Prepping for conventions

Walking out the door to head to a convention, a lot of things cross my mind. Do I have everything I need? Do I have my badge or ticket? Did I write down the right times? And so much more. Things get jumbled very quickly. Let me tell you what I do.

It starts with the application. When I submit to be a game master at a convention, I already know what one-shots I’m planning on running. I look through all that I have and see what I may want to try. Sometimes I pull something that was published, other times I do a homebrew adventure. The one I tend to choose is often experimental (I like to get some information and see how differently each time turns out).

Once I’m accepted I begin to really pull out the one-shot and read it thoroughly. I use these read throughs to determine where my players may go “off the rails.” Planning for some of the unexpected helps with improv at the table. This also gives other directions that may need extra physical things.

Now it is time to gather the pre-generated characters I will offer the players, and gather the monster stats, maps, miniatures, handouts, etc. that I will need for this scenario. I have tubs that hold these things and more. Because I GM for our YouTube channel, I also gather flyers, stickers, badge ribbons, and signage for our channel.

Before I feel completely prepared, I have to head out the door. When I arrive at the convention, I like to see where I’ll be gaming and if I’ll be sharing the table. If our games are super close in time, I want to prep my wagon to pull everything out quickly. When it is possible, I like to sit at the table and interact with others that might walk by and answer questions.

Conventions are draining, not only in time, but in energy too. Although I get super excited to share my passion with others and provide an excellent adventure for them to enjoy, I am happy to go home at the end of the day. Then, I do it all again a month or two later.