"What Makes for a Bad Convention Game (Round 1A)" Topic

Played a VSF game at ORIGINS once. At one point I took at random wild shot at the GM / Designer's 'favorite character', score lucky dice and killed it. From that point on I couldn't do anything correctly, every shot I took missed (no matter how 'well' or 'badly' I rolled.

At one point I even shot sown an Observation balloon….which seemed to take foreverrrrrrrrrr to come crashing down……

I think I made him mad…….

Most of this would be a bad game whether there was a convention or not. But I think convention games may be especially prone to some difficulties, notably the ones about size of game and crowded boards. GMs come to the convention and want to show off all their toys. And they want to hold a bigger game than they can put on at home, which means the game won't have been play-tested. And--trust me on this--the more players, the more necessary it is that each player understands the rules, which SHOULD make most big convention game rules 2-4 page handouts, but usually doesn't.

But there are many excellent convention GMs. And even of the ones which don't come off, most made a serious investment in time and money. Thanks, guys!

Games advertised for all ages makes for a bad game?! Everyone wants command and control right? Put a few young 'uns in the mix and you will have command and control issues. No special rules needed! That and if we are to grow the hobby, one might want to putt he wee ones in as well.

Some of these are definitely situational.
Bad aesthetics? Boring terrain? I saw a game at a convention being played with stacks of pennies on a bare table. I don't know what it was,but the players were whooping it up.

And some of my most fun games of Desperado were with drunk players!

(Edit: I should have said "with other drunk players").

Yes – I appreciate a pretty game as much as the next wargamer, but very basic looking games can be great fun. If it's a good game – pacey, good scenario, fun players then the looks don't actually matter all that much.