Nvision wrote:Just wanted to chime in with some different con experience... I've been lucky enough that at our local, semi-annual con I have had the pleasure of running some very dark and atmospheric games.
The venue is the conference hall of the city library, and they have a pair of separate board rooms that are reserved for games that either require quiet or larger than normal numbers. I travel with a portable speaker and mp3 player, so these rooms let me set the tone with great atmospheric sound. After my initial convention, I found that I was attracting either perfect horror gamers or new players who are willing to buy in to the tone or follow the lead of more experienced players. I have had games where the players want confrontation, or play things so hardcore they'll derail the scenario by burning down buildings rather than go inside and investigate, but I've also had players who really get into their roles and consider the potential consequences. I've even run a particularly bloody Delta Green scenario in which not one drop of blood was shed, the gruesome horrors were stemmed, and the agents faded into the background.
I wonder if other convention organizers could be approached to find out of space outside of the main hall is available? Call of Cthulhu in a broom closet? :p I think it can really enrich the con experience for both Keeper and players.
*edit* Yeah...I probably shouldn't comment before I've finished listening to the whole podcast :p Jon, if you were able to get that private room, I'm sure you would have rocked out that dark, intense scenario!
I would like to go even further and say I don't think people should be discouraged from running atmospheric, Lovecraftian scenarios at cons, even if you're in a loud room. I've played in plenty of very creepy games at cons, some without any combat at all. It's true that you have way less control over your environment and you often don't get to use all the tools and special effects you have available at home. But I do think you can create a very dark imagined space if you can get your players to buy in. As Jon mentioned, you can use your printed game blurb to set expectations early and hopefully recruit players that are somewhere near the same mindset. If you put tommyguns and TNT and spell casting language in your blurb, you're more likely to get the rowdy crowd. If you talk about cosmic horror and use atmospheric language, you'll set expectations in that direction.
Clearly, a smaller room is great if you can swing it. But I think even if you run a truly creepy game in a loud hall with distractions, you can create experiences at the table that people will revisit in memory
afterwards for days or years to come. You can create moments (more to the point, allow the
players to create moments) where the full horror doesn't take effect until you're back at the hotel room or telling the story to friends after the con. This has happened to me a lot as a player in atmospheric con games. At the table, the din of a noisy table nearby might diminish the mood, but later I will recall and savor something disturbing that happened in the game.
I like pulp games, too. When I put my game schedule together as a player, I tend to alternate flavors a bit. Night time games tend to be darker, so I will often schedule something more like Cluethulhu during the daytime slots. I do tend to focus on horror, but if I have choices I will think about the flow of the weekend and try to get some variety. I depend a lot on those written blurbs to let me know what kind of tone I'm signing up for.
Another way to help buy in -- at 1D4 Con in Virginia last year, GMs were able to contact the players that signed up for their games beforehand. I struck up correspondences with some of my players, discussed characters and background ahead of time, and helped to set the tone. I even recommended movies and short stories for interested players -- also a good trick for your blurb if you have room. So when we were at the table, I didn't have to work very hard to get those juices flowing. We were in the middle of a noisy hall on a Sunday morning, but I'd be hard pressed to remember running much creepier sessions in my home games, and I give full credit to the players. I feel like I just gave them permission and worked with what they brought to the table.
Anyway, obviously you have to go with the flow and adapt. Jon, it sounds like you had some bad luck for your ambitious 2-session game. A high-pulp action game is certainly easier to run.
But we do not run dark horror games because they are easy. We run them because they are hard.
The president of the United States once said that.