Subject:
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Re: Gaming at AFOL cons
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.gaming
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Date:
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Fri, 1 Mar 2002 03:55:47 GMT
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Viewed:
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11 times
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Steve Jackson wrote:
> > There needs to be management of expectations for the gamers. Somehow
> > Steve was expecting 25 players or so.
>
> At least. I planned and packed for that many. I based the expectation mostly on
> the assumption that (a) a lot of people would be interested, and (b) the "a lot"
> would be enough to make it financially worthwhile for Matt to bring me out as an
> attraction. As it is, I ended up splitting my travel costs with the con at the
> last minute, and I am sure that BricksWest lost money on me anyway.
I think perhaps Matthew set the goals for BricksWest a little too high.
Certainly fun was had by all, and I hope Matthew doesn't get stuck with
any bills.
> I have run the game at many gaming and SF cons. I've never had a game with only
> eight players. Three (Sunday night) was an all-time low. Of course, since the
> con paid to bring me in (and I hate to disappoint people anyway!) we would have
> gone ahead and run it for just one. But that didn't happen, and it appeared that
> our three had a good time. THAT counts as success.
There can be an intimacy in a smaller game, and clearly the Pirate Game
can be fun with just four players.
> > There is a lot of interest in LEGO gaming, but there are so many other
> > things going on to draw people's attention away.
>
> Which is a reason I question the viability of big games at specifically LEGO
> cons. Paradoxically, I think BW had *too much* to do; it would have been a
> better con, *as a con,* if Legoland had not been there to distract us from
> talking to EACH OTHER. Since BW is moving into Legoland proper next year, I
> think it probably needs to change from a "convention" format to more of a
> "public show" format. Just my two cents worth.
I heartily agree about the Legoland distraction, and I agree, BricksWest
2003 is shaping up to be primarily a public show. This is going to leave
a gap for those wanting a convention. I still plan to attend (which will
be easier since I will be on the West coast fairly soon), but my
expectations will be very different.
> Something that made the too-much-to-do problem worse: the Pirate Game was
> scheduled against Mike Rayhawk's Brick Wars both nights! Foo! Not only did we
> split the player pool, but I didn't get to play Brick Wars! Double foo! A basic
> of convention scheduling is: do NOT put like events at the same time.
Definitely having only two program rooms was a problem. With a third
room, the games could have been scheduled at a different time (of course
then we all would be complaining about missing the train presentations
or some such). What I would really like to see is a schedule which had
two tracks where the gaming events are put up against totally
unstructured play. This then leaves those committing a 4-6 hour chunk of
time not having to miss a ton of good sessions. Another thing would also
be to have the Pirate Game Saturday, and BrickWars Sunday, thus
resolving the issue of backing the two games up against each other.
> I think the biggest BW attraction, other than the speeches from LEGO employees,
> was the "digging through the element pile." We discussed this at the gaming
> roundtable. There's a game in there.
Yes, the K-8 area needs to be open the entire time (but perhaps the
trading should be restricted to the last day or something, but maybe
not). K-8 play is a great way to destress, occupy bored people, kill
time, etc.
> Any game run at a con will face two big logistical hurdles: getting the stuff
> there in good order, and keeping it safe at the con. My nicest Pirate Game
> islands have never left my house :-( because their game value is no greater than
> that of "instant islands" and transporting them would be very difficult.
> (Incidentally, when I run this game at SF cons, I almost always draw a lot of
> kids during setup. I hand them the green baseplates, the BURPs, and the plant
> box, and say "Build islands." They love it.)
At BrickFest 2001 we had plenty of pretty islands because many people
brought creations for use in the game. The fact that the game room was
also the Pirate MOC display area helped (of course it did sort of hide
some of the items from the MOC voting).
> But for a game in a public place, pretty ships should have equally pretty
> islands. Somehow. Hmm. Imagine running a huge Pirate Game as a charity event!
> Donors could sponsor ships, which would be run by skilled players; people would
> throw a buck in the kitty for the privelege of watching for a while and walking
> around to see the scenery.
Hmm, perhaps that's the way to do PirateFest.
> Somebody down there commented on Car Wars and its slowness. Allow me to assure
> you that the new edition, shipping March 22, is way faster :-)
Have you thought at all about LEGOizing Car Wars?
> Now for the big finish, re Lego games at game cons:
>
> I have been invited as GOH at Origins this year, and the Pirate Game is going.
> This is the first public announcement of that, btw :-) Any local-to-Columbus-OH
> AFOLs interested in helping out? And/or, anybody planning to go to Origins
> anyway and wanna talk?
Hmmm, I just might have to do Origins then... If so, I'll of course be
happy to help run the game (and will have much fewer problems with
conflicts against the game).
Frank
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Gaming at AFOL cons
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| Whew. Back from Ireland - which was the trip AFTER BricksWest. Only now am I catching up on both reading and writing. I have just read the whole thread but will cast my comments as a reply to Frank's original message, with additions at the end. (...) (23 years ago, 1-Mar-02, to lugnet.gaming)
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