[KueiCon] Aftermath report

[Bankuei]

Hi folks,

KueiCon was teh awesome, and I wanted to thank everyone who came and played with us.  Though we only set up for 2 days and 3 time slots per day, we had a great time and lots of gaming.  We had about 12 people all told, and got to play a lot of great playtest games, many of which turned out really well, even games on their first playtest!

I think things went really well, and the only two things I think I'd need to work on for the next KueiCon would be:

a) Print up maps of all nearby food locations
b) Prep more games that run quickly.

Anyone else want to add anything?

Chris

[ptevis]

I'd actually scrap the whole slots idea. We were pretty free-form about stuff, so it seemed to work pretty well. I'd just make sure that people tell you when they're planning on arriving and leaving so you can plan accordingly.

Also, it was in fact "teh awesome." (Did I just say that?) You may think that KueiCon was the "yeah sure, whatever" of mini-cons, but in fact it was the "this is how you do it" of mini-cons.

--Paul

[Albert of Feh]

Well, the gaming day is nicely divided by lunch and dinner. You have the before-lunch game, the before-dinner game and the after-dinner game (and maybe a late-night game). That's what the slots were, and I think that's the pattern that would emerge even without official organization of time.

[Bankuei]

Also, it was in fact "teh awesome." (Did I just say that?) You may think that KueiCon was the "yeah sure, whatever" of mini-cons, but in fact it was the "this is how you do it" of mini-cons.

Actually, I called it the "Sure, why not?" mini-con since Ben mentioned it as an idea and I went along with it and it was put together with comparatively little planning & effort.  (see the massive upcoming Midwest con for comparison).

Chris

[Bankuei]

Hi Albert,

We weren't too strict about timeslots, but I think it was good to have the general idea to shoot for, not that anyone was trying to run 8-12 hour gruel-a-thons, but it also is worth having in mind when we're talking about prepping play and figuring things out.  Having that explicit social contract that games are short, food is important, is probably going to become more important if new folks participate next time.

Chris

[Jason Morningstar]

I'm interested in a couple of things.

How did you decide what was going to be run?  Was that determined in advance, or on the day everyone met?

Was a slot (formally or informally) three or four hours or what? 

How did you decide who would play what?  Was it consensus or did it just sort of come together organically?

Did the people split up at meal times into smaller groups or did you all hang together? 

I ask because it sounds like you handled this stuff differently than we did at Yuki-Con I and II.  There are probably some lessons about how to optimize an apartment con to be learned.

--Jason

[Bankuei]

Hi Jason,

We set up slots to be 3 hours each, with either an hour or two hours between (lunch, then dinner), though in actuality time typically slipped about half an hour either way.  Usually if someone wrapped up early, it was only another 20 minutes before the other groups also closed up as well, which gave folks time to chat, snack, hit the bathroom, or tidy up.  Having a formal time thelped people not slide beyond that half hour difference.  I think if we tried to completely play it by ear, things would have just turned to chaos.

We made a list of games folks were willing to run, typically polled around to figure out who wanted to play what, and divided up based along those lines on the spot.  Things worked pretty organically, though I think everyone ended up sacrificing one thing or another along the way- for instance, I didn't get to play directly with Ben nor did I get a chance to play with Paul, which is weird, but I did have a lot of fun.

At meal time, we all stayed together, since, I was the only person who knew the immediate food options, though I did list some on a handout sheet and had a pizza flier available.  Next time I want to print out a local map with the food options listed so folks can pick and choose as they see fit.

We had around 12 or 13 people attend, though a fair amount of the time we were down to 7 people, which meant we fluctuated between 2 or 3 play groups at any time.

How'd you guys run Yuki-Con?

Chris

[Jason Morningstar]

Hey Chris,

Yuki-Con is Andy Kitkowski's baby (Yuki is his cat!), but I've attended the last two, and we've discussed trying to do it bigger next time. 

The format has been roughly:  6-8 people, 3, 3 hour sessions over a single day with a break for dinner.  A pre-requisite for attending is being prepped to run something you are excited about, and once everyone arrives we chart it out and see who wants to play what, then divide into groups - usually two, or occasionally three or just a single big one.  It works well and is very friendly. 

I'm not sure if "come ready to run something" was part of KueiCon, or if it is even a great idea for a big gathering, but it sure worked for us - you end up with a bunch of options to choose from and, generally, people ready to sit down and play.

--Jason

[Bankuei]

Hi Jason,

We didn't have any real pre-requisites, which is fine, I think maybe only a third of the people really were ready to run something, but that worked out well.  We did get a solid choice of games to choose from, though I can say having quick pick-up game options helped a lot.

Not having that prerequisite made it very easy for folks to bring in more casual gamers and call up friends to join.

Chris

[faerieloch]

Not having that prerequisite made it very easy for folks to bring in more casual gamers and call up friends to join.

I quite agree with this, being one of the "definitely-a-player-not-a-GM" variety.  I went and had a great time.  And brought along cookies, of course, since I wasn't running anything.  About six or seven people said they could run things and at least on day one I think every game was run by someone different.  I'm looking forward to the next one.  :)

[faerieloch]

Sorry, this is Nancy; I forgot to sign the last post.

[Jason Morningstar]

Hi Nancy!

Now that I think of it, that rule was indifferently enforced - we had a few folks at the most recent Yuki-Con who didn't bring a game to run, and it wasn't a big deal.  And if it got any larger, that would have to go, I agree.  Interestingly, we have enough active designers in our area (five off the top of my head) that a playtest-only apartment con would totally work. 

--Jason