Paid Convention Games?

[Celebrim]

I don’t tend to sign up for many events because I usually feel pretty ambivalent about what’s available.

I'm a bit ambivalent about this years events as well. I've got a half dozen I'm thinking about but few I'm excited about.

I also note that one of the main reasons I play convention games is to try out alternative rule sets and agendas of play. Other agendas of play like "nar" seem to be almost designed for one off 4 hour experiences, and yet... there seems to be absolutely no interest in running those systems in a convention environment. I don't know if that just means there isn't an interest or whether the overall quality of players is so low at a convention that you just don't dare empower players if you want a good experience for the majority of participants.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Friends of mine and I are going to origins together this year and we have started looking for games to play as event registration approaches (May 4 FYI). I have noticed a bunch of paid events, and am a little shocked. it doesn't seem to be based on any particular quality of the game, just some GMs charge.

As someone that run games at a few cons a year, I am non-plussed.

Is this a common practice these days? And who, precisely, pays an additional $12 to play a Shadowdark gauntlet or M&M game?

I have run games at GenCon Online since early in the pandemic. GenCon charges something like $2 by default for running the platform and paying the admins, etc., but there's the option to charge more.

The first few years, I didn't ever go above the default price and usually had at least one person flake out on the day of the game, which meant they'd eat the $2 charge. My games tend to be pretty improvisational and losing a single player isn't a big deal, so whatever.

But some of the game companies work out a deal with GenCon to charge nothing, as a branding thing, and as a result, I've gone to game demos and been the only one who showed up. I believe this happened with Traveller last year, which really sucked, because I haven't played (as opposed to refereed) Traveller in decades and this was going to be with, I believe, a Mongoose-approved referee. The referee said this had happened to him multiple times during the convention.

I've also paid up to $12 for a game I really wanted to play in -- Alien, run by folks from Free League, as I recall -- but noped out on games that appeared to have all the bells and whistles one could desire, but charged $30. There are limits.

As an experiment, I had cranked up the fee on my game to, I think, $4 or so -- nothing astronomical, but a little more noticeable to "eat" when one flaked out on it -- and had zero people skip my game.

This year, I'm planning on running at least two games at GenCon Online and will be charging $4 or $5 again, just to discourage people from skipping out.

 

[Celebrim]

It's definitely more than one hosting group. I downloaded the event list and a bit over 25% of all events are charging a fee, including RPGs. Most of the RPGs look like they come from 3-4 hosting groups, but there appear to be some individual GMs as well.

It is more than I thought it was and about ~30% of the RPG events seems right though the large majority of them do seem to be "Living" campaigns.

Most of the games that are priced just weren't ones I was interested in. I've always said a good DM is worth his pizza (money) and I don't object to a small ticket fee, and would expect one with Living campaigns with their extra overhead.

But I think maybe too many people are mistaking themselves for Matt Mercer. I haven't been in any convention games where I felt the need to pay for the game itself or felt that the game would have been worth more money than the entrance fee, though I have played a game and bought the rulebook.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I also note that one of the main reasons I play convention games is to try out alternative rule sets and agendas of play.

Yeah, that's one of the big appeals for me, too. I love my play group, but the odds of them showing up and saying "this week, we're trying out Numenera," or whatever, is pretty slim.

 

[kenada]

I'm a bit ambivalent about this years events as well. I've got a half dozen I'm thinking about but few I'm excited about.

I also note that one of the main reasons I play convention games is to try out alternative rule sets and agendas of play. Other agendas of play like "nar" seem to be almost designed for one off 4 hour experiences, and yet... there seems to be absolutely no interest in running those systems in a convention environment. I don't know if that just means there isn't an interest or whether the overall quality of players is so low at a convention that you just don't dare empower players if you want a good experience for the majority of participants.

I’ve occasionally looked but not really seen those kinds of games at Origins. There are some I wouldn’t want to play in that format (like Blades without the faction game seems pointless), but there has to be others that would work okay as a one-shot. At least there’s some old-school stuff I can try this year.

 

[Lanefan]

This year, I'm planning on running at least two games at GenCon Online and will be charging $4 or $5 again, just to discourage people from skipping out.

How much of that $4 or $5 do you get to see, or does it all go to the con organizers?

I ask because - unless you're in fact looking to get paid to GM - a win-win might be to have the charge there so that people show up, but then refund it (or your portion of it) to those players who turn up and stay through the game.

 

[Jeiggo_88]

I have run games at GenCon Online since early in the pandemic. GenCon charges something like $2 by default for running the platform and paying the admins, etc., but there's the option to charge more.

The first few years, I didn't ever go above the default price and usually had at least one person flake out on the day of the game, which meant they'd eat the $2 charge. My games tend to be pretty improvisational and losing a single player isn't a big deal, so whatever.

But some of the game companies work out a deal with GenCon to charge nothing, as a branding thing, and as a result, I've gone to game demos and been the only one who showed up. I believe this happened with Traveller last year, which really sucked, because I haven't played (as opposed to refereed) Traveller in decades and this was going to be with, I believe, a Mongoose-approved referee. The referee said this had happened to him multiple times during the convention.

I've also paid up to $12 for a game I really wanted to play in -- Alien, run by folks from Free League, as I recall -- but noped out on games that appeared to have all the bells and whistles one could desire, but charged $30. There are limits.

As an experiment, I had cranked up the fee on my game to, I think, $4 or so -- nothing astronomical, but a little more noticeable to "eat" when one flaked out on it -- and had zero people skip my game.

This year, I'm planning on running at least two games at GenCon Online and will be charging $4 or $5 again, just to discourage people from skipping out.

Yeah, if it's like 2-4 bucks, just symbolically as a guarantee, I'm okay with that. But not 10-15-30

 

[Celebrim]

Yeah, if it's like 2-4 bucks, just symbolically as a guarantee, I'm okay with that. But not 10-15-30

There is one that is a four-session mini-campaign for $126 a ticket - about $32 for session. For a table of 6 that's $756. That's a bit more than pizza money. I bet you could skip the con and hire a professional DM to come to your house for that and not have to pay the entrance fees or related expenses. I could totally be bribed to run a 16 hour adventure or mini-campaign for $756.

 

[Reynard]

There is one that is a four-session mini-campaign for $126 a ticket - about $32 for session. For a table of 6 that's $756. That's a bit more than pizza money. I bet you could skip the con and hire a professional DM to come to your house for that and not have to pay the entrance fees or related expenses. I could totally be bribed to run a 16 hour adventure or mini-campaign for $756.

Those are the kinds of con games I run and never even considered upcharging. And I have done paid GMing.

 

[MichaelSomething]

If you run through tabletop.events, the site itself charges a fee.