Conquest: Not My Fault
Conquest has seriously pissed me off this year. I've been right on the edge of cancelling my games (which would seem to hardly matter at the moment, as so few people are signed up, but I really don't like the idea of cancelling).
Anybody notice that there was no sign of one of my blurbs on the website until a week after all the others went up? That' ( Read more... )
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Plus, there's been absolutely no communication with writers/GMs, to let us know when timetables were drafted and seek comments, or when timetables were finalised and closed.
And the lack of communication means I have no idea who to contact about the GMing problem to find out how to fix it.
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It would be Random who is responsible for fixing problems encountered by writers. He is the writer wrangler, a role that, in theory, encompasses a lot more than just persuading someone to submit a blurb.
Although, I may be able to supply you with a fix for that particular problem, independent of the organisers. You are co-writing with Nick, right? If he submitted the blurb into AON, odds are that you've never been added as a writer. To fix this:
Random can use his con-org powers to stand in for one or both of you in this process, but he would have to do the same thing to fix it.
Timetabling for tabletop games is generally pretty flexible. As long as you have a half-dozen sessions available it generally doesn't matter too much, especially if you are willing to open extra sessions when you happen to be free at the con. It is the freeforms where ( ... )
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I'm only planning on turning up to play Blood Bowl - hopefully there'll be enough players for it to run.
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I sent a "What the hell? Fix this!" email to that enquiries address in the middle of last week. I'm unsure about whether the webmaster finally getting my second blurb up on Friday and emailing me back has to do with the email to enquiries reaching her (either directly on passed on via another organiser) or whether that address just isn't being checked.
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Still, if you can't do the job, hand it over to someone who can. If there is no-one who can, admit it and cancel all or part of what you are trying to do. In the process of running a con, there are some things that can be dropped without too bad an effect, but getting complete and correct information about the events out is not one of those things.
So much WORD to all of this. For onlookers or possible participants, too, this can be a make-or-break selling point of a convention. If you don't know what time things are happening, or if you don't know what's happening, you can't plan properly, or decide whether or not the convention is worth going to.
Apparently the webmaster has no software that could read one of the files I submitted for a blurb.
....???? And an email saying "Travis, I can't read that, could you please send it in [some other format]?" takes... how long?
Oh, and before anyone tells me, "If you don't like the way they do things, volunteer to ( ... )
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The webmaster did send me an email asking for my blurb in another format. That bit wasn't the problem. The problem was that she didn't do this until all of the other blurbs were up (that is, four weeks before the convention). All of the materials incoming from writers should have been checked for usability before building anything (or checked as they came in - there's a lot of work in building a con website with blurbs that look good, and you're much better off handling blurbs individually as the writers get them in so you aren't swamped at the last minute). That way you are using the turnaround time for anything with a problem to build other pages.
Unfortunately the problem was compounded by her request reaching me while my computer was away undergoing repairs. I was saying things like, "Well, there's online back-ups, so I can possibly get the files, but there's not much I can do with them on an iPad." (Between that and email confusion, it was two days until something she could use was sent to her.) But the delay there should have ( ... )
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Regardless of that, I am hoping that the con goes well, and remains fun.
Also: I sent you a message on AON about nametags, but I don't know if you get emails from there directly. Can I get a template for nametags from you so I can make them up myself?
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People keep asking me for badge templates. The problem is, I don't use any. I custom craft each set of badges. I tried using templates once, but found I had to keep adjusting the badges away from what the templates generated, and in the end it's easier to just do them myself.
I do tend to use the files from old games as a starting point, though. I can send you a file cut down from a full set to just a couple of pages, and then you just duplicate those pages and adjust.
What software do you intend to use? I generally use Publisher - I think the version I have now is 2010. I've used Word in the past, but not for quite a while now.
Beyond that, there's important principles to keep in mind. Background colours need to be very light - a wide swathe of colour will look darker - with black text, or very dark with white text, for visibility. If using a significant border, I tend to go for 5mm thickness. My default ( ... )
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My plan was for gender coloured backgrounds (pink and blue), borders on some (character trait), and a small symbol if it fits and looks good (indicating nationality/heritage). The symbol will go if I can't make it look good, though.
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