#6 : Preparing for Next Season
As Tyranny of Dragons comes to a close we await a new Storyline Season to begin. Usually Stores and Organizers will receive event details two weeks prior to the launch of the new season. If you are like me and your store runs many other events, do not wait for the kits to arrive to start planning. You will want to make sure you have secured dates in the event calendar for table space and have your Team of DMs ready to go, so when the materials arrive everyone is ready to hit the ground running.
In this article I will discuss how I am specifically planning for Twenty Sided Store’s events. I have mentioned this in my previous articles, and I cannot stress this enough, every store is unique and not all solutions work for every situation. If you have a specific solution you would like help with, please ask me by posting your questions to Master, Dungeon Master.
Scheduling Events
Twenty Sided Store runs Encounters (every Wednesday) and Expeditions (every Sunday, barring any special events). The new storyline will begin in March, and my guess is that it will be released in a similar fashion to Tyranny of Dragons. Since the new WER registration is monthly instead of seasonally, it is hard to know exactly when the new season will begin and end. Based on this post, the kit contents are exactly the same, so I am going to guess that the next storyline season will run March through August.
My Tyranny of Dragons Team DM is committed to run until the end of February. The new Team DM commitment will start in March and go through August. Depending on when the new material releases, I may have to come up with several transition sessions before the next Storyline begins officially.
Allotting Enough Table Space & Estimating Player Counts
Wednesday night is dedicated to Encounters and we max out at 7 tables with a player cap of 49 players. Sundays I only have room for 2 tables of Expeditions because of other concurrent events. This creates a player cap of 14. Typically Expeditions sells out each week. Next Season I plan to start taking advance signups. Encounters typically will sell out early in the season, taper off a bit in the middle (especially for long seasons), and pick back up again towards the end of the season.
If your community has room to grow, here are some tips:
- Find the average number of players who attend each week over the course of a season. If you have never run role playing events in the store, take a look at the customer base and attendance patterns for other noncompetitive events. If 20 people say they are interested in playing, you will probably get an average of 4 players who actually show up at first, but you will want to be ready for fast growth, because once you start running regularly, the rest of those players will start coming out of the woodwork.
- Plan to have 1 table & DM for every 4 players, min 2 tables. This will give you a built in backup plan in case a DM is absent one week or a group of new players all show up together.
- Charge for your events and compensate your DMs for showing up prepared to run. So if you have 2 DMs scheduled, and only 3 players show up, you still want to compensate both DMs equally.
Recruiting Dungeon Masters
I didn’t start out with a Team of DMs knocking down my door. I had to build it up over time. Recruiting the right people for your store takes time and patience. If you don’t already have a DM contact list, I suggest creating one by compiling a list of phone numbers and emails for every time a person expresses interest in DM-ing. Think of this list like a pile of resumes.
Once I have complied my list of potential DMs, I send out an email with a submission form asking those who have never DM-ed for me before to submit a game proposal and run a one-off game at the store for public play. I call this event ALT.RPG and I schedule one table every Sunday afternoon following Expeditions.
Hiring a DM is no different from hiring an employee. I look for someone who is friendly, personable, and a great team player. I expect a lot of hard work and dedication from my DMs. Anyone can learn how to DM, just like anyone can be trained for a job. I look for details about a person’s work ethic that define who they are and what they are capable of. Teaching someone with no prior experience can sometimes take a while, but once you establish a strong Team, the veteran DMs will provide support to and instill confidence in the new DMs.
People management is one of the most difficult aspects of DM-ing in public.
Every DM should have the ability to handle situations at the table in a way that positively represents the store and I must have confidence in each DM’s ability to make a commitment they can keep. For Encounters and Expeditions, I ask for a full-time seasonal commitment from DMs. I expect everyone on Team DM to be on-time, prepared, and ready to run each week.
Organizers & Stores Working Together
Organizing a meet up or a home game is not the same as planning an event for a Store or a Convention. The Adventurers League is working extremely hard at gathering experienced volunteers to work with store owners to get D&D events running in local game stores. If you are new to organizing events or having trouble communicating with your local store owner, here are a couple of suggestions:
- Do not presume to know what is best for the store. As an outside organizer you may not be present to many details that happen behind the scenes to keep a business in operation. Pay attention to the way the store organizes their other events and try to work with the system that is currently in place. If you have suggestions or ideas on way that you can improve the system, be patient with the store. Many ideas take time to implement. Employees need to be trained on the new system, and customers need to get accustomed to the change. If a change happens too abruptly it can cause a loss for the business.
- Consistency is key. I would prefer to not schedule a new event at all, than have an event go strong for a couple of months, and then die out because an organizer moved to another town or got a job and couldn’t volunteer their time anymore. I cannot risk this kind of change affecting my customer’s routine. If an organizer needs to step down, the replacement organizer must be as qualified or better qualified that the one who is leaving. If I am going to work with an organizer, I need to have confidence that they will take responsibility for their actions, that they have the stores best interest in mind, and that they will not drop the ball on me or my staff.
- Building a strong proposal. If your store is not currently running D&D Encounters or Expeditions first talk to them and find out why, then create a proposal that will create long term solutions or have a clear beginning and end. A store is much more likely to try out a one-time special event before committing to an on-going regular event.
Dear Master Dungeon Master,
I have been running sessions and episodes as a DM for my friends’ store. I was previously a player in the campaign. I noticed that DMs receive a basic amount of experience, downtime days, and one magic item from the DM kit card. I was really excited about faction experience as a player, but DMs do not get to earn faction experience like players. I was really looking forward to leveling up as an Order of the Gauntlet Paladin with my character. Why was faction not included in DM Rewards as it was with players? At this rate of faction earning, even the players are not going to get very far.
I do not have insider information on the decision making process of Wizards of the Coast. I will however try to offer some perspective on the subject of Faction Renown for DMs.
You do not need Faction Renown to level up your character. As a DM you are able to play NPCs that are heads of Factions and you have the power to influence the game every time you step behind the screen. Earning Faction Renown for your Player Character is based on in-game accomplishments. If you have a group of players that earned their faction status by playing, then be an ally at the table by taking a passenger seat and letting someone else drive the story for a while.
Remember D&D is a shared story telling experience and by giving each player and DM equal moments to shine we can create a richer story. By allowing regular players the chance to gain high factions rankings (ahead of DMs who might play as well), these players gain confidence in becoming mentors to newer players and this confidence fosters new DMs who will find the courage to take up the reigns and give you a chance to be a player again.