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 03:19:01 GMT
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Viewed:
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1702 times
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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.
Before I start, BIG THANKS to Frank and Derek for all their help at BricksWest,
and to Mike for getting me back to the airport :-)
In lugnet.fun.gaming, Frank Filz writes:
> We had a nice roundtable on gaming at BricksWest, but I thought I'd open
> some of the discussion here.
>
> 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. Of course if the answer is yes, then what should be kept in mind to
> make it go well.
Yep. I want the answer to be yes, but it needs to be examined. As Frank said,
there needs to be planning.
> 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.
Absolutely.
>
> 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 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 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.
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.
> There is strong value
> in broad advertising of the gaming, especially if a well known person
> like Steve will be running the game. If you attract a few gamers who
> aren't particularly AFOLs then you have a dedicated player base which is
> not dividing their attention.
Yep. And except for my own website, this did not happen. In general, it's best
to advertise a guest heavily; if you think somebody is enough of a draw to be
worth inviting, publicize!
>
> I would also like to see a dedicated LEGO gaming con.
Yes, yes, yes . . .
> I'm not sure that Steve Jackson draws enough additional con membership to buy
> an airline ticket, meals, and hotel room
For a gaming con, yes, definitely. For BricksWest I'm positive the answer was
no.
OK, more random comments:
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.
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.)
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.
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 :-)
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?
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: Gaming at AFOL cons
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| (...) 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. (...) There can be an intimacy in a smaller game, and clearly the Pirate Game can be fun (...) (23 years ago, 1-Mar-02, to lugnet.gaming)
| | | Re: Gaming at AFOL cons
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| (...) I've had a perpetual order at my local retailer since October to hold a copy of each item for me. So I hope that your date isn't vapor. I'm looking forward to it. And what Frank said: have you thought about LEGOizing it? (...) (...) (23 years ago, 1-Mar-02, to lugnet.gaming)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Gaming at AFOL cons
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| We had a nice roundtable on gaming at BricksWest, but I thought I'd open some of the discussion here. 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. Of (...) (23 years ago, 23-Feb-02, to lugnet.gaming)
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