10 Questions with an Event Holder- Jason Gray

Photo by Robyn Nielsen

1. What events have you previously thrown?

I threw my first event in 1998, The Dark Crystal, after that I did Northern Games (Ghetto Games for a few years), and in 2000 I also started being part of the Folkestone Event Holding Team, so many years of Feast of Folkestone, Folkestone Questing, Convergences and North South War. I've thrown a few other solo events, most notably, The Price of a Soul which was the event where Orcus was destroyed.

2. What led you to start throwing events?

Even when I was a little kid I created stories in my head about things, and, when I learned about D&D and then Realms, I knew it was only a matter of time before I would want to share those stories and create experiences for other people.


3. What would you like your events to be known for?

We should all be doing this to have fun. Fun can mean different things to different people, so I always try to make sure there are many different things going on to entertain as many people as possible.

4. What aspect of event holding do you consider most challenging?

The most challenging thing for me is that I don't get to choose when my creative muse comes to visit. Most years for Folkestone Questing it will be a few days before the event and I'll still be writing, much to the chagrin of my propmakers. Heck, there have even been events where I've been coming up with content literally minutes before it needs to get run.

Plot can be really challenging to write, and trying to tie in good mechanics with the right amount of cohesive story is a difficult art form.

5. Tell us about an event moment that you are particularly proud of?

Photo by Angela Gray

It's not a moment, but the whole Shadow King plot overall. I am profoundly grateful that Dave let us help bring that to life with him. There were so very many memories that were created for players from that plot. The very end scene where Nadia Cooke was rowed in by the Grey Man to collect Jonas Cooke after his trial was amazing. 80+ players all watching reverently as Robyn Nielsen read her epic poem about the Shadow King , and not a single sound was uttered. It might also have a special place in my heart because it was Dave's last event, but it was the most perfect ending to that plot and every single person involved either as a player or as staff made it what it was.

6. Tell us about something that went wrong and what you learned from it.

We all screw up at some point. I feel as though mine came at the end of The Demon Chronicles just after the players had managed to kill Lucius the Red. I made a bad call that killed and scalped most of the players that were directly involved in his death, and several of them had been integral to the plot. They got back up quickly enough, but I feel as though it took away from their victory and didn't really add anything to the story. Basically, I broke the rule #1 (see below) and that was when that rule really it home for me.

7. What do you think makes an event site “good” and how have you gone about locating sites?

I admit, I cheat on this one. I am also spoiled. Folkestone has used Lone Tree for 24? years at this point. We love it. It has a great tavern, bathrooms, some cabins and good tenting area, parking, it's private, a beach and a great separate staff area. All of these things aren't a necessity but they sure do help.

As for finding new sites, in the past it's usually been "So and so told me about this place, I should check it out."

8. Have you managed to maintain a balanced budget? Any advice for other event holders on doing that?

Photo by Beth Tozier

Let me just read this prepared statement, "Maintaining a balanced budget is very important, and you should always underestimate how many players you think you will have when it comes to money. You should always seek to borrow items whenever possible."

In reality though, I am fortunate enough to only have to worry about roughly staying near budget. When I throw events I fully expect that I will lose some money. For me, throwing events is a gift back to the community. To help mitigate, I try to compare what my cost of an effect or food will be versus the impact it will have. Bonus if I can reuse the item (not the food!)

I do try to borrow items where I can as the Realms EH's have an impressive stash of items and props at this point.

Feasts are a whole different animal...for that I really do recommend working with an experienced feastocrat the first few times (Thanks Tanja!)

9. What staff positions do you feel are essential to running your events and what do you do to help empower and support them?

Again, I have been really spoiled to have worked with the Folkestone Event Team for so very long. For the longest time, Dave Dolph was our behind the scenes plot guy, Jarrod and Tom were the combat leads, and I was the Player marshall (magic marshall, but really more than that). We have switched up some names, but those basic roles are still there. We also have a couple of wonderful Prop Organizers (Rori and Liz) who take lead on keeping things, well, organized!

But really, it's a group effort and I try to empower as many people as is feasible in just doing what needs to be done. If Matt B is running a mod and comes back and says, "Hey, X just happened", we roll with it and let the event evolve to accept that. Give your staff some agency to make decisions and you'll probably get a good amount of buy in and excitement.

Above, I mentioned I was the Player Marshal as opposed to a Magic Marshal. Sure, I answered most of the magic related questions at our events, but I was also a liaison between the players and our Plot Master. I would let Dave know what the players were thinking, if they were having fun, how the pacing was going, and I learned so very many things about character backstories to work them into the events we threw.

Most importantly though, all those wonderful people who put on NPC blacks for you!

10. What advice do you have for other Event Holders?

Dave Dolph was my EH mentor and impressed upon me some fundamental rules:

1. Never punish the players for doing the right thing.
2. The less you need a marshal to explain something, the better it is.
3. Try to avoid extra combat calls
4. A scared player is better than a dead character.
5. Make player choices matter
6. Make it fun for your staff, they are volunteers

You don't have to follow all the rules all the time, just make sure you have calculated out the pro's and con's when you do decide to stray.

Probably the most important piece of advice, which I guess I'll make #7 is that You should be attempting to throw an event that players will enjoy.

I like to think that Folkestone Questing has been successful for so long is that utmost goal is that our players have fun. We try to throw events with a mix of action, role playing, puzzles, moral conundrums, realistic villains and so much more.

11. What can we look forward to seeing form you in the foreseeable future?

Well, there are these two little events you may have heard about, Feast of Folkestone, and FolkeWood Questing...and while I won't personally be at Feast of Blackwood, I will be doing some writing for them.

The FolkeWood Initiative is discussing when we will wrap up the stories we are currently telling, and after that, some people (looking at you Mr. Rosa) would like to see me tackle Teng Hua plot. Another idea I have tossed around is a premium one day questing event with a higher than average price tag, with a player limit on it. I'd be looking at providing a high production value and excellent experience. Maybe the two ideas are related, maybe they aren't, you'll just have to wait and see.