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How to get OP going and the best way to do demo's

 
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striker8
Lieutenant JG


Joined: 05 Feb 2007
Posts: 36

PostPosted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 7:35 pm    Post subject: How to get OP going and the best way to do demo's Reply with quote

I was wondering how others have their OP games set up? and how they do demo's.

I'm aiming to get the LGS going the begining of next month and I have no idea how I should do it. I have e mails out looking for input from those I know who want to play in it but I'm kind of at a loss.

And how are people doing demo's? Teaching isn;t something I'm the greatest at but I'm going to give it a try for FC. I've run demo's for other games before with some success but like the OP system I don't really know how to do it for FC.

Thanks in advance,

Jay
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Scoutdad
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Joined: 09 Oct 2006
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Location: Middle Tennessee

PostPosted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 10:48 pm    Post subject: Re: How to get OP going and the best way to do demo's Reply with quote

striker8 wrote:
I was wondering how others ... do demo's.

Thanks in advance,

Jay


Jay: I don't think that there is any particular format for setting up games or demos.

We [Battelgroup Murfreesboro] got lucky. The owner of the previous FLGS closed shop and became a full-time artist during the spring of 2005. Our current FLGS opened its doors late in the summer of '05. At that time, he was concentrating (and still is) on the CCG's and the CMG's but he was looking for anything that would atract interest and luckily enough, Star Trek does attract interest. I took our latest version of the playtest rules to the shop in October and explained the game to him and asked if we could use one of the gaming tables to run a Fed Comm demo on Klingon Invasion - Day One. He agreed ,we played, taught some others, they bought copies of KB and the expansions, etc... Now, we get a table for demos/games whenever we ask for one... unless Wiz Kids has a new expansion scheduled for release on that date, then we just have to suck it up.

As for setting up Demos, we wing it. No seriously, the FLGS has a message board and we post notifications of our demos a month or so in advance. We always use miniatures for the demos (a bit flashier than the counters) and we always make it something fun and quick. Typically its Combat Rally or FC Demo Derby or the Kzinti 500. Something where we get it starte adn then as newcomers arrival and get interested, we can give them one of the ships thats currently in play. after all the ships are taken, we start another game at the other end of the table waiting for more newcomers.

With 8 core members of the gaming group having all 5 FC sets + boosters and extra map panels... we never need worry about running short stuff to set-up another duel. We have found (through experimentation) that if you are going to run duels to teach newcomers to play - use a maximum of 4 map panels and heavy crusiers at fleet scale. That gets them in combat quickly and gets the game over quickly. Let them change sides and play again. After playing both sdes of a duel, they are usually ready to advance to a more involved game using more map panels or bigger ships.
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Scoutdad
Commodore


Joined: 09 Oct 2006
Posts: 4754
Location: Middle Tennessee

PostPosted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 10:56 pm    Post subject: Re: How to get OP going and the best way to do demo's Reply with quote

striker8 wrote:
I was wondering how others have their OP games set up?

I'm aiming to get the LGS going the begining of next month and I have no idea how I should do it. I have e mails out looking for input from those I know who want to play in it but I'm kind of at a loss.

Thanks in advance,

Jay


Jay: Setting up an OPL and OPL OPL games are somewhat different than simple demos and free-for-all play. We [Battlegroup Murfresboro] polled our members and found that the most consistly available times to play regular, League games was going to be either Tuesday evenings or Sunday afternoons. Since our FLGS closes early on Sundays and Tuesdays, this presented a problem. Unitl the Assist Mgr decided to stay late two Tuesdays a month and run his DND campaign at the store.

We advertise our OPL games (including brief teasers about the scenario for the month) well in advance on the FLGS's message board / forum. Attendance is ...ummm, hard to predict. Sometimes, someone who saw us playing on a Saturday but was involved in the 'Clix or 40K tournament will shopw up on a Tuesday to check out the game, so we always have a seperate table set-up for a duel or two.

If you have 2 or 3 players that are interested in participating in a league, find out when they are available and schedule the games for that time. It's easier to get people to show up for League play if the games are held at a consistent time / place.

Good luck with the league. I hope this little bit of info helps.
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Scoutdad
Commodore


Joined: 09 Oct 2006
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Location: Middle Tennessee

PostPosted: Sat Mar 17, 2007 11:13 pm    Post subject: Re: How to get OP going and the best way to do demo's Reply with quote

striker8 wrote:


And how are people doing demo's? Teaching isn;t something I'm the greatest at but I'm going to give it a try for FC. I've run demo's for other games before with some success but like the OP system I don't really know how to do it for FC.

Thanks in advance,

Jay


Jay: Last bit of advice is on teaching newcomers to play Federation Commander.

1) Make it fun and easy. Have everything they need to play the game set-up and ready to go. This means have the ship cards and counters (or minis) out, energy tokens or clips ready, markers available, and map panels set-up and ready to play on.

2) Know the game... or at least where that particular rule is located. No one expects you to memorize the rulebook, but if a newcomer asks a question adn you have to spend several minutes researching the answer and you know how to play the game... they aren't even going to look twice. Whenever a new expansion for FC comes out, I "Xerox" the rulebook and file my original in the archives. The copied rulebook is spiral bound with numbered dividers and tabs for reference. This is the rulebook that goes to the demos and it seems to go over well. If someone has a question, I typically hand them the bok ad tell them teh section its in and let them look it up. IF they can find the answer to their own question in a matter of moments, its a selling point. Simple and well laid-out rules.

3) Try to set-up the demos as new-comer vs. new-comer. If you must play against a newcomer, give them the advantage. Either take a smaller ship or don't take advantage of their inexperience. When running demos, we [BGM] try to give the rookie every advantage. If they win (or lose in a closely fought game) they are more likely to come back than if they are slaughtered in one turn by a ringer.

4) Another good tip is to either use ongoing scenarios (such as FC Demo Derby) or large, everyone for themselves scenarios to keep the game flowing. Nothing can end the fun of a demo game faster than having one player limp around in a barely mobile ship while others are standing around waiting for a chance to play - and waiting, and waiting, and waiting...
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striker8
Lieutenant JG


Joined: 05 Feb 2007
Posts: 36

PostPosted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 3:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the input Scoutdad.

I saw you posted the demo derby, and it looks like a good place to start. Is there any way you could send me the other 2 demo's you use or post them?

For the OP I'm looking at a rotating schedule at the moment. I have mails out to a few people who have shown interest trying to find what would be good to start with. It will probably be a rotating shedule every two weeks. But we might need to let people play the scenarios when they can schedule them with another player.
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Scoutdad
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Joined: 09 Oct 2006
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Location: Middle Tennessee

PostPosted: Sun Mar 18, 2007 4:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Combat Rally was a SFB scenario from Scenario Book 1. Battlegroup Murfreesboro is currently working on converting it to Fed Comm format for possible inclusion in an upcoming Communique or some such forum.

The Kzinti 500 scenario is definitely a work in progress. It started as a silly idea mentioned after a gaming session. I went back home, scribbled down a few rules and we tried it. It had problems, so we revised and played again. We're getting very close to having a consistently workable scenario. It too will be submitted to ADB when it's ready.
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