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#43 - Why should you consider attending a tabletop gaming convention or event? Can’t you just stay home and play with your friends? Gary “Gaz” Bowerbank shares his battle-tested wisdom from attending countless tabletop gaming conventions over the years. Whether you're considering your first convention, thinking about running games at events, or you're a convention veteran who needs tips for maintaining your energy and stamina, this conversation delivers exactly what you need!
Episodes Mentioned:
- 016: Keep Your Eye on the Ball - How to Play to Your Strengths During a Tabletop Roleplaying Game, With Robin D. Laws - https://claimtogamepodcast.com/episode/016-keep-your-eye-on-the-ball-how-to-play-to-your-strengths-during-a-tabletop-roleplaying-game-with-robin-d-laws
- 018: Don’t Be Scared of Horror - Why you should give the horror TTRPG genre a chance, with Kenneth Hite - https://claimtogamepodcast.com/episode/018-dont-be-scared-of-horror-why-you-should-give-the-horror-ttrpg-genre-a-chance-with-kenneth-hite
Games Mentioned During the Episode:
- Mage: The Ascension (Revised) - https://claimtogamepodcast.com/mageascension
- Nephilim RPG (Chaosium) - https://claimtogamepodcast.com/nephilim
- Mouse Guard Roleplaying Game - https://claimtogamepodcast.com/mouseguard
Resources Mentioned:
- Facebook Group - Kraken Gaming Convention - https://www.facebook.com/theKraken.de
- Stuff of Nightmares (5E-One Shot- Level 18 PCs) - https://claimtogamepodcast.com/nightmares
- Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff Podcast - https://www.kenandrobintalkaboutstuff.com/
- Robin’s Laws of Good Game Mastering - https://www.sjgames.com/robinslaws/
Connect with Gaz
- Gaz on Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/evilgaz.bsky.social
- Gaz on Twitter (X) / the_smart_party
- The Unconventional GMs - http://www.youtube.com/@unconventionalgms
- What Would The Smart Party Do? Podcast - www.whatwouldthesmartpartydo.com
*As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. Some of these links are affiliate links for other programs but once again, if you choose to purchase through these links, it's no extra cost to you. I only promote products or services that I have investigated and feel can deliver value to you.
Please Connect with us!
- Visit our Website at www.claimtogamepodcast.com
- Find Community - Join the CTG Discord Server- https://discord.gg/UcZVE2SDe2
- Connect on Bluesky 🦋 - https://bsky.app/profile/clintscheirer.claimtogamepodcast.com
- Connect on Threads 🧵 - https://www.threads.net/@clintscheirer
- Join us on Patreon for exclusive content access - http://patreon.com/ClaimtoGame
- Send feedback, thoughts, or suggestions to clint.scheirer@claimtogamepodcast.com
00:00:00
>> Clint Scheirer: Tabletop role playing games? I thought
00:00:03
that was something you played in your basement with a bunch of weirdo
00:00:06
friends and Cheeto fingers. Dangerously
00:00:09
cheesy. Not so Gary
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Gaz B from the unconventional GM's YouTube channel
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and also 1/2 of the UK's premiere
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RPG tabletop podcast. What would the smart
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party do? He has a plethora
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of experience. We got a plethora of sandwiches for ya
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going to gaming conventions, gaming events, pretty
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much anything where youre not just sitting in your basement with your
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weirdo friends. Lets have him tell you why you should go to a
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tabletop gaming convention and everything else you need to know.
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Lets go make that claim to game M.
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>> Clint Scheirer: True confession. I have never been
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to a live gaming event at the time of
00:01:18
this.
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>> Gaz: Talk what are you doing with your life?
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>> Clint Scheirer: I don't know. Maybe I'm taking care of kids under
00:01:24
the age of nine. I
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regardless I want to go to a
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convention. We have a lot of really great conventions here in
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the U packs Unplugged. Gen Con.
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there's I think several other paxes. There's an Origins
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conference. It's all over the place.
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>> Clint Scheirer: I think I live here in well I don't think I know. I live here
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in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
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>> Clint Scheirer: And they recently had the
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U Gygax.
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>> Clint Scheirer: What's it, what's it called? Luke. Luke Gygax. Put
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on a.
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>> Gaz: Have a Gary Con.
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>> Clint Scheirer: Gary Conhan. That's the. I was looking at your name on.
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>> Gaz: There and I was like I should get free invites. Frankly I'm
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quite insulted.
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>> Clint Scheirer: Yeah, you should get a free invite to Gary Con. So like
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there's cons everywhere.
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But you told me in a previous conversation
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that you've been to tons
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of conferences in your your gaming
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career in your lifetime. Tell me a little
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bit about what you love about them, what makes them worth going
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to instead of just playing a home game with with
00:02:24
your friends which is finde in itself.
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>> Gaz: Yeah well I might flip the script on you a little bit when you say you've not
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been to any have you been to like get local game story
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events or anything like that or just literally liter. Oh wow.
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Okay.
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>> Clint Scheirer: I go into my local game stores and nerd out with the people
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who work there and talk about all the games that I love but I've never
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actually signed up for a game because I've always been of
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that mindset. Like I can do that myself. I can run that
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myself and I think I'M missing out.
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>> Gaz: Yeah, I mean for sure. So the thing
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is with events is they're a mixed
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bag. So that's the first thing you're got toa take. I mean I know
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a lot of people are really comfortable with their like home group or whatever and
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just don't wanna risk stranger danger or
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perhaps worried about how things might work out. So there is a
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slight element of that when you would do anything,
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but the rewards are quite great. So
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for example, my co host that I have an unconventional
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GM's guy, I met him through going through a convention for
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example and that sort of thing. So it's exposing
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yourself to a bunch of new people, new ideas, new ways a
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playing different games, all kinds of things
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and there's all kinds of different sizes and shapes. I'm sure
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we can get into that. But for
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me'is that meeting other people. So
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like you can kind of get comfy and you're great. But it
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would, it's like having a burger for your dinner
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every day and you might love burgers. Welcome to Good Burger, Home.
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>> Clint Scheirer: Another Good Burger.
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>> Gaz: And that's great and I'm happy for you. But after like 10 years do you still want
00:03:48
a burger or do you want to try a curry or a lasaga or
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you know, a salad maybe? So
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sure, you might have a meal that you don't like, but I'm
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guaranteed if, if you eat enough meals you'll find something you like.
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So that's the beauty of going to different convention events is that
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you get different styles. Also you get to experience different
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people's play styles and how they do
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things. So either as a player or a gym m you can pick up tips and
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hints and see how people do things. You might say how people
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do things and go, I don't want to do that. That's, I
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don't agree with your style of play or it's just not to my preference or whatever
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it might be. It's a way of connecting with people about
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fin out games you might not otherwise know about, about getting real
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experience of things that you haven't experienced before.
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So for example, if you want to play a game and you've seen
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it on the shelves and maybe you've read it and just think, I
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really like Apocalypse World as a classic example. A lot of people have
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read that and gone okay, Everydy Talsmith is
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amazing. I've read the book. Still not quite sure what I
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do. But you can go to an event, get someone to
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run the game for you who's really experienced with it and then you'll have a really good
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insight into whether that game's for you or not. Or it might open up an all you
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world to or you might think okay, I've tried it now and that's not
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really something I'm down for. But it's a way
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of experience new and different things and people.
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>> Clint Scheirer: I heard a few things in what you just said. So connecting to
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people, learning about
00:05:05
strategies for how you would run a game or play in a
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game that you might want to or to go play a game that
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you've never played before and don't find
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yourself playing it with your home group or maybe don't have the right
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group of people to do it with. What's a game you did that with?
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What's a game that you're like you've wanted. You wanted to play
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forever. And then finally it
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was being run at a convention and you're like sign me up.
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>> Gaz: It's probably less so these days because
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I play online. I've got the conventional YouTube channel. We'd play lotads
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of different things there. And I've been going to events for so long
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now, like easily 30 years if not
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more. I can't tell you what the original games were there
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want but like in the early days it was more or less anything because
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I had quite a small set of games that I played. And then
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you got to a convention. This is before the days of the Internet. Like
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your younger listeners might have to cast the minds back or
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this is the before times before you were re even born. But we
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didn't. We can just go on like you know a website and buy things
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you had to go to an event and this, this was a prime thing
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for conventions back day was to buy things like you'd find out what
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was actually available cause you hadn't read about it in a magazine
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that you wouldn't know so you could pick up
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games for purchase was a good reason to go to a
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convention back in maybe the 80s or 90s.
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and then obviously to play as well. So I think
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the main one I've tried to play that I still not had a satisfactory
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game from that's when I could think of is Mage the Ascension
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or one of the versions of the White Wolf mage game
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where you play a magician and you pull together spheres of
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magic and but can basically bend reality and create any spell you
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want given certain restrictions.
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I've always wondered like how do d you do that? How do you make that
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good? How's it compelling when you can change
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reality? That kind of thing. And unfortunately, as yet,
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I've still not yet had the experience, but I'm
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searching for it. If anyone out there is thinking of everyone emerging to let me
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know. But it is a way of checking
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things out. And then the conclusion I've come to with
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Mege, for example, is it's too much hard work to get a
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good experience out of it. and there's many of other games I'd rather play something
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else. But it saved me having to learn
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and try and get people to sign up for a campaign and run it for a home group
00:07:09
and us trying and fumble away through it.
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>> Clint Scheirer: For example, I've heard of Mage, the Ascension,
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and I have some people that have tried to get me to play it.
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Now, when you said that you haven't had a satisfactory experience
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in the bending of reality, are you talking about like
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you've played the game and the storytelling
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didn't feel like it matched that level
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of like gravity of a situation where all
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of reality is bending?
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>> Gaz: it's, it's the what do you do?
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So, and any game you play, like, what's the premise?
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What do you. What do players do in that game? That's the first thing I want
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to know. And why I get upset with some games that I read when they. I don't know what
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I'm supposed to do in this setting. Again, it's another older
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game, but Nephilim was a really interesting game. We had
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lots of past lives. And you could create a character that was
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part. Used to be a Babylonian princess and then an
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Eastern criminal. And maybe it was a nightight
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in Charownes's empire. It's like, I've made this really cool, interesting
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character. Now what do I do? And that question was never really
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answered for me. And in Mage, it's kind of. You can
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do what you want. So we'presented in the session I
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remember from Janenkan UK with some kind of meta mystery. And
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I tried to use some magic to do something. She's like, oh,
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why don't you just roll enigmas and find out who the murder is?
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Like, okay, I'll do that then. And that
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like any obstacle we could just defeat. And so it's like, well,
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where's the challenge then? What are we supposed to be doing
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that's compelling for me? Cause I've got something to. I need
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to do that's a challenge. And I can't just Sol with magic, perhaps,
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or requires, inventive uses of magic over a
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period of time and it wasn't there. The trouble
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I've had at convention games with some wolf people back in the day, in
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the olden times, hopefully it's better now, was
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they really took the storytelling thing to heart so they would
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tell you stories. And I, as a
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player, want to join in. Now some people are happy going and playing a
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convention game and basically absorbing a story and,
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occasionally rollling some dice. I'm more of an active player and
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I want to join in on whatever's happening. So for me, that's
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not my sort of thing. And that's not to say that that's how all mage games are
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played. I'd like to think it isn't,
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but I've had several experiences of it and each
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time I'm struggling to see what's my premise, what do.
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What am I invested in as a character, what do I want to achieve,
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what's stopping me doing that? And I haven't seen a
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really interesting way of doing it yet, which isn't to say
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it's not out there, it's just I haven't seen it yet.
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>> Clint Scheirer: So this is interesting. So you had an
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experience at a convention where it felt
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like what you wanted to do was sort of push
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to the side. as a gm, when
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you have players, how do you help them
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find their premise and also give them
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agency and not just tell them what they should be doing,
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but allowing them to explore the game.
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>> Gaz: Well, I guess my lead into this is, an
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anecdote I'll tell you from. I think it's 2000. It was
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Manchester, it was the UK Genom was there for one
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year. And, they had the RPGA, I think it was, that
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organized all the games. And they did that in a way where you got
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everybod a massive scrum and it's like, who wants to play col Cthulhu? And
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like loads of hands that go up. And then they try and put people in a game and he wants
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to play Dungeons and Dragons, okay. And they do that sort of thing
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and they deliberately split people up. So if you went with
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your buddies from home, you wonn't be allowed to play with them because there was
00:10:16
some kind of point scoring thing in the RPGA that we didn't
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care about. We just wanted to play with our friends. But likeh, no, you might game the
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system so you're not allowed to play together. So they
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forcibly moved into different groups. And there's
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more I could go into with that, but it was an unpleasant
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Experience and frustrating. And I confronted the
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organizer at the end of it. To say he is all the things wrong
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with your system and the way this works had come out just isn't
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good enough. I'm unhappy. These are my
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reasons. And to his credit, he stood there
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for a good half an hour, hour, an hour long. The conversation lasted and
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took all that, but in the end said, well, if you think it should be done
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differently, why don't you do it like you
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show other people how it's done than if you've got a better idea. I was like, o,
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fair point, actually, I'll do that. So it was from
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then that I started GMing at conventions. I
00:11:02
mentioned that storyus in my mind immediately then was like, well, what
00:11:05
do I want? If I was a player, what would I like to see from m the
00:11:08
games? And I'm going to demonstrate how you can provide that as a gm
00:11:11
and hopefully over time other people will pick up
00:11:14
on that and you'll share ideas and you know, I'll get. There's a higher
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chance of me getting the games I want to play if I show people how to run
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them the way I like. Which again is a preference
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thing to a certain degree. But there's also some behaviors that
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are, are worthwhile regardless.
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So for my games at conventions, the first thing you have is a strong
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premise. So we, we know what the mission
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is. That's basically, it's like you have to go and get this thing,
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you have to rescue this princess, you have to
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stop the invaders taking over the castle, whatever
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it is, in whatever system or game you're playing, there's a strong
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premise. And then I often lead my adventures based on the
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characters. So the stuff on the character sheet that you have
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should be directly relevant to the game you're
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playing, particularly the session you're playing.
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So if you have enemy Black Alame Meade written on
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your sheet, the pirate Black Alame Meade should turn
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up in that session. Otherwise why is it on there and that sort of
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thing. So you can direct all the advantages, disadvantages, whatever
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background story you want to put on there relevant to things that are going to
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come up in the session or giving players the
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opportunity to hit those buttons and go, oh, this guy's interesting.
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Or I've got this sword called, Dorita's
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red tail. Whr. Where does that come from? What's the all that about?
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Well, someone's going to turn bl for it back in a minute because
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you took it off his father or something. So
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you Just em edge your characters with some hooks so you don't want
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to overwhelm people. Cause quite often a convention sessions two to
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four hours and there's least so much you can get in, especially if you've
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got five or six players. But if each player's got a
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couple of things that are hooks that tie directly to the
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scenario and we know what we're doing when we set up, you say,
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okay, we're playing Deadlands. You are the good
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guys. There's g some weird stuff around here. and you're going
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to this town because it's haunted and the reverend
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of the church has sent you a letter saying please help us. No one else can.
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Right. You're the white hats, you're the good guys. You're there to help
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people need to solve a gas problem. Everybody knows
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what the mission is. Good. Everybody signed up for it. Let's go and do
00:13:06
that.
00:13:07
>> Clint Scheirer: So this leads me to another
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question that we were talking about back and forth in
00:13:13
email. Sometimes you have some interesting personalities
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at the table.
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>> Gaz: M.
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>> Clint Scheirer: Right. And what do you do when you
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have a player in one of your games at a convention that
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doesn'tnn pick up that ball? I think
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that was the term that Robin Laws used when I was chatting with him
00:13:31
almost a year ago. He was saying, you know, if there's
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a premise, if there's a story, if this is the
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mission, you pick the ball up and you run with it. You
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don't slap the ball down and say, I'm going to go back to the tavern
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back at our home base. How do you, how do you
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redirect somebody in a way that still makes them
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motivated to want to play and not just shut down or give
00:13:52
you, give you the lip.
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>> Gaz: Right. So it can be tricky. I've chatted to Rubbin quite
00:13:56
a few times now. I'm big on his premise acceptance. I think that's
00:13:59
right. So the first thing to say is there's a lot
00:14:02
of problems in game or in session that
00:14:05
are solved by having a, grown up
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adult human interaction with the other person
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and lots of people trying, well, if I use this system, maybe
00:14:13
that'll fix it. Or yeah, my players having a real hard time role
00:14:16
playing with this system. What system can I use to get to, to rolepl play? Well,
00:14:19
the system's not going to do that for you quite often as the GM as
00:14:22
well, the other players won't say anything. They'll look to you as
00:14:25
like social secretary. They want to arbiter things. So if someone's
00:14:28
being unpleasant. they'll kind of all just shrink back and look
00:14:31
at the character sheets and work for you to sort out. But all these
00:14:34
things are solved by speaking to some answer. If you've laid out your premise
00:14:36
clearly and someone's refusing to engage, I
00:14:39
would have a little break and say sorry, did you? Perhaps I wasn't
00:14:42
clear. Let me rera what we're trying to do here. Like, are you
00:14:45
happy with that? And you might have to get to a point where if someone's just
00:14:48
unwilling to play the game that they've signed up for and you're
00:14:51
telling them what they are and you're being reasonable,
00:14:54
you've got a decision to make. Is like, well, this is the game we are
00:14:57
playing. You can either join in with that or not.
00:15:00
But if you're not doing, you're go goingna get very bored because I'm not going to include
00:15:02
you. I'm not going back to the tavern to talk about what's
00:15:05
happening there and I m don't really want any interruptions or anything like that. So
00:15:08
maybe this isn't the GE for you and we can talk
00:15:11
about safety tools and things like that. But one the key one that me and
00:15:14
Guy use all the time is open table. So if someone wants
00:15:17
to leave the game table at any time for any reason,
00:15:20
that's fine. There's historically been a problem with people
00:15:23
thinking I can't leave or it'be awkwardid or spoil things or
00:15:26
what should I do? Like honestly, just start out with your safety tools
00:15:29
and say open table. If this game's just not for
00:15:31
you or something's come up or whatever it is,
00:15:34
you can just leave. The only thing we ask is if you're not coming back, let
00:15:37
us know so we don't hangry around waiting for you. But
00:15:40
if you've got that already set out as a tool, then when
00:15:43
someone's been awkward, you can say, look, I don't know what the
00:15:46
misunderstanding is here. I can rephrase it for you. I can see like what else are
00:15:49
you looking to see? You can try and. But you have to do it just
00:15:52
human to human. You have to break out of game time and being GM player
00:15:54
and say, look buddy, this is the game we play. This is what you signed up for.
00:15:57
This is what was on the description of the sheet. I've laid it
00:16:00
out. Everyy else seems happy. What's, you know, what gives? Can you join
00:16:03
in with that? Are you happy to. And if you're not, you can always walk away
00:16:06
if you want, but the choice is yours. But we're playing this
00:16:09
game, and, that's how it's gonna be.
00:16:11
>> Clint Scheirer: Have you ever had people take you up on the open table
00:16:15
rule?
00:16:15
>> Gaz: Eventually, yeah. I mean, you do get some people who just, like, are then
00:16:18
sullen and go, suppose I'DO this.
00:16:21
They don't want to be railroad, if they call it. Or have the
00:16:24
ranc who just, like, you'telling me what to do. I was like,
00:16:26
no, I've set up a framework of what we're
00:16:29
doing and that, you know, if you're playing soccer,
00:16:32
as you guys would call it, football, like, you kick the ball, your foot, if
00:16:35
you're saying you want to pick it up and run with it. That's not the rule
00:16:38
of this game. So go and play rugby. I do American football, whatever
00:16:41
it is. But there'certain boundaries that you
00:16:44
have. Like, we're all agreeing to do this thing, and if you're not, go going toa do
00:16:47
that or be disruptive, go away. You know,
00:16:50
I've had people who've had a guy who's drunk who
00:16:53
started screwing up, like, the handouts on the table
00:16:56
and swearing and just being rud
00:16:59
had, to tell him to leave. And, it can be an awkward
00:17:01
conversation. Not everybody's as conf as perhaps I am. And
00:17:04
I'm not as confident some people think I am, perhaps. But
00:17:07
ultimately, you've got organizers. You can goti to help
00:17:10
you. You can ask the people around the table. You can try and appeal to him generally.
00:17:13
I mean, in particular one where we had Ann Norweigian guy. Happily, he
00:17:16
went to get a beer and got lost and come find you way back to the gaming
00:17:19
table. So that problem solved it yourself.
00:17:22
>> Clint Scheirer: That sounds like the premise, to another tabletop
00:17:25
game. The Norwegian guy got lost, but you got toa go save them.
00:17:29
>> Gaz: Noregians. Yeah. But, yes,
00:17:32
you can just get people who just hang around because they feel like they have to be
00:17:35
there or they don't feel they've got anything else they can do or to play, but
00:17:38
they're gonna be awkward about it. Again, I have
00:17:41
regular breaks in my game, so after an hour, if it still looks like they're
00:17:44
not happy, I can say, you don't seem like you're enjoying yourself.
00:17:47
Don't feel like you have to be here. I was like, no, no signed up.
00:17:50
Just, like, just have to explain. You're not helping anyone.
00:17:53
You're not happy. I'm not happy. Nobody else is
00:17:56
improving the session that they'having by having you being sulky about
00:17:59
it. So just go.
00:18:02
Unfortunately, all too often you have people who will stay like be
00:18:05
grudgingly because'they've signed up for their sessions.
00:18:07
We like no one's happy with this, including you.
00:18:10
So like why would you hang around? Like just go and do something else. You
00:18:13
know, check out the tread hold, go to the bar, do whatever you want,
00:18:16
get a burger, a Krabby Pattyedie
00:18:19
Kindle. I've done that before now he's a.
00:18:21
>> Clint Scheirer: Norwegian guy when you find him.
00:18:23
>> Gaz: Yeah, exactly.
00:18:25
I mean I left games before now and it used to be like a weird
00:18:28
thing. Like really back in the good old days. Like I say, sort of the
00:18:31
90s, you had to almost make excuses and I was
00:18:34
like text a friend to come and say IH got ca trouble so that
00:18:37
I could leave. And the gems going, oh, that's a real
00:18:40
shame all but we need you for this. It's like you clearly don't.
00:18:43
There's seven people in this game and we. It's
00:18:46
moving like molasses on a cold day. Like you don't need
00:18:48
anybody including me here.
00:18:51
>> Clint Scheirer: We have a sweet spot for the number of people that you
00:18:54
like to run a game for.
00:18:55
>> Gaz: Yeah, well, it depends on the system. But broadly for a
00:18:58
traditional style game, like five players is my
00:19:01
ma. and I d go for four normally. And
00:19:04
certainly for more narrative or in your games I tend to go four
00:19:06
players. And I think yeah,
00:19:09
we just. There's a weird thing with conventions that
00:19:12
four hours and six players has become a thing. I
00:19:15
don't know when it first started, I don't know who invented that number or whether it was
00:19:18
arbitrarily they come across. But that seems to be
00:19:21
like a standard in most big conventions. And I have
00:19:24
no idea why. Like games don't need to be four hours.
00:19:27
You can pack a lot into less than that. And if
00:19:30
naturally you've come to the end of a good session after three,
00:19:33
call it. So look guys, this is like everything we had and it
00:19:36
seems like we're a great time, let's do that. Otherwise you can feel
00:19:39
like, you know when you see some movies that have DVD
00:19:42
extras so you watch it for the extra content and think actually the original movie
00:19:45
is great. I see why they edited it. Like I don't need all this extra
00:19:47
paddinge. you know, I've had a game where someone tried to split
00:19:50
it into two sessions. Cause he was trying to give us our money worth and
00:19:53
inverted commas and that made, you know, a four hour session
00:19:56
last Six hours. And again, I could have been playing a different
00:19:59
game. So, yeah, and having
00:20:01
six players, if you think about it, if you're spending, say, five
00:20:04
minutes with each player and there's six of them, that's already half an
00:20:07
hour. So once you've got everything ready
00:20:10
to do something twice, I had a bit of interaction with your first hour'gone
00:20:13
already. I mean, it's a lot. Even with
00:20:16
FirePL players, it's not much less, but it's significantly less
00:20:19
that it feels like more people have got more
00:20:21
time. And, it's a bit of a tiebreaker. So you don't get a
00:20:24
3B3 situation where it's like, are we gonna go save the
00:20:27
princess or are we staying in the pub? Like, a odd number of
00:20:29
players gives you a tieaker. So they're going to decide on something quite
00:20:32
often. I mean, ideally they accept the premise and go and save the
00:20:35
princess anyway. But, like, I think
00:20:38
five, for me, it'the maximum. There seems to be like, some guys. You've
00:20:41
got this. I can run for seven, I can run for eight. It's like, I can.
00:20:44
But it's not as much fun as running for four or five because the
00:20:47
people involved in the game get more airtime, you get more screen time, you get to do
00:20:50
more, like, it's just much more fun. So why
00:20:53
would you run for eight?
00:20:54
>> Clint Scheirer: I ran for nine one time because I thought it would be
00:20:56
fun. It was. I was
00:20:59
mentally and emotionally exhausted at the end of that game.
00:21:02
It was a, level 18 Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition
00:21:05
game because I was like, nobody ever goes past
00:21:07
15. Like, level 15 is where all characters
00:21:10
die. But I was like, not today. We're going to start on
00:21:13
18 and we will die if we have to die.
00:21:16
It was a lot.
00:21:17
>> Gaz: Yeah, yeah, definitely. You've got to think that, like,
00:21:20
people switch off on LE interests. Like, I'm keen on trying
00:21:22
to get people to stay focused on a game, but if you've got a lot of people
00:21:25
in your game, just naturally anyone will lose
00:21:28
interest if it's been 20 minutes since they've had an
00:21:31
interaction. The temptation to look at your phone
00:21:34
or chat about the football or say, o, have you
00:21:37
been to the Trade Hall? I just generally talk about something that's not. What's happening at
00:21:40
the table is just great because we've all
00:21:43
got quite short attention spans and you can try and listen to
00:21:45
other players and be interested in the story, but if there's a lot of
00:21:48
you, it's just a long time waiting to be involved. Now
00:21:51
if you're the sort of player that lacks hearing the story, as I mentioned earlier
00:21:54
alludedt, you're probably fine with that. But for more active players
00:21:57
or people who want to be involved, that's the death, death
00:22:00
knell. They'll just lose interest. And it's not your fault as a GM at the
00:22:02
table probably. It's just that you've got too many people that you need to
00:22:06
try and keep track of all the time, constantly.
00:22:08
>> Clint Scheirer: How do you pace breaks a at a convention, right? If
00:22:11
it's three hours of play, do you just every
00:22:14
hour, every 20 minutes like you said? Or
00:22:17
is that breaking the first. I remember Guy said
00:22:20
versilitude. We were loving that word last time when we were
00:22:23
talking. Like does that break the flow? What's your sweet
00:22:25
spot?
00:22:26
>> Gaz: it could depend. It's more of a vibe thing for me. I've run a lot
00:22:29
of games now, over the many years of variety of different
00:22:32
systems with different people from different continents and all kinds of
00:22:34
stuff. I am. I'll try to in for about an
00:22:37
hour and see how it's going. And if it's a three hour
00:22:40
game and everybody's just like, can't get a
00:22:43
word in edgeways cause they're still chatting at an our point and they like,
00:22:46
everybody's like u we need to do this, we need to do this. Like I'm not
00:22:48
gonna cut it dead and say no, we have to have a break now.
00:22:51
I'll probably let it run to like the halfway mark, then we'll have a break and then
00:22:54
we'll have a second half if it's a bit more
00:22:57
languorous. People are, you know, oh, what should we
00:23:00
do? And I don't know. Or you've just come to the end of a decent scene
00:23:02
or there's a clear choice to make and people aren't really
00:23:05
sure. It's like okay, well this seems like a good time to have a break. We'll
00:23:08
take 5, 10 minutes, you can chat amongst yourselves, get a drink, comfort break,
00:23:11
whatever you need to do and then we'll come back to it.
00:23:14
So just feel how it goes, you know.
00:23:17
>> Clint Scheirer: So I'm going toa take it a step back, right? You get the new
00:23:20
people, they're sitting down at the table,
00:23:23
you can give them the premise.
00:23:26
how do you break the ice? Like how do, do you
00:23:29
just jump right into the story? Do you do the whole like
00:23:32
hi, my name is Gary and I like,
00:23:35
you know, geez. Or, or do you go into I
00:23:38
mean, I don't know if you like cheese or not, but you know, how do you,
00:23:41
how do you break that?
00:23:43
>> Gaz: Yeah, See, there's again an
00:23:46
odds. There's all kinds of sets of behaviors you'll find at
00:23:48
conventions where. Because if you've not been to someone before, you've got
00:23:51
how you and your homegr group are and you're into a
00:23:54
whole new world. You're not in Kansas anymore. Once you go into the real world,
00:23:57
she'll meet all kinds of people. And in their head, the
00:24:00
way they play potentially is how gaming done because that's how
00:24:03
they've always done it with their group, wherever they're from. And you get more
00:24:06
people who just generally know around. But there's people I
00:24:09
go on, I see at the Sheffield conventions, of which there's a few that happen
00:24:12
throughout the calendar and they just don't.
00:24:15
I must have known them for like 20 years, some of them. And they just don't
00:24:17
have any social skills. Should I say,
00:24:20
like they don't say hello. They will come to just sit
00:24:23
down, grab a character and just start playing. And then there's
00:24:26
no. They're just into role playing and that's all it is.
00:24:29
Which is fine if that's how they want to be. I just start by
00:24:32
saying, hello, I'm gas. Even if I know everyone
00:24:35
around the table, I just say hello, I'm
00:24:37
gas. This is what we're playing. This is the premise. Here's
00:24:40
some characters. I'll do a five minutes spiel on how the rules
00:24:43
work. I'll mention the safety tools.
00:24:46
So you decide how you wa wantn distribute the characters or I can do it for you.
00:24:49
Roll randomly, whatever you wanna do. Have a look at them, any
00:24:52
questions. And then at that point, normally as we re going through,
00:24:55
people say like, well, what's this do? Do we need a
00:24:58
fighter? Like just start asking questions and you can just kind of have a
00:25:01
bit of a natural conversation. Let that
00:25:04
slowly just bumble along until you've got to the point where everybody happy,
00:25:07
everybody got something. People ask rules, questions and things or
00:25:10
what does this mean? And what's that? And you just start
00:25:13
asking questions and giving answers and then you get to a point where're comfortable. And
00:25:16
then when I start the game.
00:25:17
So once we'sure we're goods. Okay, let's get
00:25:20
going. Let's introduce our characters. So even though
00:25:23
I've already explained in brief what all the characters are,
00:25:25
now they're all out on the table and people have forgotten because they've got Their own one
00:25:28
in front of them. I'll get each person to introduce their
00:25:31
character to everybody else. And some people
00:25:34
add real flourish and producer and stuff. Some people just
00:25:37
read what's on the back of the character sheet. Some people go, ah,
00:25:40
good with a sword and a bow and IFI
00:25:42
strength. Some people just don't
00:25:45
know what to do. And I was like, you can just
00:25:48
give us a one line like what you re wearing, what your clothes you
00:25:51
weari what do you look like? Anything? Or Another good technique
00:25:54
that guys use sometimes. Like which, you know, which Hollywood
00:25:57
movie actors playing you in this.
00:25:59
>> Clint Scheirer: Oh yeah, casting, casting the character.
00:26:02
>> Gaz: So you know, I had a monk in his Feng Tree game that was Jessason
00:26:05
Statham or something which just, just. I'm gonna make this thing
00:26:08
blee immediately like
00:26:11
perception.
00:26:12
>> Clint Scheirer: What the game was a halfling barbarian is Jason Momoa.
00:26:15
>> Gaz: Yes. Right. Just really small and
00:26:18
bulky. Yeah but that's like through
00:26:20
going through the procedure of the
00:26:24
just saying Hela was a human being first of all because some people
00:26:26
don't. Can't remember what they signed up for. She and Gaz,
00:26:29
we're playing this game. This is what it's about. Here's the
00:26:32
characters, here's the rules, here's some questions. But within
00:26:35
10 minutes you should be playing. And by that point, through the mechanism of
00:26:38
describing the game characters, you should have had some
00:26:41
interactions with people.
00:26:44
>> Clint Scheirer: So being in
00:26:47
different, different conventions, I
00:26:50
recently. You got to go to the Kraken
00:26:53
convention in Germany.
00:26:55
>> Gaz: The gaming retreat.
00:26:56
>> Clint Scheirer: Yes, the gaming retreat. And I've heard so
00:26:59
much wonderful feedback about that.
00:27:02
I saw some pretty cool pictures of you playing with some pretty cool
00:27:05
people in a pretty cool like mansion
00:27:07
castle. Tell me about that experience.
00:27:10
Like what makes that so magical and just really
00:27:13
cool magic.
00:27:15
>> Gaz: Yeah, well, I've had to tell some of the people, some of the guys who got there
00:27:18
are coming to Chaosium Con in the uk which is happening this weekend
00:27:21
actually at time of recording. and I've had to explain to them
00:27:23
like it won't be as good as the Kraken because that was their
00:27:26
first comment and they've already started at the top and everything now is
00:27:29
going toa seem like a pale imitation. But
00:27:32
to go back many years for m
00:27:34
probably think it was 13 years at round there was a convention called
00:27:37
Tentacles which was in Bakarak. It
00:27:40
was on the Rhine, in this castle begstalek,
00:27:43
which sits perched on a
00:27:46
mountain overlooking the Rhine snaking below. A beautiful
00:27:49
venue, but it's a Youth hostel.
00:27:52
So it was good when we were all younger cause you could
00:27:54
go and you know it's dirt cheap. It was
00:27:57
€99 for the weekend and bottles of beer were
00:28:00
like less than a year on stuff and all great. But
00:28:03
it was like bunk beds and the food was pretty
00:28:05
basic as you imagine from a youth hostel.
00:28:08
So when that's kind of wrapped up, Fabian who, he was
00:28:11
the main organizer like started looking around with some of his
00:28:14
friends and so like well want, we want to more grown up
00:28:17
things. So why I've said gaming retreat is that's what Fabian
00:28:20
calls it because it's more.
00:28:23
You don't have to be our age together there or my age
00:28:26
certainly. But for an older,
00:28:29
more refined audience you might want a twin,
00:28:32
you know, twin bedroom with enuite and you might want good food and
00:28:35
you might want, you know, just generally nicesr surroundings and things
00:28:38
like that. So I think it was about 10 years or
00:28:41
so. They happened across Schlossnhausen in
00:28:43
Beger which is out in the worlds of
00:28:45
Brandenburg. If you're geographically
00:28:48
astute listeners they can draw a line between
00:28:51
Hamburger and Berlin on the map and it's about halfway. So it's out in the middle of
00:28:54
nowhere. It can be a little tricky to get to.
00:28:57
But it is an old Schloss, which has been
00:29:00
revamped I guess renovated to a certain
00:29:03
degree. but it's lovely. Yes. so quite small.
00:29:06
they did get over 100 people at one point and that proved too many.
00:29:09
Like the guys who run the convention were saying like they
00:29:12
couldn't. They had every oven device
00:29:15
available on all the time to try and cook to accommodate
00:29:17
people. So it's down to about 60 or 80 people now.
00:29:20
But it's a few days, you can book extra days. Like I said the
00:29:23
accommodations probably 3 star BNB or something. You know you're
00:29:26
in a reasonable twin bedrooms
00:29:29
mostly most of them are suites. You get
00:29:31
three meals a day, you get coffee and cake at 4
00:29:34
o'clock. There's a big beer fridge that is full of
00:29:37
soft drinks and all kinds of different beers and m, there's
00:29:40
wine and what have you and there's tea and coffee on tar
00:29:43
time. For afternoon tea you basically pay a price up
00:29:46
front and then it's free at the point of use which is great
00:29:49
because then there's no like oh, should I get around,
00:29:52
Should I ask people if they want to drink? Am I going not paying for lots of things? Do
00:29:55
I have to carry euros around me? Because I'm not used to Carrying that. I'm
00:29:58
used to pounds or dollars in your case or whatever. So when
00:30:01
you're actually there, everybody can just do
00:30:04
whatever. So that's a great way of just like you get it from the
00:30:07
gaming table. He wants a drink, he wants anything because you, you should grab it and
00:30:10
bring it back to the table. So that's a great community
00:30:12
atmosphere. And it just over the years
00:30:15
engendered a good feeling of just Bonhommie becausee
00:30:18
it's in these wonderful surroundings out the middle of nowhere. He's
00:30:21
surrounded by forest and fields, certainly the spring
00:30:24
and summer wonder. If the weather's good, you can sort of drag the beer tables
00:30:26
outside and play out on the lawn under the shade of a tree or something
00:30:29
like that. And the open, the open air, all
00:30:32
wonderful. There's extracurricular activities like
00:30:35
axe throwing and stuff like that. There's guests
00:30:38
of honor normally once or twice a year. So the most recent one
00:30:41
had Ken and Robin. You know the Ken Robin
00:30:44
podcast. Yeah, Menion Robin name. Checked him
00:30:46
earlier. So they were there, they did some seminars. I ran a game
00:30:49
for them. You know, you can just hang out and chat to
00:30:52
them.
00:30:53
>> Clint Scheirer: Yeah.
00:30:54
>> Gaz: Because of the small nature of it, Unlike a big thing like Genenkan, we
00:30:56
have guessed that you might have to queue up just to get an
00:30:59
autograph or see briefly in those kinds of surroundings you
00:31:02
can just be sat on the sofa and see them, then plonk yourself between them and
00:31:05
go so then gums sheet. Here's what
00:31:08
I have a problem with or whatever in the
00:31:11
conversation going. Fabian tries to keep
00:31:13
about 30% of the attendance new to keep it
00:31:16
fresh, fresh blood all the time. So you re constantly mixing things
00:31:19
up and getting new people. And an ethos
00:31:22
of the retreat is that you contribute
00:31:24
something so it manages to keep
00:31:27
going. And it's so good because some
00:31:30
people contribute. So in my case I run lots of games
00:31:33
and sometimes do seminars or whatever else as well. But
00:31:36
I provide a lot of gaming content. I think between me
00:31:38
guy and a friend, Andrew, who went last time we were
00:31:42
providing something like 15% of the games at the convention. Something
00:31:44
because we just run a lot each. someone else might
00:31:47
be his job, might be. I'm going to just keep the beer fridge stocked up or
00:31:50
help with the game bookings on the website or you
00:31:53
know, just stuff like that. Like if you can contribute a little
00:31:56
bit, you get the Kraken and well, you know,
00:31:59
you're welcome with open arms. If you're the sort of person who turns
00:32:02
up and bonds about things Or I paid for this. Where'this where is. That's like.
00:32:05
Well you're paying for what you get. You're
00:32:08
paying quite a small amount of money and it works because people
00:32:10
help each other out and join in and if you get
00:32:13
on board with that then you'll have an amazing
00:32:16
time. And there's a great wealth of different games. There's quite often famous guest
00:32:19
there or others. Just love thisro aroundings great fe
00:32:22
accommodation. Just really good. It's like a little mini holiday
00:32:25
that you have. And I've been to everyone one but when there was Covid I
00:32:28
think there was s a little. Some people went about 10 people went but I
00:32:31
couldn't get out there because there's no flights. But Iide that I've
00:32:34
been to all the Krakens becausee they're amazing.
00:32:36
>> Clint Scheirer: It sounds amazing. You've sold me.
00:32:39
Maybe one day I can be the new blood and, and I can go.
00:32:42
But you know Ken and Robin, I, I love those
00:32:45
guys. I really appreciate Robin's book for
00:32:48
Laws of Good Game Mastering. Like that is that
00:32:51
changed the way I look at my players. getting
00:32:54
to talk to Ken, I think I talked to him like 4th of July of last
00:32:56
year and what a fun guy. Like just a lot
00:32:59
of good humor. good.
00:33:02
He almost got me to love horror games
00:33:05
which is the opposite genre of
00:33:07
anything that I love. I would much rather stay
00:33:10
away from the horror genre. But he convinced
00:33:13
me that horror often invokes
00:33:16
fear which is a natural human emotion that can actually be
00:33:19
used very well in a game. And he does it
00:33:22
very well.
00:33:22
>> Gaz: So.
00:33:23
>> Clint Scheirer: Yeah, yeah, very cool.
00:33:25
>> Clint Scheirer: Okay. This is a multi day event,
00:33:28
right? This is, this is like all inclusive
00:33:31
gaming event is what I'm thinking of in my head. It just sounds
00:33:34
fantastic.
00:33:35
What would you suggest for people who are
00:33:38
running multiple games? Right, you got.
00:33:41
I, I used to used to coach swimming
00:33:44
back in the day and I remember like the next lesson would come in
00:33:47
and then the next lesson would come in and you're like all right,
00:33:50
time to get ready for the next one. And even if you love what you're
00:33:53
doing, it can, it can get overwhelming, it can
00:33:56
get exhausting. What, what would be your suggestions to somebody who's
00:33:59
running multiple games? Like you and Guy. 15% of the
00:34:02
cracking games that are going on at a convention.
00:34:05
>> Gaz: Yeah. No your limits. So if it's your first
00:34:07
convention and some places offer like you get a free
00:34:10
ticket or you get a free accommodation, you should Run X number of sessions or
00:34:13
whatever. But if you's your first time doing that, don't like
00:34:16
sign up to run seven slots of games
00:34:19
because you might find out that after two your voice has
00:34:22
gone, you're sick of standing up and you're
00:34:25
just sleepy. So that there's. That some
00:34:27
elements you have to like build up to it a little bit. But it
00:34:30
depends what, Depends what excites
00:34:33
you. So for me, I'm m more energized
00:34:36
generally when I'mjaming than when I'm a player. Because you're always
00:34:39
on like all the players are always asking your stuff. There's things to
00:34:42
think about. You're trying to lay out the next parts of whatever's
00:34:45
gonna happen in the story or reincorporating things the players
00:34:48
said or whatever it is. But you have to think about something.
00:34:51
So you'll be going. And then when you finish, you might crash a bit and go,
00:34:53
oh, just needs to relax now.
00:34:56
So it's Furnace or Seven Hills or there's some of the
00:34:59
Sheffield conventions, for example. That's five slots.
00:35:02
It's three on one day, two on the next. And I run the Saturday night
00:35:05
and the Sunday afternoon. Caus I found that typically
00:35:08
that's when basically the players are more sleepy. Cause
00:35:11
everybody's getting a bit tired by that point. But also
00:35:14
it's better for me if I'm in charge. Like some gems have been
00:35:17
subopimal but I get my. Like I said, I get my energy from it.
00:35:20
In May as Briggs term, I'm esttp or astj. I can't rem
00:35:23
which but I get my energy from other people.
00:35:26
That's what the extrovert e means in that mys bigig st.
00:35:29
If you're an I something then it means you will need time
00:35:32
away. So if you're that kind of personality, you'll
00:35:35
want to book in slots where you do nothing. For
00:35:38
me, I'm happy to fill my entire calendar with playing or running
00:35:41
and I'll just do it all. So you need to know your own limits and
00:35:44
get some kind of expectation there. Make sure the games
00:35:47
you're running is something you want to do because I'm quite prolific
00:35:50
now and been doing it for so long. People try and ask for things
00:35:53
or whatever. So it will be more
00:35:55
tiring if you're running something that you've had to learn
00:35:58
new or you're not really that bothered about learning really.
00:36:01
So pick games that you actively want to run, which can be
00:36:04
tricky because sometimes you have to submit Games far ahead of when the
00:36:06
convention is. And by the time it comes round
00:36:09
there've been 18 Kickstarters and you've got like a whole different set of
00:36:12
other things that you're interested in there. So it can be a bit
00:36:15
tricky, but definitely runs something things you want to do.
00:36:18
Don't always tire yourself. Don't be afraid of having
00:36:21
slots off when you don't play or run. You just
00:36:24
have just go and lie down or just peruse the trade
00:36:27
holl or just go and sit out for a bit, read a book or chill
00:36:29
out. So if you've never been before,
00:36:32
that's gonna be a bit trial and error. and then you have to know your
00:36:35
own personality a little bit as well. If you get energized by other
00:36:38
people, you might want to fill out your calendar and just do everything all the
00:36:41
time and make the most of it. If you know that's not
00:36:43
you, don't try and fake it till you make it because
00:36:46
GMing will make it extra hard. You can go and play all the
00:36:49
slots which will be less tiring than trying to run some of them as
00:36:52
well.
00:36:52
>> Clint Scheirer: I would be the eye. I definitely need time away. I
00:36:55
need slots. I need to go sit under the shade
00:36:58
tree. Get the Kackn.
00:37:01
cool.
00:37:02
So there's a question that I like to ask
00:37:04
and I usually submit this ahead of time so I'm putting
00:37:07
you on the spot. I'm sure you're gonna love that. your, your
00:37:10
GMG skills are going to be coming out here.
00:37:13
It's a phrase activity that was
00:37:16
given by Eric Newsm. so he used to be an NPR news
00:37:19
consultant. formerly npr. I think he does his own
00:37:22
creative works now. but the idea is
00:37:25
creating a 10 word phrase
00:37:27
that really encompanies the
00:37:30
core of what we've been talking about today.
00:37:32
Conventions. People connecting
00:37:35
with others, learning new games, finding new
00:37:38
games, pacing yourself, not drawing yourself
00:37:41
out. If you were to give our listener
00:37:44
10 a 10 word phrase, it can't be less than 10 words. It can't be
00:37:47
more than 10 words. It forces the economy of words.
00:37:50
What would that ten word phrase be?
00:37:52
>> Gaz: Going to conventions can
00:37:55
be fun, but PA yourself.
00:37:59
>> Clint Scheirer: Going to conventions can be fun, but pace yourself.
00:38:02
Is it. Was it Shakespeare that said know thyself and to the rest of
00:38:05
the world be true, know thyself. I
00:38:07
probably butchered Shakespeare just now.
00:38:09
>> Gaz: I'll just say yes and we'll take
00:38:13
yeah, yeah. And there's all kinds of different events. Right? So
00:38:16
that's why you asked you initially like have you been to anything in your game
00:38:19
store? Because a local event like a one
00:38:21
day thing or a couple games or one game a day, a game store
00:38:24
compared to jenkcon, vastly different things.
00:38:27
So saying I'm going to a convention can mean
00:38:30
a whole host of different things depending on where you're going.
00:38:33
So if you do go to a Genen Con
00:38:36
really like I would say that they're not necessarily
00:38:38
the greatest players to try games. That's more of a trade
00:38:41
show of going to meet people, the writers
00:38:44
or guests that you might be interested in or
00:38:46
perusing what's available or seeing some of the small press people who are can
00:38:49
have a stall there. You can discover things you've never seen
00:38:52
before but you're gonna be on your feet for a lot of the day and
00:38:55
you're gonna be bustling about going to different parts and like games
00:38:58
might be a different hotel than where the convention is and it's
00:39:01
gonna be a mad event and you're gonna be wedged in with a lot of people
00:39:04
cheek by gel. So that's one thing. But if you try
00:39:07
a local game day like a weekend con with maybe
00:39:10
50 or 100 people, that's gonna be a lot more chilled
00:39:13
out and you might just be able to go and play some games and there won't
00:39:16
be a tradestall necessarily or anything else to do apart from play
00:39:18
games. But that's a way of getting
00:39:21
some experience of other people in other games. So
00:39:24
depending on what you want to achieve, you might want to pick what event is that you're
00:39:27
going to because the different
00:39:29
experiences.
00:39:31
>> Clint Scheirer: So vetting the event to match where
00:39:34
you're at or the listener U it can be fun but
00:39:37
pace yourself.
00:39:38
is there anything else that we're missing here?
00:39:41
Like is there anything that you feel like we
00:39:44
haven't touched on or anything that you feel like the
00:39:47
person listening needs to know about conventions,
00:39:50
gaming, anything.
00:39:53
>> Gaz: So wow. I've got 200
00:39:56
podcasts behind Mera yourself cover. They be many
00:39:58
things. yeah. So don't be
00:40:01
frightened going I like trying speak to some people beforehan.
00:40:04
So for example there's a
00:40:07
convention called Furnace which happen was in Sheffield I'MENTIONED a couple of
00:40:09
times that's on his 20th anniversary in
00:40:12
October. And they open up another another
00:40:14
room in the venue so there's going to have eight new tables and loads more
00:40:18
people and there's a discord so there's people asking like I
00:40:20
want to run a game but I'm frightened. What I do like, what do people
00:40:23
want to see? Unfortunately there's quite a welcoming
00:40:26
communities. So people say, well you can run whatever you want. And there'you know, there's
00:40:29
this and that and so you can get involved in an event before
00:40:32
you turn up is one thing. So ask around and just
00:40:35
like people always seem nervous. People will say, o I've only ever
00:40:38
run for my home group. Like you've said. There's a guy did that at
00:40:41
a recent convention went to like he brought D20 &
00:40:44
D because he thought that would be the game to run. And it just so happens at
00:40:47
those sort of Sheffield events that's about the only game that
00:40:50
doesn't run most of the time. It's usually anything that's not D20 &
00:40:53
D. But he played or ran
00:40:56
some sessions, and I'll just give you his experience from
00:40:59
my point of view because it might inform other people. But he
00:41:01
ran three sessions out of five and he found that a lot.
00:41:04
And as I've sort of indicated that probably is. You probably need to
00:41:07
pull back on that. Don't worry about what game should I bring
00:41:10
that other people want. Alth you can ask to get a vibe so that you're
00:41:13
providing something that probably people are be interested and
00:41:16
you don't have to tie yourself to something. I could give him some
00:41:19
advice on the characters. So like one of my
00:41:22
good convention tips for D20 & D savage roles, whatever. Like
00:41:25
don't be first level orush starting characters. That's the temptation.
00:41:28
People often do that and they quite often rubbish characters
00:41:31
that aren't very capable. And for D20 & D like it
00:41:34
doesn't really start till third level anyway. So if you're not
00:41:36
running like be third or fourth level. Maybe
00:41:39
fifth.
00:41:40
>> Clint Scheirer: Fifth is my fave because that's when the fighter gets the extra
00:41:43
attack.
00:41:44
>> Gaz: That's when you can see a fireball or an extra attack or something.
00:41:46
Fireball, fireball, fireball. That
00:41:49
might be an interesting one, but that's where I pitch that. Same for
00:41:52
Savage Worlds, I'd say D be seasoned. See characters have
00:41:55
got four or five advances. You know, just make the characters
00:41:57
capable and be able to do stuff. Don't feel like you have to use the
00:42:00
starter ones that come in the book because that'll be easiest.
00:42:03
tail your characters to what you're playing, as I said.
00:42:06
And the guy that I've talked about all sorts sa after is
00:42:09
like got. He just sort of pitched the games wrong and the wad'set
00:42:12
it up and he'd done it so that if his home game were running
00:42:15
it, we're playing it rightther, they'd have had an amazing time.
00:42:18
But meeting new people, he's like, his eyes were open. The skales felt like,
00:42:21
oh, right, okay. People don't care about that and people wa wantna know about this.
00:42:23
And I had to sort of say
00:42:26
yes. For the players you had this time, maybe
00:42:29
next time it will be different.
00:42:30
So some of the things you learned, I think with general kind of hints and tips
00:42:33
you can pick up just by exposing yourself to other people
00:42:36
and others were, well, for this group, that worked out
00:42:39
that way. But if you'd been running it for me, I'd have been happy with what
00:42:42
you put in or that kind of thing. So, have a bit of
00:42:45
flexibility. You have to go in up open minded. don't be
00:42:48
frightened of having the open table rule if you're a player as well. If
00:42:50
something's not for you, don't feel like, it's my first time here.
00:42:53
I have to sit here for four hours with these five people. I'm not really
00:42:56
getting on with. I don't like the system.
00:42:59
So just feeling comfortable. Just say, look, I'm really sorry. This isn't
00:43:02
for me. Like, know I'm sure lot have a great time, but I need to
00:43:05
go. Like, it can be awkward, especially if
00:43:08
you're not, you know, extroverted or whatever else. But
00:43:11
like, do you want to spend four hours
00:43:14
there? Is the other thing that's the calculation to do in your head. He'like, is it
00:43:17
all right having a bit of slight embarrassment to walk
00:43:19
away and then have three hours of my life back? I'm just going to sit here
00:43:22
quietly and have m a terrible time.
00:43:23
>> Clint Scheirer: I'm hoping people are giving themselves permission by hearing you
00:43:26
say that it is okay to step away.
00:43:29
>> Gaz: and it's why I like to use and guys. Well, we use the open table.
00:43:32
So the GM said it then you are social secretary quite laug
00:43:35
the gym and people will look to you for their cues if it's an
00:43:38
awkward player or when you can have breaks or things like that. We're
00:43:40
all adults, well grown up. I mean, there might be some younger people
00:43:43
listening and feel free to join in as well. Kids, you're all
00:43:46
welcome at my time. Like if you need
00:43:49
a break as well in a game, just say, just say, sorry,
00:43:52
can I just need a comfort break. No one's gonna say
00:43:55
no. You have to sit there and like, you know, cross your legs
00:43:58
and try not to Wet yourself while we come.
00:44:01
>> Clint Scheirer: Hold it in.
00:44:03
>> Gaz: The thing I've seen historically is too many times when people
00:44:06
are playing into these unwritten rules that are
00:44:09
social just, it's just humans just ask like you're
00:44:12
all, you've all got permission to ask for things if you need
00:44:15
it or you know, not to be there if you don't want to
00:44:18
be or in a break you could ask in the gym and say
00:44:21
look, the pacing, I'm not really getting enough here. Maybe we
00:44:24
could get, could we maybe get through a little bit more or something or
00:44:28
all that kind of stuff. so yeah, make sure you
00:44:31
stay hydrated Steve, hydrate me.
00:44:34
Make sure you shower. It's a bit of a cle but there are people,
00:44:37
you know, I'm probably poping into UK Games Expo which is
00:44:40
a big trade show here in a couple of weeks.
00:44:43
They have like toiletries dotted around the main
00:44:46
hole like a deodorant and things like that. Because there's some people
00:44:49
who just haven't worked out that Sammy the
00:44:52
soap bar is your friend. It's like just. But you
00:44:54
know, these shouldn't be things we have to help
00:44:57
people. But if it gets one person to realize
00:45:00
that maybe after you spent four days in a packed
00:45:02
haul you might be a little bit ripe, perhaps have a shower
00:45:05
or stuff like that, that's probably helping. The
00:45:08
old classic was the 321 rule where it's three hours of
00:45:11
sleep, two meals and one shower.
00:45:14
I'm at the stage of life where it needs to be more than three hours of sleep
00:45:16
and probably more than two meals to be there
00:45:19
but definitely one shower. So there's just self care stuff.
00:45:22
Make sure you've got a bottle of water with you. don't be afraid
00:45:25
to duck out of things. but like
00:45:28
you will meet new people and some won t be to your taste
00:45:31
potentially. and others will be like I've got lifelong friends
00:45:34
I've met by going to conventions and as a GM and as a
00:45:36
player I've picked up tips and hints and
00:45:39
ways of playing and styles of presenting my game and stuff that I
00:45:42
would just never have if I'd been on my own. You
00:45:45
can see on the Internet there's people who've like I've been playing for 40 years.
00:45:48
I've run this D20 & D campaign for my friends and
00:45:51
we ace. But if you've just played with the
00:45:54
same five people for 40 years, I would say that you're probably not
00:45:57
as well versed as someone who spent a year going to some conventions and playing with
00:46:00
a bunch of different people in different games. You'll just pick stuff
00:46:02
up, you'll just be sat there and the gym will do something. You'll
00:46:05
think o that's great, I'm gonna steal that. That's an amazing
00:46:08
idea.
00:46:09
Which you just wouldn't get otherwise. And you know, you might see some other
00:46:12
things where it's like someone holding up a dark
00:46:15
mirrorr and the gym will do something and you'll think o
00:46:18
I do that and now I'm sat on this side of the table. That's
00:46:21
not great actually. I can improve upon that,
00:46:24
that sort of thing. And as a player as well, you pick up things.
00:46:27
>> Clint Scheirer: You know, these are the things that we want. Right? Like this is
00:46:29
just turning the, the part in our brain where
00:46:32
maybe I wouldn't have asked that question. So I'm glad
00:46:35
that you mentioned that. I love self care.
00:46:38
it made me honestly I was thinking of doggie bags. When people
00:46:41
put like doggie bags out in front of their house, instead
00:46:44
of yelling at somebody for not picking up their
00:46:46
dog'poo, they're like, hey, I'm just going toa
00:46:49
put the bag there and maybe they'll pick it up.
00:46:52
Maybe they'll do what they need to do. So that, that was really,
00:46:55
that's a kind way to just say hey,
00:46:58
help everybody out. Let's all have a good time.
00:47:00
>> Gaz: Little things like clean up after yourself.
00:47:02
>> Clint Scheirer: Clean it up, clean it up, clean up the crap.
00:47:04
>> Gaz: Like I've lost count of number of times I get to a table
00:47:07
or whatever. There's just coffee cups or Sada cans or whatever lin around. It's
00:47:10
like come on, we're all adults.
00:47:13
If you've eaten something like just take it with you. Throw it in the trash.
00:47:16
Like what's wrong with you people? So
00:47:19
the great thing about conventions is anyone can go. The bad thing about
00:47:22
conventions is anyone can go. So you will get some people who are
00:47:25
a bit rude or lazy or forgetful or are
00:47:28
in a rush, whatever it is. But if we all just try and be a
00:47:31
little bit kind and help each other out then everything's
00:47:33
better for everyone. And that goes in the table. So I've got
00:47:36
like a player advice I give quite often and for the
00:47:39
crack and they put that in the emails like 10 top tips kind of thing.
00:47:42
And it'stuff like playing up. So when
00:47:45
another player is doing something, you describing game how awesome that
00:47:48
is or that kind of thing. So for example, you had a big
00:47:51
strong barbarian or Something and you'trying to intimidate someone.
00:47:54
my character might be going like, oh, you don't. You don't want to mess with
00:47:57
him. The last town over. Like,
00:48:00
there's nothing left of the inn. Like, you better give him what he
00:48:02
wants. Like, I'm not causing a problem, but if you're
00:48:05
upset him, then we're all in trouble kind of thing. And
00:48:08
that's just my way in character of making your character
00:48:11
sound awesome.
00:48:12
>> Clint Scheirer: Yeah.
00:48:13
>> Gaz: So, you know, just do little bits like that where you talk. If you're
00:48:15
gonna discuss a plan of how you're gonna rage the
00:48:18
corporate, whatever cyberpunk facility.
00:48:20
Like, you can do it in character. You don't have to talk about it outside.
00:48:23
You can all get in your character and kind of add bits
00:48:26
of flavor about revealing stuff about your
00:48:29
character or describing the world or whatever it is.
00:48:32
It's all good stuff. Just. And these are all little bits and pieces you pick
00:48:35
up of, like, ways of improving the game for everybody's
00:48:38
benefit.
00:48:38
>> Clint Scheirer: What was the last character you
00:48:41
played that you just fell in love with because
00:48:44
you liked how others built you up and how you got to
00:48:47
play it?
00:48:47
>> Gaz: I don't know about the last one. One an example
00:48:50
I can give his, guy you mentioned a couple
00:48:53
times, he runs mouse guard occasionally. He's had a hiatus from it, but
00:48:56
we've got him to play. Played the game recently, and
00:48:59
he has a standard set of mice. So for, people who
00:49:02
don't know it's anthropomorphic. Mice fight against
00:49:05
nature. So the enemies are generally weasel or a snake or a
00:49:08
bear or something. And you're just little mice and you're fighting
00:49:11
against your nature because mice generally want to run away and hide and do things
00:49:14
like that. But you're the God mice and you're big and strong. And
00:49:17
my particular one that I always get is, kind of like the
00:49:19
hardened, grizzled veteran who's seen too much and he's only got
00:49:22
one eye. So it was quite fun. You know, another
00:49:25
one'like the young up, like, really sort of
00:49:28
enthusiastic new recruit who was like, yeah, come on, let's,
00:49:31
I've, seen things, man. You haven't been there when the owl came out of the
00:49:33
darkness shadow by the moon.
00:49:36
So I always have a great time with that. And there's another friend of our,
00:49:39
Neil Ga, who wrote Duty on and beat 2/4s. He sometimes
00:49:42
plays in one of the convention games. And similarly, he gets that
00:49:45
character. So a guy always finds that amazing that we both play that
00:49:48
grizzled veteran in a slightly different way.
00:49:50
But the vibes are there every time. It doesn't m matter
00:49:53
which one of us picks him up. And people tend to
00:49:56
buy into that. You know that to the young enthusiastic
00:49:59
Mouse is all kind of like doesn't get it. So
00:50:02
he's always trying to cheer me up and go like oh no, you don't need to be that.
00:50:05
Maybe we'll win this time. It'like just lost too mins
00:50:08
you know, you't understand. And so
00:50:11
you can have those little character interactions just by different
00:50:13
perceptions of the world. And that's, you know, Mouse gud lends
00:50:16
itself to that.
00:50:17
>> Clint Scheirer: I think that has always been in my back pocket
00:50:20
of games that I want to play. So maybe'll I'll keep a
00:50:23
lookout and maybe I'll get to be the grizzled veteran next
00:50:26
time.
00:50:27
>> Gaz: Yeah, well, we'll get guy to run it maybe on the
00:50:29
channel can be a guest player.
00:50:31
>> Clint Scheirer: That'd be awesome. Yeah, I know. You're like, I could do a monologue forever.
00:50:34
I could listen forever. U Everything you've shared is really great.
00:50:37
Is there anything else that you feel people should know about
00:50:40
conventions or playing with others?
00:50:42
>> Gaz: I'd just say it'd be generous with others and don't it's not as bad as
00:50:45
you think it's gonna be. If you're nervous, everybody will like if
00:50:48
you've not been to anything before, you always think I don't know where anything
00:50:51
is. I don't know who people are. Ah are think it be mean to me.
00:50:54
you know, I don just don't get it. I don't know what's gonna happen. So there's always gonna be
00:50:57
a little bit of anxiety or something, for some people,
00:51:00
but it's good fun. I'd started a small mid level one. If you can
00:51:03
find something that's maybe 50, 100 people, they're like a nice sweet
00:51:05
spot. just sign up for something cool that you
00:51:08
wanna try. Maybe don't run a game the first time you
00:51:11
go. Maybe just play some things. if you're someone like yourself, you might
00:51:14
want to like not play all this slots. I just sign for a couple of things.
00:51:17
Just one thing a day and the rest of the time I'll chill out and chat to
00:51:20
people, see if there's any social events. Like the Sheffield
00:51:23
conventions have a Friday night that's not part of the convention but it's
00:51:26
at the venue. So some people will turn up just to go to the
00:51:28
pub and have a Pie or whatever and hang out
00:51:32
and just talk games, ask people about
00:51:34
their home campaigns or where they come from or things.
00:51:37
Like there's like basic questions you can ask, which'just get
00:51:40
the chat going at the table. Even if everybody else is just kind of like star at the
00:51:43
caret and nobody want to speak. You can try and initiate the
00:51:46
conversation. You'll probably meet friends you'll see again. And if you end
00:51:49
up going to the same event on a yearly basis or whatever it is, you'll see
00:51:52
people you'end up with gamer friends who you don't
00:51:55
chat to about anything else or don. You probably don't
00:51:57
know like what the wife's name is or anything like that,
00:52:00
but you do know who the character was when you
00:52:03
played Earthdaw last year and that kind of thing. So
00:52:06
it's worth it for just the people you'll meet.
00:52:09
And especially in the connected world've got the minute with
00:52:11
online conventions or just being able to play online,
00:52:14
you might meet some other convention and then like we've just
00:52:17
done there where you say, I really wanted to try mouse guard. You go, okay,
00:52:20
well, I can't do it here, but maybe
00:52:23
in a couple of weeks or something we can just do it over zoom or whatever. You know,
00:52:26
we can have a game online. So it's a way of connecting with new
00:52:29
people. You get to make people from all around the world
00:52:32
as well. Generally depending on the sort of event you go to,
00:52:35
it's great for exposing yourself to, like I said, the indie games thing
00:52:38
I quite like as well. If you go to bigger events like a, UK Games Expo
00:52:41
and going to. I presume Jane can the same. There's a
00:52:43
whole, an alley in Inverted Camp, as they call it, but it's three or
00:52:46
four streets if you will, within the
00:52:49
nec, they're all independent publishers. You've all got
00:52:52
their little things going on, little handcrafted games or whatever, and
00:52:54
just going around there for half a day or something and chatting to people
00:52:57
and seeing what they've got, what they're up to,
00:53:00
really interesting stuff. You'll see all kinds of things you've not seen
00:53:03
before. And if you go to bigger events, there might be goody bags, you might
00:53:06
get freebies, you might get demos. There'll be all kinds of other things that
00:53:09
aren't games but are related to it. Like, I
00:53:12
don't know whether you had it in the uk, but we had a game called, well, a TV
00:53:15
show called Nightmare where some guy wore a helmet who
00:53:18
was one part of the team and had to go around like a
00:53:20
dungeon and the other players were all kids would like be like step
00:53:23
left, step left. No you're the left. Step forward and try and
00:53:26
guide them around this dungeon. That was like really bad CGI and stuff like
00:53:29
that. It's probably a very British thing but they've like
00:53:32
done a live version of ah that games expo and that sort of thing
00:53:35
or they have Viking reenactments.
00:53:37
There'll be all kinds of things. So yeah, pick a
00:53:40
convention you like the look of. Don't be frightened. Go
00:53:43
in with the level of engagement you want in terms
00:53:46
of doing games and don't be frightened about if it's not for you
00:53:49
when you get there or a particular session or what. Don't be AF FR
00:53:52
it's going like it's not for me. I've tried it though and Don't
00:53:55
let that put you off Other conventions you can always go somewhere else.
00:53:58
The mid level ones are good for games. The big ones are good for all
00:54:01
the splendor and just going for the event itself. There's middle sized ones
00:54:04
that do a bit ab both. Maybe don't try a residential one if you're
00:54:07
not sure about it. Maybe just find some one day thing.
00:54:10
But residential ones can be good too. Just for hanging out. Take
00:54:13
yourself something to do whether you whatever your hobby is. I
00:54:16
know people be like knitting or any kind of thing. You'll just kind of
00:54:19
hang out more or less listening to the games, doing their thing but
00:54:22
not not taking part in them.
00:54:24
>> Clint Scheirer: My wife loves knitting so maybe she can come along and knit with the
00:54:26
knitters.
00:54:28
>> Gaz: That's right. And another thing that the Crackken for example
00:54:30
is very good obviously have a board game library. I know that games
00:54:33
exponen others have that as well. So if you just want to
00:54:36
grab your friends if you haven't managed to hang out or you've met some of new friends or you want
00:54:39
someone to show your game you can Quite just go and find a table,
00:54:42
play a board game, chat, find out what the people have been doing.
00:54:45
What else is on. That's a really good activity as
00:54:48
well. There's just. There's tons to do. I think it's worth getting involved. Like I said
00:54:51
you'll improve how you play in Gem. You'll possibly meet
00:54:54
new people that you'll make new gaming friends or just people to
00:54:57
hang out with occasionally or play something online with.
00:55:00
You might pick up new games you've not heard of or seen or something to
00:55:02
investigate letter you'll Hear about m new Kickstarters or injingy
00:55:05
stuff that you've never seen before. There'll be little tokens of
00:55:08
a menor dice you can buy or all kind of
00:55:11
ephema that there seems to be these days with dice holders or towers
00:55:14
or a bunch of game related things that never used
00:55:17
to exist but now seem to be. There's a whole
00:55:20
cottage industry producing all kinds of stuff there.
00:55:22
>> Clint Scheirer: toilet paper with D20s just printed on them.
00:55:25
>> Gaz: Yeah, yeah, I've seen like D20 lamps, I'seen D20
00:55:28
money banks there. All kinds of stuff. There's cosplay
00:55:31
elements you can go at some places, there's shores
00:55:34
you can go to, there's talks, seminars, workshops.
00:55:38
There's a whole world out there waiting for you. So pick
00:55:41
something and give it a go. And he probably helps to take a friend. I
00:55:44
mean I'm not gonna lie. I can go to events on
00:55:47
my own. I'm that confident. I've been to enough now,
00:55:50
but it's usually better a few of you go and try
00:55:52
and try something out together this so you've got back up and
00:55:55
if nothing else you can take an emergency game as I call them in your backpack
00:55:58
and you can just find someone. Play amongst yourselves if you have to.
00:56:02
>> Clint Scheirer: Awesome.
00:56:02
So a whole new world out there.
00:56:05
People might want to jump into
00:56:08
your world. There might be some people listening that
00:56:11
they're like, I heard that he does this thing called the unconventional
00:56:14
GMs. He obviously plays a lot of games. Where
00:56:17
can people find you Gaz, if they want to learn
00:56:20
more about what you do and what you offer as far as
00:56:22
creating content and enjoying this hobby.
00:56:26
>> Gaz: Well, thank you for asking. unconventional gems is
00:56:28
it's about a year old now, something like that. That's me and Guy.
00:56:31
We run games in about two hours
00:56:34
or less with pace, vim, and vigor. So this is one of our
00:56:37
things where people like say they can't run a game in four hours
00:56:40
or it's impossible to play this game as a one shot. Well
00:56:43
we viewed that as a challenge. So if you go to YouTube, look for
00:56:45
uncommventional GMS'you'll find all kinds of sessions. We've done mainly
00:56:48
one shots, some extended campaigns, things like
00:56:51
that. But there we try and that's all raw
00:56:54
gaming if you see that's how we game normally.
00:56:57
There's no pretense, there's no script. This is just us having fun
00:57:00
with a variety of different people. We get all kinds of different guests on.
00:57:03
So definitely check out U gems. Also, I'm one
00:57:06
half of what with the Smart Party t Do, the UK's premiere
00:57:09
RPG podcast. There's about 200 episodes on
00:57:11
there. Interviews with all kinds of designers who've
00:57:14
got advice, we've got walkthroughs who've got general chats
00:57:17
like this where we just pick a topic. And me and Ben,
00:57:20
who has if anything, more more experience than me in
00:57:23
games. We'll chat about any kind of topic
00:57:26
from conventions to how to GM to how to play better,
00:57:29
all that kind of stuff. So a welfare you
00:57:32
can find me, on Twitter (X or X whatever it's
00:57:35
called now is, the smart under
00:57:37
party and you can also search me on Blue
00:57:40
Sky. I'll actually have to check what my handle is on
00:57:43
there, but if you look for gas, you'll definitely find me.
00:57:46
Yeah, yeah. Evil guys
00:57:49
at Beastguys Social.
00:57:50
>> Clint Scheirer: Awesome. And I'll make sure that all the links are
00:57:53
in the episode show notes, including the unconventional GMs.
00:57:56
people have already listened to Guy by the time they listen to you
00:57:59
and you will be fan favorites for sure.
00:58:02
So thanks for your time today Gaz and I hope
00:58:05
to talk to you sometime soon. Thanks for being here.
00:58:07
>> Gaz: Very kind. Thanks for the invite and we look forward to dragging you
00:58:10
onto the UGMS at some point to play a game.
00:58:12
>> Clint Scheirer: U I can't wait. It'll be a dream. So remember kids,
00:58:15
listen to Papa Gaz, take a shower, stay
00:58:18
hydrated and go sign up for a Tabletop gaming
00:58:21
convention where you can have a great time with friends and
00:58:24
maybe make some new friends.
00:58:25
>> Gaz: Friends, friends, friends, friends.
00:58:27
>> Clint Scheirer: please hit like or subscribe if you liked what you heard today. And if you listen
00:58:30
on Apple Podcast or Spotify, give the CTG
00:58:33
five stars and a review. And may you keep having fun
00:58:36
as you continue to have a great time with friends and tell amazing
00:58:39
stories through Tabletop role playing games. Bye.