The NEXT con? Suggestions and ideas.

[XpressO]

Personally, I had such a blast during the convention I'm ready for more. Whenever it is, I'm going to be participating more. I would've run a GURPS game or two if I'd had the time (the con was lacking of GURPS!).

So just a couple of ideas for next one:

1. Create a whole page for this event. (was there one other than the calendar? if so, I missed it.)
2. This is to SmiteWorks: This convention is a great opportunity to showcase the capabilities of FG2 and it's various rulesystems. I would suggest that SmiteWorks would support it in a way that they'd give all the GM's who have a Full license a temporary Ultimate for use during the con. This way EVERY game on the con would be available for anyone and thus would pretty much guaranteed bring more customers that would buy a license
3. More advertising the site through different channels so that people reach awareness

Just my 2 (or 3 it seems) cents. How about you?

EDIT: Also. I would highly recommend having similar grid up all the time for one shots! It's pain to try and find one through the forums so when there would be this clear a grid that would show when a GM was planning on running a oneshot. I know the calendar is there.. but you never really know if that campaign is still running or if there's a oneshot. The grid would be awesome.

[Trenloe]

Thanks for the feedback Xpresso, glad you enjoyed the Con - I'd certainly be up for playing some GURPS at the next one...

Lots and lots of lessons learned from this inaugural convention - players and GMs please provide some feedback either in this thread or PM me directly.

1. Create a whole page for this event. (was there one other than the calendar? if so, I missed it.)

This was something that we initially started building but didn't have time to complete by the convention start dates. It's definitely something we need for the next con.

2. This is to SmiteWorks: This convention is a great opportunity to showcase the capabilities of FG2 and it's various rulesystems. I would suggest that SmiteWorks would support it in a way that they'd give all the GM's who have a Full license a temporary Ultimate for use during the con. This way EVERY game on the con would be available for anyone and thus would pretty much guaranteed bring more customers that would buy a license

We did have this in mind and discussed it with Smiteworks. We didn't manage to get this together for this convention, but Smiteworks have helped a lot with the $20 GM store credit being offered.

Again, something on our list to look at for the next con. You're going to be hearing me say that a lot...

3. More advertising the site through different channels so that people reach awareness

Absolutely.

EDIT: Also. I would highly recommend having similar grid up all the time for one shots! It's pain to try and find one through the forums so when there would be this clear a grid that would show when a GM was planning on running a oneshot. I know the calendar is there.. but you never really know if that campaign is still running or if there's a oneshot. The grid would be awesome.

Smiteworks already have some ideas on ways to update the Gamecalendar - both for event support and general day-to-day use. We'll be getting together with them after the con to make suggestions for improvements.

[XpressO]

Good to hear you already have had these things in mind, didn't know about any credit but that's very nice! Waiting eagerly for the next con

[Trenloe]

Good to hear you already have had these things in mind, didn't know about any credit but that's very nice! Waiting eagerly for the next con

Info here - https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...ad.php?t=16888

Again, something (with hindsight), we need to advertise better.

[phantomwhale]

Smiteworks already have some ideas on ways to update the Gamecalendar - both for event support and general day-to-day use. We'll be getting together with them after the con to make suggestions for improvements.

^^^ This ^^^

The Google docs calendar made the convention work much better for me, and highlighted several parts of the Game Calendar page that just don't work well visually, esp. for one shots.

Was going to initially suggest putting some programming talent together for the next Con to get a better, clearer sign-up and view of the events, but if this comes with general FG Calender improvements, I think that would be even better.

Of course, I've got a million other ideas too, but in the spirit of limited capacity, this is the one I wanted to stamp my +1 onto.

[sirchet]

I think a clear and easy to understand schedule for all timezones would make things much easier next con and certainly with the games that are currently scheduled.

I personally experienced an incident where a GM's time schedule was showing/working incorrectly and this made things a bit more difficult.

Please don't misinterpret my comments as being negative, the con was great and I thoroughly enjoyed the sessions I participated in, heck I even own a full license now.

The GM mentioned above took matters in hand and everything worked out swimmingly, btw.

I mention the scheduling because, to a player having the correct time and date is of paramount importance when we need to schedule real life around our gaming time, (or is it gaming time around real life )

This is a good thing, but as in all things it can be better.

[wbcreighton]

I think a clear and easy to understand schedule for all timezones would make things much easier next con and certainly with the games that are currently scheduled.

Just out of curiosity, did you find or use the spreadsheet. Was it helpful in figuring the times. I decided to try to hit the main time zones without adding too much clutter. Unfortunately not everyone knew about it.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...jWHZMOGc#gid=0

[Doswelk]

Without the spreadsheet I would not have known I could play in PW Deadlands game, I kept referring to it all weekend to see if any games were running and if they had slots.

I thought it was one of the best bits.

[bennis1980]

I agree. Without the spreadsheet I probably wouldn't have played 5 games. But unfortunately I'm now feeling the withdrawl symptoms of a weekend of heavy gaming.

I think the teamspeak server worked great, and you would have no problem getting donations to run it more continuously (maybe using that Gamespeak top up system).

I know where Sirchet is coming from with the timezones (a number of people arrived an hour early even though the calendar said they were in the correct timezone). Luckily didn't happen to me.

Once again thanks t everyone for a very enjoyable weekend!!!

[sirchet]

Yes, I used the spreadsheet.

I believe the sheet may have been off by one hour in some of the time slots with DST and the European time change, (which I admit I do not know when it happens).

How much coding would be involved in order to provide a search window were a player or GM could simply put in the time block they're interested in and then get the results in what sessions are planned then or if the slot is open?

The search engine mentioned could possibly reference the gaming calendar.

Those of us that use spreadsheets daily, the sheet is convenient.
Those that rarely use a spreadsheet can easily get lost in the overlapping of times, zones and games.

The spreadsheet is a great idea, but sometimes when dealing with a large number of peoples with various skill levels in deciphering information and understanding charts, it pays to cater to the less skilled.