Create Your Own Dungeons And Dragons Convention
In 2007, we skipped Gen Con.
You see, my Dungeons and Dragons gaming group is an interesting mix of folks. We’ve got small business owners, health care professionals, a college professor, IT professionals, fast food workers, an electrician, housewives, and even someone in the printing business.
Oh, and then there’s me, but you all know what I do. I’m a writer.
We have single guys, engaged guys, married folks with kids, and married folks without kids.
At any rate, the stars were aligned in 2007 such that most of us either couldn’t afford Gen Con or couldn’t attend because of work or family commitments.
We realized, by July of 2007, that we were really going to miss Gen Con. So, we came up with a stopgap measure: Cabin Con.
What is Cabin Con? Well, we decided that one of the best parts about Gen Con was the gaming. Specifically, gaming with our friends. So, we rented two small cabins at nearby county park for two nights in late August last year. We spent the better part of three days gaming. We played Dungeons and Dragons, Three Dragon Ante, and even some board games.
We cooked our food over a campfire, and made jokes at night about who was sharing a sleeping bag with whom.
We did all of this on the cheap; with food and everything, I think we all got away for about $75 a person.
Cabin Con was such a damned good idea that we’re doing it again this October. This time, we’re renting a vacation home for 4 days to the tune of $600. Split between a dozen or so of us, we’ll still be under $100 apiece including food. Gen Con or not, I think Cabin Con is going to become a tradition.
Why am I telling you all of this? Because it would never have occurred to us to do something like this if we hadn’t missed Gen Con in 2007. Maybe it’s something your group could do, too.
So, if you want to organize your own convention, here’s what you need to do:
- Figure out how many people you have going. Get as firm a commitment as possible.
- Find a good location. Depending on your budget, you could have your Cabin Con in tents in the woods, or you could have it at the Hilton. For me, I think the vacation home or hunting lodge type rental is the best way to go.
- Divide your weekend up into time slots for games. These can be 4-hour slots, or they can be shorter or longer depending on your group’s preferences.
- Get your friends to commit to running games. If you’re like me and usually are the DM, GM, or StoryTeller, a Cabin Con can be a nice opportunity to play on the other side of the screen.
- Send out the list of games, and have everyone sign up for the games they want to play.
- Plan a menu and buy the food. You can live on sandwiches and cereal all weekend, or you can cook full-blown meals. Here again, it just depends on your group’s preferences.
- Set up a KP duty chart. Give everyone a chance to help out with the cooking, cleaning, and whatnot.
I’d love to hear from others. If you’ve done your own gaming weekend, what advice can you offer?
Almost there, folks.
So, I’m hoping to spend some more time here, soon. This month has been CRAZY busy. I spent the first half of the month fininshing off my Helium Experiment, and the second half finishing up some client work that’s due on the 28th.
Anyways, for those of you who are in my game at Gen Con, stay tuned. It’s going to be a wild and amazing journey just getting there from here.
How To Kill Your D&D Game Without Really Trying
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how I’ve ended some campaigns in the past. My good friend Greg reminded me, right here in the blog, about the now-infamous Winter Court fiasco, for example. It occurred to me that maybe there is a lesson or two I could share with you all. Maybe if you could avoid the mistakes I made in that campaign, you can be spared the frustration and anxiety I experienced.
To give you some background, I decided in the fall of 2003 that I was going to start an Oriental Adventures campaign. Specifically, I decided I was going to start a Rokugan campaign. See, I’d been exposed to the Legend of the Five Rings settings via the collectible card game at Gen Con, and was truly enamored with the Clan system. I even bought the Clan Wars miniatures set and painted 40 some-odd samurai figs. Here was the first problem, though. Did you see it up there? *I* decided.
Step #1: Choose a campaign setting your players aren’t into.
Now, let’s not jump to any conclusions. I didn’t force-feed them Rokugan. In fact, I took a good three weeks to poll my players, dig into their collective brains, and try to decide on what campaign setting they wanted. There wasn’t a true consensus; there was a slight preference for Colona, my self-designed campaign world, with the Realms coming in a close second. Rokugan was in the bottom half, although no one outrightly opposed it. And, they preferred it to Ravenloft.
But they weren’t into it. See, Rokugan is a tough setting to play if you’re not really into it. The core classes are different, magic works differently, and you’ve got things like clans, honor and taint to deal with. And my players are loyal to a fault and willing to try anything, but they didn’t want to spend hours learning all of the intricacies of the world. So, I wound up with Shugenja casting standard-world spells like flaming sphere, and Samurai with a level of core Ranger so as to get the two-weapon bonus (this was 3.0, pre-nerfed Ranger). Mechanically those things work, but they killed the flavor.
But, that wasn’t the only thing that killed that particular campaign. See, I really have to give some credit to the only two words my players use today to describe the campaign: Winter Court.
Step #2: Force-feed good role-playing
photo credit: saintovbastards
Sometimes, you just can’t move your players.
Winter Court was a single gaming session that lasted about 5 hours. During that time, the idea was that the characters had to do just a shit-load of role-playing. They had a variety of objectives, including solving a murder, courtship, diplomacy and others. It was, in many ways, the opposite of the Warcraft Miracle Night (I’ll explain that one another time.)
At any rate, there were so many role-playing hooks that I couldn’t seem to present any of them in a way that engaged my players. Add to that the fact that, at the time, I had a couple of hack-and-slashers as players (No, Greg. Not you. I’m talking about Swamp Beast and the Big Red Dog). That certainly didn’t help things.
The result of that session? Everyone. Was. Bored. Out. Of. Their. Minds.
Had I stopped right there, we probably could have ended the game and moved on. But, I was determined. You see, there were good reasons, both before and after Winter Court, for me to move on. I completely missed them.
Step #3: Ignore the warning signs
I remember having to explain honor and taint at least once a session, sometimes twice. No one was listening. Not because they were rude (they weren’t, necessarily) but because they weren’t interested. Explain something once and they get it, that’s great. Explain it twice, that’s fine too. Probably a learning curve. Explain it six times and it must, by definition, be uninteresting and forgettable.
Now, I get that players sometimes have to miss a game. But with Rokugan, it seemed like we had at least one player gone each session, sometimes two. Sometimes, that happens. But not for six sessions in a row. The fact that people were skipping out on D&D night to go out to dinner with an uncle should have been a sign. In fact, it was a sign. I just missed it.
My players kept trying to back out (individually) due to scheduling reasons. I kept trying to accommodate them. That caused yet another problem.
Step #4: Get off schedule
Randy and I are opposites, in many ways, when it comes to DMing. Randy is a schedule Nazi. He plays, every two weeks on Friday, come hell or high water. And, if you can’t commit to that schedule, don’t even think about joining his campaign. I, on the other hand, tend to take the “we’ll play whenever” approach.
I really don’t advocate either approach. I think you have to have a routine, but I also think you need to have some flexibility built into that routine. How you do that is the topic of another blog post, someday.
Anyways, the result of “we’ll play whenever” became “we’ll play in 4 weeks,” and then “we’ll play in a couple of months,” and then, “Hey. Anyone want to start a new D&D campaign? I’m thinking Realms.”
Step #5: Fizzle out
D&D campaigns rarely die quickly. I told you before about the big blow-up we had during my wife’s campaign. That blow-up didn’t end things. It was a blowout that we patched. D&D campaigns end more like a slow leak. To mix metaphors, D&D campaigns don’t get the luxury of decapitation. They bleed out. Or better yet, they get a festering sore that starts on the ankle and winds up in a leprous coating over the entire body.
Ew.
Maybe we’ll just say they sort of fizzle out.
And it did. That’s what happened to my Rokugan game. What did I learn from the experience? Like the headline says: I learned how to kill a D&D game without trying.
—–
I also learned some important lessons about my group, my own personality, life, and even some lessons about running a small business from this experience, by the way. See, in any endeavor, especially a business, you can’t ignore your customers’ input. You can’t force your customers to want your product. You have to watch for warning signs that something is wrong, because some customers just won’t come out and say it. And you’ve got to be diligent about deadlines and follow-up, or you’ll never have them as a customer again.
What If? On 4E and the Future
What if it sucks?
Worse…
What if I don’t think it sucks, but the rest of my group does?
I’ve been asking myself this lately, as I think my good friend Phil has convinced Randy and the rest of our local group that 4E is going to be bad. REALLY bad.
Aw, hell. It’s not fair to blame it on Phil. There are things that look like they might be bad.
At any rate, what happens if I like it and they don’t?
Way I see it, I’ve got 3 options:
- Keep playing whatever everyone else wants to play. This means I’m stuck with Spell Compendium (etc), and I get no rules reset.
- Play something different altogether, like Vampire or Savage Worlds.
- Find another group with which to play 4E. (Note: I’m not talking about dumping the guys; they’re my friends, and nothing will change that. D&D or no, we’re compatriots.)
So, is there something I’m missing? A fourth, better option? If not, which of these three is best? Your thoughts are appreciated!
Get Angie’s Chinese New Year Cookbook FREE
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Now, I know some of you guys cook, admit it…
I know there are some gals that read this blog that cook, too.
My wife, Angie, put together a little cookbook a few months back. We’ve decided to give the thing away to anyone who subscribes to her cooking blog. Feel free to pay her a visit today to get your free Chinese New Year Cookbook!
I bet if you’re nice she’ll give you the recipe for the GM’s Day cake, too 
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Game Masters Day - Better Late Than Never!
I had intended to observe GMs day in much grander fashion than last year, but with Gary leaving us it didn’t seem right.
In retrospect, maybe he’d have wanted it that way. At any rate, my loving wife made a cake on GMs day. Here it is:
What I’ve Been Up To
Toldja yesterday. It’s the hat.
See the D&D figs in the background? :)
Anywho… I came to the conclusion, a couple of weeks back, that this blog was meant to be a labor of love. By that, I mean that it isn’t going to ever be a reliable stream of blogging income in the way that Writing-Journey or TheHistoryGuru are intended to be. I’m sure it’s possible for a D&D blog to do so (How else could Yax of DungeonMastering.com give away all of that stuff?) but the ratio of work to reward is higher than I’d like it to be. And, there are so many folks out there doing it better than me. On top of all of that, I don’t want to ever have to blog about D&D. I want to do it for the fun of it. I want to do it to meet new friends like the folks at Critical Hits, Stupid Ranger, Chatty DM, Phil Gamer, the aforementioned DungeonMastering, Kimmie, Kam at Pens & Swords, and any others that don’t immediately come to mind. (If you’ve not visited each and every one of them, go do that now. Subscribe to their feeds, while you’re at it.)
Anyways, that’s why I’ve gone from 3 posts a day down to about 3-4 a week. Hobbies get less time than work. I’m also changing around my ad structure to be less intrusive. While I’m not counting on the site for income, I’d love to make enough on the site to at least pay the hosting fees. Also, over the next few weeks, I’m going to be migrating the material from the articles section of the site into the blog. New product reviews will all happen inside of the regular blog, right here. OOH, and I’ll probably be screwing with themes for a couple of days, too, so watch for that.
So anyways, that’s what the site has been up to. As for the rest of me, I’ve been working on other writing projects, and have landed a long-term project with a big client. That’s going to provide some stability to my freelancing that I’m just thrilled about. I’m thrilled with the growth at Writing Journey, and I’m hoping to be able to start my mentoring program up over there by the fall. I’ve also been screwing around on Helium.com quite a bit. Check out my latest article over there on the D&D stigma.
Our regular D&D game is in a bit of limbo, waiting to see how 4E goes. I’m going to be running H1 a couple of times, to make sure that everyone in our group gets to play at least once. I think Randy’s going to run H2 in the same way. By the time that’s all said and done, I think we’ll have a good idea of whether we’re switching for certain. I’m ready for 4E to be out, for that reason if nothing else.
As a side note: any of you writer-types reading this, you should consider getting in on Helium’s Reward-athon, contests, and marketplace. Helium is fun to write for and has a bunch of potential for creating residual income. I know one writer who brings in $300-$500 every month on articles she’s written months ago. If you decide to sign up, email me and I’ll send you a referral link. I’m looking at being the Sub-Channel Steward for RPGs, and would love to see more D&D articles on the site.
Will you always play DnD?
I want to tell you all about a couple of conversations I’ve had lately.
The first one is an ongoing discussion with my friend Randy. Randy and I tend to have these big idea discussions about D&D, about our group of friends, and about our lives. One discussion revolved around whether the people you play D&D with are your friends, or whether they are just the guys you play a game with (like a softball league, for example). That ongoing discussion tool us the better part of three years; by the time we came to a real conclusion, it was a moot point because all of the people we played D&D with were, without question, our friends by that point.
Randy and Me, deep in discussion. I’m the one with the hat. photo credit: ohhector
Anyways, that’s not one of the conversations I wanted to tell you about. That one was free.
The conversation Randy and I have been having for about six or eight months is this: Do you ever see yourself stopping D&D? If so, at what age? 50? 60? Will you be a 70 year-old man playing D&D? I think we’ve both, at this point, answered “No, I don’t see myself stopping. I might stop buying new stuff, but I won’t stop playing. I’ll be rolling dice as long as I can lift them.”
“I just rolled a nat 20, Bitches!” (Age-progression photo. You can tell, I still have the hat.) photo credit: Thomas Tribe
The other conversation I’ve had was with another D&D player. He’s decided to retire. He’s done, ready to move on. He wants to do some other things, and the 4E Malaise has really gotten to him. My suggestion was to wait until the 4E hype dies down and we all know whether we’re going 4E or not. He didn’t seem especially interested.
so, here’s my questions for you all today: Will you ever stop playing D&D, or will you retire? If not age, what would make you retire?
The 4E Malaise
If your gaming group is anything like mine, you can’t stop talking about Fourth Edition.
Every blog post or article at WotC, every entry at EnWorld, and every goofy comment (no offense, boys) at Critical Hits and my guys are chatting it up. It is as if they are a knitting circle that just found out that the pastor’s daughter is pregnant.
Anyways, this whole thing has put us in a bit of a tizzy. Our other DM, Randy, hasn’t run Dungeons and Dragons in over four months, choosing to instead explore Savage Worlds and some other games.
For the most part, we’ve all stopped buying new DnD books. I bought the Wizards Presents books, but none of the other guys did.
The 4E announcement put us into a funk of sorts.
The question is, then, this:
If 4E doesn’t appeal to the group, will we start back up with 3.5? I don’t know about the others, but I’m liking the way 4E looks. In many ways, as goes the DM so goes the group. Still, there is the strong possibility of a peasant uprising if they don’t like 4E as much as I do.
How about your group? Are you all experiencing the 4E malaise?
Why I am getting DnD Insider
Just now I was able to make it through The Game’s amazingly thorough play-by-play account of the 4E seminar at DDXP.
I was skimming along, trying to get the bird’s eye view, when something caught my eye.
I did a spit take.
Then, I did a double take.
After cleaning off my laptop, I read it again:
“Rules Database. Searchable online content database with realtime information- includes new books, Dragon/Dungeon content. Access all content without having all books there. D&D Insider subscription gives access to all books, not just the ones you’ve bought. ”
That can’t be right.
All of the rules from all of the books in one spot?!?
You mean I don’t need to bring every supplement with every feat on my character sheet?
I don’t have to go to Barnes & Noble and copy down monster data on the one good monster from MM IV?
Holy crap.
This is huge, folks. This will completely change the way that this game is played, and in a good way. How? Let me give you an example. The following is a conversation I had with one of my players (we will call him “Teddy” - but that’s not his name) several months back:
Teddy: Hey! I was thinking. Do you care if I take Vow of Poverty for my monk?
Me: (Not yet having Exalted Deeds) I dunno. What’s it do?
Teddy: Oh, you give up all your worldly posessions and get a couple of feats in return.
Me: Hmm. Can you read the description to me? I’d like to see it, I think.
Teddy: Sorry, I’m in the car right now. I can scan the pages in and email them to you later, if you want.
Me: Nah, that’s a lot of trouble. Don’t worry about it. Besides, this let’s me screw you on magic items, so I’m all good.
Teddy: Ha ha. (to himself, “sucker.”)
So, here’s how that conversation will go after DnD Insider:
Teddy: Hey! I was thinking. Do you care if I take Vow of Poverty for my monk?
Me: I dunno. Hang on, let me check the specs.
-waiting-
Me: Crap. My Wi-Fi’s down. What’s Vow of Poverty do?
OK, so maybe it won’t be all that. But still, it is a definite selling point for me.
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