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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Sun, 24 Feb 2002 21:03:02 GMT
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Viewed:
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1774 times
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Christopher Weeks wrote:
>
> In lugnet.fun.gaming, Frank Filz writes:
>
> > One thing Steve Jackson asked was based on the response to the Pirate
> > Game at BricksWest, was it even appropriate to have gaming at an AFOL
> > con.
>
> I've been thinking about this since last summer's Brickfest, actually. I don't
> want to miss out on the other stuff, but I'm really there to play LEGO games.
> I think that the length of time that we played was on the border of being too
> little to justify the set up and take down time. So I think some thought needs
> to be given to how to keep the gaming space operating.
Definitely. Of course we had intended a longer play time but my awful
work schedule conspired against us. Clearly one thing to do is to not
rely on a single person for the game. Even if folks wanted to wait for
me to actually run the game, the setup could have been completed Friday.
I would also like to seriously suggest Brickfest change how the outlet
shopping runs. Having everyone trek out to the store Sunday morning
effectively kills Brickfest for Sunday.
> One obvious way to do that is to bring someone in to be responsible for that
> feature of the event over. If Steve was brought out to BricksWest, why was
> there so little pirate gaming? When we were talking about doing a Pirate fest
> here in NJ, we were looking at a couple of 12ish hour sessions over the
> weekend.
>
> > An AFOL con needs a significant amount of unstructured "play" time.
>
> What do you mean? Like pawing through the K-8 and building, or just doing
> other stuff more generally?
K-8 playing, train playing, just spending time with other AFOLs showing
off features of each others models. I'm thinking of Friday evening at
Brickfest 2000 (and probably all day Friday at Brickfest 2001).
Basically time where there aren't specific things scheduled (other than
games).
> > Gaming events should be scheduled during this time, but also scheduled
> > in such a way as to allow those running the gaming to still participate
> > in some unstructured play.
>
> If everyone wants that, then maybe the answer is to have more than one person
> "running the gaming" so that they can take their unstructured time at different
> times and the game can go on for those that want to continue. Only a few
> things (like the session with Brad et al) would really strip the game of
> players.
Multiple GMs certainly would allow GMs to flow in and out. With a 12
hour plus game session, that would even be necessary to avoid GM burn
out. The key then is to get enough players to be able to support 3 or 4
GMs.
> > An involved game like the Pirate Game or Mike Rayhawk's BricksWest Brick
> > Wars scenario really requires the gaming to have a dedicated secure
> > space (it need not be independently lockable at an AFOL con so long as
> > general security covers the space). This allows setup to occur without
> > delaying the start of the game, and allows the game to span multiple
> > non-contiguous time slots.
>
> Agreed. Also, I'd like to see a central staging supply area, with -- when
> demand suffices, more than one game going on based out of the central supply
> pool. The whole thing secured appropriately.
Hmm, do you foresee multiple simultaneous Pirate Games? Or were you more
thinking of multiple simultaneous Brickwars games?
> > It is worth encouraging some less structured gaming. I think all the
> > Brick Wars games at BrickFest have been less involved scenarios which
> > could be quickly set up.
>
> You mean, like a pile of elements that everyone can build from and then just
> fight?
I was thinking of the Brickwars game I saw at Brickfest 2000 where there
were a few scenery/structure items placed around, and everyone supplied
their own armies (with perhaps a couple people supplying armies for
those without).
Of course Mike's scenario did have the advantage of pre-built armies so
the only setup time was the actual play area setup, and then introducing
players to their armies. A "bring your own army" scenario will require
some amount of time to establish capabilities and points value followed
by some balancing act to get the diverse armies into something of a fair
scenario.
> > There needs to be management of expectations for the gamers. Somehow
> > Steve was expecting 25 players or so.
>
> It might take a more dedicated pirate fest to field those numbers since there
> would be fewer distractions. I'd also expect BricksWest to substantially
> increase the turn out next year. These numbers might be easily attainable
> given an event at a game con rather than a brick con.
I would guess that expecting more than say 10% of the attendance in a
particular game is wishful thinking unless the event is game specific
(i.e. at PirateFest I think we could count on at least 50% participation
in the "big game").
> > I would also like to see a dedicated LEGO gaming con.
>
> Cool! So when ya' going to put it together?
Well... Unfortunately I'll have to re-build my contacts since I will
soon be on the West coast. I think an East coast LEGO gaming con would
still be possible. Doing it in NJ might make it attractive to the NELUG
Brickwars contingent, and is certainly convenient to most of the known
Pirate Gamers on the East coast. If you folks put it together, I'll try
and make it. I won't be supplying quite so many ships, though clearly
packing for a gaming con would allow me to bring a good sized fleet,
Steve Jackson brought 20-30 cutters in his luggage, it would be easy to
bring 10-15 cutters and several larger ships, I brought 4 cutters, a
class 2 (The Green Menace), and a class 7 (The Red Seas Barracuda), but
no extra goodies, to BricksWest and didn't even use half of my big box.
At one time, someone was floating the idea of a Pacific Northwest
PirateFest so perhaps there's enough players out there...
> > One way to do this
> > might be to have it in conjunction with a normal SF or gaming con. Such
> > a con would have a full track of LEGO gaming (including a panel or two).
>
> But the big game cons (Gen Con, Origins, etc.) are probably too big to work
> with on such a project and I wonder if small cons would draw enough AFOLs out
> for travel. I wonder what kind of turn-out I could get with such a dual-track
> event here in New Jersey?
I suspect the first LEGO gaming con would be fairly small, but I see a
lot of growth potential. I think there is a lot of interest but when
faced with a choice, many people settle for the familiar. Someplace with
a decent population which can drive to the con will attract folks.
Making the cost (registration and hotel) modest will help also.
Advertising that pizza orders will be taken will also let folks know
they need not budget a small mint for meals (BricksWest required serious
meal budgeting since there just wasn't a way to get a $5 meal without a
car).
> Also, what makes something LEGO gaming? If we're playing Car Wars and building
> our little vehicles from LEGO, does that count? If so, that might be an
> appropriate way of spreading Steve Jackson's participation around multiple
> events.
I think Car Wars would be an ideal game to adapt for LEGO play. Steve
Jackson actually mentioned something about a group using LEGO for Car
Wars. My thought would be to do it in super mini-fig scale (like do most
cars as 8-wide) so that the models can be decently detailed (6-wide
might be enough and certainly would be smaller).
It would be nice to feature some of the simpler LEGO games also (heck,
even have some tables running some of the commercial titles, and perhaps
some computers with the computer games running).
> > I do suspect that AFOL cons are not yet big enough to have a significant
> > number of paid guests and this is something for con organizers and
> > potential guests to consider. I'm not sure that Steve Jackson draws
> > enough additional con membership to buy an airline ticket, meals, and
> > hotel room (input from Matthew and Steve would be appreciated here).
>
> I think with proper planning and marketing, it would be at least close, for an
> event around here. It sounded like we had a substantial number of people
> willing to come if he were here and I had several (5-10) gamers who wanted to
> come to a pirate fest.
Yes, we were close, but recall that that was also based on being able to
get free space.
> > Also, Steve is an AFOL,
> > and having now attended one AFOL con, may feel more comfortable in
> > attending as a fan, who also happens to be the author of the Pirate
> > Game.
>
> Is this merely speculation, or do you have some more substantial reason to
> believe that this might be the case? Did he say?
Informed speculation based on Steve's comments. Steve specifically
commented that he was bummed that the train free play was scheduled up
against the Pirate Game. He was also interested in trying out Brickwars
and he attended a variety of sessions. He doesn't talk much about his
LEGO collection, but it is clear that he is a true AFOL and not just a
gamer finding a neat set of props. I suspect that as he becomes more
involved with the AFOL community he will be drawn more out of his shell
(Hi Steve!). He's also clearly busy running his company and promoting
its products so we are competing for a limited amount of free time.
Frank
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: Gaming at AFOL cons
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| (...) That's definitely true. If we'd had more cargo space, maybe I could have brought some useable ships--but in the event our islands and MOCs took up the available space. I wouldn't be surprised if the fleet provision falls to me this coming (...) (23 years ago, 25-Feb-02, to lugnet.gaming)
| | | Re: Gaming at AFOL cons
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| "Frank Filz" <ffilz@mindspring.com> wrote in message news:3C795506.B9FB9E...ing.com... (...) I don't (...) games. (...) being too (...) thought needs (...) Set-up for any game I have run takes a hideous amount of time. Currently I am behind in (...) (23 years ago, 25-Feb-02, to lugnet.gaming)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Gaming at AFOL cons
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| (...) I've been thinking about this since last summer's Brickfest, actually. I don't want to miss out on the other stuff, but I'm really there to play LEGO games. I think that the length of time that we played was on the border of being too little (...) (23 years ago, 24-Feb-02, to lugnet.gaming)
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