Table of Contents Introduction Philosophy of Gaming at DucKon The Yearly Cycle of Tasks and Deadlines The Budget The Web Page The Game Room The Gaming Schedule Staffing Events and How to Get Them Events that Need Special Consideration Packing Introduction This Guide is intended for the edification of those poor souls who [thru ill choice or other circumstance] are charged with running the gaming area at DucKon. This is intended to be a running document that is expanded and improved by future staff members over the years [hint, hint]. The first draft of this document was commenced on Monday, June 09, 2003, by a recovering Rich Price. Philosophy of Gaming at DucKon Hi, my name is Rich Price. At the time of this writing I have been running gaming at DucKon for four years. Here are some of the things that I have noticed during this time and some of the conclusions that I have drawn from them. It appears that DucKon attendees favor short games. Most games that last for over an hour have a very poor level of participation. This makes sense when you think about it. A SF con is generally experienced as a number of hour-long events which all occur at prescheduled times. Fitting a game in means finding an hour-long block of time when nothing else is going on. Thus we concentrate on shorter games. Many of our most popular board games already fit this criterion well. [E.G. Settlers, Cheapass Games and Al Sliwinski's home brew games] Another initiative that has been looked into is “walk-in - walk-out” games. By this I mean games that are run continuously or repetitively for an extended period and that allow players to join at any time, play for a while and then leave while the game continues without them. We have also considered “old standbys” such as Life, Monopoly and Risk. But game length must be a criterion. We have tried running a role-playing game where characters could join or leave the event at will. Creating a worthwhile event of this nature is a serious challenge. The above is not to say that we should discourage people from running longer events. Some longer events have had success in the past, especially a few role-playing events. But the gaming staff's energies should be focused on shorter events. It also seems that trying to use the gopher hour system to “recompense” people for running games is more trouble than it is worth and not cost effective. See the section on staffing for more on this topic. The Yearly Cycle of Tasks and Deadlines Things have to happen on time. Everyone knows this. The trick is to know what things and when. The list below assumes that DucKon occurs early in June. The following things will have to be done by these dates. Preliminary Staff List August Room Layout September Initial Event Schedule September Final Staff List October Budget Request If/when they ask for it Start to contact Gaming Companies October Start to contact “Regular” Event Runners November Initial Web Page Text November Start creating spread sheet schedule January/February First web update with Schedule January/February Department Information Form for Ops. April 1 Outline of Progress Report Material April 13 Staff Badge Requests April 15 Final Published Event Schedule May 1 Final Program Book and Web Page Text May 1 Signage Request May 1 Final Event Schedule T-14 days Final Staff Schedule T-12 days Finish the Gaming Control Book T-10 days Print Schedule Flyer T -9 days Pack Games and Equipment T -5 days Setup Game Room T -3 hours A “Master Calendar” that assigned these tasks to individuals with exact due dates would be the approved way of handling this in the business world. Fen are seldom this precise, but if you want it - go for it! The Budget Most of the budget of gaming consists of staff and guest cost. [See section 7.1.] In addition a few other items should be considered. Spike tape for “Life Size Kill Dr. Lucky” This is used to “draw” the board on the floor. Tape color should stand out on rug color. Two rolls [1/2” x 60 yd. x 11 mil. Gaffers tape] go for about $10. Prizes Dealer Dollars - $15 per Tournament. Plaques from James [I do not know if he charges back]. Hand painted “Robber Figures” for Settlers tournament. $30 biannually. Misc. Prizes for other special events - $20 Schedule Flyer [printing] - Use bureau of propaganda for this. The Web Page It is important to keep the gaming web page on the DucKon web site current. The actual maintenance of the web site is the duty of the webmaster but content is ours to supply. When you wish to change the gaming page, send an Email to webmaster@duckon.org specifying what you want done. Content does not have to be HTML. But you should make your desires clear. For example: Updates to Gaming page of DucKon Web Site 1. Put the following game description behind "Give Me The Brain" in the "Board Games" subsection of the "Game Descriptions" section of the page. ----- Start ----- Godzilla Wouldn't it be cool to be a walking disaster area? Breathing flaming radioactive blasts at waves of tiny, think-they're-so-smart humans! Smashing their shiny city buildings into eco-friendly rubble! Grabbing their beautiful women and waving them around on the top of tall buildings (no wait, that's the other movie). What could be cooler? How about if you were one of a GANG of walking disaster areas, competing with each other to see who can be the most destructive? This is the rough-and-tumble world of Godzilla, and it is going to be a VERY bad day for Tokyo. An Al Sliwinski game. 2. Add the following new subsection at the end of the "DucKon X Game Descriptions" section of the page. ----- Start ----- Card Games Cupido The planet Cupido is a peaceful and serene place to live, but its single population leads an intense social life. A young Cupidoian who wants to go out on a date must find nine other Cupidoians of different sexes whom it likes, who all like it, and who all like each other. Cupidoian parents receive government subsidies to help offset their phone bills. Cupido is a home brew card game created by Al Sliwinski. ----- End ----- The web page will go thru an evolutionary process over the course of the year. It should go something like this: Soon after the previous DucKon, the old site will be replaced with one for the new year. At this time you should supply the webmaster with the text for an initial gaming page. This page should have the following sections: Introduction [welcome message] Contact information: “Please send any ideas, offers, suggestions, or questions to . . .” DucKon Gaming Policy [usually same as last year]. As the schedule firms up other sections should be added. For example: Board Game Tournaments Special Events Board Games Card Games Role Playing Games Miniatures Games If you run tournaments, consider publishing the tournament rules on the web. Other special section can also be added. For example the “Philosophy” section of this document was taken from a similar essay published on the DucKon 12 web site. Around May include a room layout and a schedule spreadsheet. [See the Scheduling section below.] The Game Room Past game rooms have ranged in size as follows: DucKon 9 50 ft x 15 ft 750 sq ft This was the first time that Kevin and I ran Gaming. We didn't have as many events as we do now. We would not fit in this space now days. DucKon 10 38 ft x 30 ft 1140 sq ft We had Life Size Dr. Lucky and Shell Shock in this room. We had to take down tables when Lucky was running. I will not willingly do this again. This room was crowded because we were running some role-playing and needed larger tables for these events. DucKon 11 80 ft x 25 ft 2000 sq ft We had too much space and were off in a corner where no one could find us. Location is important! DucKon 12 38 ft x 24 ft 912 sq ft I think that this time we finally got it right. We moved Dr. Lucky to a separate room and used the space that had been reserved for Shell Shock [they didn't show up] for some overflow role-playing. DucKon 13 Same as last year. It is important to have a good scale diagram of the gaming room. MEASURE THE ROOM IN PERSON. Never believe the hotel literature. Most of the tables should be the standard 6' by 30” size. We also use a few that are 8' by 30” and some 4' or 5' diameter round tables for role-playing. I use the AutoSketch drawing program from Autodesk, Inc. to make the diagram. I then convert the finished file to jpeg format for use on the web. I have access to a printer that can do 11” by 17” sheets. This lets me make large-scale blowups of the schedule and room diagram, which are posted in the game room during the con. The Gaming Schedule The initial schedule can be cribbed from last year's schedule. This should be in the form of a list of games to be run. This list [with descriptions] can be published on the web site. It should be updated as events are added. The actual schedule with spreadsheet listing times and table assignments should be started in January. By this time the room diagram should be done. This schedule must be firmed up no later than April 1 for the program book. Staffing Staffing and the Budget The Staff At $25/head, staff members can seem expensive. In fact, they are one of the largest portions of the Gaming budget. However, don't let this discourage you from budgeting for as many staff members as you'll need. A great way of figuring out how many staff members you'll need is to figure out how many hours of work you'll need done and divide by 10. (Always round up.) Please note that is a budgeting mechanism - its purpose is to estimate the approximate hours that you will need before you know the details. Detailed considerations [Multiple table games, non staff run games, etc.] can only be estimated at this point. But see “The Staff Schedule” below. Also note that we are only budgeting staff hours during the convention. The many, many hours of prep time are not budgeted here. The Guests Most of the rest of the budget for gaming consists of guest costs. This should all be in the form of free memberships. Gaming never pays hotel room or transportation costs for staff or guests. “Guest” in the gaming context means a representative of a gaming company or a game designer who spends ten or more hours running and/or demonstrating games. These events should all be scheduled in advance and should all appear on the published schedule in the program book. This means that “last minute” guests should be avoided. And this means that you really have to start contacting gaming guests in October! The Staff Schedule As soon as you have a preliminary event schedule, you should begin putting together the staff schedule. The actual slots in the schedule can stay blank for now, but this will help you keep track of how much help you'll need, so you can make last minute budget adjustments as required. Starting in May, you should start talking to the staff and fleshing out a schedule that keeps everyone happy. As a general rule, people who are doing more of the grunt work (manning the sign-up table) should be expected to do an hour or so less work, and people having more fun (running events they like) should be expected to do an hour or so more work. Events and How to Get Them Contacting Game Companies It's never too early to start talking to game companies about their presence at DucKon. Many companies have groups of volunteers in major cities that they're more than happy to send to a local convention. If you contact them early enough, you can sometimes even secure prize support. When contacting game companies, it's important to have the following bits of information available: Attendance figures for last year. [Get from registration.] Projected attendance figures for this year. [Get from registration.] Contact information for the dealer's room. [Get from dealer liaison.] Contact information for getting ads into the program book. [Get from bureau of propaganda.] Contacting other Event Runners It's also never too early to start contacting the people who ran events in previous years, and find out if they want to run events again. Often these people are more than happy to put in hours of work in running events in exchange only for the table to run them at. If people volunteer large quantities of their time and are running clearly popular events, consider asking them to be guests. The contact database on the DucKon staff site can be used as a source for the names and addresses of last year's guests. Being contacted by Game Companies Sometimes the game companies will come to you. This is a good thing, but keep in mind that you don't want more than two (or maybe three) companies present at a small science fiction convention. If you don't think you have room for the company, politely turn them down and keep them in mind for next year. Being Contacted by Other Event Runners You will receive lots of email from people who want to run their own events. These people are vital to keeping DucKon Gaming running, so treat them with respect. You will need to get the following information from them to properly schedule their games: Names of the events Descriptions of the events Durations and maximum player counts Table size and/or other requirements Being Contacted by Yokels You will also receive email from people with no real understanding of how a convention is run. People will email you asking for their events in the schedule up until the day before the con, and honestly expect you to accommodate them. People will also request four tables to run an event that you know will flop terribly. No matter how much these people may frustrate you, it's important to remember that you're an official voice of the convention. Treat even the yokels with respect, and be polite when turning down their requests. There comes a point, however, when it's acceptable to just ignore them. Events that Need Special Consideration Tournaments Tournaments can be a great idea, but they can also backfire if you don't have enough people to play in them. The best way we've found to run tournaments at DucKon is to make it easy to qualify by letting people play the game at any time to earn points. And by determining the winner purely by total point score. This way, no one has to be playing the game at a specific time and the tournament doesn't conflict with any other scheduled events. Big Events Life Size “Kill Dr. Lucky” A popular twist on a classic Cheapass game, the life-sized version of “Kill Dr. Lucky”, is certain to attract a crowd. However, it also takes quite a bit of time and effort to set up, run, and tear down, as well as a significant chunk of space. The large size “board” is approximately 16' by 22'! Consider using gophers for help at setup. Arrange for hotel staff to vacuum floor and remove chairs from room before setup. The minimum setup time is an hour! The room should be un-booked for the two hours before the first round is scheduled to start. Makoto Makoto is the popular game of beating up metal poles with a long stick. Different game operators work for different rates, but the best we've found is Paul Haynie, who will run the game as a free event for con members in exchange for a few free memberships. Makoto takes up a fairly large area (10' square is minimum) and can make more noise than some people are comfortable with. “Sanctioned” Events Some game companies allow people run what are called “sanctioned events.” DucKon has not had good experiences with this concept. If you decide to try it again then please get approval for the event from the company no later than the end of the year. In no case agree to a last minute “sanctioned event”. LARPs DucKon has had some bad experiences in the past with LARPs, due primarily to the tendency for those running LARPs to charge an additional fee to their players. It has long been the DucKon Gaming staff's policy to not allow any games to run at the convention where members have to pay additional fees to play, so it is very important that anyone who wants to run a LARP at DucKon understands that is must be free to con members. We do not permit “ad hoc” LARPs to be run at DucKon. Only LARPs that have been approved and prescheduled by Gaming are allowed. Packing The Gaming Control Book The key to an orderly game room is a manned signup table and the Gaming Control Book. [IMHO this is the best idea that I ever had.] The book has to be put together in the last few weeks [after all scheduling has been frozen]. It has 4 major sections. Instructions This is where I put the “Signup sheets and what to do with them” page, a master copy of the gaming schedule, a diagram of the gaming room and a number of copies of the Staff Schedule [more than enough for all staff to take their own copy]. Signup Sheets This section consists of a number of tabs [one for each day and a few extra]. Each scheduled event has a pre generated signup sheet that contains the name, category, start time and day, duration and maximum number of players plus a signup list. Most signup sheets are printed two to a page. Some are full-page sheets and some are special formats [for scoring etc.]. I will be using a new method to generate signup sheets for DucKon 13. It will use Mail Merge. I may explain it later in a separate document. Rules This section is a reference. It contains rules for all tournament games and a number of Al's home brew games. Scoring This section contains tournament score sheets and other such tools. Games It is vital that a copy of every scheduled game be available at the con. I leave it to the gaming company representatives and other guests to supply their own games. But I bring the rest. I borrow copies of those games that I don't own from other members of my gaming group. I assemble and pack these games during the week before the con. Equipment Signup Table supplies Pens Marking Pens Tape Scissors Paper Tablets Signage Bulletin Boards [From Signage dept.] Table Placards [From Signage dept.] Game supplies Score pads “Life Size Kill Dr. Lucky” Tape measures Floor layout diagrams Spike tape [2 roles] “Nice Try” cards [I print these to order. Need about 50. http://www.rich-and-sharon.org/game/duckon.htm Reprinted by Permission Back to Table of Contents -- Game! # 7 To Game! List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2004 by George Phillies. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. 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