Convention GMing

[UndertakerSheep]

My country has a 'national guild of roleplayers' who meet up once every month, and anyone can join. I've been to three of their gatherings so far and have enjoyed playing with random people A LOT (I've been playing with the same group for two years, ever since I started).

Every meetup, they ask for any of the participants to think about GMing a game next time since they're always low on GMs. I've always wanted to try my hand at that, but I'm not sure what to expect. The guy who always comes with me to these meetups thinks I should give it a try as well.

I've been a GM for a little over two years now, and have GMed D&D 3.5, 4e and Pathfinder. I have little doubt in my skills as a GM and I'm pretty sure I can pull it off, but I'm just a bit anxious to perform in front of strangers and write an adventure for people I don't know.

So people in the playground; what is expected of a GM in a convention-like environment? What can I expect from players? Do some of you have any tips?

[Totally Guy]

Here’s list of basic things you need:

An idea of the scenario or situation.
Characters. GMs for all games should provide characters
Provide all game materials. Be sure you have the right amount of dice, cards and anything else you’ll need.
At least one twist—something new that changes the starting dynamic—but not more than three. For example: You find a magic sword and must decide who gets it…and then you have to find your way out of the dungeon.
Notes, sketches and rough stat blocks for your villains, opposition and monsters
Attitude: Be bold, be confident. Players are sitting at your table because they’re interested in your vision. Impress them.

You need a strong idea for a scenario to keep everyone focussed on the situation during play. Provide characters so you can get right to playing. A scenario that only answers one question can be boring. Be ready to throw in a new element that ratchets up the tension even further (but is, of course, still tied to the characters goals/purpose/role etc). Lastly, your scenario will run more smoothly if you have a rough list of obstacles, stat blocks, problems and potential opposition. It won’t all come into play, but it’s useful to have.

What not to do:

Don’t sit back and expect the players to do all the work. As the scenario runner, it’s your role to mix up the action and provide unexpected turns.
Don’t overprepare. Don’t plan such a detailed scenario that you’ll never hope to finish it in one sitting
DO NOT setting dump. About a minute is all you need.
DO NOT explain the rules. Demonstrate the rules in small chunks as the game progresses.

[BootStrapTommy]

Lol. I giggle because the Netherlands are small enough that there can be one National Roleplayer's Guild there, and people from all over the nation can attend. Literally. They only have to drive like an hour or two...

[Man on Fire]

Few suggestions from somebody who played few convention games and dmed one:

1) Plan a short and simple story, I seen too many games not going anywhere becauseit took players too long to get their **** together
2) Do not do something that plays more like an introduction to a campaing. I seen one good game where we finised at nice point but let many plot threads hanging, and GM told us he till had prepared two other acts prepared. Your game is going to be 3-4 hours long, don't prepare something super big
3) Players talking too long about details of a plan aren't encouraged, always have, as I call it "spare heavy weapons guy" prepared to jump at them if they start dragging the game. If you don't have one, improvise one, you'll explain how he got there later
4) Don't let player vs player attitude ruin the game. I once played in a game in which one player wanted to be in charge and derailed the game to upstage his superiors one of which was my character and I didn't wanted to put on with that, so we ended trying to get one another through entire game. Once we finally started doing the mission, we had 15 minutes to wrap things up. If you see situation like that, put your hand down and order the players to drop it off.