yesterday's idea of a Manic Miner themed dungeon for the con adventure. It shall be entitled "Beneath the Radiant Dome", which I thought sounded suitably old-school :) And with rooms called things like "Skylab Landing Bay" and "Return of the Alien Kong Beast" it's clearly going to have some kind of sci-fi influences!
I've run a lot of con games at my small local gaming convention. The thing that I recommend is to really give the players a reason to role-play amongst themselves, and to tie in the characters in some way. Make two of the characters brothers, or perhaps one owes the other one money and agreed to adventure to pay off that debt, or they are all friends (but perhaps they all have some sort of secret that may come out in game). Give them suggestions on how to play them, but leave it open ended. Playing with a bunch of strangers can be a mixed bag, but it can also be very entertaining, and it's fun to meet new gamers. :) Good luck with your 1-shot at the convention.
ReplyDeleteHey Samwise7, thanks for the tips! Yes that's a really good idea to give the players interesting pre-existing connections between their characters. Also secrets sound excellent -- so they're not all necessarily working towards the same ends the whole time.
ReplyDeleteYes, best of luck -- I am running my first con game this August as well.
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