Welcome to May! On the brink of the summer break, it's time to consider where you were a year ago today--you had a new club, and a few members, and this whole summer, all you were doing was preparing for the fall when you could get together and really start gaming. This summer, you'll still be doing quite a bit of planning, and you'll need to invest just as much effort, if not more, into recruitment. However, there's also the fact that you'll actually have a club that's been playing together for a while now. What if they don't want to stop for the summer?

This month, we'll discuss the summer lull and find ways to keep everyone together. It's not easy sometimes, but keeping the people in the area together over the summer can be a big help, especially if you need to make changes or coordinate plans during the break. It's also a chance to stretch your legs and see what else your club might be capable of.

The Orcs of Summer, or Running an Summer Game

One of the traditions we had at the BGGS was the summer game. Someone who would be around all summer (usually me) would pick a game to run over the course of the summer, and people who would be in the area could play if they wanted to. It was pretty informal, and if you get a good group of people, it can turn into a longer campaign, but planning for it is a bit different than a normal game. First, recognize that the summer game is going to be short--take a look at the calendar and figure out when you would like to play, then figure out how many sessions you'll have.

Understand that the summer game is something that is often seen as something "on the side"--people have a lot of plans over the summer, and work often interferes with what might otherwise look like a wide-open schedule. So a summer game usually works best when you can set it up like a serial game (one where the episodes are self-contained,) and one where you can have the characters change out fairly regularly if necessary. If you know you can maintain certain players, then you might be able to maintain some sort of narrative based on them, but the idea is that this should be informal and free-flowing; members who come to visit for a week or so should feel like they can drop in and out as they want.

The other way to handle this is a series of one-shots that gives everyone the chance to try something out. This gives people a chance to try new games, and if you take turns as the GM, you can give everyone the chance to play as well. Since it's more informal, it can also be a sort of "GM training camp," where people who want to GM but don't have experience can get some table time in and get some feedback. If this works, chances are you'll see a large influx of people wanting to run games, which is pretty cool in my book.

As I said, the main benefit to the summer game is its relaxed feel and fluid structure. If you stick to this, you can get some enjoyment out of what's otherwise a down time in the club.

We're All In This Together--The Summer Project

"But Alec," you say, as if scripted by a brilliant RPG.net columnist, "what about people who don't live in the area? After all, lots of college students go home for the summer. What if they want to participate?" While online games are an option in this instance, I would also like to point out another idea that some groups may enjoy: the summer project.

The idea of the summer project is that it's an RPG project that people can volunteer to help with, and by the end of the summer, you should have something that's "publishable," at least in terms of presenting it on your club web site. It's an idea that might be more time-consuming, but I've found there are usually a few gamers in a club who have pretty dull jobs, and they often spend their time dreaming up new ideas for roleplaying games. Why not harness that power for good?

In order for this to work, you have to establish a few key points early on. First, determine the general scope of the project. Don't pick one that's too small ("Let's all design a character!") or too large ("Let's re-design Earthdawn for the Storytelling System!") Pick something that people would think is cool, but something you could realistically finish in a couple of months. When looking for a project, start with a system lots of people would want to use--You might be a hardcore BESM enthusiast, but if no one else knows the system or is interested in fleshing out your idea of creating a "fighting game characters own a restaurant" setting, do that on your own. The people involved in the project should be jazzed about taking part in it. Don't neglect the talents of other people as well; if you have a budding artist, perhaps he or she wants to make some art for the project, or a designer wants to do layout. Don't force the to participate, clearly, but if they want to, that's just as good as writing something.

Second, establish who's in charge. Since it's summer, and this is a side project, you don't want to be too forceful when assigning deadlines, but you want something you can show the world at the end of the time, so someone needs to be responsible for cracking the whip and editing the various contributions. Said person should have a realistic goal when it comes to the project and have a rough idea how long it will take to not only receive the contributions, but also edit and revise them (and possibly do layout.)

Sometimes, you can skip some of these steps and just go straight to a collaborative project. The Toothpaste Disaster for Paranoia is one example of such a project, where the players take a role as an editor of an encyclopedia, and you progress through the alphabet, creating entries related to a particular theme. Since it uses a wiki for posting and editing, as long as people have access to the internet, they should be able to participate. And by the end of it, you can simply link to the results on your club's web site.

In any case, The goal of this should be to have something new to share with the club, if not the gaming community at large, by the time classes start up again in the fall. Hopefully, it's something everyone is proud of. Make sure you credit everyone who participated, and if it's something other people might be interested in, make sure you post a link up on RPG.net!

Next month, we'll take some time to discuss...I'm not sure, exactly, but most likely odds and ends I've been contemplating. If you have an idea for a topic, though, please PM or email me and let me know.

See you next month!
Alec "Kid Twist" Fleschner