Organized Play Discussion w/ Ian of Wizards - Summary pg 1

[truth]

I am making this thread at the request of Ian Richards who will be in charge of setting up an organized play system for Heroscape.

Edit from Bunjee: Summary (if you can call it that) of brainstorming through this post.

What we need to start
Ian, could you start by giving us your vision of what you think Heroscape organized play will look like?

Timeline
How soon should we expect to see sanctioned events start to pop up? Is there anything the average Heroscaper can do to help?

Questions to Members (created by Grungebob)
How often would you like to have events?
Do you have a local game store?
Do they have space for tourneys?
Would you be willing to pay to play or purchase to play?
How many hours do you think would be reasonable for an event at a game store (consider that the store is a business)?
Should the store supply maps, or should players be expected to provide supplies?
Are prizes expected? Is swiss style acceptible (DCI is the swiss software WOTC uses)?
Do players prefer single elimination (which admittedly frees up store space)?
If an event happened once a month, what would be an acceptible entry fee?
What ages should be allowed?
Should there be separate age based events so that 40 year olds don't get beat by 9 year olds?
Would players be happy playing in smaller point tourneys that can be played faster or on smaller maps?

Member answers to the questions follow starting here:
http://heroscapers.com/community/sho...=496527#528488

Existing Events
Continue the tradition of Scape day. National Heroscape day is the third saturday in October. It is a fairly large and involved national day of tourneys!
Comparisons to WOTC D&D miniatures, and SW Miniatures, and Magic events.
http://heroscapers.com/community/sho...=496347#528307

Store Support
Would WotC consider having in store promotion tournaments. Once tournament rules are set up would you promote it in hobby stores as a game promotion.
Questions for stores (created by Grungebob):
As a Gamestore owner, how do they feel about the cost/space requirements of Heroscape?
What about the amount of time devoted to having the store swamped with people?
It can be good/and bad for business. At one local game store, if I go in and they are having a Magic tourney, I turn around and leave, because I know I will not be able to browse in peace like I prefer.
Mention to the game store owner how Ian has made himself known to our site and that change is on the way.

A way to find stores around us that have connections to Wizards: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=findastore&redir=1

Physical and Time considerations
How will WOTC address the resource and setup requirements associated with running sanctioned Heroscape events?
Does the gamestore provide the map pieces? and if so, do they have storage space? Would WotC be willing to provide all materials needed. AKA Terrain,Dice,Figures(for the demo maps),and any other items needed to host it.
How big must a game store be?
How many maps can fit on a standard table?
What is the average width of a map?
What is the minimum amount of expansions necessary to create map variety?
How many hours does a game store need to set aside for a tourney?
How long is set up and tear down?
How to handle extremely large events (50+ participants)
Encourage weekday events.

Tournament Directors
How much leeway would tournament hosts have with the sanctioned events? Will there be a strict guideline to follow in order to remain "official"?
Can anyone host a tournament or get support for a tournament, or will it have to be a WotC representative?
If there needs to be a WotC representative how can I become one?
Can a tourney be run with paper and pencil or will all WOTC Heroscape events be logged into a DCI?
Does the Game store support DCI, or is the individual event organizer going to need to be in contact with a WOTC rep?

Competitive options
Any chance we will see scenario type tournaments?
The standards for tournaments should be broad enough to include smaller events - think Friday Night Magic - with encouragement to attract more casual players.
What framework for regular, officially supported, events do you foresee?
There should be a number of formats for play including:

• 2 vs 2 Team constructed
  1 vs 1 constructed and draft
  4 player free for all constructed and draft
  Specific scenarios created just for an event
  Swiss Style
  Point Differential
  Team Format

Army considerations
Will 500 point armies be the norm or will it be tournament type specifies?
Some believe there is a place for bans and limits
Others feel there should be no banned figures. There should be no retired or restricted figures except for specific types of tournaments aka Original master set only.
Will Con promotional figures and store exclusives continue to be legal?
Will Marvel be its own tournament structure or incorporated in to the Original Heroscape structure

Map considerations
There should be a system for sanctioning maps for tourneys.
Will maps be known in advance?

Ranking/Scoring
Will there be player rankings?
What kind of scoring will you implement?
Many people liked the way the ranking system worked at the 2007 Gencon Heroscape events.
Will there be a global registry of all players?

Exclusives/Promotional items/Prize support
Will there be exclusives associated with participation in a Heroscape tournement?
How will prize suport be handled? As much as I love having new characters with the exclusives, I'm not sure I would like that as prize support
Will WotC help with prizes or certificates or anything?
There should be fun participation prizes.
There should be no super-rare (or powerful) prize figures
Concern regarding prizes that can only be won at the tourneys, this should be avoided.

[ParaGoomba Slayer]

Will there be exclusives associated with participation in a Heroscape tournement?

[allskulls]

Welcome, Ian!

While I consider myself a competitive player, I enjoy the more relaxed and friendly type gaming. This includes tournaments. I think competition and fun, friendly play can go hand in hand. So far, every Heroscape tournament that I have been in has been just that. I think a lot of it has to do with them being run by the fans so here are my questions:

1) How much leeway would tournament hosts have with the sactioned events? Will there be a strict guideline to follow in order to remain "official"?

2) Will there be player rankings?

3) How will prize suport be handled? As much as I love having new characters with the exclusives, I'm not sure I would like that as prize support. Just speaking from bad experiences in the Hero Clix sanctioned tournaments. I would love to see custom painted figures of existing figures as prizes.

4) Any chance we will see scenario type tournaments?

That's it so far. Thank you!

[gamjuven]

Hello and thank you for deciding to go this route for Heroscape! I am very much looking forward to organized and competitive play in Heroscape. I hope it goes similarly to what I'm used to but anything is a plus.

What kind of scoring will you implement?

Can anyone host a tournament or get support for a tournament, or will it have to be a WotC representative?

Will WotC help with prizes or certificates or anything?

If there needs to be a WotC representative is there any way I can become one?

Will 500 point armies be the norm?

That's all I can think of at this moment. Thanks again for listening to Heroscapers!

[chief]

Hey Ian welcome aboard. Its good to see another staff member.
First off I am curios as to the answers of gamjuven's questions. Second I have a question of my own.

Right now theres a similar condition across the world. In some places heroscape has picked up really fast. But in others its pretty scare when it comes to large based public interest. What i want to know is this. Would WotC consider having in store promotion tournaments. Once tournament rules are set up would you promote it in hobby stores as a game promotion. For example.

my locally gaming store is Hobbytown USA. Great little store.Anyway the main manger who I have gotten to know personally and some employees really like the game. Dont own it but they like it. Now Mike(thats his name) wants to carry heroscape. But like many other small stores its not profitable for him. Now I have talked to him and we came up with a really good idea. If he had the supplies he'd like to do 3 things.
1.Have all workers learn the game.
2.Carry it
3.Hold promotional tournaments

Now when we say promotional tournaments this is waht we mean.
Mike's store has a nice big back room with lots table and chairs. On weekends he has all kinds of game tournaments their. Anyway this is what were thinking. If he had the supplies he'd like to host weekly tournaments. Before the store opens we would set up around 6 maps to accommodate 4 to 5 people each. But right at the front of the play room we would have 3 more 4 o5 people maps and 3 or 4, 2 to 3 people maps.
The first maps would be used to hold the tournament. They would provide the perfect set up. However those secondary maps would be promotional. We feel that the best way to recruit is to play. So as the tourney is going on people new can come over with the volunteers which would be me and other people to teach them the game. This way you have a major event going on and if newbies like the look of it they can try out without and harm or shame to them. What Mike wants to know is that once the terrain packs start coming in and small boosters that if he would want to start up this kind of thing. Would WotC be willing to provide all materials needed. AKA Terrain,Dice,Figures(for the demo maps),and any other items needed to host it.


Any help you can give is great. Thanks again for helping us out.

[Doc_Savage]

Ian - Thank you for joining our community.

Ideas and Goals for Heroscape Organized Play

1 - The standards for tournaments should be broad enough to include smaller events - think Friday Night Magic - with encouragement to attract more casual players.

2 - There should be no banned figures. There should be no retired or restricted figures with the following exception. Master Set Tournaments that include only the figures from a specific Master Set. This format would be easiest for drafts.

If a figure is being used by everyone in their army or needs to be drafted against then there would be 2 options. Create a counter strategy figure or an errata should be issued and well publicized. The easiest fix would be a points adjustment. Ideally a PDF Army Card would be created and posted on the official site.

There are a number of figures that are never drafted and errata would encourage their use.

3 - There should be a number of formats for play including:

2 vs 2 Team constructed
1 vs 1 constructed and draft
4 player free for all constructed and draft
Specific scenarios created just for an event

4 - There should be a system for sanctioning maps for tourneys.

5 - There should be a player ranking system.

6 - There should be fun participation prizes. Things like new cards for the errata'd or misprinted figures. Repainted promo figures. If you make a repaint promo or prize figure a homemade repaint with a homemade printed card should be legal. This will prevent the Tournament organizers from having to be the repaint police. While Heroscape players have collections, this is not a 'collectible' style game. No rares, no super-rares, etc.

7 - There should be no super-rare (or powerful) prize figures. Please don't go all 'clix on the prizes.

8 - Continue the tradition of Scape day.

9 - Encourage and support the brand until it is the most popular miniatures system in the world.

[Grungebob]

Hi Ian! Just want to point out that National Heroscape day is the third saturday in October. It is a fairly large and involved national day of tourneys! Very good thing.


Ian, could you start by giving us your vision of what you think Heroscape organized play will look like? What framework for regular, officially supported, events do you foresee? How soon should we expect to see sanctioned events start to pop up? Is there anything the average Heroscaper can do to help?

[tchop]

The prizes are a must. Most of that duty should probably still go to the organizer but whatever you can do is sweet. I went to an iowa tournament last year (the treetown open) and it was completely sweet. It was around sixty people and ran smoothly with scoring and prizes handled perfectly. You should ask codeman and jormi for feedback on tournaments.
Wytefang is another one to talk to. We had an awesome tournament in minnesota in january with a little less turnout but an excellent time nonetheless.
These guys (along with countless other awesome tournament holders here I never got the chance to play with) should be able to tell you the problems, logistics, etc.., of holding a heroscape tournament.
On a different note, It's cool you wotc guys are jumping right into the bucket about this. I'm pretty stoked you get to browse the site and talk to us. If you happen to be browsing any of the old threads and find a "heroscape rap song," pay no attention- it's pretty rough.

[NFCfan]

the absolute greatest thing that could happen would be for WOTC to develop a download that would enable online tournaments. A site wide 300 person tournament would be insane

[southwest ninja]

Originally Posted by BIGJIM

WELCOME IAN !! BY NOW YOU PROBALY HAVE A HECK OF A LOT OF QUESTION BEING THROWN AT YOU ! AND IN DUE TIME YOU WILL ANSWER THEM ; BUT THE ONLY ONE I HAVE TO ASK IS ..............
WHEN WILL THE NEXT WAVE COME OUT?????
THANK YOU!

wrong place for this. titles of threads are there for a reason.


back on topic.
my concern is that of what exclusives will be given as prizes or just for attending these official tournements. this wouldnt be bad except if it went as far as a new exclusive every month or every other month. its hard enough to keep up with the exclusives when there is only one a year. others here have stated it has happened in other games run by wotc and im just hoping it doesnt move its way into heroscape.

[Grungebob]

I would prefer that we not use this discussion to talk about prizes/exclusives. This is not about freebies as much as it is about planning. I think we can safely assume that WOTC will support in whatever way their budget allows. What we need to discuss is the actual structuring and coordination of organized play.

[Tiberius]

I agree with Grungebob, prizes are secondary, I am more interested in what the official format, scoring, etc will be.