Need ideas for Con games

[Mage]

A local con is coming up (Conclave) and I want to throw together a few ideas for a game or two. Ones I want to run are:

Elric
HAwkmoon
Runequest
Runequest Pirates

That said, I do not want to steal people's ideas, just discuss the right direction to go in. I want to make the scenarios special. I am not to good at one off games where there is something of meaning happening. IMHO cons deserve special, awesome games, not ones that are already published, something for players to frown at and go 'hmmm'...

You get the idea. Epic ideas of grandeur. I have no problems writing stuff or missions, but a few tips from GMs who have done this in the past, for any game, at any con, are welcome.

For Elric I am thinking something to do with the sacking of Immryr.
For Hawkmoon, I am not sure.
For Runequest, again, not sure. And I am not doing Glorantha.
For Pirates, I do not know whether to make it historical, or failing that, fantasy, or steam punk, or akin to history, albeit with runes, or our world in pirate times with races from Glorantha.
One idea is the Black ship, multiverse, high level Corum, Hawkmoon and Elric madness game. I could have four places in that game, one for each player... Interesting... I like this one.

I have ideas for other games and systems, but they shold be OT. These include Cthulhu, and something using the Fuzoin system maybe. I always had a soft spot for Transformers and Legend of Zelda.

Well, Conclave 07 begins Saturday. Please help!

Thanks guys!

 

[Magistus]

I RQ Pirates there are some interesting ideas for other types of Pirate games, you may want to check that section out again.

 

[Mage]

Ya, there is so much stuff there I overload while reading it. Awesome stuff.

So far, solution 1 to RQ pirates: re read game ideas.

Okay, now onto the rest...

 

[Utgardloki]

I find crossover games can be fun, and especially work well for one-shot adventures. The World War II/D&D crossover I ran once went over really well, although the PCs literally didn't get anywhere.

If you like Runequest, perhaps a game where archaic characters end up in the modern world would be good. Runequest is probably a better model for the modern world than D&D is, and if you have CoC it should be easy to come up with modern obstacles.

One thought I had for a game was where the players (from a traditional fantasy world) went through a mirror and ended up on a modern cruise ship that has been taken over by terrorists. I never got a chance to run that game, but it could have a lot of potential.

This forum has a number of threads on using Runequest to model the modern world. I've checked, and the thread I'd started are still back there.

(One of these days I need to organize my notes.)

 

[Loz]

Whatever you do, there are a few things you need to ensure if the con game is to work well.

1. Make sure the game will run in 3-4 hours, tops. This means being strict on how you structure the game, make fights quick, but interesting, and don't build-in encounters that take an aeon to resolve otherwise the characters won't get very far before your slot is over.

2. Design the characters beforehand and make them an intreresting, balanced mix of professons, cultures and skill-sets. Provide a couple of paragraphs on what each character looks like, bit of history, background, and a few quirks that will brng the character to life and offer some nce roleplaying hooks.

3. Decide what rules to showcase and what explanation you need to offer upfront so that everyone understands without having to ask.

4. Be brave in the ideas. Wacky settngs or twists are brilliant for con games, and prevous posts have identified some nice ideas.

5. Be prepared to be flexible when you run the game with the players. Whilst it might be tempting to throw loads of tough monsters at the characters, be ready to pull some punches so that the characters can survive through to the end. Nothing worse than signing up to a con game, only to see your character die in the first hour and that there's nothing for you to do for the next three. Sure, players do some strange and daft things that might warrant their death - but as its a con game (and people might have paid to enter your game), a certan degree of leeway needs to be exercised during play.

Writing a good, balanced con scenario is a tough gig, but its huge amounts of fun when you get the balance right, and you can afford to try out some daring plot twists and character concepts.

 

[Darran]

You could no worse than look at my Con Gaming Advice.

 

[Mage]

Utgardloki - that idea is cool, I may have to 'borrow' it. If that is cool with you of course. Likewise it may be cool to pull some sort of knigths from medival times into the young kingdoms.

Loz - those are very good guidelines, I'll be very careful to keep them in mind every step of the way

Darran - I'll get back to you on that pagee. I need time to read over it.

Thanks again.

EDIT:
Here is an idea, sending Corum, Elric, Erekose and Hawkmoon to WW2 Germany to assasinate hitler, but this WW2 setting is more than what it seems...

 

[GianniVacca]

Hi

This should provide ideas for an interesting cross-over: Pirates/Japan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wokou

 

[Utgardloki]

GianniVacca's post reminded me of a game idea I had for a 7th Sea/Legend of the Five Rings crossover. The idea was that a ship with samuris from Rokugan and a ship with adventurers from 7th Sea are wrecked on an island with a Polynesian culture, where an angry volcano god threatens all their survival.