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Trenloe
April 20th, 2015, 05:42
Well, the sixth FG Con is over... :(

Damned and I are always looking for constructive feedback on how the convention went for you and any ideas you might have for future conventions.

If you'd like to give feedback, please do so in this thread or PM damned or me if you'd like to keep it private.

Onward to FG Con VII! :)

Nickademus
April 20th, 2015, 06:25
I'm not sure how much my opinion is valued or useful here, as I don't attend FG Con most years. But this is because the bulk of my work is on the weekends and so I generally don't do heavy gaming on Friday or Saturday (have a game on Sunday already).

My only feedback would be to question the likelihood of extending FG Con to include one weekday, either the prior Thursday or the following Monday. I've seen this done with some live cons.

Again, I am probably very much a minority here.

Trenloe
April 20th, 2015, 06:30
My only feedback would be to question the likelihood of extending FG Con to include one weekday, either the prior Thursday or the following Monday. I've seen this done with some live cons.
We had similar feedback after FG Con IV and we tried running events on Thursday at FG Con V and... well, the response was very poor. So we stuck to the traditional Friday to Sunday, and will probably do so in future. Sorry that means that people who can't play on weekends will miss out.

Nickademus
April 20th, 2015, 06:57
Well, you considered it at one point. That is good enough for me.

AstaSyneri
April 20th, 2015, 10:05
Having run events before in the real world (for card gaming, though), I have an idea how much work you put into it.

Thank you for very much for organizing the Con - and for running games yourself.

This has been my first FG Con - both for playing in games (well, one, as Sunspoticus' Savage Black Sails session was cancelled at the last moment :( ) as well as for running a session (All for One - Musketeers).

Playing was good. Not great - playing with a bunch of total strangers in what is a one shot puts severe limits on what makes RPGing so great, imho, but considering those limitations it was really good. I loved seeing Trenloe's SW ruleset in action and while the scenario was very old skewl and felt a bit unbelievable - it ended with a bang (literally). I am tempted to run my own Star Wars game, if FFG didn't make playing on a VTT so difficult (no PDFs to convert).

I was much more stressed out about running. I didn't have time to get all my maps up to par (CC3 beckoned, but I just didn't have the time). I had restructured my adventure to fit better after doing a test run with friends. Plus I am not a rules guru on Savage Worlds - I tend to forget the finer parts of the rules system and tend to rely on players to provide the rules knowledge where they benefit from it ;-).

It worked out great. We had two large fights, in which I learned a lot more about the Savage Worlds ruleset (that automation is great - if you can figure out how to use it - we really need more tutorials on that - I have no idea how much I am scratching at the surface still). Getting more and more comfortable with that will speed up fighting a lot.

We overran the time set by 90 minutes - and all by one stuck and afaict had a lot of fun, so it turned out to be all good.

Of course everybody was new to the setting, and some were new to either FG, SW, or both.

So in the end I'd say: Kudos for setting this up. While FG Con has a few disadvantages inherent to VTT RPGing, this Con is extremely important to convince players that FG is a very viable alernative to at-the-table roleplaying and how great the advanced rulesets work.

Mask_of_winter
April 20th, 2015, 13:48
I think FG Con is hitting it's stride. I had a great time again.
One observation. I had more no shows this time around but can't blame it on the organizers. I guess it just happens.
There are two things I'd like to see in future FG Cons.
1. A way to email all enrolled players with a push of a button instead of collecting their email addresses and sending an email from my account. This could prevent emails from being flagged as spam and help ensure everybody could be reached.
2. A lobby system set in place on TS where players trying to enroll for a booked event could go and see if a spot opened up. I scooped up a few players over the past couple cons but since it isn't wasn't "officially" advertised or supported...

Grimtina
April 20th, 2015, 14:06
All 4 games I signed up for ran, and it was fun in each of them. Yeah sure, the usual one shot limitations but that's the same with real world cons.

ShotGun Jolly
April 20th, 2015, 16:58
I think FG Con is hitting it's stride. I had a great time again.
One observation. I had more no shows this time around but can't blame it on the organizers. I guess it just happens.
There are two things I'd like to see in future FG Cons.
1. A way to email all enrolled players with a push of a button instead of collecting their email addresses and sending an email from my account. This could prevent emails from being flagged as spam and help ensure everybody could be reached.
2. A lobby system set in place on TS where players trying to enroll for a booked event could go and see if a spot opened up. I scooped up a few players over the past couple cons but since it isn't wasn't "officially" advertised or supported...

I was going to suggest the same things, but it wouldn't of been so eloquently stated as what Mask just said. So Ill just quote him instead.

Hector Trelane
April 20th, 2015, 17:22
Well done, once again, organizers! I could only participate as a player in one session this time, but intend to GM (at least one session) next time.

I'll second Mask's point about facilitating new players to find sessions at the last minute.

It may also make sense to save some seats for late-showing players, so they aren't frozen out. (Yes they "should" register earlier, but human nature being what it is...) Do you organizers have a sense of how many players may not find a seat given them finding out about the Con late? One way to approach this might be to allow the minimum number of seats for any given game session to be booked well in advance, but hold the remaining seats up to the maximum capacity of a game session for registration in the final 48 hours. Just toying with an idea here...

Trenloe
April 20th, 2015, 18:03
It may also make sense to save some seats for late-showing players, so they aren't frozen out. (Yes they "should" register earlier, but human nature being what it is...) Do you organizers have a sense of how many players may not find a seat given them finding out about the Con late? One way to approach this might be to allow the minimum number of seats for any given game session to be booked well in advance, but hold the remaining seats up to the maximum capacity of a game session for registration in the final 48 hours. Just toying with an idea here...
I don't think there's any ideal formula - based off the nature of a small percentage of internet gamers being no shows. I don't think we should go the way of keeping some spaces specifically for the last 48 hours. If extra players don't sign up and you then have a couple of the original players no show the game doesn't go ahead.

This time around virtually every session was fully booked, which is great. To the best of my knowledge only one session didn't go ahead due to players dropping out - it wasn't fully subscribed and was borderline to run from the start. We have three sessions (to my knowledge) not go ahead due to GM emergencies. GM emergencies not withstanding, we had the best rate of games going ahead of any of the previous conventions.

From my point of view it's best to have sessions fully booked - sorry, last minute players will just have to go on a waitlist or hang around in TS hoping to get a game. Knowing a few days in advance that your game should go ahead is a great thing for a GM - they can do their final prep knowing that they're probably not wasting their time. One thing we can improve is the up front GM to player communication - so that players get info earlier and more reliably from the GM about their game, and can communicate back in advance to make sure everything is ready to go. This will reduce last minute dropouts, but never completely eliminate them.

We kind-of have the "lobby" now - people hang around in the open chat area and GMs can always go in there and look for players if they're short at the last minute. This is always going to be hit-or-miss because we don't use set slot times and there is no official "muster". Because this convention is global with many people in different timezones we're never going to be able to move to set time slots - this is just too restrictive for GMs who may only be able to GM at a specific time, for a specific length of time.

We'll still look at ways to improve the booking system, if it can be done reliably and is easy to implement and use.

Grimtina
April 21st, 2015, 01:12
Maybe a specific "looking for game" channel might help? That way, GMs know who to ask, especially for pick up games.

Mask_of_winter
April 21st, 2015, 01:16
Maybe a specific "looking for game" channel might help? That way, GMs know who to ask, especially for pick up games.
Yes!

Ardem
April 21st, 2015, 01:21
I had two no shows, one due to a timezone issue and the other I am not sure, however you have to expect this to happen. Things come up last minute in life, and as a GM you just need to prepare what if I am running the game with two people or running it with the full 6. Either way I still run it, I probably still run it with one if the player was keen.

My only thought would be on bookings instead of have a single GM running 4 pathfinder games, he can only start of the beginning of the Con listing two maximum, this allow some the other unknown GM or unknown rulesets too get those player numbers, then in the final weeks allow GM that want to do more then 2 to list the others. This is just a thought, cause as you said some GM could not get the numbers to run there games, and if they got a little more of the playing field they could of.

There might be some GMs that want to run games but afraid they never get the numbers, so they choose not too, this might help them get the confidence to give it a go.

Trenloe
April 21st, 2015, 01:39
My only thought would be on bookings instead of have a single GM running 4 pathfinder games, he can only start of the beginning of the Con listing two maximum, this allow some the other unknown GM or unknown rulesets too get those player numbers, then in the final weeks allow GM that want to do more then 2 to list the others. This is just a thought, cause as you said some GM could not get the numbers to run there games, and if they got a little more of the playing field they could of.
To be perfectly honest most of the people who played Pathfinder in this last convention only played Pathfinder, so delaying the "release" of Pathfinder games wouldn't really help finding players for other, non Pathfinder, games. Plus, it would be a massive increase in the administrative overhead for, IMHO, very little gain and I can see it being more confusing with players swapping their games around as more games come available. Also, if a GM is willing to advertise 4 games when bookings open why should we penalise them?

The small handful of games that GMs cancelled due to low sign ups had been advertised for a long time, so there was plenty of opportunity for interested players to sign up; or to swap from another game they had booked onto earlier. There could also be an argument that these games were cancelled too early as we always get a last minute bunch of bookings (over 30 the day before the convention started and continued bookings during the convention itself).

We're not going to put restrictions on how many sessions a GM runs or when they post it on the website. We give GMs one month to post their sessions before player bookings are opened, so there's plenty of time for a GM to post their game before players can even start booking games.

We help any GM that asks for assistance in getting organised - which can include one-on-one FG sessions, proactive advertising of games, etc.. There's really no need for a GM to be afraid that they won't get the numbers...

Mask_of_winter
April 21st, 2015, 01:45
Besides the usual no-shows I felt like there wasn't enough games this con, especially 5e games that were in demand. What are the basis of this "feeling"? Well, I follow Damned on G+ and he didn't have to advertise FG Con and try to fill out games nearly as much this time around. It was a struggle to get the minimum of players in the seats in previous FG Cons, not this time.

If you've never run a con game for strangers before I say try it, you'll be hooked! Ask ShotgunJolly hehe

Trenloe
April 21st, 2015, 01:57
I felt like there wasn't enough games this con
Yeah, this was my big take away. We had a lot more players than before looking for games (see the number of hits on my summary thread) but we struggle to get GMs. We actually had two GMs drop their games late on because they couldn't "work out" Fantasy Grounds - unfortunately when we offered to spend time with them one of them didn't even respond.

It takes a GM who knows FG to run a convention game (I've said this in the last few convention summary threads) - they need to be prepared, know their way around Fantasy Grounds and the specific ruleset they're using. They don't need to be experts, but they need to be familiar with it and not have a negative attitude if they can't work things out. This will always mean that we have a limited number of GMs who can run games at the convention - assuming they are actually free for the weekend we select. This is the main thing we'll be trying to address for the next convention - newbie GM motivation and support.

damned
April 21st, 2015, 02:25
Well done, once again, organizers! I could only participate as a player in one session this time, but intend to GM (at least one session) next time.

I'll second Mask's point about facilitating new players to find sessions at the last minute.

It may also make sense to save some seats for late-showing players, so they aren't frozen out. (Yes they "should" register earlier, but human nature being what it is...) Do you organizers have a sense of how many players may not find a seat given them finding out about the Con late? One way to approach this might be to allow the minimum number of seats for any given game session to be booked well in advance, but hold the remaining seats up to the maximum capacity of a game session for registration in the final 48 hours. Just toying with an idea here...

We had over 50 new accounts register on the FG-Con website in the 3 days of the Con. Only some of these players would have found game sessions. I am far more in favour of making it as easy as possible for the GMs in that they have to do so much prep and make a firm commitment to run the session etc. So Im really in favour of getting the games booked as early as possible.

I do want to improve the email communications - giving the GMs an easier way to communicate. One of the software packages we use has a $75/year upgrade that can add scheduled emails etc to all bookings. FGCon is totally community run and funded and we are already spending money and time on other parts of the system.

A wait list or shortlist might be good too. A lobby would be good but it needs to be manned then - and manned pretty much the whole time so there is a serious time commitment there. If we had 4-8 people willing to spend time in the lobby etc that would work. Leaving it up to a small number of people is just too big a time commitment.

For the most part we have kept the organisation and running of FGCon to a very small group because the time commitment often gets too much for volunteers and they drop out. IanMWard assisted for FGCon6 and Mask_Of_Winter is joining for FGCon7. If people have ideas for FGCon7 or want to help out in some way (other than the GMing of course - without which none of this matters!) please make contact with Trenloe and/or myself - you can use [email protected] as well. If you do express an interest in assisting be aware that the time commitments may be far bigger than you expect and dropping out tends to add more work back on the remaining team, so we want you to be as sure as possible that you have capacity to take it on :)

At FGCon6 we had 4 sessions streamed. We will be investigating doing more of this - possibly setting up a streaming channel for FGCon7. We will also likely run some more hangout sessions so will be looking for some GMs who are pretty proficient at their ruleset or FG in general to do some demo/presentation/Q&A sessions etc.

There is always a feel good buzz at and immediately after FGCon and we want to keep building on that. We had more sessions this time but the actual participant numbers were about the same as the Hangout Sessions at FGCon5 had some good participant numbers.

Keep the feedback coming!

Ardem
April 21st, 2015, 02:35
Trenloe, perhaps your right I just felt for any GM that had to cancel due to low numbers, while other have no issues. It is my natural socialist side coming out <wink>

Mask_of_winter
April 21st, 2015, 02:55
Trenloe, perhaps your right I just felt for any GM that had to cancel due to low numbers, while other have no issues. It is my natural socialist side coming out <wink>

I don't think it had anything to do with Pathfinder being popular and hogging the spotlight. Some of the PFS games struggled to get bookings as well. Many factors come in to play with timezones being number #1 I think. Making the add for your game enticing is something that comes with practice. Some hobby enthusiasts prefer to stick to the game systems they know and prefer and others like to try out new things. If there's another thing that stands out to me for this Con is the selection of different games. Pathfinder, Savage Worlds and D&D 5e lead the way once again but there were games not previously offered. In my own experience, there will always be a market for "niche" games too.

I hope more and more GMs offer games for FG Con, especially since it was obvious some games on TS weren't FG Con 6 events which is disappointing. Personally, I put my own campaigns on hiatus for the duration of the Con to run events but understand how this is different for other GMs and their group. But this rant is another matter altogether hehe

damned
April 21st, 2015, 02:58
I would suggest that 4 games for any GM is probably the max they would/could/should take on too! Ive done four sessions a couple of times and I found it very tiring - and impacted things with my family too!

I too invite GMs that are on the fence to get involved. We had several GMs that hadnt run anything at FGCon before, several GMs that havent been using FG for very long etc.

We have also had GMs for some smaller rulesets struggle to get numbers at past FGCons and come away feeling down about it. At FGCon6 we only had 2 events that didnt meet their minimum numbers. This will always happen to a couple of events - sometimes the timing isnt right or the pitch just doesnt grab attention. If you have had this happen to you - dont get down about it - it happens - Mask_Of_Winter and I have both posted OneShots on Steam before and got no takers but the next game fills up.

With more players being drawn in by the 5e and Pathfinder and to a lesser extent Savage Worlds crowds we will get more spill over. Id love to see more Cthulhu (always with the Cthulhu!) even though these games struggle at times. ShadowRun will be released befor FGCon7 and hopefully Paranoia will be too. DCC is making progress. We have seen extensions for CallOfCthulhu7 and for Dresden Fantasy Role Play in the last 2 weeks. Star Wars is very popular and the movies will generate more interest there. TrailOfCthulhu is getting some updates. Champions might be ready too. There are lots of good things happening and FGCon can leverage off them all and in turn help grow this product/platform and community.

Mask_of_winter
April 21st, 2015, 03:05
Star Wars should definitely be getting more love. Gorgeous and functional ruleset about to get an upgrade. By next FG Con more DMs should be familiar with 5e so I believe we'll see more of that. Shadowrun? All I can say is wow. I can't wait to play with that ruleset and if it's ready by next FG Con I'm running something, maybe Food Fight! hehe

Ardem
April 21st, 2015, 03:15
To clarify, (cause I can see people making links about me and the point raised)

I was not talking about niche games, I am talking about the GM's that were running a D&D, Savage world or other popular rulesets, that did not get to run it due to lack of numbers. Niche games is something totally different on why they do not get players. As someone who tends to run niche games, I understand this and it the risk you take. I just felt it needed to be raised, so GM that run popular rulesets get atleast one game in, else they may not try again next CON.

Again there was only 3 or 4 games not ran due to lack of numbers, so again we perhaps giving it more discussion then it needs. This is no reflection on the success of FG Con VI which was damn good.

Trenloe
April 21st, 2015, 03:24
I think some GMs pulled their games too early. I had *no* bookings at all for over 5 weeks for my non-PFS Pathfinder game (https://www.fg-con.com/events/adventureaweek-b20-for-rent-lease-or-conquest/) and got my first booking with 10 days to go and only got the minimum required with 6 days to go, but I ran with a full session.

But, hey, it's their decision - if they don't want to take the chance of their game not running then it's up to them.

The following graph shows the website hits on a weekly basis - the last two weeks are by far the biggest traffic, so GMs who really want to run their games should hang on a little longer before pulling their event.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/39085830/Screenshots/FG%20Con%20VI/Site%20Stats.jpg

Mask_of_winter
April 21st, 2015, 03:30
As someone who tends to run niche games, I understand this and it the risk you take. I just felt it needed to be raised, so GM that run popular rulesets get atleast one game in, else they may not try again next CON.


That's a good point. I could see this being a good addition as a suggestion for the next GM Muster newsletter.

damned
April 21st, 2015, 03:33
To clarify, (cause I can see people making links about me and the point raised)

I was not talking about niche games, I am talking about the GM's that were running a D&D, Savage world or other popular rulesets, that did not get to run it due to lack of numbers. Niche games is something totally different on why they do not get players. As someone who tends to run niche games, I understand this and it the risk you take. I just felt it needed to be raised, so GM that run popular rulesets get atleast one game in, else they may not try again next CON.

Again there was only 3 or 4 games not ran due to lack of numbers, so again we perhaps giving it more discussion then it needs. This is no reflection on the success of FG Con VI which was damn good.

I probably did think you were talking about niche games but even the popular games/rulesets will have a game that just doesnt attract players for its timing, its genre or its pitch. To compare at FGCon5 we had a peak of 59 games registered and we ran 48 or 49? We had a peak of 60 games for FGCon6 and ran 56. Just like player no shows some games will not go ahead. And it also doesnt mean that we are dismissing your idea/suggestion - just putting forward some differing views :)

HoloGnome ran 4 games this FGCon - all full - and I dont think he was running any games on FG at the time of FGCon5 - or he was still just starting.

Im totally happy to have a one on one session with a GM who wants a few pointers or needs some encouragement as is Trenloe. We really want to make FGCon as accessible to players AND GMs as possible.

Mask_of_winter
April 21st, 2015, 03:33
I personally pulled two of my games early not because of low bookings (all had met the minimum) but because I felt I had over-committed myself.

ShotGun Jolly
April 21st, 2015, 04:44
Well, a couple of things..

I never thought about it till now, but if a gm was looking for an extra player or two, we could have added that to our name or room title. Would make it simple to scan the list of games on teamspeak to see if anyone had room.Two out of three games I had people join in, looking to join. Both had to be declined due to the time they would have joined. Otherwise I would of had no problem with them joining.

I ran 3 games this year, and it is a huge commitment. I was drained after the third night. But I will never run more then 3, hats off to those who ran 4!

My 3rd game was a classic example of a niche game running Black Crusades, and that one would have been 6 people, but I had 1 no show and 1 person who had a family emergency in the 11th hour. But I really didnt expect it was going to happen as I didnt really advertise it as a game, more of a demo. But it went over well. And most people only booked for it in the last few days.

The one other thing I wanted to suggest could be a way of getting feedback from the players, other then asking them directly which I think would askew the results. But if a player could fill out a form( maybe some sort anonymous website form on the site) ranking their experiences and that be sent to the gm maybe useful. I stated on my blog I wasn't totally convinced about my first game, and I am not really sure why. But if I could get some feedback I could improve it if I they didnt like how I presented it, format, or what ever. Others may not want to read or hear it, but I think some (or maybe just me) would find it beneficial.

Jolly

Ardem
April 21st, 2015, 05:05
I think that is a great idea, and could generate some great quote for the next FG CON for advertising.

On the convinced on the first game. I totally know where your coming from. Sometimes as a GM you just get it right the Narrative, the players engagement and everything just flows. However sometimes its just flat, and as a GM its a struggle, and you do not know if that is how the players felt. Normally it doesn't happen in a one shot for me, as there is anticipation on my end, which lead to excitement. But has happened on my weekly game, its just a struggle.

I know it even prior to roll of the first dice, but some time the players do not even notice. So you first game might been OK from a player perspective, and it would be nice to get that feedback expel some of your own demons.

PS loved your blog!

bigboom
April 21st, 2015, 18:23
This was my first time playing at FG-Con and pretty much the first time I've used FG. Everything went smoothly for me, there were no technical issues with TS of FG and more importantly, I had loads of fun...more than I had expected. You guys did a top-notch job of organizing and getting this together and all the GMs and players I came into contact with were awesome.


A couple comments:

1. It was mentioned that some games were streamed? Was this announced or posted anywhere? I thought I was up-to-date on what was going on but I don't recall reading anywhere that some games were being streamed. There were a few sessions that I sat in on just to watch (they had already filled up before I had a chance to book), but was advised to ask the GM beforehand for permission to do so since I'd have to log into their TS channel as well as FG session. If the sessions were streamed, I would have preferred to observe via a stream since it would be less invasive for the GM & players and simpler for me since I'd just go to some URL. Also, it might help with FG-Con's visibility because there is possibly a number of people out there (players and GM's alike) who are curious and would want to watch but may not want to participate due to being inexperienced, shy, discovered FG-Con too late to book, or whatnot. But if the difficulty level to only watch were set low (i.e. with streaming) it would provide a venue catering to a larger, observe-only audience and perhaps sway them to participate in a future FG-Con.

2. Regarding the discussion about finding replacement players for when people drop-out or don't show, is there any kind of wait-list mechanic set up? On the FG-Con website, once the player slots are filled, submitting a booking is no longer possible, although posting comments are still possible. Perhaps once the bookings are filled, open up another entry box for a wait-list? The GM can specify how many wait-list spots are available for her/his session and once someone signs up for the wait-list, her/his name is displayed just like those who have a confirmed booking or pending booking confirmation. This wait-list mechanic can work more or less the same as the booking mechanic. That way, when people cancel before the FG-Con begins, there's a steady stream of wait-listed folks to fill the gap. And if there are no-shows or last minute drop-outs, the GM can send an email to the wait-list and see if anyone is available to drop-in at a moment's notice.

Dracones
April 21st, 2015, 19:58
Besides the usual no-shows I felt like there wasn't enough games this con, especially 5e games that were in demand.

On the 5E front, I thinking running 5E has gotten a lot easier since the PHB/MM official release and will be even more so once some modules come out for it. Unfortunately the con was already sort of setup by the time that happened. For the next con if there are easy to run modules like LMoP that'd probably go a long way towards getting more GMs in for Fantasy Grounds.

Mask_of_winter
April 22nd, 2015, 00:59
The one other thing I wanted to suggest could be a way of getting feedback from the players, other then asking them directly which I think would askew the results. But if a player could fill out a form( maybe some sort anonymous website form on the site) ranking their experiences and that be sent to the gm maybe useful. I stated on my blog I wasn't totally convinced about my first game, and I am not really sure why. But if I could get some feedback I could improve it if I they didnt like how I presented it, format, or what ever. Others may not want to read or hear it, but I think some (or maybe just me) would find it beneficial.

Jolly

Awww... GMs, aren't we the insecure bunch? hehe

I remember Damian sending out surveys for FG Con II or III. Maybe the response was low and he stopped. He'd have to chime in on that. I think it was neat. I also remember Smiteworks offering rewards based on feedback from the players. I had 17 players one year and only two bothered answering. That tells me players at a convention are like one-night stands, they just want you for a few hours and won't call you back lol

Seriously, you have all your players email addresses. Make your survey with google or survey monkey and send it to them or ask them directly. Best way to get the feedback you need.

Trenloe
April 22nd, 2015, 01:11
Yeah, we've done generic surveys in the past, with a section asking if there was any specific feedback that they wanted to give to their GMs. The problem with this is that to do it accurately, and anonymously if necessary, it takes a lot of manual effort from us to give accurate feedback to the GM - something that the GM might not actually appreciate or we may not be able to accurately do if the player doesn't provide sufficient info (name of game/session and their reasonable feedback for a specific game/session). So I think Mask's recommendation is a sound one - if you want player feedback, do an anonymous survey yourself.

ShotGun Jolly
April 22nd, 2015, 02:14
LMAO

One night stand.. nearly choked on my coffee when i read that.

damned
April 22nd, 2015, 02:17
This was my first time playing at FG-Con and pretty much the first time I've used FG. Everything went smoothly for me, there were no technical issues with TS of FG and more importantly, I had loads of fun...more than I had expected. You guys did a top-notch job of organizing and getting this together and all the GMs and players I came into contact with were awesome.


A couple comments:

1. It was mentioned that some games were streamed? Was this announced or posted anywhere? I thought I was up-to-date on what was going on but I don't recall reading anywhere that some games were being streamed. There were a few sessions that I sat in on just to watch (they had already filled up before I had a chance to book), but was advised to ask the GM beforehand for permission to do so since I'd have to log into their TS channel as well as FG session. If the sessions were streamed, I would have preferred to observe via a stream since it would be less invasive for the GM & players and simpler for me since I'd just go to some URL. Also, it might help with FG-Con's visibility because there is possibly a number of people out there (players and GM's alike) who are curious and would want to watch but may not want to participate due to being inexperienced, shy, discovered FG-Con too late to book, or whatnot. But if the difficulty level to only watch were set low (i.e. with streaming) it would provide a venue catering to a larger, observe-only audience and perhaps sway them to participate in a future FG-Con.

2. Regarding the discussion about finding replacement players for when people drop-out or don't show, is there any kind of wait-list mechanic set up? On the FG-Con website, once the player slots are filled, submitting a booking is no longer possible, although posting comments are still possible. Perhaps once the bookings are filled, open up another entry box for a wait-list? The GM can specify how many wait-list spots are available for her/his session and once someone signs up for the wait-list, her/his name is displayed just like those who have a confirmed booking or pending booking confirmation. This wait-list mechanic can work more or less the same as the booking mechanic. That way, when people cancel before the FG-Con begins, there's a steady stream of wait-listed folks to fill the gap. And if there are no-shows or last minute drop-outs, the GM can send an email to the wait-list and see if anyone is available to drop-in at a moment's notice.

Hey BigBoom - for Adventurers League games to be played online they must be streamed so the 2 AL games were streamed. 2 other games got streamed. This was all done by individuals. We are looking at trying to stream a whole bunch of games for next FGCon. There is a lot of coordination to make all these things happen. It certainly would be easier and non intrusive for people to watch other games if they were being streamed.

Building a booking system is incredibly complex. Off the shelf booking systems do not understand the nature of multiple timezones and virtual events. Its quite a complex task. A suggestion in another thread was to be able to mark the TeamSpeak channels as having room for another, adding a wait/standby list to the booking system etc are all good ideas and we will see what we can achieve.

damned
April 22nd, 2015, 02:24
On the 5E front, I thinking running 5E has gotten a lot easier since the PHB/MM official release and will be even more so once some modules come out for it. Unfortunately the con was already sort of setup by the time that happened. For the next con if there are easy to run modules like LMoP that'd probably go a long way towards getting more GMs in for Fantasy Grounds.

5e was out and some people had already par5ed source material by FGCon5 but there were not a lot of games run. This time around there was both the availability of the 5e licensed books plus there was all the interest as that happened less than 2 weeks before FGCon6. Timing of FGCon6 is set 3 months prior to the event. The negotiations with Wizards took over 12 months. Co-ordinating FGCon with Fantasy Grounds product releases (another was Steam) is basically impossible as there are so many moving parts in contractual and technical and marketing discussions/negotiations/implementations.

But there definitely was a lot of 5e interest and a few of the 5e GMs are now building the AL community - like the PFS community - and this will be great for FGCon and for 5e in general. Pathfinder and Savage Worlds have been the backbone in terms of numbers of events and players for most of the FGCons. Getting D&D played heavily again is great news, great or gaming in general and great for FGCon.

damned
April 22nd, 2015, 02:26
Awww... GMs, aren't we the insecure bunch? hehe

I remember Damian sending out surveys for FG Con II or III. Maybe the response was low and he stopped. He'd have to chime in on that. I think it was neat. I also remember Smiteworks offering rewards based on feedback from the players. I had 17 players one year and only two bothered answering. That tells me players at a convention are like one-night stands, they just want you for a few hours and won't call you back lol

Seriously, you have all your players email addresses. Make your survey with google or survey monkey and send it to them or ask them directly. Best way to get the feedback you need.

We actually got really good feedback and a pretty good response rate - even the negative feedback was great to help us learn what to improve upon.
Giving specific feedback to GMs wasnt really possible with this format though - but as a whole it did give us some good data.

Talen
April 22nd, 2015, 03:36
Hey BigBoom - for Adventurers League games to be played online they must be streamed so the 2 AL games were streamed. 2 other games got streamed. This was all done by individuals. We are looking at trying to stream a whole bunch of games for next FGCon. There is a lot of coordination to make all these things happen. It certainly would be easier and non intrusive for people to watch other games if they were being streamed.


If anyone is interested after the fact, the stream from the full Adventurer League session I ran is still available for viewing at www.twitch.tv/talwynor (https://www.twitch.tv/talwynor). (although, now that Im revisting, I see that my mic wasn't captured...Ill have to fix that for next session.)

Gadreun
April 22nd, 2015, 11:16
I ran 3 x 5e games at various time intervals to give people plenty of choice. I had to turn people away. I had several drop out and they were filled again before I could blink. 5e was definitely popular. I had one guy turn up in TS and ask me if he could watch. My answer, here's a character, how bout playing? he was stoked! my knowledge of using FG for DMing is suspect, but we managed to have loads of fun and complete the adventures. Several players emailed me some compliments and also asked about permanent games. Therefore I am not convinced you have to be fully conversant with FG, just enough that you can run the game in your own style.

I think my experience with FG Con as a GM for the first time was very positive. I was also very impressed with the level of roleplaying in a lot of cases, that certainly enhanced the games. Also a shout out to Mario who assisted with sound effects, for my creepy, ghostly pirate adventure, The Secret of the Crispy Goblin. I will certainly be up for DM duties in FG Con VII, but perhaps just one session per day so i can also play! :D

damned
April 22nd, 2015, 13:26
I ran 3 x 5e games at various time intervals to give people plenty of choice. I had to turn people away. I had several drop out and they were filled again before I could blink. 5e was definitely popular. I had one guy turn up in TS and ask me if he could watch. My answer, here's a character, how bout playing? he was stoked! my knowledge of using FG for DMing is suspect, but we managed to have loads of fun and complete the adventures. Several players emailed me some compliments and also asked about permanent games. Therefore I am not convinced you have to be fully conversant with FG, just enough that you can run the game in your own style.

I think my experience with FG Con as a GM for the first time was very positive. I was also very impressed with the level of roleplaying in a lot of cases, that certainly enhanced the games. Also a shout out to Mario who assisted with sound effects, for my creepy, ghostly pirate adventure, The Secret of the Crispy Goblin. I will certainly be up for DM duties in FG Con VII, but perhaps just one session per day so i can also play! :D

Go the Kiwis! Well done Gadreun.
Backing onto some earlier posts - Gadreun was a GM many years ago but had never GMd on Fantasy Grounds until about 8 weeks ago.
So folks dont be shy. I play in a regular campaign with Gadreun and hes ripping it up!

Baron28
April 22nd, 2015, 18:14
Thanks again to the organizers who allowed me to run a 5e game at the Con last minute. There was a concern that people would see my game posted and jump from other games to play in my game. I apologize to the other GMs if that happened. It was not my intent to snag your players. I ran a low level old school 1e converted to 5e classic Keep on the Borderlands. Over the course of a 6 hour game, the players managed to role play while at the Keep, ventured into the valley of the Caves of Chaos and entered the goblin cave. During the course of the game, the party was bombarded by goblins, the ogre and a wandering group of kobolds. The party was successful in vanquishing their foes (The GM could've TPK'd the party, but due to a party member genius and benenvolence on the part of the GM, TPK was avoided). The dwarf fighter went down in combat repeatedly and ended up with broken ribs (I love that lingering injuries table in the DMG!), but was magically healed by a cure wounds spell. At the end of the game, the party members had gained enough XP to make it to 2nd level.

Next year, I will register earlier with another classic 1e to 5e converted adventure.

JeffKnight
April 23rd, 2015, 19:58
On the 5E front, I thinking running 5E has gotten a lot easier since the PHB/MM official release and will be even more so once some modules come out for it. Unfortunately the con was already sort of setup by the time that happened. For the next con if there are easy to run modules like LMoP that'd probably go a long way towards getting more GMs in for Fantasy Grounds.

+1 Definitely. I've started putting together some of the Tyranny of Dragons Expeditions and the PHB/MM have made that go so much easier. Once we get the DMG (soon I hope?) and the 3 adventure books out, there will be some amazing resources out there for 5e. Princes of the Apocalypse alone looks just absolutely amazing from what I've read so far.

Grimtina
April 25th, 2015, 01:57
I have to say for me, running games in FG" is a lot of work I just couldn't put up this year as I had no time. This is the one big issue with FG2 in my eyes, not to be able to just load a map from somewhere and get going. But my main issue really was getting pregens done. It would probably be easier for me if I had Hero Labs but that stuff is so overpriced I have no chance of ever getting it. Add to it that I have vision issues and only a small screen (tablet mostly, sometimes laptop) and have to do my graphics stuff on a different machine than I play on, it gets very complicated.

But there are folks out there who love making chars I heard, so I'm thinking of asking for volunteers to make the pregens for me :ninja:

I suggest anyone3 running a non-mainstream game should take care to have enough pregens ready and make sure to let the players know they do not need to know the rules - after all FG" calculates it all and they just need to know what to click. I did play in a Savage World game this year, and I had very little remembrance of the system. This is a really big advantage of FG2 and it should be used. People don't try new things because they don't want to learn all the rules for just a one shot - I hear that at the real tables all the time. Well, here they can!

May I also suggest trying a game day every 3 months or so, which would also require preregistering and not have people try to find games via the forum which seems to be an issue for some. Those with ultimate licences could prepare games for those just wanting to try the software out. This of course would require people to be willing to participate, but I guess at least the PFS or adventure league games could benefit from it.

Mask_of_winter
April 25th, 2015, 02:28
I have to say for me, running games in FG" is a lot of work I just couldn't put up this year as I had no time. This is the one big issue with FG2 in my eyes, not to be able to just load a map from somewhere and get going. But my main issue really was getting pregens done. It would probably be easier for me if I had Hero Labs but that stuff is so overpriced I have no chance of ever getting it. Add to it that I have vision issues and only a small screen (tablet mostly, sometimes laptop) and have to do my graphics stuff on a different machine than I play on, it gets very complicated.

But there are folks out there who love making chars I heard, so I'm thinking of asking for volunteers to make the pregens for me :ninja:

I suggest anyone3 running a non-mainstream game should take care to have enough pregens ready and make sure to let the players know they do not need to know the rules - after all FG" calculates it all and they just need to know what to click. I did play in a Savage World game this year, and I had very little remembrance of the system. This is a really big advantage of FG2 and it should be used. People don't try new things because they don't want to learn all the rules for just a one shot - I hear that at the real tables all the time. Well, here they can!

May I also suggest trying a game day every 3 months or so, which would also require preregistering and not have people try to find games via the forum which seems to be an issue for some. Those with ultimate licences could prepare games for those just wanting to try the software out. This of course would require people to be willing to participate, but I guess at least the PFS or adventure league games could benefit from it.

Did you just volunteer to organize a game day? :)

Seriously. The Society of Extraordinary Gamers have pick up/one-shot games all the time using a booking system through the calendar.

I used to recruit for one-shots here, on steam and G+ but due to the organizational nightmare I stick to SXG and FG Con now.

Remember, FG Con started as a yearly event but was promoted to a twice a year event due to popular demand. Events like this require a lot of work. I just joined the FG team so that makes four now. If the interest is there for more events like these and more people are willing to organize it I'm sure the FG team would offer their support in the form of using the website at least. Or maybe I just made an enemy out of Trenloe and Damned hehe

JeffKnight
April 25th, 2015, 02:34
The Online Region Coordinator for AL is trying to get games going just about every night of the week except Wed.

damned
April 25th, 2015, 02:36
I have to say for me, running games in FG" is a lot of work I just couldn't put up this year as I had no time. This is the one big issue with FG2 in my eyes, not to be able to just load a map from somewhere and get going. But my main issue really was getting pregens done. It would probably be easier for me if I had Hero Labs but that stuff is so overpriced I have no chance of ever getting it. Add to it that I have vision issues and only a small screen (tablet mostly, sometimes laptop) and have to do my graphics stuff on a different machine than I play on, it gets very complicated.

But there are folks out there who love making chars I heard, so I'm thinking of asking for volunteers to make the pregens for me :ninja:

I suggest anyone3 running a non-mainstream game should take care to have enough pregens ready and make sure to let the players know they do not need to know the rules - after all FG" calculates it all and they just need to know what to click. I did play in a Savage World game this year, and I had very little remembrance of the system. This is a really big advantage of FG2 and it should be used. People don't try new things because they don't want to learn all the rules for just a one shot - I hear that at the real tables all the time. Well, here they can!

May I also suggest trying a game day every 3 months or so, which would also require preregistering and not have people try to find games via the forum which seems to be an issue for some. Those with ultimate licences could prepare games for those just wanting to try the software out. This of course would require people to be willing to participate, but I guess at least the PFS or adventure league games could benefit from it.

I find the hardest part of prepping for a One Shot is prepping the Characters. It does take a lot of time. Think about it - your first session of a new RP campaign is often spent just making Characters - and everyone is making their own. Some of the rulesets have a thread where people can upload characters to - perhaps we should encourage more of this. For my C&C session I made 4 new characters and then I went back and grabbed 3 more from another campaign and just modified them a little.

I dont find the building encounters etc very time consuming at all - making maps certainly can be though!

damned
April 25th, 2015, 02:36
The Online Region Coordinator for AL is trying to get games going just about every night of the week except Wed.

Awesome! Whats wrong with Wednesdays? :)

damned
April 25th, 2015, 02:37
Remember, FG Con started as a yearly event but was promoted to a twice a year event due to popular demand. Events like this require a lot of work. I just joined the FG team so that makes four now. If the interest is there for more events like these and more people are willing to organize it I'm sure the FG team would offer their support in the form of using the website at least. Or maybe I just made an enemy out of Trenloe and Damned hehe

FG Con will NOT run more than twice a year. I keep hearing rumours of a sister Con though.... :)

JeffKnight
April 25th, 2015, 02:55
Awesome! Whats wrong with Wednesdays? :)

That's the "in-store night."

damned
April 25th, 2015, 02:57
That's the "in-store night."

Hah! Of course :)

Trenloe
April 25th, 2015, 05:23
This is the one big issue with FG2 in my eyes, not to be able to just load a map from somewhere and get going. But my main issue really was getting pregens done.
Sorting out pregens is not just an issue limited to Fantasy Grounds, it's an issue for all convention GMs who want to have characters ready to go for their games.


It would probably be easier for me if I had Hero Labs but that stuff is so overpriced I have no chance of ever getting it.
I take it, as you mention HeroLab, that you're referring to Pathfinder/3.5e games? (I know HeroLab is more than just that, but 3.5E/Pathfinder is the main use on these forums). If so, then there is PCGen as an alternative: https://pcgen.sourceforge.net/01_overview.php

To be perfectly honest, there are lots and lots of 3.5e/Pathfinder pregens out there. For example, the Pathfinder NPC Codex give you every level of the main classes: https://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/npcCodex/core/index.html And there are lots and lots of characters that could be used as pregens on d20pfsrd.com.

And there are also plenty of sources to get pregen stats for most other mainstream systems. You just have to go looking...

If you're struggling, just ask on the forums. But not the night before the convention starts! ;)

Talen
April 25th, 2015, 15:09
To the extent you are looking for 5e pregens, there are some in the Adventurers League forum and more coming....I'd like to do the Elemental Evil races - but unsure if that will work if you don't have my elemental evil parse. I think that's only an issue for the licensed modules - but not certain. You can find the current 5e pregens HERE (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?23796-Pregenerated-PC-s-for-New-Players)

bigboom
April 25th, 2015, 18:27
But there are folks out there who love making chars I heard, so I'm thinking of asking for volunteers to make the pregens for me :ninja:

Hi Grimtina, to be honest, I personally do enjoy making characters. It's half the fun for me...well, maybe not half, but a lot of fun. If you, or anyone else, would like a hand in generating some pre-gens, let me know and I'd be happy to lend a hand, time allowing. I'm not an expert but the games I'm familiar enough with to lend a hand with are 40k series (Rogue Trader, Dark Heresy 2nd Ed, Black Crusade), Shadowrun 5th Ed, and to a slightly lesser degree, Call of Cthulhu and Savage Worlds....and maaaaaaybe GURPS.

Just drop me a PM and I'll do what I can to help out!

Grimtina
April 27th, 2015, 00:41
Yeah making a pregen as such is easy enough, getting it into the charsheet is - probably just for me as I have vision issues. I will look into PCGen, thanks.

With the only other tabletop I use, I can just host the charsheetes offseite. Which of course I can do for FG2, too, in theory - but that would totally waste the programs awesomeness.

Larac
April 27th, 2015, 17:32
Maybe a month before run a teaching session for GMs.

For new players have a game setup a week before to help them know they have it all working.

Played 2, had a decent time.
First was decent story but being a GM made Cleric with many player made Maxed folks, was not a great time.

Second was quite fun if short.

Baron28
April 28th, 2015, 18:32
Some player feedback from my last minute 5e D&D Keep on the Borderlands one shot... "From your session I was inspired to get my friends that introduced me to D&D in the late 80's together. We plan on using Fantasy Grounds. We are setup to run a Thursday night game."

Grimtina
April 28th, 2015, 23:51
Now that's great to hear.

damned
September 23rd, 2015, 06:36
https://www.fg-con.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/fgcon7-banner2.jpg

Woohoo! FG Con 7 is open for player registrations. 25 sessions posted already and now taking bookings!
I have 16 more GM sessions in the works and I know there are others coming too.

GMs dont be shy - run a game and share your RPG talents with players new and old!
Players - spread the word - invite a friend - try something different!

If you are considering running a game but are hesitant for any reason drop me a PM and we'll see if we can help you out.

There is a loose Fright Night! theme but its completely open to the GMs what they run. Im running a some Investigative Cthulhu and some old school Fantasy Hack and Slash!

If you want some signature banners Ive made up a few here - https://www.dropbox.com/s/h73p3embzqnnbow/fg-con-7-signatures.txt?dl=0