Sunday 19 June 2016

Longcon - The Great Experiment


So, last year I started with the first Longcon, a grand experiment in having longer games set over an entire weekend rather than shorter games set to slots.  As we come up to the second Longcon, I’m noticing a particular trend in the games offered and the people signing up for the games, and it makes me question whether or not Longcon as a concept is a viable one…

The thing is that a lot of people are signing up for games, so there’s clearly a demand for longer games spread over a weekend, but they’re signing up to games with people they already know, rather than signing up for games with strangers.  Understandable given that if you’re in a four hour game with someone that you find you don’t like, you walk away after a few hours and pay it no more heed.

But if you’re in that game with them for the whole day…

Well, that’s just got fail written all over it…

And as with all the conventions I run, if something is set to fail, I have to do something about it…

There are more than enough people coming to Longcon that the costs for the room hire are already met, so financially the convention is viable, and it’ll be something that I continue to do as long as there’s interest.

However…

I want to know if all I’m doing with this is providing space for people to meet up with their friends and have a long game (which is a perfectly good thing to do), or if there’s actual interest in people coming along and trying out longer games.  Does the idea of a longer game with strangers fill most people with dread, does the possibility of being stuck for seven to ten hours at the table give everyone pause?

We try to mitigate the possibility of people having a bad game by putting everyone playing in a game in touch with the GM in advance to work out the details of characters, roles, and plotlines, so that all that has to be done on the day is bring in the snacks and get playing.  However, it is understandable that the potential for a whole wasted day is present even with all the preparation in the world.

Last years feedback from the Players was that the slower pace of the games allowed people to really get into the game, to explore other avenues and work through areas that they could never have got to in a regular four hour convention slot.  The result of this was that almost everyone from the first year came back for the second year, and a number of people who hadn’t made it for the first year came along for the second.

From the GMs, at a regular convention running in four hour slots for different groups every time, two solid days of running games should have been an absolute bone-breaker.   At the end of the convention, as we all sat down on the Sunday to discuss what went right and what went wrong, the overwhelming thought from all the GMs present was that while tired, they weren’t anywhere near as tired as they would have been running the equivalent amount of time in four hour slots.  The primary difference being that the breaks could be scheduled when they wanted them, you didn’t have to wrap things up to be ready for the next one, and you didn’t have to spend an hour on introductions to the next set of players.  All of the GMs from last year were up for coming back this year, even though as it turns out only one of the GMs running last year returned this year, the other GMs decided to play in games this year rather than running.

But while the interest in this is growing, I need feedback from another group so that I can fine tune what can be done with the convention.  That group is those who didn’t come along and those who aren’t coming along this year.  If everyone has the time, I’d like to know if there’s anything in particular that’s putting people off coming along? Any doubts or hesitations regarding the format? What could be done to put people’s minds at rest regarding the convention itself?

And I should point out that I have no intentions of Longcon becoming something the same size as other conventions that I run, that would be at odds with the nature of the games being offered. I know that the format works best with people who all know each other, and I’m equally aware that the primary attraction of the convention may well be the provision of a comfortable table in a convenient place, rather than the games itself.  Indeed it is entirely possible for all the groups coming to Longcon this year to organise between themselves to have a long weekend of gaming at any of their own houses and it’s likely that the experience may not be all that different.

However…

For me, there’s always been something about the atmosphere at a convention, even one so small, when games gather together to enjoy playing and socialise in the evening till the small hours, so I think there’s still a place for the Longcons of the world.


Discuss…?