Gen Con 2015 Feedback

[The Orange Mailman]

GenCon 2015 Feedback


I had a suggestion for Matthias that I think is worth implementing. I keep noticing that during our tournaments that people are walking up asking about Heroscape, how they can learn, and where they can get the game. It’s no secret that our numbers were down this year. I would like for us to have a good relationship with those that are looking to learn the game. We shouldn’t just cater to those who already know the game and love it. We should be inclusive toward those that are on the outside looking in.


My wife had a couple of negative experiences, the main one being with Legendary. We had wanted to learn how to play, but the room was packed with people who wanted to try the new Secret Wars expansion. These weren’t people who wanted to learn the game, they just wanted a sneak peek at something new for a game they already knew how to play. She said the people were not friendly and half way through the Con, they cancelled a bunch of their events. All she wanted to do was to be led through a tutorial on how to play.


The response that I heard for those that wanted to learn Heroscape was, “Come back for Open Play.” The problem is that Open Play is at 9:00pm. Why would we tell them to come back when we have open maps available and people that could teach them?


So here is my suggestion. During each tournament, except for the Main Event, we have 2 maps set aside for Heroscape Demos. Anyone who wants to learn the game can sign up online since it will be an official event, or they can bring a Generic Ticket if the event is not full and get a tutorial on how to play. Besides setting aside the maps, someone would have to be willing to lead people through a tutorial. Also, I would suggest having 6-8 armies available to choose from between 400-450 points. Let each person choose their army, then let them face off showing them the game mechanics. If there is only one person, then the person leading the tutorial can play against them, making suggestions to them as the game progresses.


I would be willing to take one tournament and lead people through tutorials. If it’s a 4 hour tournament, that’s 4 slots of 2 people apiece. I could introduce the game to 8 people just by being available when people walk up and start asking. We had quite a few people ask, but only 2 young kids came back for Open Play this past year. Come to find out, they have the game at home, but were not aware of all the rules on how to play. This also happened to me at Grand Con (a smaller game convention near me.) There was a teen age boy who had the game but never learned how to play. I led him and another guy through a demo and they both really enjoyed the game.


Perhaps if we just had one tournament each day during prime time whereby demos were available that would be sufficient. One Thursday, one Friday, and one Saturday would be 24 people introduced to the game. I mentioned this to Matthias and he said he would think about it. He wanted a break from all this until October. Guess what month it is?


So if anyone else has any feedback, here is the thread. And what do you think of this idea?

[Dad_Scaper]

I think that's a great idea. It could even be ticketed in one hour slots, for any event where we don't anticipate using all the maps. There are more than enough Heroscape TD's to cover both responsibilities, IMHO.

[Hendal]

That sounds great, I would think a 250 game would do it, have like 20 pre-arrangged armies for them to pick from ( or maybe only 12, what ever), just need a some volunteers to be ready if someone want to play - maybe have a nice big sign that says ( learn how to play Heroscape with generic tickets) or something similar.

[caps]

This is a great idea, btw.

[William099]

Did we end up deciding to implement this this year? I agree we should do this.

[lefton4ya]

I am pretty sure there are 24 maps for us to play on. Some times 1-4 concurrent events take up all 48 spots (when fully booked), but other times there are spots left, so I don't see why generics can't be used for more "learn-to-play" games. Here are times that are open and # of slots open:
Thursday at 11AM - 3:30 pm
Flex Tourney has 24 open spots, so 24 generics possible.
Thursday at 4PM - 8:30 pm
4x400, Monster Mash, and Magic: Arena of the Planeswalkers Tourney all have 16 players, so no generics
Thursday at 9PM - 1AM
Heroscape Open Play (including @dok 's 600 classic), Learn to Play (sold out) have 28 spaces, so 20 more can join using generics
Friday at 10AM - 2:30 PM
4x500, Heat of the Battle, Uniques Only, Learn to Play - I count 52 players, which means I think they might be oversold or the map count is off
Friday at 3PM - 9 pm
Main event uses all 48 spaces
Friday at 9PM - 1 AM
Heroscape open play (including C3V Take-2, Learn to Play, and Magic: Arena of the Planeswalkers open play - total have 28 spaces, so 20 more can join using generics
Saturday at 10AM - 2:30 PM
4x300, Day 2, Kids Tourney - uses all 48 spaces
Saturday at 3PM - 9 PM
General Wars - uses all 48 spaces, but might not sell out.
Sunday at 10AM - 2 PM
Team Up - 32 players (all sold out) so 12 more can use generics

[fomox]

Originally Posted by William099

Did we end up deciding to implement this this year? I agree we should do this.

We did! There are several Learn to Play events with a dedicated GM for just that. There will be two maps (in addition to the 24 for tournaments) for this. Those events are sold out, and, assuming it goes well this year, that suggests we could do even more next year. It's GM-intensive, but I'm pretty excited about it, too.

As to lefton4ya's point above: In theory, additional learn-to-play games might be possible if there's:
A) map room
B) someone free to supervise
C) figures, cards, etc free to use
D) A GM available to collect generics and record who is playing where.

I am very happy to have 'scapers being proactive about this. I'm also a bit wary of this just happening spontaneously without the GMs knowing (and approving) of it. We are running three simultaneous tourneys for the first time, so some GMs might feel a bit overwhelmed at keeping track of more of this. (Again, we won't have dedicated GMs for it except during the actual Learn to Play event times.)

I'm not sure there will be a big audience for it (it isn't in the list of events, so I don't know how someone would know to come), but if someone shows up, ask a GM or me and we'll see if it's feasible. It may be a good idea that works well.

[Dad_Scaper]

Make sure you guys collect generics, if something like that happens on the spot.

[Tornado]

What are you going to charge?

One generic?

I could drop some off some generics so people interested in trying out Heroscape are not turned away.

[fomox]

Originally Posted by Tornado

What are you going to charge?

One generic?

I could drop some off some generics so people interested in trying out Heroscape are not turned away.

In case anyone is missing this: The official Learn to Play events are sold out.

Lefton4ya is talking about possibly doing it at other times. I am not sure if we can even do that yet, and even if we can, the GMs at the time may prefer not to. If it happens, I think it would have to be two generics per person learning, and there would need to be someone (in addition to the scheduled GMs) supervising it. I will ask Gencon if they are okay with that, but it will be an @gencon decision.

Also note: This won't happen at all on Sunday, as we are cleaning up maps at that point, and all others are used for the team tournament.

[Tornado]

Cool. Thanks fomox.

[dok]

Props to T.O.M. for this idea. The "learn to play" events seemed like a huge success.