Good luck with the event! There's always a need good EO's and good events, so I hope what you find enhances the experience for everyone.
Fifty wrote:1) My event will be 3000pts. For general events, do you prefer more, less, or to vary it within the event (say, 1500, then 2000, then 2500 then finally 3000?)
I agree with Gert that 3k is the sweetspot. 2.5k-3k lets you get a solid 3 game day happening. Any higher and you also risk people not being able to field an army, or field an army that can't compete on that level. Also anything above 3.5k and you start verging into
apoc territory.
Having spoken to some local EO's in the past about running events, unless you're specifically running ZM games, which tend to run at 1500pts or lower, low level points events can be a turn off for people as they may not feel like they're getting their monies worth. Some people don't feel it's worth the travel time if the games are small. Of course that might be different in your part of the world. Opinions on these sort of matter differ in local scenes.
2) Singles, doubles or a mix?
Singles events are tried and true over many systems. You can't go wrong really.
I've been to a couple of doubles events run by the same guy and they're good fun. For his doubles events he runs them at 1250pts per person, with 3 games per event. The slightly lower points limit compensates for elongated turns. This EO said he trialed 2k and 2.5k per person doubles games and they were lucky if they finished 2 games in a full 10hr day. If running doubles lower points limits seems the way to go.
The logistics of a mixed singles/doubles event probably outweighs any value it might have.
3) Do you like getting "reward" items to show "levelling up" of your own characters during the weekend? Or not care?
When you say reward items, what do you mean? Is that like where character who does well in a games get his power sword master-crafted or gets a free plasma pistol or something? Because if so, that seems like it'd be hard to keep track of/keep people honest with.
Many of the local EO's run a dog-tag system, where at the start of the day you get a dog tag as part of the event pack that has a bonus on it that you can play at any point in the game. (i.e- Give 1 unit stubborn for a single turn, or let them run double distance, or something similar). Not anything that's game breaking, but something that might help a beleaguered unit put up that little bit more of a fight, or make your opponent think twice before committing to a course of action. My understanding is that most EO's generally limit it to 3 tags per player, per game or that you can only use each tag once for the event.
4) Do you prefer to know the missions in advance? Find out on the day? Somewhere in between?
That I think is entirely down to your choice as an EO. If you're going to show players the mission in advance, I think it needs to be down after final list submissions are made, otherwise you can be sure people will tailor lists around them. Personally I like finding out on the day. It's a bit of a surprise, keeps you on your toes.
Again, the EO I mentioned above who runs the doubles events doesn't tell players what the mission is until the start of each game. Part of that is because his events form an evolving narrative that the players determine by scoring campaign points during games. So he has multiple missions set up depending on which side is leading is leading in campaign points at the end of each match. The day might start with mission A). If the traitors lead at the end of round 1 it goes to mission B). If it's the loyalists, mission C). If at the end of round two traitors still lead, mission D), and so on and so forth. It's a bit more book keeping for him, but that's all part of the enjoyment for him I think.
5) Do you prefer familiar missions from published books, or new missions?
Locally a lot of people enjoy the Cthonia missions. There's a PDF floating around that has all the missions from 1st edition adjusted for 2nd edition that people use.
Again I think this as much comes down to what you as an EO want, as much as what players like. If in doubt, pose the question to people on what ever platform it is you use. That will likely give you and indicator to what people like/want/expect.
Personally, I like home made missions in events. As long as there's been at least some play-testing before hand that is.
6) Do you prefer symmetrical missions, or each side to have a different way to win?
Harking back to what I said above, having each side have different mission objectives is a useful story telling device if you're running a narrative campaign with an overarching story. If you're not sure, maybe run symmetrical mission objectives for the early missions, then have the final mission with differing objectives. That might help shake things up a bit for the grand finale.
Of course, if the events you run have a more competitive bent to them, people might not like asymmetrical objectives as it adds the element of unknown into the equation that competitive players tend to abhor.
7) Do you like submitting lists in advance and seeing your opponents' lists before the day?
As Gert said, lists should 100% be submitted to the EO in advance. Some dodgy bugger will always try to pull a fast one. I've played events where lists were known in advance and I don't see how it adds any value to the experience. Again, personally I like the element of surprise.
8) What makes the biggest difference to you about an event? Terrain? Missions? Opponents? Venue? "Fluff" like videos and printed background?
Each of these are important in their own way.
-Terrain I think is important. A beautifully laid out table definitely enhances my day. I'm not fussy about what type of terrain or how much (although nothing beats a dense city fight board in my eyes) so long as it looks good. From an organizing perspective though, terrain can be a hard aspect of an event to get right. Not everyone has multiple tables worth of terrain available and it's not always easy to source in the quantities for larger events. If the venue you're playing at has terrain they can lend that goes a long way, but that's not always possible either. I know some EO's who make their events only as big as the amount of tables worth of terrain they can source.
-To me Mission importance is tied to what sort of event it is. If it's a regular
have fun, roll some dice and see who comes out on top event then missions are unimportant. If you're running a narrative event then I want to see the missions chosen reflect the story you're telling. It doesn't bother me if they all come from one of the rule books or if you've crafted bespoke mission for each game. As long as they enhance the story you're telling.
-Opponents are always the wild card. I as a player don't have any say over who attends your event. That's up to you as the EO to either let whoever buys a ticket attend, or weed out any one you know to be a cheater/bad sport/certified knob. I've thankfully never had to, but if I was matched against a player I'd had issues with in the past I'd be requesting you switch me with someone else. But again, how you handle that is situation is entirely up to you.
-Venue is not so important to me. I'm not a drinker, so I don't care if a venue doesn't have a bar. I'm generally not fussed about accessibility of food as I tend to bring my own lunch/snacks. These things are important to people though so should probably be taken into consideration. What matters to me is that venue is big enough for their to be plenty of space between tables. I don't want to be packed in like sardines. And if I can get a chair to sit on while my opponent has his turn, that'd be great too! Ease of parking isn't to be overlooked either!
-If you're running a proper narrative event and have billed it as such, then my enjoyment of the event will come as much from the games themselves as from how much effort you as an EO has put into crafting the background material. Got a 20 page player pack where half of it is explaining the overarching motivations for what the various factions are doing? Great I'll gobble that up like its jellybeans. You've done full double page spreads for every mission explaining how each one effects the ongoing war? Excellent. Administer that gak intravenously, please. Is there a Map? Congratulations, you've ensured I buy a ticket for your next event.
Furthermore, a big draw for many local events is the
event swag. Not prizes as such, but things like a commemorative beer glass/tumbler. Patches with the event logo. Medallions/challenge coins/aforementioned dog tags. People treat them like pokemon. Gotta get as many as you can.
These sorts of things can be challenge to provide though if you can't readily source them or if you don't have the capital to put towards it
