|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Hey Everyone,
My name is Brent Holtsberry. I'm in Sacramento trying to get some PFS action going and would like some advice.
Recently, Pathfinder Society play in Sacramento has mainly consisted of a few home games and the occasional Meetup game.
I'd like to get more public games going, so I've been working with a couple of the stores in the area, and arranged to have a weekly PFS night at each of the stores and a Monthly PFS games day at one of them.
There is a new local website to help facilitate communication for the PFS community here, and a Sacramento PFS group that has around 50 members which has been the primary means of communication for PFS play here the past few years.
I've gotten the games set up, posted their availability to the yahoo group and website, have a warhorn website people can sign up for the games on, as well as posted them here on Paizo (of course).
So now I'm looking for what to do next.
There are all kinds of things I could try, to get people to show up for games, and I'm looking to see if organizers from other areas have advice on what worked (and what didn't work) to get people to actually sign up and show up.
I don't necessarily expect tons of people to show up just out of the gate, but I'd hate to be in a position six months from now where the GMs still have to run a pre-gen themselves just to have most of the tables make.
And of course the long-term goal is the get PFS to consistently grow here over the next few years.
So any advice from you organizers out there?
Thanks for your help!
Brent (Daerthon)
|
It sounds like you are doing about everything you can. You've opened the doors and let people know how to get through them. Kudos!
About the only thing that I would add, after recent threads here, is be a welcoming as possible to everyone who comes to play. It tends to lead to a better environment for everyone. Once word of mouth gets around, I'm sure you'll be overflowing with players.
Also, keep an eye out for the good judges or those with the potential to be good judges, then foster that ability within them. Good GMs can be both harder or easier to find depending on your region and a lot of people are just afraid to give it a try. Show support to those that do.
|
|
Heh, there's some flyers (some very good one I've seen) floating around that you can post in public areas gamers might congregate.
It doesn't work locally for me as well as their is an awful lot of Game Store rivalry in Omaha (We have one of the highest ratios of game stores to population in the country). But coffee shops, conventions, bookstores, etc. would be good.
One of the VCs made a gorgeous flyer but I don't remember who or where to find it :(
|
|
Here's the biggest piece of advice I can give you: try, whenever possible, to have your best GMs running low-level tables. It's tempting to seat your high-level players with your best GMs, because those GMs have great rules knowledge and can make magic happen in that environment. That's a given.
BUT...
Your low-level tables are going to be the first impression that new gamers get from Pathfinder Society. If you've got a weak GM, then that's a bad first impression, and a player who might not come back next week.
Those high-level players? They're coming back already - they've already played a bunch of sessions.
Keep your heavy weapons for the ones you really need to impress.
|
If you organize it, they will come.
Host events on a regular, predictable cycle. Don't commit to more events than you will be comfortable with doing over and over for the long haul.
Be super-welcoming to new players. Make it easy for them to sit down and play. Make it fun for them, even if they don't know jack about Pathfinder.
Be tolerant of different tastes and play styles, but not of jerks or bad GMs. Cater your events to the people you want to play more. If you attract any bad apples, its ok if they are mad because they can't have exactly what they want. Don't try to rescue the jerks at the expense of the good ones.
If you run fun games, you won't have to do much to get players. Word of mouth is the best advertising that there is. And definitely cultivate possible GMs early, because your games will gain popularity and you will need them soon!
Good luck and check in on the boards any time you need assistance or advice or want to crow about your successes!