Northeast Wars X

As part of August’s RPG Carnival, a communal blogging topic, NiTessine, Master of Game Masters for Ropecon, a Finnish gaming convention, imparts more than a few good ideas for convention game masters to keep in mind. For example, on the topic of promoting your event to attract like-minded players:

Second, write up a decent description of your game. Nobody will sign up for a game that’s only billed as “D&D 3.5″ without any information as to the actual content. You want to grab your players’ attention with it. Tell them what the game is like, not about what your ruleset is (though it is a good idea to mention that, too – I would be most unhappy if I found myself at a 4E table by accident). This should also get you the kind of players you want – the people playing RPGs at conventions are a myriad bunch, and the wrong sort of player in the wrong sort of game can lead to disaster. A Nordic-style immersionist in a Living Greyhawk table or a hack & slashy D&D player in a World of Darkness game are unlikely to lead to good gaming.

It’s a good rundown of good practices for GMs running games in the convention environment. You can read it in full at Worlds in a Handful of Dice.