How to Run a Game at a RPG Convention

The RPG convention seems to be a staple of the TTRPG space that I hadn’t really engaged with before. I had, years and years ago, spent a day at GENCON when I was on a family vacation to the USA, but all I did was wander the vendor halls. I painted a miniature, bought things, saw some live AP, and left.

I wasn’t going to let the chance to really attend a TTRPG convention pass me by again, so when I heard about Wellington’s own KapCon, I was immediately interested. 

I signed up at basically the last minute, and registered for 3 sessions. In the first, I had a blast playing B/X D&D, in a session ran by Morgan Davie! Morgue is a fantastic game designer, and was the first guest on Wait, Roll That Again! It was a delight to play around in his game, and I’m proud that I managed to survive a very deadly dungeon pretty much intact, and in my first B/X experience too! 

For the remaining two sessions, I signed up to run playtest sessions of the game I’ve been developing on the Wait, Roll That Again! podcast, Fight or Fright! I’d never run a convention game before, but this seemed like the perfect opportunity. 

Running a Convention Game

As I prepared to run my first ever convention game, I asked the Dice Exploder discord what I should keep in mind for my first ever convention game. 

Here’s an overview of the advice I received, and how I put it all into practice. 

• Bring along Pre-generated Character Sheets, though let players choose names and pronouns. Bring Extras!

This made a lot of sense for me, and so I made a character sheet for each of the ‘trick-or-treater’ archetypes the game presents players with, and a little bit of optional character information. I still gave the players the opportunity to answer the game’s character questions, quickly building some relationships at the table. This worked great, and it felt like it brought the players right into the world of the game. 

• Get right into the action - the sooner players are able to make choices and engage with the game, the better

No notes here, I absolutely agree!

• Safety Tools are a must - Use the CATS system to quickly convey what the session might have in store

I actually hadn’t heard of the CATS system before! I intended to use my standard lines and veils system, but the CATS system (Content, Aim, Tone, Subject Matter) allowed me to set out exactly what the players might expect, and I made sure to include these elements in my session pitch. I also provided X-Cards in case any specific elements came up. I think it definitely helped me convey the game’s tone in an easy-to-grasp manner for the playtesters, and I’ll absolutely use the system again.

• Bring Index Cards, they’ll be your best friend

Note taking, name cards, quick references? These are fantastic. Other materials I also brought:

• Rules references for each player

• Character creation steps for each player

• A print out of the current rules draft.

• Spare Dice! The game uses a lot of D6s! 

Playtesting Specific Advice

This stuff is particularly relevant if you’re running a playtest at the convention. A playtest session has goal beyond just being a fun and memorable game; you want to learn a bit more about how your game plays at the table.

These sessions weren’t my first ever playtests of the game, but they were easily the most major ones. For the first time, I would be playing outside my own gaming group, and I’d be trying out some new variations on the rules I’d implemented since the Wait, Roll That Again! season finale. 

Here’s the playtesting advice I got. 

• Be clear that your game is a playtest, and leave time at the end for feedback

You don’t want players to turn up and get frustrated with a potentially incomplete experience. They’re doing you a big favour, playtesting your game and hopefully giving you unique insights into the player experience, so you owe it to them to be upfront about where your game is at.

• If an issue in the rules comes up, make a ruling and then move on

This is super key to keep the flow moving, especially in a playtest. If I hadn’t internalised this advice, I would’ve lost myself in a spiral of mechanics-induced panic whenever an issue in the game came up. Instead, I was able to note the issue but move on to preserve play at the table. I can freak out about wonky rules after the game. 

• Trust your players when they say a rule is a problem, but don’t necessarily take their proposed solutions

Navigating feedback is one of the big playtesting struggles. It’s key to really listen to the way your play testers feel when they encounter a sticking point in the rules, but they might not have the full picture when it comes to how to implement a solution. There was an issue with a mechanic in my game where you’d use a turn in combat to support another player. But the maths actually meant that you were making things harder by not just straight-up attacking. Both groups noted this issue, with wildly different ideas for solutions. But I am the game designer, and I know how the various systems of the game interact, so it’s up to me to figure out which is the right way through. 

Overall, playtesting Fight or Fright! was a total success, some of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had along this game design journey. I hope that some of this advice gives you the confidence to run a game at a convention near you! 

In Other News: 

• Three Fantastic Journalists from the RPG space have launched Rascal.News, a worker-owned audience supported newsroom for RPG content. Check them out and support them! 

• You folks really seemed to enjoy last week’s reading report issue, so I thought I’d let you know that the next items on my list are: Issue Three of Wyrd Science, Turtlebun’s Damn The Man, Save the Music, and the folks from the Brain Trust Podcast’s recent game born to die. 

• Work continues on the public playtest version of Fight or Fright!, taking the feedback from the KapCon playtests! I’m really excited to share it with you, and keep building up to season two of the podcast.

That’s all for this week!