MU Podcast 048 - The Con in Yellow

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fox01313
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Re: MU Podcast 048 - The Con in Yellow

Post by fox01313 » Mon Feb 03, 2014 4:49 am

Keeper Dan wrote:I agree with EddyPo. You're going to see better reliability with using a portable recorder.
Here are a few that would serve you pretty well for around the table type recording-

Tascam DR-05 Portable Handheld Digital Recorder Bundle
Nice, inexpensive stereo recorder.

TASCAM iM2 Channel Portable Digital Recorder
If you have an iOS device, this plugs in and makes your phone/tablet into a recorder. File size may be an issue here though.

Zoom H1 Handy Portable Digital Recorder
Here's a mono-channel recorder that's a little smaller than the Tascam.

If you'd really prefer going straight to a laptop or netbook, then this might suit your needs-
Samson Go Mic Compact USB Microphone

I hear good things about the Blue Yeti brand too.

Here's a quick definition so you know what you're looking at with mics.
Condenser mics are designed to pick up all the sound around it. This is more appropriate for setting one mic in the center of the table so everyone is heard by it.
Dynamic mics are designed to only pick up the sounds coming from the one focused end. This is what you want for studio recording like a podcast. A Condenser mic in a closed room will pick up every echo and bump in the room, while a dynamic mic will ignore most of that stuff.
Thanks Keeper Dan & EddyPo, all the past work done for school dealing with small animation projects using recorded audio was just with a headset microphone for the project but never tried to record anything larger than just my voice. I'll look around for some of the digital external recorders as they sound quite good & seems better than going with that over using a smaller laptop microphone.
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Re: MU Podcast 048 - The Con in Yellow

Post by trevlix » Wed Feb 05, 2014 5:40 pm

Great episode guys! The con talk was amazing and mirrors my own experiences.

I have run dozens of games at Origins. Here are some tips based on my experience (many mirror what was said in the podcast):

1. Pre-gens are a must! Also, quick background and 1 or 2 sentence descriptions on how they feel about the others are helpful, but make sure the players know they expand it as they want.

2. Figure out how many people you want to play in a game. Then plan for 2 more. At Origins, Call of Cthulhu games are always booked up solid. So inevitably more tickets get sold than there are seats, and I hate turning people away. I would schedule my games for 6 people, but plan for 8.

3. If you can, get together with a number of other Keepers going to the con and organize a group. If you have enough Keepers and games, you may be able to get your own room and make it more moody. Don't know anyone? Look at previous con game listings and track people down, or introduce yourself this year and set up a Google+ community or mailing list to organize for next year.

4. Even in large conventions, its possible to get mood going on. This goes back to my previous point - if you can get your own room the better. The best I've ever seen done is by Rogue Cthulhu. They always have enough GMs to get their own room, and dress it to the 9s. Check out some of the pics - it is amazing.

5. Don't expect the Con staff to be able to do special requests or help you out. Try to be as self-sufficient as possible. Con staff are super busy, and won't always have time to help you out.

6. Prizes rock. Contact companies prior for a book or two to give out. They may not be able to, but it never hurts to ask.

I'm curious, has anyone at a con run or tried to run a scheduled game in their hotel room? As a player, would you do this?
[Trafford: Insanity: 4, Exhaustion: 2]

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Re: MU Podcast 048 - The Con in Yellow

Post by trevlix » Wed Feb 05, 2014 5:49 pm

One more post. Tourneys at Cons. At Origins I helped organize and run the Call of Cthulhu tournament for 2 years (our first year scenarios are in the monograph Toying with Humans). The others who ran it with me were Matt Wiseman, David Noal, and Tony Fragge. Here are my suggestions based on my experience.

1. We ran a 3 tier tourney. There were four qualifies games that used two different scenarios (so you could play either of the two), there were two semi-final games of one scenario, then the final game. Each game was scheduled to allow 6 people in it.

2. We each wrote one of the scenarios, but none were related. This was done on purpose. By splitting up the work, we were sure the scenarios would be completed on time and have different styles to them. We decided early on that trying to relate them was too much work.

3. Instead of giving points to advance, we let the players choose who got to move on. At the end of the game, each player got to vote for 3 people to move on (you could vote for yourself). The first choice got 3 points, the second 2 points, and the third got 1 point. The Keeper counted all of them up and the top 3 got to move on. We also had alternates in case someone couldn't show up. Keepers would break ties.

This worked out very well. We didn't have to worry about determining points and scoring them, and the players got to choose who went on. This was important to us - making the players center to the tournament.

4. Games were scheduled Thurs and Friday of the con. 3 qualifier rounds were played on Thurs and 1 on Fri morning, Fri afternoon were the semi-final, and Fri evening was the final game. We did this for so the tourney wouldn't take up the whole con for us or the players. I realize some cons only go Fri-Sun, but based on my experience w Sunday gaming, I would recommend against having the final game be then. Just my opinion.

And if anyone is wondering, we never had a problem having a full game for any of the rounds. We had scheduled the rounds out in the pre-reg guidebook, so while people could not sign up for the later rounds, they knew when they were.

I think thats it. :)
[Trafford: Insanity: 4, Exhaustion: 2]

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Re: MU Podcast 048 - The Con in Yellow

Post by Keeper Jon » Wed Feb 05, 2014 7:05 pm

Good points, Trevlix. I've actually already begun outlining a trio of scenarios that I plan to run as a tournament in 2015 at KantCon, and hopefully have the whole thing published as a monograph afterwards.

I've copied your list above and saved it to my desktop so I can reference it whenever I need to.

Thanks man.

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Re: MU Podcast 048 - The Con in Yellow

Post by Shannon Mac » Tue Feb 11, 2014 3:29 am

RPG con Keepers in the Bay Area are spoiled by comparison. We almost always get a private room (check out my gaming blog to see the pics of the suites). It's very rare to be put in a crowded area unless you apply very late and even then you can always do Monday (typically a holiday) morning.

Most games are set at 6 seats but give the Keeper the option to add one more.

It's a lot harder to request a 4 seat game (6 is typically the default).

If you do six hours for six players minimum you get free into the con and typically also get weight during the shuffler/lottery to see if you get into a particular game. A few of the cons give you priority slips which lets you pick one game at the con and unless others use priority slips you are guaranteed entry.

Keepers who apply early enough can typically pick a favored date and time.

As I said we're spoiled compared to the tales I hear elsewhere. When smaller cons have tried to offer less it sometimes results in a backlash. :o

BTW, if any of you do ever come out for one of the Bay Area cons let me know and I'll let you know which one is best suitable and of course I'll do a meet and greet.
My gaming blog with pretty pictures: http://www.storytellersjem.blogspot.com/

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Re: MU Podcast 048 - The Con in Yellow

Post by Shannon Mac » Tue Feb 11, 2014 8:50 am

(Fox): I find a laptop too cumbersome. I always have to plug it in and go back to it to stop/pause/change the music soundtrack and such.

I use an Ipad 1 for showing pictures and music. Although I can also have the scenario on there a la my Dropbox/Google Drive I typically print it out as it's faster and I highlight. A few trees were saved during this transition . . . and then some. :yay:
My gaming blog with pretty pictures: http://www.storytellersjem.blogspot.com/

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Re: MU Podcast 048 - The Con in Yellow

Post by DavFlamerock » Wed Feb 12, 2014 12:39 am

In regards to the King in Yellow aspects of the podcast (another great podcast guys!), I was wondering if anyone had read/checked out the Thom Ryng King in Yellow recreation. I'm checking it out to see if it's worth having on hand as a prop (or just for a good read), since the "Yellow Mythos" is really growing on me, and I wanted to see if anyone else had seen it yet.

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Re: MU Podcast 048 - The Con in Yellow

Post by Keeper Jon » Wed Feb 12, 2014 3:49 am

DavFlamerock wrote:In regards to the King in Yellow aspects of the podcast (another great podcast guys!), I was wondering if anyone had read/checked out the Thom Ryng King in Yellow recreation. I'm checking it out to see if it's worth having on hand as a prop (or just for a good read), since the "Yellow Mythos" is really growing on me, and I wanted to see if anyone else had seen it yet.
No, but thank you for the link. It just went on my Amazon Wish List. :cthulhudance:

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