outreach - reaching out to locals with the goal of making in-person gaming happen

[hengest]

All right. I'm thinking about this again. No promises, but I wanted to hit you guys up for your thoughts.

Thinking about using a local community group to advertise my intent.

Hey all. Planning to host a freeform fantasy game, in person, and I want to see who's interested. 

Some of you will remember Dungeons & Dragons. That's the basic idea, with a focus on exploration and learning rather than combat. You don't need to know any rules or worry about anything like that. 

No real-world hot button topics, and the topics will be "all ages." Otherwise, anything goes. No restrictive skill lists or anything. You tell me what you want to do and we see what happens. That's it! Plus you would get to socialize with real people, in person! Actual talking!

Message me if you're interested.

Any takers I would talk to on the phone first or meet in person. Any minors would need a parent involved. 

So, here are my concerns.

I used to worry about the imaginative side of things ("prep" and so on) and I no longer do.

Now I'm worried about the social aspects, and the "touchables" of gameplay. 

What do you think I would need to make things feel legit or real to a small number of new gamers (likely new)? Anything? A map? I just imagine "nothing" but I know that might not be enough for some people.

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

Exalted for trying to get something face to face going.

I only regularly visit 2 stores concentrated on tabletop games of various sorts.  One store usually has one to three games going.  The D&D games at this store usually only have character sheets on the table.  Stuff like Warhammer Fantasy Battles or Warhammer 40K has maps, figures, etc.  The other store has much more room and usually has 3 to 10 games going.  Most of the games have nothing but character sheets but some have a battle map and miniatures.  I think you could definitely get away with nothing. 

[hengest]

Jul 1, 2022 21:10:22 GMT -5 The Semi-Retired Gamer said:

Exalted for trying to get something face to face going.

I only regularly visit 2 stores concentrated on tabletop games of various sorts.  One store usually has one to three games going.  The D&D games at this store usually only have character sheets on the table.  Stuff like Warhammer Fantasy Battles or Warhammer 40K has maps, figures, etc.  The other store has much more room and usually has 3 to 10 games going.  Most of the games have nothing but character sheets but some have a battle map and miniatures.  I think you could definitely get away with nothing. 

Thanks! Well, trying to try...

I don't visit ANY stores. There is a comic shop around here that sometimes hosts Magic stuff, and a bar that has done the same a few times. That's promising. 

At the same time, I want to reach out to people with no particular expectations. Maybe it would be good to have a mix: gamer types and non-gamer types. I wonder how that would go. 

I like the idea that I could get away with nothing. 

[The Perilous Dreamer]

Jul 1, 2022 20:30:33 GMT -5 hengest said:

All right. I'm thinking about this again. No promises, but I wanted to hit you guys up for your thoughts.

Thinking about using a local community group to advertise my intent.

Hey all. Planning to host a freeform fantasy game, in person, and I want to see who's interested. 

Some of you will remember Dungeons & Dragons. That's the basic idea, with a focus on exploration and learning rather than combat. You don't need to know any rules or worry about anything like that. 

No real-world hot button topics, and the topics will be "all ages." Otherwise, anything goes. No restrictive skill lists or anything. You tell me what you want to do and we see what happens. That's it! Plus you would get to socialize with real people, in person! Actual talking!

Message me if you're interested.

Any takers I would talk to on the phone first or meet in person. Any minors would need a parent involved. 

So, here are my concerns.

I used to worry about the imaginative side of things ("prep" and so on) and I no longer do.

Now I'm worried about the social aspects, and the "touchables" of gameplay. 

What do you think I would need to make things feel legit or real to a small number of new gamers (likely new)? Anything? A map? I just imagine "nothing" but I know that might not be enough for some people.

I would add the "minors must be accompanied by a parent or guardian to the flyer. You might want a map of the area and a map of part of a dungeon for your own use. It (the outdoor map) does not have to be very complete and you can make a terse map key for the dungeon. You might also map a outdoor player map that has perhaps a complete layout of a small village or a high spots layout of a small town. (no residential areas, just the high spots of the commercial area). Now I can and have winged all of that; however, you will have time while you are getting a group together to do that if you want to.

You might also note that your refereeing/gamemastering style is laid back (no killer DM thing). That you want to run a game that you would want to play in.

Comments from others about my input please. (Also wording suggestions)

[hengest]

Jul 5, 2022 17:26:39 GMT -5 The Perilous Dreamer said:

Jul 1, 2022 20:30:33 GMT -5 hengest said:

I would add the "minors must be accompanied by a parent or guardian to the flyer. You might want a map of the area and a map of part of a dungeon for your own use. It (the outdoor map) does not have to be very complete and you can make a terse map key for the dungeon. You might also map a outdoor player map that has perhaps a complete layout of a small village or a high spots layout of a small town. (no residential areas, just the high spots of the commercial area). Now I can and have winged all of that; however, you will have time while you are getting a group together to do that if you want to.

You might also note that your refereeing/gamemastering style is laid back (no killer DM thing). That you want to run a game that you would want to play in.

Comments from others about my input please. (Also wording suggestions)

minors must be accompanied by a parent or guardian

Yeah, no kidding! 

Your other comments are totally reasonable and doable, thank you. 

(I'm ok playing in a killer campaign, but I certainly wouldn't push it on totally new players.)

[The Perilous Dreamer]

Jul 5, 2022 17:43:43 GMT -5 hengest said:

Jul 5, 2022 17:26:39 GMT -5 The Perilous Dreamer said:

I would add the "minors must be accompanied by a parent or guardian to the flyer. You might want a map of the area and a map of part of a dungeon for your own use. It (the outdoor map) does not have to be very complete and you can make a terse map key for the dungeon. You might also map a outdoor player map that has perhaps a complete layout of a small village or a high spots layout of a small town. (no residential areas, just the high spots of the commercial area). Now I can and have winged all of that; however, you will have time while you are getting a group together to do that if you want to.

You might also note that your refereeing/gamemastering style is laid back (no killer DM thing). That you want to run a game that you would want to play in.

Comments from others about my input please. (Also wording suggestions)

minors must be accompanied by a parent or guardian

Yeah, no kidding! 

Your other comments are totally reasonable and doable, thank you. 

(I'm ok playing in a killer campaign, but I certainly wouldn't push it on totally new players.)

I agree and in my case even if I run a killer campaign, the players still get a fair shake, it is just deadly. I generally run a middle ground where you get all levels of difficulty fairly randomly as this strikes me as a very normal thing in a "real" world.