Rochester Gamers Community

Hosting your own gaming “convention” in your basement or elsewhere in your home is a great way to introduce your friends who are “non-gamers” to the hobby of tabletop gaming (and perhaps even convince them to become Voting members of RGC!). Here are some ideas for hosting your own weekend of fun with your “non-gamer” friends.

When planning your own get-together, keep in mind that your “non-gamer” friends do not have the same background that you and your other gamer friends may have. They may not have an appreciation for the historical significance of a battle, or a familiarity with a fantasy or sci-fi “universe,” or even a basic understanding of rudimentary game mechanics that you and your gaming friends take for granted ("Is this anything like RISK?"). So, be prepared to spend a little more time in preparation in order to set the stage for non-gamers. Remember, your Number One objective is to have fun, but the quality of the overall experience and the impressions of the hobby that your guests leave with at the end of the day are important, too. Even if you don’t “convert” anyone to the hobby of gaming, you’ll have an excellent opportunity to further the image of us gamers in the eyes of the public, or at least to impress your friends with your gaming experise. So, on with the tips!

1. Set a firm date early. This may seem obvious, but until you decide precisely when to hold your mini-con and commit to a date, you’ll probably just keep putting it off and your friends will make other plans. Poll the people you intend to invite and try to pick a date that works best for you and them, then stick to it. Give your prospective guests a couple of week’s notice if possible.

2. Consider running your games as a non-playing referee. This will dispel any notion that you are only inviting non-gamers that you plan to trounce handily and treat as cannon fodder to boost your own ego. I always plan to be the referee or gamemaster of the featured game because I enjoy doing that as much as I enjoy playing. Since I typically invite friends who are “non-gamers” the burden is on me to prepare for and run the game, but I have fun doing exactly that so that is not a problem with me. If at least two of your friends show up for the main event, your game can proceed as planned. If only one person shows, then you can move in and participate as a player. Worst case, no one shows and you watch a movie and eat the food yourself.

3. Invite more people than you think you would need to successfully run a game, since many of those you invite will be uninterested or unable to attend. So far my “hit rate” is about 20%, but of course your mileage will vary depending upon who you invite. Be sure to tell people that it is okay with you if they just drop in, watch or join in for a bit, and leave if they want. People that don’t want to commit to an uncertain experience or who have limited time are more likely to make an attempt if they know that you won’t expect them to spend an entire evening doing something that they might not find enjoyable.

4. Create a “flyer” to send as an invitation to your prospective guests. As a minimum, include dates and times and a map to your house if you are inviting people who don’t know the way. You should let them know whether or not you intend to feed them (more on that later), whether or children and/or spouses are invited (ditto), and other bits of information that may help them decide whether to drop by or not. You might also want to include some background material if that is appropriate for your featured game, and perhaps a brief summary of the rules or key game concepts. However, make it clear that reading everything you sent them beforehand is NOT a prerequisite for being able to play! You don’t want to scare people away with paperwork.

5. Select one game to feature and focus on preparing for and running that one game well. For one of my events, I tried to prepare three separate games. I wanted to give people a choice, but I found it very difficult to keep three sets of rules fresh in my mind, and in the end we ended up playing only one of the three anyway. Pick one set of rules and one scenario, preferably from those that are playtested, tried and true and make that the main event.

6. Set a specific time for it to begin and end, 6PM to 11PM for example. This seems obvious, but if you aren’t clear on that point in your invitation you may not have critical mass to run the featured game, or people may not have planned to stay for the duration and you’ll lose people before the game is completed. I once ran my weekend convention as an “open house” and while I did get several people stopping by (a total of 6 for the weekend) only once was there enough people there at one time to play a game. Therefore, make it clear on your flyer that the game starts at a particular time. That way you’ll have enough people there then to start the game, and you can always work latecomers in later on if they show up.

7. Consider running your events over at least two consecutive nights. That will give your guests a choice and allow them to work better around conflicts. Besides, once you have gone through the work to prepare you might as well get the most enjoyment out of your efforts. This will also allow you to invite friends that you know from different associations (work, church, neighbors, RGC, etc.) on different nights, and your friends will be with their friends that know each other as well.

8. Give your “basement convention” a name if that appeals to you. I started calling mine the “World War Weekend” (WWW) since it usually involves wargames. I don’t think many of the guests paid attention to the name (it was in the flyer!), but it was fun for me since I can pretend that I am a big shot in charge of a huge branded convention attended by people awestruck with my organizational abilities and gaming acumen. ?

9. Feed your guests. On a busy weekend, if people know they will be fed, they might be more likely to drop by if it doesn’t mean missing a meal. Keep it simple and quick so that you can react to people showing up at different times. Set out chips, donuts, cookies, nuts, soft drinks – whatever you think your guests would enjoy and pop a frozen pizza or two in the oven every once in a while. Use your judgment when it comes to serving alcohol.

10. If you have time, be prepared to run (or even participate in) a quick pickup game in case someone can only drop by during a time other than when you’ll be playing the featured game. This may sound like it is contradicting the “stick to one game” advice above, but you should be able to pull out a simpler game and demo the game, a play a few rounds with that guest without too much effort.

11. When selecting a featured game, keep it relatively simple if you are inviting “non-gamers.” The best approach is to spend a few minutes explaining the basics, then start the game and let them learn the rules as they go. Chances are your friends are relatively bright so they probably won’t have any trouble grasping the basic game mechanics once play starts, but be careful about adding too much complexity. I would also avoid games that require excessive preparation (character creation, etc) or introduction, since your non-gaming players may fade on you before you even get started actually playing the game.

12. Play some recorded music or other audio appropriate to the game you will be playing. I put on the period music when play an American Civil War battle, and recorded news broadcasts from World War 2 when playing a game from that era. Use the “repeat” feature of your CD player to keep it going all evening.

13. Before the game starts, or during a break, play a video of your favorite movie or one that coincides with the period of the game you are playing. For the first WWW, the featured event was a D-Day game, so my guests and I watched the first 15 minutes of “Saving Private Ryan” before the game to get in the mood.

14. Decorate the game area with paraphernalia appropriate to the game to get people in the mood. For my Civil War game, I hung a 34-star US flag, the first Confederate national flag, and a Federal regimental flag on the walls of the dining room where we played. If you have larger figures (Transformers!), models, books, comics, artwork, or sculptures that are related to the game, set those out. Break out that newspaper-stuffed “zombie” that you used last Halloween and lean it against the outside of your window, looking, when playing “Last Night on Earth.” That kind of thing.

15. Let people know whether children and/or dates or spouses are invited. If dates and spouses are not going to play the game they will want to be entertained, so unless your spouse or date wants that job you had better discourage your guests from bringing their significant other. Likewise with small children – unless you plan to provide a babysitter you’d better let your guests know that junior needs to stay home. Encourage your guests to bring their children who might be interested in playing, but make sure they understand what an appropriate age might be based on the nature, complexity, and length of the game you have planned.

16. When deciding on what game to host and whom to invite, give a moment’s thought to the cultural considerations of your guests. I don’t want to dwell on this point, but since the point is to have fun, you’ll want to avoid asking people to take on the role of characters that might make them uncomfortable. If you state in your invitation flyer what the theme of the game is that you will be playing, hopefully it will be clear to your guests what will be involved and they can decide for themselves.

17. Chose a rules set that is challenging but not overly complex. A “beer and pretzels” game might be fun but probably doesn’t represent the mainstream hobby you are trying to introduce to your friends. Likewise, too many pauses while you flip through a 200-page rulebook for some obscure rule will likely kill the fun completely. Plan on playing games that you know work well, particularly if you have seen them used to good effect in convention games played by players of mixed skill and experience levels.

18. Keep the game moving! The biggest criticism that “non-gamers” have against tabletop games is that they are “boring” and that is certainly valid for poorly designed or badly run games. As GM it is your job to keep up the pace. Don’t be arbitrary, but don’t let inexperienced players get bogged down in the minutia of the game mechanics.

19. To keep things fun, consider providing your guests with something that will help them identify with the game. Period headgear, insignia, or even a name tag identifying them as “General Patton" will help them get into the historical mood. Have your guests don distressed cast-off clothing and maybe even a little gray makeup for a zombie game. Pick up some cheap pirate hats, plastic swords, and “pieces of eight” at a party supply store for your pirate-themed game. Again, keep it tasteful and light-hearted. At the end of the game you can pass out “certificates of achievement” or “discharge papers” that they can keep as a memento.

20. Take photos of your guests and the game as it progresses, and then distribute copies to your guests after the convention. Digital cameras make this easy and cheap. You can even post them on a website if your guests approve, along with an “after action report” describing the progress of the event.

In summary, try to plan your event taking into consideration the perspective of your non-gaming friends. You are doing this for them, so keep them comfortable, happy, and above all, having fun!