The Civilized Guide to Tabletop Gaming, page 16
In the end, being a great DM is like being great at anything: It takes dedication, time, and a willingness to go beyond what is prescribed. It also means learning from others and adapting your own approach to continually improve. It means going above and beyond, but it should also be something that is gratifying rather than something that feels straining. DMing is a vocation people do because they’re called and compelled to from within, not because they feel outside pressure to do so.
Organize Great Tournaments and Events
If hosting a gaming night at your home is the homemaker equivalent to a dinner party, choosing to run a larger tournament or event is like choosing to plan your own wedding. Having done both, I promise you the analogy is very apt. With the benefit of experience (in gaming events, tournaments, and wedding planning), I can tell you that there are a few things an organizer should follow to keep from ending up in a puddle of stress-induced rage or tears on the nights leading up to the event.
Start with a Budget and Figure Out Your Costs
Everything needs a budget. You need to be realistic about your projections for the number of people who will be in attendance, and you should know the minimum number that will make your event work.
As well, you need to think about what costs you’re going to incur. Costs you will want to think about include:
Venue (if you have to rent a hall)
Cost of required games as well as their components
Rental tables and chairs
Any licenses you need to obtain
Prizes for the event
If you can find a decent workaround for many of these costs (like an FLGS that has the space, tables, and chairs or can provide prize support), all the better, but make your budget before you start doing anything else.
Determine How You’re Going to Design the Event
For most competitive games or games with a culture built around events (for instance, Magic: The Gathering or Warhammer), you’ll find that publishers have a tournament kit available. This makes running and designing an event straightforward and easy. Some publishers require you to work in partnership with an FLGS; that’s fine, but if you can get your hands on an event kit, do so.
If you don’t have a tournament kit, you may have to decide what things you want to reward players for. An annual event that is run to support a local food bank has awards for being top player (based on a points system that gives points based on game outcomes, with top players earning the most points) as well as the most sporting player, as voted by the other players. Bonus points are available to players who donate food, and these are scored based on quantities and the needs list of the food bank. Conceivably, players can compete by trying to see who donates the most food, since that’s the point of the event. The notion is that the winner of any given event is the kind of winner whom the organizer is proud their system produced.
So if you want a system that rewards sportsmanlike conduct, design it that way. If you want a system where the most skilled player wins, design it so. Just be mindful of how the design is going to recognize players for achievement and what sort of achievement you want to reward.
Advertise Appropriately
In order for people to want to come to your event, they have to know about it. Spreading the news on social media, putting up posters (or even setting up registration for the event) at FLGSs, talking to podcasters/bloggers/vloggers/streamers, and asking registrants to tell people about it after they register are all really good ways to get the word out without costing too much money.
Ask for Help, and Thank Those Who Step Up to Do So
Here’s the thing: If an event is bigger than a large dinner party (twenty people), you’ll want help to run it. That means asking for volunteers. Things you’ll probably want to ask for help with include managing the venue and game setup, registration of players, rules clarifications, and data entry.
In exchange for helping, you’ll want to recognize your volunteers and thank them somehow. There are many ways to reward them—you could discount their registration costs, offer them special T-shirts, arrange extra entries for door prizes, or have a special draw of prizes only available to volunteers. You can even give them beer and pizza. It’s not just about what you do; it’s the fact that you took the time to be thoughtful of your volunteers in recognizing them that is the most important takeaway.
Give Yourself Time
When you are running an event, you will always be surprised how much there is to do in the two weeks before the event. Do as much organizing ahead of time as possible, so you don’t have to do it the night before (thus avoiding the tearful, frustrated, sleep-deprived, stress-induced breakdown that often hits first-time event organizers). The more time you have to plan and organize, the less time you’ll spend putting out fires, dealing with the unexpected, or trying to figure out a solution to a problem that should have never arisen.
If you’re going to put yourself out there for the sake of the community, you want to make sure that you’re doing things to preserve your sanity. Self-care is the key to running a successful event, so that means doing things like asking for help, spreading the word, and budgeting smartly (because doing the opposite might mean you’re running an event purely out of pocket, which sucks and will likely burn you out).
Blogging, Vlogging, and Podcasting about Your Hobby
When you get to a point where your passion and involvement in your hobby is so great that you want to share it with the world, you should do so. There are so many outlets to creating content about the games and experiences of gaming nowadays and so many ways to connect with people as you do so that the only thing keeping you from doing so is you.
There are a few things you should know when you start broadcasting, though, to help get you connected with an audience who can respond and engage, but also so that you don’t get yourself in legal problems.
So here are three easy-to-follow rules to help steer you in the right direction when it comes to content creation and broadcasting—toward an engaged audience and away from lawyers.
Don’t think of cost ever being a limiting factor. The fact of the matter is that there are free ways to do everything when it comes to broadcasting online. If you’re looking for free blogging sites, there are a plethora out there to choose from, the most popular being Blogger and WordPress. If podcasting is your deal, you can use a blogging platform to host your casts easily. Finally, you can create and share video content for free with sites and platforms like YouTube, Twitch, and Periscope. If it’s equipment you’re lacking, be resourceful. You can take photos with your phone for your blog, use your headphone mic plugged into your computer for podcasting, and use your phone or laptop webcam to make videos. You don’t need top-quality stuff to make videos.
Know your angle. The best way to find your voice is to find a similar voice that isn’t part of the hobby world that you can emulate on your platform. The podcast I help produce, Jaded Gamercast, is a miniature war-gaming podcast that emulates the style of the television show Top Gear. Similarly, my own YouTube videos are intended to look like those of makeup gurus, except I talk about games instead of makeup. Your voice is your own, but finding the structure and style that appeals to you but doesn’t obviously copy someone else’s style and approach is really important. Be unique, embrace your perspective, and find a way to convey it that is familiar yet different.
Pay attention to fair use, copyright, and other legal minefields. Nobody wants to get sued, receive a cease-and-desist order, or get hit with any other sort of legal complaint. The easiest rule to follow is this: Don’t take content, photos, or images from the Internet that you don’t have explicit written permission to use. Seems pretty easy, no? That goes for everything: music, photos, and video content. There are some exceptions to that rule: Creative Commons has created a license that allows people to use, remix, and share content without explicit permission. Based on what you’re doing (mostly whether it’s commercial or not), some people will allow their content to be used under a CC license. There’s a plethora of music, photos, and video content you can use provided you follow the licensor’s requirements.
At the end of the day, creating content to share with the world is a big step. Whether it’s a blog to share your hobby progress, videos demonstrating your proven strategies to winning your favorite game, or a podcast that reviews games available at your FLGS, letting your passion flourish while connecting with others who appreciate your point of view is validating. While growing your love of the hobby, you’re also sowing the seeds of passion in others. That’s a darned awesome thing.
Conclusion
It’s easy to forget when we talk about games that we’re actually talking about an experience that is premised on people. A game without a group is just a collection of wood pulp and plastic arranged in a particular way. It’s useless unless a group of people use it with purpose. And that purpose is fun.
Optimizing for fun, making things fun for you and the people you game with, and making decisions to prioritize the experience around fun is the ultimate point of everything covered in this book.
Our hobbies are the way we invest in ourselves, our community, and our fun. So as you venture into—or deeper into—the realm of gaming, don’t forget to be thoughtful, be kind, and focus on the fun.
Acknowledgments
I have to start by recognizing my mother, Teresita, who not only birthed me but taught me how to write and read, and instilled a love of stories and storytelling in me. On a similar note, I have to acknowledge the men in my family: My father, Prudencio, who taught me how to play chess before I could ride a bicycle; and my brothers, Frank and Hector, who not only were willing to play games with me ad nauseam but stoked the fires that would become my love of games, competition, and everything geeky.
I also have to thank the wonderful people at Geek and Sundry, who have given me both support and a platform to share my passion and love of games. Similarly, I have to recognize all of my supporters, from YouTube subscribers, Facebook friends, and Tweeps out there who have sent their support, shared their passions, and given me the opportunity to speak to their hobbies.
To the fine folks at F+W Media: Thank you for your hard work and willingness to roll the dice on a geeky writer.
Last but most importantly, this book would not be possible without the love and support of my husband, Nathan. He opened up the world of modern gaming to me by first introducing me to Warhammer 40,000 and continues to this day to indulge me in late-night gaming on our dining room table. Nathan: You are my partner in all things, and words fail to express my enduring gratitude and love for you and all you do.
About the Author
Teri Litorco is a tabletop- and war-gaming geek who is a contributor to Geek and Sundry. She also cofounded and cohosts The Board Dames, a female-hosted tabletop podcast, and broadcasts on her own YouTube channel.
She has a high tolerance for luck, being a miniature war gamer, but also loves modern hybrid tabletop games. At the time of this writing, she’d never decline a game of Blood Rage, Space Cadets, Malifaux, Warmachine, Wrath of Kings, Bushido, or Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game.
She has never slapped a player she’s played against, though she’s often thought of slapping her husband, Nathan, when she does play him. They reside in Canada with their daughter, Elora.
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Teri Litorco, The Civilized Guide to Tabletop Gaming
