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  Organizing LIVING GREYHAWK events in the Bandit Kingdoms 
   
  With the unparalleled growth of the Living Greyhawk campaign comes the problem that, here in 
  Oklahoma and Texas, we don’t have a very large infrastructure of event organizers and clubs. In 
  many cities, there is no RPGA activity at all! For those of you who want to run a Living 
  Greyhawk gathering, be it a private show, game day, or even convention, you will probably be 
  faced with a dilemma: nobody in your area has done it before, or is already so busy with other 
  RPGA activity that they can’t help much. This is a sure sign that you or someone you know 
  needs to become an event organizer. 
   
  So, after you’ve made the decision to do something about a lack of events in your area, what 
  next? Well, the first step is to line up a location to have your event. Will it be a private, 
  invitation-only affair at your home? A small, one or two table game day at a retail store? Part of 
  an already existing convention? A new convention? Once you’ve figured out the scope of the 
  event, you will be better-prepared in finding an appropriate location. Game stores tend to make 
  the best locations for beginning game days since they tend to offer free/cheap gaming space and 
  word-of-mouth advertising to the very people you want to show up to your event: gamers. 
   
  Once you have a time and place set up, you need to order the scenarios from RPGA. All you 
  have to do is be a Guild-level member in RPGA, which costs $20 per year. You can join online 
  at www.rpga.com. Make sure to write down your new RPGA number! Then, you need to go to 
  your member-only page at rpga.com, type in your RPGA# and password, and go through the 
  steps as indicated on the webpage to order scenarios for an event. You might want have an idea 
  of what scenario(s) you want to order first, but this isn’t necessary. You can find out what’s 
  available at the Game Play section of rpga.com. You can also find out what events are going on 
  in your area in this section, on the Convention Calendar, so it’s a good one for organizers to visit 
  regularly. Finally, the Game Play section has some recommendations and information that makes 
  a valuable tool to new organizers. 
   
  Now you’ve got the location information and the scenarios ordered, what next? Dungeon 
  Masters. You have to have DMs to run an RPGA event, it’s that simple. And in Living 
  Greyhawk, you need good DMs because of the complexity of the scenarios and the expectations 
  of the players. If you think you’ll only have one table, you may be able to handle this yourself. 
  At first, this may be your only option. Keep in mind as you talk to people about the event that 
  you need other judges to keep things going over a long period of time, though. The best trick to 
  get new judges is to play the game and make sure people see that it’s FUN to DM. You’ll have 
  them lining up in no time, especially when they realize that without DMs, there is no game. If 
  you live in an area that already has RPGA activity, there may already be LG judges the Triad has 
  picked out just for this purpose; feel free to contact these people and ask if they’re available for 
  your event. The Triad also has points-of-contact in most areas of the region; these individuals 
  should be able to help you with any questions you have, and may be able to attend your first 
  event as well. Contact information for LG judges and points-of-contact can be found on the 
  Bandit Kingdoms webpage. 
   
  Now you have advertisement. Fliers are a good way to get the word out, as is having a webpage 
  for the event and posting the URL to e-mail lists and sending it to friends. You can contact the 
  
   
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  Triad to have your event posted on the Bandit Kingdoms event calendar, and the RD may also be 
  able to help with advertisement. Establishing a relationship with a gaming store may also prove 
  to be useful advertisement, as the store employees make others aware of your event over time. 
   
  Scheduling is an important step for events with more than one table or slot. A table consists of 
  from four to six (or sometimes seven) players and a DM. A slot is a four-hour session in which 
  the adventure is run. Some scenarios are designed for longer sessions, such as 6 or 8 hours, or 
  even 12 hours. Once you have multiple slots and/or tables per slot, you’ll need to keep 
  everything straight so that everyone involved knows the same information. A schedule really 
  helps. Make this available to the people who need the information. It’s not necessary to let 
  everyone coming to the event know which judges are running which slots, but it’s important that 
  the judges know so they can understand how they fit in to the overall plan and can find 
  replacements easier if they can’t make it. On the other hand, the players do need to know what 
  scenarios are being run during which slots. 
   
  Now you have another problem: printing. At first this may not seem like a big deal, but large 
  clubs spend a lot, if not most, of their dues and fees on printing costs. Keep this in mind as you 
  think about how much to charge for the games you run. Typical fees range from $1 to $3 per 
  person per 4-hour game, in addition to costs for space (door fees). Living Greyhawk certificates 
  should be printed on high-quality paper or cardstock, using a color printer. The scoring packet 
  should be printed on both sides on color paper (blue and yellow is common), and everything else 
  in black & white, on white paper. While you’re getting office supplies, some things to get 
  include: envelopes for scenarios (12”x8”) and judge packs (8”x5”), colored metallic pens (for 
  judges to use when signing log sheets and certificates), regular pens, pencils, binders, colored 
  paper, white paper, and cert paper (cardstock or fancy paper is good). Oh, and inkjet and/or toner 
  cartridges, depending you your printing requirements. All of this can be paid for eventually out 
  of fees for the games. 
   
  If you’re organizing for a convention, which for RPGA standards requires at least 25 tables of 
  RPGA events run over at least two days, you are eligible to hold slot zeros. These are games in 
  which only judges and volunteers are invited to play. This allows the convention volunteers to 
  play in the scenarios before the con, so they can concentrate more on their volunteer activity and 
  not worry about having missed playing in a scenario. It’s basically a perk for volunteers, and 
  should not be abused by allowing non-volunteers to play unless necessary to “make” the table. 
  This is an excellent way to keep judges from complaining about “eating” scenarios (meaning 
  they judge it without having played it, and thus will never be able to play it), and for the most 
  part slot zero tables tend to have higher-quality players and are a lot of fun. 
   
  Now you’ve got your judges prepared, certs and scoring packs printed, schedule made, and are 
  probably busy answering a lot of last-minute questions by prospective attendees and volunteers 
  alike. The time for the event is at hand. Make plans to show up early and stay late. If nothing 
  else, you’ll have more time to chat about one of your favorite topics: gaming! At worst, you 
  won’t mess up any of your other plans if things get complicated somehow. For larger shows, like 
  big game days or conventions, it’s a good idea to schedule yourself out of the judge schedule, 
  and just coordinate, answer questions, or fill in where necessary. The bigger the event, the more 
  folks you’ll need “in reserve” like this, and if you handle your own registration you’ll need 
  
   
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  volunteers just to do this. Collect all the scoring packets and make sure they are filled in with 
  names and RPGA #’s. 
   
  Finally, after the event is over and you’re home and have a minute to ponder things, don’t forget 
  to send the results into RPGA. You can do this on your members-only page at rpga.com, but if 
  that isn’t working or you’d prefer not to, you can send the packets physically to RPGA using the 
  address provided. After that, you’re done and you can concentrate on the next event! 
   
  As always, the Triad is here to answer any questions you have regarding the Living Greyhawk 
  campaign or RPGA. Also, feel free to contact our RD about any RPGA concerns you might 
  have. And finally, thanks for supporting the RPGA and the Living Greyhawk campaign! As a 
  volunteer organization, RPGA just couldn’t make it without you. 
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Living Greyhawk/Metaorg Material/Bandit Kingdoms/Organizing_Events.pdf