GenCon 2017 Inspiration (Part 1)

I am getting ready for GenCon 2017 seven months early!

Thanks to the Monkey In The Cage podcast, I was inspired to start preparations for GenCon 2017 a little earlier than usual. As always, to get a general sense of where to go with next year’s game, I did my standard look back on the cons I have attended every other year since 2001 to gain my bearings. I felt inspired to share what has been going on behind the scenes and give a teaser as to where we will be going in 2017 over the next three blog entries.

For this first entry, I want to start with the past behind-the-scenes of the first few Canyonside Events and relate them to HiBRID, after all, that is what this blog is about.

Canyonside 2001-2007: Learning My Audience

From 2001 to 2007, while the HiBRiD game system was compete enough to play-test, I needed (and began working on) a quicker character generation process. Prior to that point, it would take anywhere from 30-60 minutes to create a character. Even Peter Mikelsons told me during the early 1.0 years to think about adding templates or classes to make it easier. While I eschewed the ideas of classes and levels, the idea of kits from 2^nd Edition AD&D and professions from Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying stuck with me. Intuitively, I felt it was a good fit, but at the time, both seemed too crunchy to add. As a result, I let the process languish as it stood; it was good enough for me and my gaming group and the game was so far from publishing, it didn't really seem to me to warrant the development effort.

During these years, I refined the process of character generation as a result of having to build multiple sets of pregenerated characters for multiple genres and multiple heroic levels. Though I would write one game scenario for all the sessions I ran, I needed 12 different characters for each. I used the rather painstaking process to test as many character aspects and generation methods as I could. I ran those games with no goal in mind other than to test out the HiBRiD game engine itself. During that time, I kept stats on the time it took to prepare the games and pregenerated characters, the number of  players that played each genre and power level, the game times most popular to players. I also noted comments and complaints made by players, and took notes on what parts of the character creation were fails and wins. In 2008, I reviewed the data and notes and gained the following insights about character creation as well as the system itself:

1. In the convention setting, the 80s action genre was by far the most popular. (I have blogged about that elsewhere!) Players liked the slightly more complicated skill set but preferred to keep the rest of the system limited to the core rules without too much crunch.


2. I had developed a modular way to generate a character for the HiBRiD system ready for play that allowed for the level of detail the player wanted to reflect. The modules could be swapped in and out based on the player or game director. Simpler modules sped up character creation time to 5 minutes or less while more complex ones still took the classic 30-60 minutes, depending on the player’s priorities of speed versus level of detail. Regardless of which modules are used, all characters were able to play in the same game. 


3. A method for handling firearms quickly within the system and still allowing for both the realism of a Morrow Project and the heroism of an 80's action movie when the situation called for it.


4. I was reassured that the game system itself was absolutely complete for nonmagical genres. 


5. The system allowed for modules that could be added or swapped in and out, depending on the level of crunch desired by the gaming group using it.


6. I figured out the basic pattern and developed a template for how to create a HiBRiD game scenario module quickly.


7. I have personally developed the skills to direct a HiBRiD game to give 12 players the spotlight during  a 3 hour and 45 minute game session (and how to apply that pattern when directing ANY game system, from D&D to Tiny Horsies).

With these insights in my mind's eye, I moved toward my next three conventions with a new sense of efficiency, a defined character generation method, a final satisfaction that the game system was ready for publishing, and a defined theme for all of my games going forward.