Beyond the Supernatural One-Shot for a Convention

[Lord Z]

Mr. Lucifer has by far the most experience running BtS convention games. He has donated a truckload of scenarios to this thread: Beyond the Superlink.

In general terms, here are some basic suggestions for running con games -- from the guy who has never done it (me)! Just remember that convention games are short and thus work best when tightly focused. Give the players a clear goal to accomplish and a reason to accomplish it within a certain amount of time. Isolated locations like a haunted house work best. Keep to only one or two monsters. Any type of visual prop like an illustration or a map helps immensely by clearly showing the players what it would take ten minutes or more to explain. Be prepared to reign in a disruptive player if other gamers seem to be uncomfortable.

[Shawn Merrow]

I have one for the Alamo and makes use of a local joke. You, can have the players find the basement of the Alamo. On the equinoxes a door to a staircase leading down opens up. It leads into a small dimension (40 to 50 miles wide), draw the PC in with the prospect of adventure or the distant screams of lost tourists. A few monsters on the hunt will give them something to deal with. The goal at the end will be too escape and convince people that yes you were in the basement.

[Shawn Merrow]

Thanks, I just put down the basics that you can then fill out to fit your style of play.

[Shawn Merrow]

When I start feeling better will try and expand it out some more as I now want to run it.

[Lord Z]

Shawn and Sam, please share what you develop with the rest of us -- and the Megaversal Ambassadors. I don't think that the MAs currently have any BtS adventures in their collection of con games.

[Hendrik]

Hi Sam,

basically I think everything goes at a con as long as you tailor your adventure to the typical restrictions a con will put on a game.

... convention games are short and thus work best when tightly focused. Give the players a clear goal to accomplish and a reason to accomplish it within a certain amount of time. Isolated locations like a haunted house work best. Keep to only one or two monsters. Any type of visual prop like an illustration or a map helps immensely by clearly showing the players what it would take ten minutes or more to explain. Be prepared to reign in a disruptive player if other gamers seem to be uncomfortable.

That, my good Lord Z, is most sage advise!

I find that many of the things that are good for and work in your home game will not work as well (or at all) at a con because your "standard" adventure would "waste" game time which you cannot possibly compensate at a con. Typical examples are
(i) playing out the meeting of the characters and to allow them time to get acquainted with each other,
(ii) lengthy planning sessions (it is fun to plan storming castle Unconquerable at home but at a con in my experience no planning beyond 15 minutes - for an important plan - steals away to much time from the actual action and thus would be a no-go in my book), and
(iii) detective work (can be fun at a con if you really railroad it).

It follows from that, if you subscribe to it, that:

- The characters should know each other already.
--> Methods for that: the PCs are of the same agency, in one combat unit, old friends or you start the game with a line like "you have just met in this pub, you found out that you can trust each other because of [X] and there is this old wizard who just sat down to give you a quest"

- The con game can railroad them more than you would ever want to do at home.
--> Methods for that: kick the players in the "right" direction by the action and by giving them a clear goal and path to that goal

- THINK MOVIE SCRIPT, NOT WAGNER'S RING CYCLE OR LORD OF THE RINGS: Allow the players to breathe, but do not give them time to rest.
--> You only have about 4-5 hours, then it will be over. You cannot waste that time. There is no second session, ever. What you are doing at a con is essentially the equivalent of a short story or video clip, not Wagner's Ring cycle. If your adventure flowchart is longer than 1 page, chances are your players at the con will not see half of it and not achieve much of anything but you will have to stop in the middle of some combat. I think to avoid that the rhythm and pace must be quick (action, breathe, action, breathe) and the story, I believe, needs a climax towards the end like a boss encounter.

- Make every death memorable!
--> I know this may sound strange, but the players come to the con to have high aventure and try new stuff. It's best if all characters make it through because it is bad for the player if he choose one adventure over another and then his character dies after two hours and he just hangs around. But PC kills happen ... so, you need a solution for what you do when a character dies:
---> Either you play a death game (then say so at the beginning), then it is a competition and partially about who makes it through or can survive the ride the longest (see Carmen's games ) and everybody will be ok with seeing characters die (ask Carmen)
---> or, you have further pre-gens ready to at least offer the player whose character just died a way back in
---> but IN ANY CASE make the character death as memorable an experience as possible, make it worth to be a tale to bring home from the con

- Prepare pre-gens, and prepare for more players than you planned to accomodate.
--> If you plan to GM for, say, 4-6 players, you may have another 4 knocking on your door to get in as well (a group of friends may want to play together, one made it in your game, his two buddies did not) ... long story short: I would prepare e.g. for 8 players if I plan to host for max. 6.

- BE PREPARED and make it beautiful, maybe give them something to take home with them.
--> I am all for con "trophies". Let them (if they want) take the pregens home with them. If you have the time make full character sheets and laminate them.
--> Prepare handouts ... like maps (as Z said: makes it easier for them to orient themselves, too!), newspaper articles, etc. etc.
--> It is always hard - at least for me - to remember so many new names as a GM. You can certainly let them put up name signs but you can also make them yourself in advance by making something nice in the name of the pregens. Or, you can prepare a table seating plan and enter the names of player/pregen on your plan as they sit in on the game.

Just my two cents (and hope I can live up to that myself )

Cheers & good luck brother GM!
Hendrik

[mrloucifer]

In general terms, here are some basic suggestions for running con games -- from the guy who has never done it (me)! Just remember that convention games are short and thus work best when tightly focused. Give the players a clear goal to accomplish and a reason to accomplish it within a certain amount of time. Isolated locations like a haunted house work best. Keep to only one or two monsters. Any type of visual prop like an illustration or a map helps immensely by clearly showing the players what it would take ten minutes or more to explain. Be prepared to reign in a disruptive player if other gamers seem to be uncomfortable.

From a guy who hasnt done it before, Lord of a that is Z is right on the money here.

Some other advice from a guy who HAS done it a lot:

-Consider the characters that are being used and be sure to give them a chance in the spotlight, especially the specialty types. The more physical and combative types are easy to get moments in (like ghost hunters and physical psychics), but If you've got a medium, make sure a haunting entity shows up at some point (and make them helpful to the player if possible), give diviners a chance to track or read signs at times, if you've got a fire walker, throw in lit candles or an oil drum on fire in places where they could use them. Working with a sensitive in my opinion is the hardest the GM, but can be the best mood setting PC in the game available. I STRONGLY encourage you to keep notes to describe the icky, horrible feelings and vibes they might get at certain points in the game.

If you've got a novice player that's daring enough to play "intelligent" characters like a parapsychologist of a genius, be sure to help them out by asking if they have specific skills at opportune times to use in a given situation (and if its a prominent moment, if they have the skill, let them succeed automatically). Intelligence characters can easily be overshadowed in most games, but in a horror game like BTS, knowledge is one of the best weapons a character can have, so help them out when needed.

Being as you've only got 3-4 hours to get a game ironed out, you'll really want to work the atmosphere angle when you can. And like Lord Z mentioned earlier, isolated areas do work the best for con games, so consider sewers, steam tunnels, abandoned buildings, farms, cemeteries, ghost towns, old motels and the like are great settings. Hell, one of the best convention games I've ever ran took place at an old drive in movie theater that was way on the outskirts of town(and the group could see the lights of town in far distance), played almost exclusively out in the open. But it still felt isolated, especially when the mist started to roll in at one point

Also try to keep the group moving as much as possible without railroading them. The more time allowed to catch their breath, the harder it is to keep the players in the groove of the game. Surprise attacks and traps can do wonders for this.

NEVER tell the group the numbers they need to roll for when saving against things like horror factors and perception. Just explain the outcomes of their rolls, you'd be surprised of the suspense this can create as it falls under the "never tell the players everything" clause of horror gaming.

And concerning horror factors, have them all roll even when its just "boo scared ya" moments. those who fail can (and should) suffer situational modifiers for an appointed time (like a -1 to horror factor, perception and strike due to shaking nerves till the end of that "scene", etc).

And by god, keep the Pressure situation modifiers on page 174 on hand at all times. Players really respond to dealing with pressure moments and get that much more fulfillment out of triumph in such situations. It should stand as a testament to its use that I know that page number by heart as I use it so often.

If I remember more I'll post them, but this is enough to chew on for now.

P.S. One day Intend to send on of my more fleshed out con games to the rifter as it contains notes for the story as well as when to use horror factors and included notes on specific character types and so on.

[mrloucifer]

Any type of visual prop like an illustration or a map helps immensely by clearly showing the players what it would take ten minutes or more to explain.

I forgot to add that this bit of advice should be taken as gospel. I've looked up and used plenty of images in my con games (google "steam tunnel" or "sewer tunnel" one day for an instant treasure trove of images), and I've used plenty of props in my game when I can. For example, I have a trap where the characters need to decipher a code in time and will need to punch in the number on a phone. I printed up a copy of a phone pad with the code numbers in on them; so I get to sit back and watch with a smile as the players go code cracking. Players love solving puzzles, no matter how small btw. So put in puzzles, riddles, and the like when you can, especially when you can use props with them.

[Rimdall]

Shawn and Sam, please share what you develop with the rest of us -- and the Megaversal Ambassadors. I don't think that the MAs currently have any BtS adventures in their collection of con games.

While I'm not an 'official' MA, the majority of con games I have are BtS. I just submitted my games for the Open House and two of them are BtS, as are two of the three games I've submitted for GenCon. For me, BtS is the best for cons.

[mrloucifer]

For me, BtS is the best for cons.

WURD!

[mrloucifer]

While I'm not an 'official' MA, the majority of con games I have are BtS. I just submitted my games for the Open House...

If I'm not running a game when you are, I'll try to attend them.

[mrloucifer]

I got to thinking about including riddles/puzzles in a horror game and thought I'd include a simple one from one of my old con games as an example. This puzzle comes up as the players are in a race against time to rescue a friend, and the race takes them into the subway tunnels at one point.

“Traversing further into the pitch black subway tunnel for several minutes, you all spot an abandoned subway platform (it’s well lit with fresh florescent lighting) with a heavy duty steel door for an exit. A red arrow painted on the wall points to it. The door has no padlock or keyhole. Next to the door is a security key pad. Below it is the word “Sequence”, and below that are the numbers “1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8…”. This seems to be a critical thinking challenge or some sort, and the answer needs to be keyed into the keypad to proceed past the door.”

The first answer is 13 – “a green LED light on the code pad lights up, there are two more LED lights not lit up”. The players need to figure out the next two numbers in the sequence, which are 21 and 34. “Once all three LED lights are lit up, you hear a reassuring click sound from the door. You’re all now able to move on”.
NOTE: If the players are stumped, with a successful Basic Math skill roll, GM can explain how the puzzle works and give them the 1st answer.

PS: The old "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" adventure book has a PRICELESS adventure that includes a series of death traps called "Seven Traps for Seven Ninja's" in it. With a bit of rewording, I have used every one of those traps in my con games at one point, and have created others based on them. If you have this book, check them out!

[Rimdall]

While I'm not an 'official' MA, the majority of con games I have are BtS. I just submitted my games for the Open House...

If I'm not running a game when you are, I'll try to attend them.

Ditto - your games are a blast.

And thank you.

[mrloucifer]

Ditto - your games are a blast.

You flatter me sir!

[mrloucifer]

I like the puzzle example, mrloucifer. It is simple and straightforward. I will find a way to include it.

If your a fan of the earlier Resident Evil games at all, follow its lead when you can. The games are full of puzzles, and even thought if you take a moment to think about where and when the puzzles are installed, they make no logical sense (who the hell puts giant chess pieces on a huge board in their office?) But, fact of the matter is that you don't care as you only see a puzzle to solve, and gamers LOVE puzzles.

I ran a game where an old eccentric millionaire puts weird puzzles and challenges all over his house (ala Winchester Mansion and Resident Evil), making the "Strange Place" trope the main focus of the game... and honestly, the players went gangbusters with it!

[Lord Z]

Mr. Lucifer's example works because there is a reason why the puzzle would be there.

In a recent Senzar game that I ran, all of the PCs were in prison. The warden is a sadistic s.o.b. who subjects each PC to a different form of harassment or outright torture just to teach them their place. They spent a long time locked away, so as the harassment continued, their sanities slipped lower. The warden promises to stop harassing them, however, if they can solve his riddle. That is how I incorporated the old RPG standard of the riddle in an adventure so that it doesn't seem out of place. Even if the PCs never solve the riddle, they can still focus on escaping. Yeah, it's cruel of me, but these are high level PCs who need an emotional as well as martial challenge because they are close to achieving god-level. I wouldn't have done it that way if they were all new characters.

[Hendrik]

Mr. Lucifer's example works because there is a reason why the puzzle would be there.

In a recent Senzar game that I ran, all of the PCs were in prison. The warden is a sadistic s.o.b. who subjects each PC to a different form of harassment or outright torture just to teach them their place. They spent a long time locked away, so as the harassment continued, their sanities slipped lower. The warden promises to stop harassing them, however, if they can solve his riddle. That is how I incorporated the old RPG standard of the riddle in an adventure so that it doesn't seem out of place. Even if the PCs never solve the riddle, they can still focus on escaping. Yeah, it's cruel of me, but these are high level PCs who need an emotional as well as martial challenge because they are close to achieving god-level. I wouldn't have done it that way if they were all new characters.

Excellent introduction of a riddle, great Z!