Weekly Short-Shots

Here's a summary of lessons learned by members of Seattle Gamers Assemble! (SGA) after several years of running weekly game events. You can see a partial overview of some of the games we've played on the SGA Gaming Night Archive.

In this section, we assume that you already have some sort of a community to start from: a local mailing list, a gaming circle, a game club, a Meetup group, etc. If not, you may want to read Forming a Gaming Community first.

Where and When

Some important considerations about the logistics of the games. First off, you should know that you have to make your weekly event a convenient no-brainer to find. If people have to spend time figuring out:

• the location and time,
• how to get there,
• what's the closest bus route,
• is there any food nearby,
• can you bring food and drinks inside,
• is there a cover charge,

Etc., you will lose some of them -- perhaps too many to keep your event alive.

Scheduling

If you have a game at a set time on a set day, it's easier for people to remember and plan for it. Ideally, a game every week really becomes part of everyone's mental landscape. You may not be able to hold a game so often; if you have to plan a lower frequency (every other week, twice a month, monthly, quarterly, etc.), be ready for more coordination work, more reminders, and more promotion. It's all trade-offs!

We at SGA try to have a game every week; we've found this to be most effective. That means that some dedicated people are always ready with a back-up game if there is a cancellation (more on this later).

Location

Again, consistence is preferable. When we first started our Monday night short-shots, we used to meet at various gaming stores, wherever we could find free space. One thought was that this would help various gaming stores by spreading the business. Eventually, we came to the conclusion that there were more benefits than advantages:

• We couldn't be sure to get space every week.
• We spent a lot of effort coordinating both with our members ("Where is the game this week?") and with the store owners.
• If there were last minute changes, it made it hard to find people to warn them.
• The spaces available were not always optimal (too small, too hot, too cold, too noisy, competing with other groups for space, etc.)
• Bus routes were not always convenient.

So we decided we needed to hold the game at the same location every time. We considered the options available at the time and decided we should abandon the idea of a free space; we opted for room rental at a LAN gaming store that had a meeeting room in the back and was located next to a gaming store in a central location. When they closed, we found a home at a local gaming club, Metro Seattle Gamers (MSG), that was at the time primarily focusing on board games and wargames but had a club house. (More on MSG under Forming a Gaming Community.)

Calendar

If you're reading this, you're probably online and Web-savvy (unless one of your friends took the time to print this for you.) So the tool you definitely should use to make your life easier is an online calendar to post your game schedule and send reminders. Whatever your platform for group discussion is (mailing list, forum, blog, etc.), chances are it offers a calendar feature. If you haven't looked into it yet, here are some of your (free) avenues:

• Yahoo Groups all offer a calendar
• So do Meetup groups
• Google Calendar is quite nice too

Make sure the calendar you pick offers the following features:

• Set recurring events: So you can program your weekly, mothly, etc. game.
• Edit even recurring events on a one-time basis: So you can add details for a specific game.
• Send automatic reminders to the group: So you can nudge potential players a few day before the game.
• Some access protection: So only your group can change, add or delete events to the calendar.

If one person in your group can take charge of updating calendar items, you may find the system works better. While we functioned for a long time with different arrangements, right now we have one person who makes sure that all anounced games are on the calendar, auto-reminders for time and place are up-to-date, and any changes are added. That way, we no longer get reminders for events that have been cancelled or rescheduled, etc. Getting obsolete reminders just confuses everybody and makes your event appear less reliable.

Games

Having a weekly event is a grand idea, but what games are you going to play?

Indie, Oldie, Oddball

When we first started these events, the focus was on indie games. While this was a fine idea and we have had many great indie games through the years, there were times when we just didn't have enough people to run and play only indie games, or when the general mood was simply for something else.

Nowadays, we're open to anything anyone wants to run. In practice, the games that have really got people fired up are the "Indies, Oldies, and Oddballs": small-press games, out-of-print games, home brews, forgotten favourites, new releases, weird mixes, etc.

Moreover, having a variety of game styles attracted people that might not have been there if the events had been dedicated to a single style. We got a lot of cross-pollination this way. It's more welcoming, and it makes new GMs less self-conscious or hesitant to offer to run their oddball game.

The "right" range will vary with groups, of course, but one of the keys is to get people interested. The game you've always wanted to try, the one you just bought, the two that make such an odd combination -- these can fire up your group's imagination.

A Game in your Back Pocket

Make sure you have some games to play every week (or every event if you use a different frequency.) If people aren't sure that there will be something this week, if they think it's shaky, iffy, and they could be wasting their time by showing up, they'll be less likely to make the effort.

What this means is that you'll often need a Plan B when life gets in the way and this week's GM can't make it. Have a few games ready, games that can be played on short notice. Several times our evenings have been rescued by pulling out a no-prep game such as Universalis, Once Upon A Time, etc.

Or you can have an episodic game where the GM keeps an episode ready for the next lull; in our group, GMs have popped games of Call of Cthluhu, Low Life, Castle Falkenstein, etc. when we had a cancellation.

Promoting

Getting people to come to the games.

Growing

Baby steps!

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