U-Con -- Tips for Running SotM @ Cons?

General GTG Events
1

I'm running Sentinels (3 events) at a local gaming con in about a month.  http://www.ucon-gaming.org/

Does anyone have any particular tips for doing this?  I've taught the game fairly often, with a large number of people who were gamers. I love that the game is so teachable at the basic level.  The questions that come up in forums feel primariy theoretical like Seki and Triple-Ko questions in Go, and would rarely apply to these games.

I was thinking the following things, in addition to the counters I normally use to track hit points, etc,. would be useful to have for these:

  • Posterboard of the round sequence & card types
  • Handouts of the heroes and villians, with quick two line summaries of their complexity and schtick.
  • Lots of 3D tags to remind the coordinator about cards (end of turn, etc)
  • Spiff's HP counters for players? I already have them made, even though I now use a HP checkboard.

Finally, does >G provide any support for doing this?  I'm perfectly happy to run the games for the joy of the game, but swag to hand out or have and hold is always happy. 

2

I know GtG has this down to a science, and that they actually train the volunteers in how to teach the game. Now all you need is to find one of the volunteers…

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I'm effectively volunteering.  Is there a youtube thingy, or manual, or such?

4

Here are a few tips that make everything easier, mostly from demoing at PAX several times (at the GtG booth). apologies if you already know any of this.

You've got good ideas about what to bring with you.  Those things will all make it easier.

Be sure to take care of your throat.  the cons I've been to are uniformly loud, so you have to talk loud to be heard.  Even if its a quiet one, throat lozenges and water (or tea) are good if you are going to be demoing for any extended period of time.

Shower.  Use soap.  Wear deoderant.  I'm sure you do all these things already.

 

Hero Selection

Its really, really, REALLY useful to stick to a limited selection of heroes.  Christopher encourages pulling out a few decks and having them sit on the table to give the impression that these heroes are for picking...regardless of the ones left in the box.  Focusing on heroes that are super-easy to pick up and play is essential, as it keeps the turns ticking and complicated rule questions to a minimum.  

Legacy, Ra, Expatriette, Haka, Tempest, Fanatic are all great picks, as they are very easy to pick up and play, but have some cool combinations and tricks that can make anyone feel great when they discover them.  Fire blasts, shotgun-to-face, Haka-of-everything (and Savage mana), and lightning slash are all things that make people feel good.  

Legacy is for you.  Demoing the game is more about making sure everyone else is having a blast...and Legacy facilitates that better than any other hero.  He makes games smoother, is easy to explain, introduces people to party support and the basics of a cooperative game, and occasionally hits super hard.  If someone else wants to play Legacy, awesome!  

You will get people (you might be that person) who want to play Unity, Omnitron-X, or the Argent Adept.  Where possible (and some people will insist), try to encourage them away from them.  the reason is that Unity and Omni-X, and the Adept have long, complex turns...and during a con you want to keep everything running at speed.  

If you get a group of veterans, or you've run an intro game and have no one waiting...then its time to break out the other heroes. 

 

Villain Selection

Baron Blade is the way to go.  You'll win more often than not, but he can have some surprising twists.  His shields and backlash fields introduce people to retribution damage (and can have some fun interactions with Ra's Flame barrier), as well as the beauty of destroying ongoings.  His minions and devices give a good introduction to other targets within the villain deck.  since he and Legacy are Nemeses, its a good introduction to that system as well.

I've heard varied ways of setting him up, but one that I agree with is to pull 2 of his Mobile Defense Platforms (MDP's) completely out of the deck (or secretly put them aside and then on the bottom after setup).  This leaves him with just his one MDP and speeds up his flip condition (and makes winning more likely).  There are people who get frustrated at losing, or even when they perceive a setback in their progress, and Con conditions can cause tempers/frustrations/emotions to run a bit higher than normal.  

Give your players the best shot at winning.  Then come back with a harder fight when they stick around!

Citizen Dawn or Voss are good follow-ups from the core set, or you could go with a fast, brutal fight with someone like Apostate.  

 

Environment selection

Insula Primalis is the way to go.  Its got dinosaurs, perilous Lava, and the potential for massive damage increase with the Obsidian fields.

 

Hope you have a great time!  

5

Great advice there overall, but I just wanted to pick up on this point. Both of my choral directors are experts in vocal health, and they tell me to NEVER use lozenges because they'll just mask the problem and end up making it worse (like deading the feeling in your broken ankle so you continue to walk on it). If your throat hurts, you need to stop talking until it feels better. I know that's difficult at a con, but I feel duty bound to warn you that this behaviour is risky in terms of vocal health.

Water and hot tea and such, definitely. Staying hydrated is very important so keep drinking all day. Best to avoid caffeine, alcohol, spicy foods, and for some people, dairy (it can increase mucus production and lead to coughing/clearing the throat which is damaging). And similarly, try not to cough or clear your thoat! Swallow instead.

Don't shout or raise your voice if you can help it. Learn to project instead, and/or add more "twang" to the sound you're making (easy for Americans, who already have some twang - think evil witches or the playground "nyaa nyaa na naah naah/neener neener neener" type noises.) My favourite loudening trick is to imagine you're carrying a heavy bag in each hand, and engage the back muscles that you'd normally use in that situation. Takes a little bit of practice to get it, but the effect on the voice is worth it. Pushing your forehead against an imaginary pane of glass works too.

I know, realistically a few cons' worth of shouting and lozenges won't permanently damage your voice. But I have to pass this stuff on so people can make their own informed decisions.

6

Understood...and I'll definitely be using those projection and health tips next time I'm at PAX.

7

I have cards which have the hero pic with a complexity-colour-coded border and the appropriate "superhero analogues" (like Batman for Wraith, etc.) on one side. The other side has a radar diagram (from BGG) to show how focused the hero is on things like offence, defence, deck manipulation, support, etc., and a short description of how the hero plays (mostly from here).

I'm happy to share since Christopher says it's fine for me to do so, if you think they'd be useful to you.

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Please!

9

A couple extra tips:

 

-Make sure you take breaks occasionally. Sometimes in the rush of getting into longer games, you can forget to take care of yourself.

-If you can, avoid Megalopolis. Seems easy enough, but lots of effects that can slow down the game and frustrate new gamers. 

-If you see a line, there is no shame in speeding up a game by taking away hit points from the villain. For example, when Baron flips, put him at 15 hp rather than 30. Conversely, if there is no line, you can bring out villains like Omnitron and lower the hp to 75 or 50.

-If at all possible, let the new people get the win even if you can end it. It will mean more to them.

- The more you explain early in the game about basic play (i.e. turns, environment, effect order), the better you will be later in the game.

10

Oh, heres a huge tip:

 

You are going to get things wrong.  Maybe you'll forget to take away HP, maybe you've been playing using a rule that one of the other (veteran) players never knew about, maybe you'll just screw up and forget something like playing a card.

 

Roll with it.  If no one notices, just keep going.  If you find yourself in some kind of rule quandry make a decision and stick with it.  the spice must flow.

11

Spiff's HP counters for players?

While I think Spiff's game accessories enhance any SotM gaming experience, are they good for this kind of a situation?  Is it important to use only stuff that actually comes with the game when you're showing it to new players at a con?

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Yeah, to Spiff's point, we've really focused on using the game's provided tools. First, you want to highlight what comes with the game, but you also don't want to inappropriately set expectations that there's even more that comes with it. Remember that, while you might say something, what they see and experience will stay with them longer than what you tell them, and if they see and experience the extra pieces, they might not recognize you told them it doesn't come with the game. :confused:

And I'll second just about everything Braithwhite said. Really, anything that slows down the game should be avoided (which is why taking the Mobile Defense Platforms out is useful - and I'll often take out Blade's Living Force Fields for the same reason); you want to get people interested in the game as quickly as possible and give other folks a chance to play, also. Especially if you're the only person available to run demos!

And come up with an introductory schtick that you can quickly rattle off (coherently). Come up with quick descriptions of the heroes that will give people a flavor without taking too much time. (Mine's become second nature, at this point - it's a little weird…)

(Gotta run - try to post more later…)

13

Thank you for all the good advice!  I only have the first edition of the base set, so counters might be an issue.  Perhaps, it's time to pony up.

The theatric part of the game makes sense to me now that it's been mentioned, but it hadn't occurred to me.  I’ll try to remember to bring a thermos of Ginger Tea.  Golumn Juice, anyone? http://castlesandcooks.com/2010/10/19/gollums-recipe-gollum-juice/

The advice about limiting heroes and villains makes sense.  I hadn’t thought about the need to keep the game fast.  I did see myself taking Legacy a lot, though.

As you said, >G has it to a science.

As to screwing things up – I’m experienced enough for that to not bother me.  Roll and roll with it.

Silverleaf – Please!

14

Okay, I've shared the files in Google drive so hopefully you should be able to download them okay.

If you want to print on cardstock, download the fronts and the backs and print them back-to-back. Cut using the guidelines on the back. I recommend a craft knife/scalpel and a cork-backed steel ruler with a self-healing cutting mat, but go for scissors if you don't care about perfection. There are no lines on the front so that if your printer doesn't quite line up perfectly (and few of them do) then you won't see ugly lines on the side you didn't cut. You might want to seal the ink with an acrylic spray before cutting, but that's definitely optional, as is using a corner rounder to, er, round the corners.

If you want to print on regular paper and sleeve with some of the millions of junk Magic/other CCG cards that we probably all have lying around, then print the fronts with cutting guide and the backs single sided.

Some things I need to say:

  1. I am not a graphic designer, so these are definitely function over form in that they are very simple.

  2. The radar diagrams are taken from Board Game Geek, and were uploaded by user CalicoDave. Please give him thumbs if you're a BGG member and like the diagrams.

  3. Text is (mostly) from users on this forum who kindly helped me out, and edited for space by me. Any mistakes are almost certainly mine!

  4. I hope you find them helpful. :slight_smile:

15

Personally, I'm not convinced those short-cut hero analogies are all that helpful to a new player.  Haka isn't like Hulk other than that he's slightly larger than normal and does a Rampage and Ground Pound.  Haka uses weapons and can steal his enemy's Savage Mana, and if a new player hears that Haka = Hulk, he may wonder what the heck a Taiaha is and when he's going to start drawing "You Won't Like Me When I'm Angry" cards.

If it were me (it's not, so you shouldn't feel bound by this, obviously), I'd opt for short descriptions of what the deck is like, not who it is (or isn't) like.  Haka's description could say "powerful melee attacks, tribal magic self-buffs, strong defense".  Legacy doesn't have a shield or X-Ray vision, so saying he's like Captain America and Superman may not be as helpful as saying "strong team buffs, strong defense, leadership-based abilities".  Descriptions like that would give me a better feel for what the deck will play like than just saying Ra = Thor.

In my opinion.

16

Actually, I completely agree, in no small part because not being a comic book fan a lot of the names mean absolutely nothing to me. You're right that the "analogues" aren't terribly analogous anyway.

I included them because a lot of people here indicated that they found those kind of comparisons helpful in terms of being able to give an appropriate flavour, or something that the Sentinels-naive comic book fan could hook on to. I always stress that Wraith isn't Batman, for example, but that there are similarities - the front side of the card is supposed to be basically flavour rather than mechanics.

I tried to describe the "what the deck feels like to play" information on the back of the card.

 

17

A quick note for helping out at cons- Keep your hands clean.

You need to have something nearby to wipe down your hands occasionally, or you will get sick, as you will be in contact with a lot of people. Disinfectant or wet wipes are a good plan.

 

Regarding Sentinels, if you had the time, I'd suggest getting the playmat. It really helps people understand where the cards go and makes turn order very clear. Also, if people want a quick, easy game (they're in a hurry, or just want to see how it works or something like that) play with all villain targets entering the game at half health.

18

In case you're interested in ideas about the specifics of how to teach the game:

https://greaterthangames.com/forum/topic/spiel-for-teaching-3315

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Theta_Sigma - Thanks!  My daughter is immunosuppressed due to a liver transplant. Yeah, ask me how badly 2010 and 2011 stank. I keep hand sanitizer with me wherever I go, and will make sure to have a pump of hand sanitizer and alcohol wipes in my kit.

I hadn't thought of the playmat.  Make my own?  While I have some time to spend on this, and the >G playmat is not unreasonablly priced, it is more than I would want to spend for a single event.

20

For what it is worth, I have a playmat and I use it as often as I possibly can.  It's incredibly helpful with keeping the table organized and preventing players from invading each others' space.  I've found it to be a worthwhile investment.  If it still doesn't sound that great, then you could always take a close look at the playmat in videos and on the site and do your best to make a rough imitation of your own.