"Fall In GMs: How Full Were Your Games?" Topic

@capncarp,

The numbers for Fall IN! this year did not break the 2000 mark as I had dreamed….

It was still a very solid show. For some reason, unbeknownst to me…. Fall In! just can't seem to get that big. It has gotten close while I was CD…. but we seem to hover between 1860 and 1960……

Now, I am going to take a moment to say a few things…. PERSONAL THINGS…. MY OPINION…. which, in NO WAY at ALL should be considered the opinion of HMGS…..

1. The number of games at a show is very tricky…. there are a LOT of factors to address…. especially 2 main ones…. game length and playing times.

a. game length…. the length of a game doesn't reflect anything about the game….. we all know a typical game runs about 4 hours….. but, we need to consider…. 2, 2 hour games is still 2 games, not one….. and a cancelled onsite game is still counted as a game at the show…. as much as I know and believe the huge "700" games at Hcon story….. I was there….. LOADS of cancelled or no shows, and lots and lots of shorter games… 2 and 3 hour…. REMEMBER>>>> you can put an old program in my face all day long and show me the excel files form the events sub, but I was there….. my opinion.. AND, the number of games has NOTHING to do with the QUALITY of the game either.

b. start times….. "back in the day"….. events were a lot more regimented…. they didn't stagger as bad…. start time wise….. they line dup better.. meaning easier event management and in the end… more games per table/per day……

So, also.. "back in the day"….. NO METRICS existed to verify what is claimed other than submissions….. NO BACK END DATA was collected and reviewed…. so, apples to oranges….

I have more, but I don't want to be targeted by false lies and slandered…..

Thanks for the info Dan.
but "false lies" ?

Dan, with the proximity to Christmas and the height of many school sport seasons I would opine that you will never see huge numbers at Fall-In.

We ran two 28mm FIW games and had to turn people away from both — we could have probably run our Fort Necessity game three times and filled it every time. I think presenting unique games helps drive a full table.

Looking forward to running another FIW and two Pontiac's War games at Cold Wars.

Your games always look good and are well run, KVR.
Not a surprise that they are full.

Dan, I wasn't sure how full or not Fall-In! was, but it had a solid feel to it. If one cannot swim the Channel, one can at least dogpaddle bravely on.

Dan:

Good post. Generally agree with all you say, but there are still no metrics on games that cancelled/no-showed – at least that have been shared.

As to back in the day:

1. Back then there was a requirement for each game to achieve 24 – 4 hours of game x 6 gamers, or 6 hour game x 4gamers, etc. Of course knowing that those games achieved that is problematic. Also, it isn't a GMs fault if he doesn't get enough gamers, not that anyone is checking.

I am surprised that two hour games would even be allowed to register as a two hour game takes up about four hours of table time (one hour set up, one hour clean up), but even that is a bit misleading, as then you have to add in the set up and take down time for following/previous game – which may mean that a table isn't being used (e.g., games upon) for two hours at a time on the front and backends. In self disclosure, my game usually takes 1.5 hours to set up – but if you are going to put on a higher-end game, that is not unreasonable – at least to me.

To your other back in the day comment – "events were a lot more regimented…. they didn't stagger as bad…. start time wise….. they line dup better.. meaning easier event management and in the end… more games per table/per day……"

So my question to you would be, if this was more efficient, why isn't this still being done now? It also goes to my previous point that HMGS just keeps reinventing that wheel, which perhaps is sometimes round, sometimes square. :-)

And again, thank you for all your volunteer efforts – the cons could not go without people such as yourself. :-)

@Historygamer…

Well said also.

As for why not now…. all I can say is that we want to encourage folks to run games and GM's have changed how they run them, sometimes you have a 2 hour game run 4 times by a GM….. that meets all of the requirements, just not all at once….

It is a tricky thing…. very tricky.

Dan

Seems like you are adding a lot of work for yourself. I guess if they ran their two hour games back to back at the same table it might make sense.

Remember, it is up to the organization to figure out what works best for it, not the other way around. :-)

On another matter, have you shovled out of your home yet? Man, you guys got hammered.

LOL!… Yes, we got smashed…. it took a while, but it is all cleared up.. now we are just dealing with the cold. I have to admit… as "tough" as we claim to be up in the snowiest city in the US… a lot of stuff closed down…. the city was paralyzed for a few days, especially if you lived on a side street and not a main drag.