Dormitories & Dragons
It seems like common sense to put up flyers and web sites saying "Hey! Join us! We're an official gaming group!" The problem is that if you put up those signs, a bunch of people will show up at your next meeting, and all of them are going to expect something different from your group. Forget the arguments between the d20 and the indie games people--what are you going to do when one person wants to play Dungeons & Dragons, another walks in ready to play Magic: The Gathering, and the third is already setting up his Twilight Imperium board for a long night of interstellar warfare?
Incidents like this might not seem like much, but gamers tend to talk to one another, and eventually, a reputation for not having a clear focus can hurt you like any other negative publicity. To prevent this, you need to sit down with the club officers and figure out what exactly it is you want to do.
Overall Club Goals
First of all, you have to figure out what kinds of games you're promoting and playing. It's tempting to say "Oh, we do it all!" But you're not advertising what your members are willing to play, but what you know you can offer on a regular basis. Large, established gaming clubs can offer quite a few items without splitting their focus--UT-BASH at the University of Toledo has dozens of members, and they can regularly offer video gaming, roleplaying, board gaming, and miniatures gaming from their club. But there are a core group of dedicated members who meet regularly to plan and promote those events--when they say there will be a group of miniature players meeting, people can reasonably expect a good group of people to show up to play with, not just one guy sitting in the corner with a half-painted army. Groups like UT-BASH were built up over decades, though, and a startup group can't expect to offer the same level of commitment to all types of hobby games as the large groups ! can.
Focus can help your group build up its reputation in a particular area as well, which attracts more members. While not a college group, the Columbus Area Boardgaming Society, or CABS, has done this very well within the Columbus, OH, area. They meet approximately three times a month to play board games--and that's it. No CCGs, no RPGs, no video board games. There's a distinct split between the casual gamers who prefer lighter euro games and the strategy folks who come in at 6 p.m., set up their war game and play until 3 a.m., but it's very clear that if you want to play a game on a board, CABS is the place to go--it has hundreds of members throughout the greater metro area, thier weekly meetings are packed, and their focus has allowed them to create an impressive library available to the members of the group, which can keep people entertained with games they've never played for months or even years.
So let's start by looking at the areas that you could focus on and examine the positives and negatives of such areas.
Roleplaying Games
I assume that if you're on RPG.net, I'm assuming that RPGs are going to form the core interest of your club. However, it's still useful to recognize the strengths and limitations of the group you're starting, so let's look at the advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages: Fairly low-cost. Most players have a set of books, and someone can usually run a game pretty quickly. If you're willing to use PDFs, cost and access become even easier, as many campuses have high-speed internet access you can access online retailers with. The games are reusable as well, so establishing a group library often means the items will stay good for many years.
Disadvantages: Walk-ins can be hard to handle, since it can be hard for people to jump into a game once it's started. This means you need to have a plan for such an event. Poor GMs or poor teachers can really make or break this kind of group--a couple of good GMs can make it shine, and a couple of people who can't teach the rules or act like jerks during the game can drive newcomers away fast. If you're using PDFs, pirating can become a problem. Your overall attendance could be very small if you focus solely on RPGs, since it can be hard to get people who haven't played before to stick with the hobby.
I'll address some of these issues in future columns. Let's take a look at the other gaming areas you might want to add focus to in your club.
Miniatures Games
Advantages: Flashy and colorful. People walking by a mini's game want to know what all those little dudes are doing, which can bring in potential new members.
Disadvantages: It's costly to get into, and walk-ins will likely tire of watching people stand around and roll dice, pausing only for the occasional rules dispute. Some system for attracting and handling new players will likely be needed early on.
Board Games
Advantages: People know what a board game is, so a new person can quickly understand what the club is about and what you do. It's also a fairly modular hobby--if you get a few walk-ins, you can start up a quick game of something fast and fun.
Disadvantages: A board gaming group needs to have access to a variety of games, and people expect new ones fairly often. Having 20 games can seem like a lot, but if you've got 4 groups of people playing them, you can expect to go through them in a couple of months, maybe more. A steady diet of new games (new to the group, at least) is usually necessary to keep the interest of people. You'll also need a large, secure space to store all of these games, which can be difficult to get on a campus.
Video Games
Advantages: You'll have no problems obtaining the minimum number of people to start the group. A video game group that can meet regularly can pull in dozens of people, depending on available resources and space. If you can run a tournament on a regular basis, it could serve as a source of fundraising.
Disadvantages: Resource intensive--Meeting spaces are going to need access to a couple of large TV sets and the space necessary to play the games. Since a lot f this equipment often costs money, the university is going to be watching closely to make sure this equipment doesn't get ruined. This goes doubly so if you're hoping to get access to any of the large projector units that campuses often have in large meeting halls. I've had tons of fun playing Timesplitters 3 on a projector unit covering a wall, but if anything happens, privileges can and will get pulled quickly. Theft is also more of a concern at such meetings, since people will be bringing popular games and expensive game systems to run them.
You will probably need to decide if you're running console games or other types. Saying you support World of Warcraft will attract some players, but you need to do more than just say "Hey, here are other people who play!" You'll probably want to start a guild, and said guild will need to have a Ventrillo server and funds and whatnot. Video games seem easy, but they can get messy and quickly take over the focus of the group.
Collectible Card Games
Advantages: There are often more CCG gamers than you might think on a campus, and creating a group for them to play with on a regular basis is usually pretty attractive. It can also make a fair amount of money for the group, since you can hold local tournaments and start saving the profits. If you play more popular games like Magic: The Gathering, access to new cards doesn't necessarily need to come from a gaming store--you can buy them at Wal-Mart.
Disadvantages: It seems like something walk-ins should just be able to pick up and play along, but the truth is that many new players need some guidance as to what they're doing and why, and they certainly want more guidance than "Here, run this deck." If everyone in your group doesn't want to bother with teaching new players or can't teach others very well, your group can stagnate.
Anime
Not really a gaming hobby, per se, but some groups find there's enough crossover to warrant some inclusion of anime on their official schedule.
Advantages: A growing popularity means you're likely to find a number of people willing to join. If you have access to a rental site with lots of anime, you can find material for your club meetings for relatively cheap.
Disadvantages: While not diametrically opposed, anime and roleplaying are two very different hobbies. Yes, there are anime RPGs, and plenty of roleplayers enjoy anime, but the majority of people who want to join an anime club want to sit around and watch anime, while the majority of RPG players want to sit around and loudly play their games. This can make problems if the group grows and can't balance the needs of both groups. In addition, many campuses are starting to crack down on copyright infringement issues, and sitting around showing movies is technically a form of broadcasting, which means you need permission from the publisher to prevent copyright infringement. This can be a real hassle to get at times, and means you have to plan farther ahead than you might be able to.
Focus Your Vision
So what do you do? If a club decided to focus on more than just RPGs, most will chose board games due to their quick set up, attractive pieces and ease of storage. Even if you decide to focus solely on RPGs, chances are you'll still want a few board games in the closet for a change of pace. A selection of popular and fun games can serve as a good timekiller or as a useful tool to get prospective members involved.
After that, it really depends on what populations are on campus. At BGSU, the CCG players are an important part of the club, organizing tournaments and staying active. If your campus has a few wargamers meeting in dorms somewhere, making wargaming a part of your group could be an attractive option. I would not recommend focusing on more than three areas during your first year or two--a group that says they do everything often ends up doing everything very poorly, which doesn't impress people. Pick one or two and do them well, then build on that success.
It may seem odd to say you're going to avoid supporting some gamers that you know exist on campus, but remember that you can always change it later if you've found out your pre-existing ideas of the campus gaming scene were incorrect. If you get ten Magic: The Gathering players walking in to your meetings, it would make sense to get them together and give them some support. But you should start small and work on your focus first, then adjust according to opportunity and circumstances.
Once you figure out what you want to focus on, Your job is to take stock of your resources and figure out what you have that can be used to support it, what you can get rid of, and what you still need. In the case of an RPG club, you'll probably just need space, though access to a copier and some club dice might be helpful. But if you want to plan to be a good club, not just some get-together. If you're really going to support the community gaming scene, that means you'll need to plan for acquiring a library of popular games. Likewise, a wargaming club will want to invest some money into acquiring some terrain pieces. While you won't start with much more than a space and some members, you need to keep moving towards something better.
The Required Vision Check-up
If you're attempting to restart an older club, Working on the focus of your group is probably going to be much harder than starting a new club. This will be because there's a certain amount of inertia that sets into a group, and overcoming that inertia takes more energy that might be expected.
The process of finding your focus is much the same as a startup group; the difference is that there will likely be older members who don't want to see the group change. There are numerous reasons why, but you should be prepared to deal with naysayers right away. It helps to have your supporters available when presenting the ideas so you can make sure everyone sees you have others backing your ideas.
The more likely problem you'll have is apathy among the existing members. In order to change, everyone in the group will likely have to invest more effort into the club, and there's a good chance there will be people who won't back up the club's efforts to revitalize itself. This can be difficult because there are tasks that need to get done, but the club leaders can't take responsibility for them all. The best way to combat this is to make sure the leaders are talking to the people who have tasks to do and offering encouragement and support--if people see that everyone else cares about what they do, they'll be more likely to do a good job on the task rather than forget about it or do a poor job on it.
Next month, we'll take a look at the club positions and discuss the role each of them plays in the group. We'll also begin talking about leadership and what makes a good club officer.
May Checklist:
--Get your members together and determine a focus for the group.
--Create a goal that helps you support the local gaming scene: have three terrain sets on hand at all times, or create a library with certain RPG books in it.
--Assess your current resources and determine what you have, what you need, and what you can get rid of.
See you next month!
--Alec "Kid Twist" Fleschner
