What I Learned Running a Convention Table

Hello World,

This past weekend I got to try my hand at running a convention table for this year’s Anime North and while the preparation of the event was tiring, it was all worth it in the end. That being said, things for the Sproutli Games table didn’t start out the greatest and only through quick modifications and reworks was the table able to run as spectacularly as it did. Allowing us to meet so many great fans of our games!

Since the outlook of the table pulled such a dramatic improvement this year, I would like to share some of what I learned so that others can try to run the best con table possible.

1.  Make Your Table Worthwhile

I have this one up right in the first spot because I believe it is the most important and honestly the most under-utilized point on this list. Convention attendees are busy people, who have a lot to see and do over the span of a weekend. Why should they spend time at your table when there are literally tens if not hundreds more for them to check out.

This is why it is so crucially important to run a form of event, raffle or hook to get attendees interested. Once they have a reason to stop, they are much more interested in what you have to say. The more you are able to give to convention attendees the more traction you will be able to get in the long run.

2.  Investigate Prior to Organizing Your Table

This one is a little tricky to explain as it can vary widely from convention to convention. At the convention we attended there were 2 areas we looked into that ended up paying off substantially.

The first was inquiring about discounts or bonuses for running events or panels at the convention. This was a massive one for us, due to the fact that we were running playtests for Trials of the Magi for the majority of the weekend. With all the events we planned on running, we were given five additional free tables! In addition to that I was able to get my ticket for free, because I was going to be running a panel at the convention. Depending on the convention the amount of panels needed to get a free ticket can vary, but almost every con I have been to has offered some kind of similar deal.

The second thing to really look into is whether or not, the convention you are attending allows you to pay by trade. All this means is that the con allows you to pay for your table by giving away free stuff to the convention and it’s attendees. This can be a great way to merge the cost of table promotion and the base table cost into one much cheaper value. Some of the best ways to do this is to give out free samples, or give out some sort of prize via raffle or event. Another good go to is to give out free candy to anyone who passes by your table [generally a great way to draw in people].

3.  Convention Staff Are There to Help, Use Them!

When we arrived at the convention for setup on the Friday we found that our table was placed right behind a massive trailer truck located in the furthest corner of the hall, which was literally one of the worst possible locations in the convention. With our table so reliant on getting attendees to join playtests, this location would have ruined us. Luckily when we talked to the convention staff, they understood the predicament we were in and did their best to remedy the situation.

This resulted in a relocation to a much better location, and an awesome amount of support over the weekend. In short, the staff are great people and are just trying to run the best con possible for everyone. But it is important to keep in mind how you treat the staff, the nicer the better. It makes it much more likely that both parties get what they want, and you can makes some awesome friends and get insider tips about the convention.

4. Establish Contingency Plans

Running a convention table can be a very chaotic experience, and organizing events can only extenuate that. As such it is important to make plans for all manner of outcomes. What if no one wants to sign up for your event? What if your events are overflowing? What if you are so busy that you are unable to leave the table?

These are all questions you should be asking yourself prior to the convention. I hate to bust out a cheesy line like this but… Failure to plan, means you’re planning to fail.

5.  Get More Help Than You Think You Need

Conventions are hectic and crazy events that will have a constant stream of attendees passing by your tables. The quantity of people alone will often be too much for a single person to handle. Not to mention having to set aside time to eat and see the con for yourself. This means that in most cases you will need to have other friends or employees helping you out with your table.

 

Luckily enough conventions will almost always have a cost effective method for table owners to purchase more tickets for helpers.

6. Have Fun With it

Having a table is a great way to meet fans of your product and can be such a rewarding experience to run. It may be challenging, it may be exhausting, but ultimately it is a time for you to give back to your fans and encounter new ones. So enjoy it!

- Patrick Lapienis

Rebranding Narrative

Hello World,

I was talking with a fellow game master a while back and we got to talking about how we went about prepping for our games. During our conversation I mentioned a practice I like to utilize that he hadn’t yet heard of. This was the act of altering the previously created world around the characters, to create a more entertaining game that is easier to run.

The key to this mindset is to understand that anything yet unknown to your players, is volatile and liable to change. If you players missed a key clue in their investigation, or a fun encounter, feel free to shift things around. This allows the game not to get bogged down with uninteresting clutter.

However, where this methodology really shines is in how it can make Game master prep easier. By preparing a minimal amount of notes and repurposing it depending on the player actions. The game master is able to get the most gameplay out of their prep time. [Because there is nothing worse than coming up with something awesome and your players completely bypassing it]

One method I use when I am running a session I will have a few in depth NPC personalities drawn up, with goals and faults, but not containing any specifics. Then when planning a session, generate NPCs that are just given basic details like a name and occupation. If while playing the session the players go to have a full conversation with an NPC, I pair the basic information with a detailed personality, creating a fully fleshed out character. This is done to cut down on prep time. If I created an in depth personality for each and every NPC that the players could potentially talk to, then it would take me months to plan a session.

A game theory that this relates closely too is the illusion of choice. Which is where a person makes a choice that leads to the same outcome no matter what is chosen. While this can greatly reduce the amount of work on the Game Master side, it has one big flaw. If the players find out that their choice didn’t matter, they will feel cheated and upset. That is why it is so important to use this tool carefully.

There is an old saying that “All roads lead to Rome” and part of that relates to this theory. Only create one city, but allow you players to choose how and why they reach it.

Thanks for reading,

-Patrick Lapienis

Developmental Update [April 2015]

Hello World,

It is with great excitement that I announce that on April 19^th, Trials of the Magi was successfully Kickstarted with $4006, allowing us to even reach one of our stretch goals. Thank you to everone who backed and supported the project, it is with your help that this dream can be made a reality.

While the past few weeks have been slow on the development front due primarily to the overlap of the Kickstarter campaign and my engineering exams. We will be moving ahead at full speed over the following months. School is out, allowing us to dedicate a greater amount of our time to the project, ensuring that we can meet all of this summer’s deadlines.

The first of these deadlines will be hosting a table at Anime North in Toronto Canada on May 22^nd – 25^th. Within this convention we will be running a number open playtests for Trials of the Magi, as well as handing out sample versions of the game. In addition, I will also be hosting a panel about the basics of game design and getting started in the industry. Supporting me with this presentation will be a close friend of mine and video game developer, Jord Farrell. Between the two of us we should be able to provide a good view of the industry.

From here we will be supporting our good friends at Third Eye Games with their table at Gen Con in Indianapolis on the July 31^st weekend. During the convention however I will also be looking to run a few more playtests for Trials of the Magi. This will most likely be down the conventions games on demand service, allowing new players to easily pick up and play the game.

With so much on the horizon, you can look forward to plenty of updates and progress over the upcoming months,

Thanks for reading,

-Patrick Lapienis

Narrative Consistency

Hello World,

With the Trials of the Magi Kickstarter still running strong, I have decided to do something a bit different on the blog. Rather than doing a developmental update or discussing game design theory, I have decided to center this post on a bit of GM advice. More specifically, about keeping narrative consistency within your game.

Narrative consistency is how well the actions and events within the fiction of the game gel together. This consistency is damaged when outcomes contradict the norm of the fiction. An example of this could be when a very powerful character gets a string of bad rolls and has a lot of difficulty when facing an opponent that should be no hassle.

“I have sealed away the evil necromancer and saved the kingdom, but why can I not kill this one goblin!”

At the best of times this narrative variability is comedic and creates an enjoyable situation for the group. There are even games like All Outta Bubblegum or my own Planet Crashers which aims to use this ridiculousness to its full advantage. At the same time however, situations that aim to be somber or story driven can be completely destroyed by these inconsistencies. In order to maintain the fiction in these types of situations the Game Master my try to modify the fiction to fit the actions.

“As you fight the you notice a faint glow can be seen  coming from the goblin's eyes, as it appears to be possessed by someone or something..."

This fixes the problem, but there will always be situations where it is difficult to justify the outcomes, and characters can only get lucky so many times before it becomes silly. One method I found very helpful, especially with critical successes is to give the player what they want, but in a method they weren’t expecting. The player will be satisfied with achieving their desired outcome, but you can change its delivery so that narrative consistency can be maintained.

The best example of this I have ever seen was in an In-Nomine campaign I was playing in a number of years ago. In this game of angels and demon’s my character needed to get information out of a succubus. Not having the funds to play for it, my character tried to use the best tool in his arsenal, Charisma. To add a small layer of comedic effect to the scene, I worded it as he was trying to seduce the succubus, as seemingly impossible feet [As I wasn’t expecting victory either way]. I roll  the dice to reveal a critical success, meaning that I would automatically overcome the obstacle. The Game Master’s response to this was perfect. The succubus laughed, she thought that my attempt at romance was adorable, and because she hadn’t had a laugh like that in ages, she decided give me a little bit of info on the house and encouraged me to come back again.

This worked out so well because I got what I wanted, which was her information, but at the same time consistency was maintained by altering the method of delivery. If I were to succeed in wooing the succubus it would ruin her character. diminishing her from the powerful information broker she is meant to be to a weak and insignificant one-off character.

Hopefully this helps you run more immersive games in the future, and as always thanks for reading.

-Patrick Lapienis

Trials of the Magi: Now on Kickstarter

Hello World,

After over half a year of work, Trials of the Magi has officially launched on Kickstarter! With all that has been accomplished so far, with the game, moving and starting up school, these past months have gone by so fast. It feel as though it was just last week I was frantically submitting Trials of the Magi as an entry for National Game Design Month. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to check out are Kickstarter at the following link and support it if you are able.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/376200266/trials-of-the-magi-role-playing-game

If this is the first time you are hearing about this game however, let me give you a brief rundown of the project. Trials of the Magi is a tabletop role-playing game created to make introducing the hobby of story games to newcomers as easy as possible. This is done in two major ways. The first is by having the characters in the game be direct representations of the players. Allowing players to ease into their first RPG session by being able to act like themselves. Allowing them to get antiquated with all of the subtleties of how an RPG plays. The second major method this game uses to ease in new players is the game’s mechanics, which are easy to learn and play while still creating a large depth of options for players to explore. Trials of the Magi achieves this by having a stat-less system that relies on suited cards which the players make for themselves. These cards create a visual and hands on experience that lets everything that’s going on be clearly displayed with minimal confusion.

Arcana Cards Used in the Game

Never will a player say something like “I rolled a 17, what does that mean?” Outcomes are clearly understood the moment they are played, and for the most part, players have complete control over whether they pass or fail an action.

If this Interests you at all you can read more about the game from the following two posts, HERE and HERE. You can also head to the Kickstarter page for even more info about the game.

Thanks for reading,

-Patrick Lapienis

An In Depth Look at Trials of the Magi

Hello World,

As a continuation of my last week’s post, today I am going to be diving into some of the gameplay and mechanics of Trials of the Magi. If this is your first time hearing about the game and you want to learn more, I recommend that your read THIS before continuing.

With that established, let’s get this party started. From my previous post you may recall that players within Trials of the Magi are tasked with guiding a projection of themselves through a crucible of strange and abstract trials. The powers possessed by this Persona are derived from the player’s life experiences and are portrayed by a hand of suited Arcana Cards. These cards each display a single word that describes the player's memory, and a suit which ties the card to the type of memory used. Within the trials, players must play cards from their hand onto the table in order to overcome obstacles. The more difficult the obstacle, the more cards the players are required to be played.

When playing a card, the player must justify its relevance to the current action in order to use it. As an example of this let’s say that I have a card with the word “Insects” written on, as I use to catch and collect insects growing up. And let's say that my Persona in this situation needs to cross a small chasm, this is a minor challenge and would only require one card to overcome. This means I could play my insect card, and justify it by saying “I use my insect card to grow moth wings and fly over the chasm”. With that said my card is laid on the table and my Persona crosses the chasm.

With my insect card no longer in my hand, it can’t be used for future obstacles. That card is no longer available to me and in order to get it back I must spend an Entropy and pick up the card.

Entropy is form of currency within Trials of the Magi and is represented by a deck of pass or fail cards. When trying to overcome an obstacle, a player can choose to draw a card from the Entropy Deck instead of playing an Arcana card from their hand. If the player draws a positive entropy card, the Persona succeeds as though an Arcana Card was played. Draw negative entropy however, and the Persona’s situation is complicated and made worse. Each Entropy Card drawn is then held onto by the player and can be spent later in the game pick up their played arcana powers.

The last major mechanic in Trials of the Magi is fracturing. The connection between player and Persona is the most vital part of a Persona’s strength. As this connection weakens, a Persona can begin to fracture and crack. Even to the point of shattering entirely. In the mechanics of the game, this connection is represented by the number of Arcana Cards available to the player. In order to get through difficult parts of a trial the players will be required, discard some of their Arcana Cards a for temporary boost. These gains come in two forms:

1.    The player can discard a card, and treat a negative entropy card as though it were a positive entropy, and therefore succeeding the action.

2.  The player can discard an Arcana card to invoke the special ability contained in the card’s suit. These powers were explained in the previous article.

Each time a player does this their connection weakens and the Persona fractures. If a player is forced to discard all of their Arcana Cards, their Persona shatters and they are not able to participate in the trial. It is the goal of the player to get through each trials without discarding all of their cards.

Trials of the Magi will be launching on Kickstarter on March 20^th and if the game sounds like something that interests you I encourage you to check it out.

Thank you for your time and support,

-Patrick Lapienis

What is Trials of the Magi?

Hello World,

With the Trials of the Magi Kickstarter just around the corner [March 20^th to be precise] I would like to take this time to talk about the game and share a bit about how it plays.

First up let's start with a general description of the game.

Trials of the Magi is a quick and simple role-playing game centered around a Harry Potter inspired world, where arcane scouts track down and gather those with the potential for magic. These gathered candidates are then required to overcome a crucible of mental simulations in order to prove that they are capable of becoming a fledgling magus.

These tests compose the core fiction of Trials of the Magi as players must guide mental projections of themselves through the strange and treacherous landscapes of the crucible.  The psychological nature of these landscapes allows the Game Master to create interesting and creative locations that bend the laws of reality.  Locations created where the direction of gravity changes on a whim, or a world where time only passes when the players are moving. [Like SuperHot]

While the Game Master's freedom with realm creation can be a lot of fun, it isn’t the main focus of the game. Where Trials of the Magi tries to shake the RPG formula is that in the game the  "real" players are the ones actually being tested by the arcane scout. As such the mental projections that navigate the trials are literal representations of the players. Meaning they look, act and talk just as the players would. Not surprisingly, it is really easy to role-play yourself, making Trials of the Magi a great game for first time players of the hobby. Allowing them to get comfortable with creating a shared fiction before trying their hand at more complex storytelling. This idea of the player being the character is expanded upon even further in the game’s mechanics. Where a character’s strengths and abilities come from a player's real life experiences. These memories are written on custom dry erase cards [or blank Index cards] and a hand of these cards act as a player’s character sheet. No complex calculations or overabundance of stats. Just simple tactile mechanics that allow players to get into the game easily and quickly.

These writable slips are called Arcana cards and come in 4 possible suits, Swords, Wands, Coins, Cups. When players are creating their character they have to pick and fill out 4 cards. These cards can be chosen in any combination of the suits. With each suit both influencing the type of memory associated with the card as well as granting a special power within the game.

Swords

Memory: Created from emotionally strong memories

Power: Discard to deal a substantial blow to an enemy or difficult task.

Wands

Memory: Derived from a players knowledge and education

Power: Discard to ask one objective question to the Game Master that must be answered truthfully

Coins

Memory:  Reliant on memories of possessions and achievements

Power: Discard to grant a power boost to themselves or another player

Cups:

Memory: Comes from a player’s past relationships

Power: Discard to recover the injuries of any character.

Now while this is only a bare bones description of each of the suits, it should give everyone a general idea of how each suit works and feels. This is important because it is up to a player to choose the playstyle they are interested in. If a player wants to play a heavy hitter, they can pick the majority of their cards from Swords, or possibly focus on Coins and Cups cards if they are interested in a more supportive style of play.

This is all I am going to talk about in this week's post, but be sure to check back next week where I will discuss in greater detail how the game is played, and dive into some of the mechanics. However, be sure to keep your eyes peeled for Trials of the Magi’s Kickstarter campaign which will be launching on March 20^th!

For now though, thanks for reading,

-Patrick Lapienis