Convention test

By Bending Arms, in Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay

I held a 31/2 hour demo this weekend at local convention (I was to hold two but sunday I came down with the flu). Those say that Warhammer is convention unfriendly I dont see how, the compontents attracted people. The little downside is the setup compared pencil and paper, but then I was setting up to display all the gooddies. I had two new players to RPG and two regular players.

New player view of the game

*Cards made it easy to figure out a plan during combat

*enjoyed the magic system and had fun with canitrips

*wound system was nice

*both players found it quick to pick up for having never having to play rpgs before.

Regular players to RPG

*The White Wolf player found that it was intresting and enjoyed the feel of game.

*D&D player had a harder time in the combat portion of the game, he felt that couldnt grab distance, movement, or pushing with fatigue. I figure since there wasn't a map out to see with.

All in all the game was great and introduced players to a new game. The group had fun. I have to say that Warhammer screams as one of the better intro games and to be played at conventions. The worse is making sure you dont forget anything as you pick up.

I think the reason that it is considered "unfriendly" for conventions is the fact that it has components:

1) More set-up / take-down time

2) A lot for the GM to take with him back and forth

3) small component pieces (tokens, cards, etc) are more likely to get lost

I don't think anyone is saying it wasn't attractive or playable at a convention. I think it is more of a fear that pieces would end up getting damaged or go missing.

For example, while I'd be happy to take my set to GenCon and run a few free games/demos ... I don't think I want the hassle of taking my over-stuffed box with me all the way out to Indy and back (especially with extra bag fees!). So, I'm leaning towards not bringing my stuff. Whereas, with some other RPGs I'd just need to bring a couple books and some paper, which will take up less space in my baggage.

I am glad it worked well for you!

While I agree that WFRP is a great introduction to RPGs for the uninitiated and certain can be fun for veterans as well, it would be fear of component loss/mistreatment that would prevent me from running demos at a convention, unless someone else provided the demo set to be used.

Yeah I felt like a wargamer making sure that I put evey thing back. I made everything from the core to the GM kit fit in the core box. Now Im Looking at some type of carrying case when I pick up gathering storm and winds of magic. To stream line the setup and keep loss down was when I desgined the the adventure I made pregens so the characters were taken care of(placed in boxes and one sandwich bag since the adventure kit didnt come with a box), placed in a baggy the everything for the adventure, and at the con setup the rest in a display fashion untill I filled my table(a quick scoop and it was in the box to be sperated later). It did helpt hat my son was with me, see breeding does help you out.

On a off note has anyone ran a game not in the setting of warhammer, I was just wondering since it was itching my brain of late to run a just human home world.