Ask the Editors
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The editors
Episode 22
Hello there, and thanks for coming back. This weeks question is:
"I'm throwing my first event. What's should I make sure I do or don't do in order to make it as great an experience as possible."
~Anonymous
First up, Jen 'Areni' DeNardis-Rosa
“Great question! Throwing an event can be a nerve-wracking experience, whether it’s your first event or your fifteenth. While it is true that you get more comfortable with event-throwing as you gain more experience with it, it is also true that even veteran event-holders are not immune nervousness or jitters either before or during their events. You can plan as much as possible and put everything on paper, but things can always change as the event is happening. With that in mind, there are still a number of things you can do to make your first event-holding experience a good one:
1) Make sure you have an event staff that you can trust and rely on, and make sure that everyone is thoroughly briefed on what you want to happen, and when you want it to happen.
2) Gather a good base of solid NPCs, and try to get a mix of veteran and newer players if possible.
3) Write down the stats of all of your crunchies, monsters, etc prior to the event, and have multiple copies! This helps cut down on NPC confusion and ensures that everyone is on the same page in regards to armor, special abilities, etc. This is also true for #1 as well – writing down encounters, rooms, puzzles, etc and having multiple copies for your event staff helps them to help you.
4) Plot out as much of the event beforehand as possible, including special encounters. That way, you won’t have to be frantically wracking your brain the morning of the event or during the event trying to come up with content.
5) Going along with the previous point, try to come up with extra content while you are prepping for the event. If your event runs long, you probably won’t end up needing it, but it’s great to have if the PCs go through your content faster than you expected and you need to add stuff in before the final encounter.
6) Be flexible! Something that sounded great on paper when you were planning the event is not actually working the way you wanted it to. You should be willing to scrap your original plan or tweak it as needed to make things work. If you do this well enough, the PCs will never know you encountered a problem.
This isn’t an all-inclusive list by far, but there’s plenty here that you can do to ensure that your first event goes as well as it can!”
Thanks Jen, great advice.
Next, we hear from Lani 'Gwen” Grayson:
- “Write it all down. There are a lot of moving parts to throwing your first event, and the best advice I have for you is to start planning early. Write down everything and keep a log of ideas that occur to you so you have something to look back on what you sit down to do some formal planning. Write down each and every encounter that you plan on throwing. Write down lists of props you need to find or make or buy. Keep making checklists and checking off each task as you accomplish it. Create a “to pack” checklist for the day of the event. Make sure you can access these lists wherever you are by using cloud storage like Google Docs. Print out extra copies of everything. It might seem like a lot of extra work, but organization and writing lists will set you free.
- Think about the event from different perspectives. No matter what type of event you are throwing, I can guarantee that different types of players will show up at your event. For example, tournaments regularly draw non-combatant players, quests lure in people who are really just interested in hitting stuff with their sword, and feasts draw people with small appetites. Although each player should come to the event with a good attitude, ready to fully participate, the truth of the matter is that some people will probably be unhappy with some of your decisions. However, you can minimize this by really considering how it would be to participate at your own event from a variety of perspectives. If for example, you are throwing a quest, think about each encounter and imagine trying to participate if you were someone who really loved hitting things with your sword. What about if you were a support caster? A seer? Someone who loves puzzles? Someone who hates puzzles? Someone who likes to role-play? Is there enough content to ensure that each member of the questing party can be entertained, or will only a handful of PCs be interacting with the encounter? There are ways work with a solid idea to ensure that as many people as possible will be having a good time, as long as you are willing to really think through your event design.
- Be ready to improvise. Points one and two are really designed to help you prepare to throw a great event, however, I can promise you that something will inevitably go wrong during the course of your event. Maybe you will leave behind a whole course’s worth of food at home, or you will forget a necessary questing prop, or it’s only four, and you need to design a brand new encounter on the fly (all things I’ve personally experienced, by the way). Ultimately, you have a choice in those moments when everything is going wrong to get stressed and worried, or to come up with a new plan on the fly. The more you practice improvisation at events, the easier it becomes, but don’t be afraid to ask someone you trust for advice, because there is a solution to every problem that arises. You can put yourself in a better position to improvise if you make sure you always have some generic items on hand that you can re-purpose at a moment’s notice. For example, I always like to keep a “pantry” of sorts on hand at feasting events with eggs, flour, butter, sugar, and spices (just in case). When throwing a quest it is a good idea to have some extra props or ideas handy just in case you need to add or change content to suit the needs of the player. At a tournament, plan more content than you need and determine which events make the final cut after interacting with the players.
These are just a few nuggets of wisdom for a first-time Event Holder, and I know there are many more. It can be really helpful to run your plans by someone who is experienced in throwing a similar type of event to what you are planning. Make sure that you trust your gut as well too, because remember, it is YOUR event, and you get to decide what it looks like. If you become a regular event holder, use the feedback you receive from your players to constantly look for ways to improve and you will get a real sense of satisfaction from giving back to such a wonderful community.”
Thank you Lani!
There you have it folks. Some excellent advice on running events for not only your first time, but beyond as well. It seems that good planning, good communication, and being flexible are the main underlying themes. We here at The View staff hope to see many new event holders in the years to come, so take this advice and run with it!
Thanks for joining us. Please come back next time when we answer the question “I see a lot of nations out there in the game. I'm not sure what really makes them different from one another. Are nations just groups of friends or is there more to it?”.
Questions can be sent to Sara “Zarine” Jessop via email (Sarajjessop@gmail.com), facebook messenger, or in person. You can also ask any of our editors! Please note if you'd like your question to remain anonymous and/or if you would like to address specific editors