Gaming  Recruitment – We Want You To Expand The Gaming Empire!

Look at these gamers. Their dice…listless. Their models sitting on a shelf or worse yet, in a box in the closet. These gamers suffer from noeventicus, a plague that is surging across this world giving gamers no hope for a bright fun filled gaming future. It’s up to you! For just a small donation of running one event a year, you can fill their gaming bellies and keep them sated and flourishing as a good gamer should.

 

The Gauntlet

I would like to challenge each and every one of you to get out of your garage/basement/apartment/house/backyard/toolshed/space station to put one more games for others! Although my game of choice as of late is 40k, this applies to just about any game system out there.

The reason is simple – without good games for gamers to go to, the hobby will suffer. Events, leagues, tournaments, gaming days, etc spur gamers on to do more, paint more, play more, and get others involved. Good things for gamers to go to encourages them to be more involved in the hobby and keeps gaming alive in your area.

We Chosen Few

In the Portland, OR area, we have a ton of gaming stores, but there are probably only 3-4 people/places that run any kind of tournaments or events in my area. I’ve had to schedule tournaments and get help from other guys to help me run them just to be able to play and get a chance for some ITC points. I’ve also been running the 40k league at my FLGS (Friendly Local Gaming Store) and have tried to implement some systems there to encourage both competitive and casual gaming. We need more! More people to run events in the area to encourage new players and get old players away from Fallout 4 and back to the hobby table.

What’s Your Flavor?

The great thing about this is that you get to choose what flavor of event you want to run. Casual monthly league, narrative event, competitive tournament, modified maelstrom tournament, whatever! You get to decide what kind of event you run or get involved with. One great thing about the ITC is that you don’t have to use their missions or FAQ, just have a win/loss format. Don’t want it to be super competitive? Have people turn in lists before hand and give them a pass or fail if they are too hard or run it Highlander style or whatever way you want to make it the event for you and your area.

To be honest, the hobby needs more events and tournaments that are narrative based or more casual in mind than the hard hitting ITC events we hear about. There are so many gamers out there and gamer styles that you will be sure to scratch the itch that many gamers feel and hopefully either bring them out of retirement or even better into the hobby. More players equals more games equals more fun!

Partners

Any good event needs partners. Your best bet is your local gaming group and/or your local gaming store. Talk to the shop owner about running an event, charge an entry fee and have the money go towards gift certificates or store credit. The store wins with exposure and guaranteed money into their system and gamers win with events to come and play.

Your local gaming crew should also be a great place for partners. Cash in on some of that friendship and ask them to help setup and tear down or to round robin the TO (tournament organizer) duties.

The Basics

I’ve already written about the things you need to run a tournament or league but I’ll go over the basics again.

Venue – You need a location. This is usually a game store, but it doesn’t have to be. I’ve seen 40k run in an Elks Lodge, Hotel Banquet room, and on a guy’s Porch! Serious props go out to a local guy in the Northwest – Fluger I’m talking about you (blush). (Side bar – whenever I see Fluger’s name on a forum or post I get the MacGruber SNL theme song parody of MacGyver with “The Fluger” in place of “MacGruber”. Don’t know why. Just do.) Anywho, with the old Flug being unable to attend any events due to the birthing of many children and whatnot, he decided to do WarPorch, monthly events at his house and on his porch. Great idea! Good job Fluger!

This just goes to show you there are lots of places you can host events, think outside the box if you have to.

Tables/Terrain – Every event needs gaming tables and this can be one of the largest hurdles you face. Most game stores already have this, but you might not have that luxury. The most typical is probably plywood or MDF over a plastic table. Go to Home Depot and use their wood cutting system to cut MDF boards into three 2×4 foot sections and you have a sturdy gaming platform for only about $7. Or put out the call to your gamer friends on Facebook or forums in the area and see what you can borrow. I bet you could find a ton of terrain, tables, and even F.A.T. Mats to run your event with. Frontline also has some great deals for TO’s to get terrain and F.A.T. Mats at a discounted price to help you out.

Missions – For 40k, just use the ITC missions. Easy peasy! Or come up with your own. Do whatever you want to fill your flavor.

Scoring – I love me some Warscore! Its free! Did I mention its free!?!?

Publicity – Ever hear of Facebook? This little site that is used by billions? Use it! Twit it! Instagram it! Snapchat it! Make it an ITC event and hear it talked about on the FG podcast! Post on different forums local and national. Get the word out and people will come. There are a ton of free tools to use.

Burn Out

This is a huge problem and one I see and feel all the time. So few people that get burned out of running events and fade away. We need people to pick up the torch and keep the fire alive so we can all prosper. I challenge each and every one of you to keep gaming alive and growing in your area. Start small with one event and see what happens. If you do it well, you just might end up with the next Adepticon on your hands. Be careful though, and don’t let your hobby consume you and eat up your passion. With more people pitching in the gaming load will be light.

I really hope more people will join me in the fight to grow gaming in their area. Pick up your dice and charge into the night! One thing I hope to do is to create a TO packet or resource that someone could read or download and have everything they need to run a tournament.

What about you? What gaming event ideas are bouncing around in your head? Post below and share! Don’t forget to think about Frontline Gaming for your next purchase! Get up to 25% off your order!