What Makes a Good Convention Game?

We’re back and we’re mostly live! No, we haven’t fallen into the clutches of Herbert West. The bulk of this episode is a live recording of a seminar we gave at the Continuum 2016 convention in Leicester. Mike Mason joins us for a discussion of what makes convention games special. This is a subject close to all of our hearts. We not only love convention games, but they have honed our skills as GMs, players and writers. Conventions are not just opportunities to sit up drinking until 3 AM, talking bollocks about games. Convention games may be a niche experience within the hobby, but there is plenty we can learn from them for general gaming. We discuss pacing, spotlight time, dealing with uncomfortable content and general etiquette. The consensus on the last point is that you should always raise your pinky when rolling dice. We also talk about some of our favourite gaming experiences and what made them so special. This was a nice excuse for some nostalgia. Possibly more usefully, we offer some suggestions for people interested in going to conventions but find them intimidating. The high point, however, is the excellent questions asked by audience members. It’s going to be hard to go back to just relying on our own ideas when recording. When we talk about the different requirements of pacing convention and home games, Paul mentions Cory Welch’s excellent recordings of his run-through of  Blackwater Creek on Skype of Cthulhu. We have been remiss about sharing them, and this was a good reminder. We also give a few updates about books we’ve worked on. In particular, we mention the new Section 46 Operations Manual for World War Cthulhu: Cold War, the print release of World War Cthulhu: London, and the new scenario collection, The Things we Leave Behind.