Starting a Demo?

Hi Ya-all:
So far there is only one game store in the South Eastern Wisconsin Area that
sells Full Thrust and other GZG products. In order to spread the holy word of
Full Thrust and increase GZG availability, I want to start a few demo games.
However, I don't have the foggiest idea

about how to get started.  Does anyone out there in Internet-land have
any suggestions?

Later

Hiya
        Get in touch with the guys from Geo-Hex (I think
their e-mail address is geohex@aol.com) and let them know that
you want to run demo games at local conventions. They should be able to supply
you with a few things.

-- Rick

> Hi Ya-all:

> Mark A. Siefert wrote:

> to spread the holy word of Full Thrust and increase GZG availability, I

> want to start a few demo games. However, I don't have the foggiest

I started demoing FT games at a local gaming store by just asking. They
usually are pretty good about this(as long as they don't complain about using
the public restroom without permission, eh Paul?;)), especially when you are
promoting products they sell. Several people who played some of my demo games
were playing a wargame for the first time and loved it!

My best experience was when a friend of mine attended with his 11 year old
step-daughter.  She pretty much wiped the board of any enemy craft near
her with constant high die rolls. It was the first time either of them played
such a game and they both had a great time. I get repeat players now who help
spread the word and some of whom run it themselves like Paul Neher.

* If the store has a gaming area, make sure they can provide you with
sufficient tables and chairs(or someone might need to stand a few hours, right
Paul?;)) and help promote the game event day by advertising a
sign-up sheet(might need to make your own) in advance.
* I have always supplied my own miniatures, playing mat, dice, pencils, ships
forms, cheat sheets, etc. * Come prepared to take damage. I have had a few
ships dropped, disformed, etc. by players unexperienced with the etiquette of
handling miniatures. Make sure you explain how you want your minis cared for
to reduce any potential disasters. * Respect all store policies and make sure
your players understand them. Even the ones not printed anywhere, explained to
you, etc. Some store managers can be big time jerks, so if you're unsure about
something(like using a public restroom, that's labeled "Public Restroom", in
the center of a publicly accessible room for the public) just ask! * Most of
all, remember to have fun!

Mark, I've done store demos before. Mike M. has some good comments. I'd add
that you want to grab people's attention. Make sure the game is attractive.
All of the ships should be painted and a star mat really helps. You'll attract
people just by the fact that it's a miniatures game.

You might want to bring a couple of friends along to play a couple of ships.
However, if you have a good turn out your friends will give up their ships and
become referees. This ensures a full game and lets people jump in during a
game (FT is good for this).

You might want to do a Star Trek or Star Wars game using Micro Machines. Even
if you're not interested in these shows, the recognition factor will easily
bring attention. A good idea is to play a Star Trek VS. Star Wars game; it
shows FT as a flexible game system.

Keep the game fairly simple and straight forward. Encourage people to play.
Make sure there are copies of the game on hand for browsing or purchasing. Ask
the store owner for discount coupons for everyone playing. Don't be dismayed
if most people only watch and few play; most of them probably
didn't come in to play a game anyway (no matter how good/obvious the
signs, most people will ignore or miss them). If anyone says, "Looks good but
I don't have the time right now," ask if they'd like to play some other time.

Most of all, have a lot of fun and make sure everyone knows how much fun
you're having.

Well, my first demo was set sides, 1500 pts., engage and destroy. All cruisers
and escorts, with beams and torpedo tubes.

The second demo again had set sides, with fighters, needles, missiles, etc.

The third was design your own ships, and included a space station to assault.

These are a crude intro to the rules.

Always have plenty of rulers, arc guages photocopied down to the base size,
and ship record sheets. Try to have order writing go quickly, and try to have
them choose quickly which ship to fire with...

Tom

On Sun, 30 Jun 1996 21:52:59 -0600 "Mark A. Siefert"
> <cthulhu@csd.uwm.edu> writes:

Which store might that be? I am around the Delafield and waukesha area now and
again as my wife is originally from Delafield. Anywho, the best way is to
design a few equally balanced fleets of different mixes of ship classes, make
a reference sheet so all the players can see the mechanics of the game in
play, and just have a balanced "meeting engagement slug fest" using just the
base rules systems, no fighters, etc.

> Paul A Neher wrote:

> Which store might that be? I am around the Delafield and waukesha area

I got my copy from Adventure Games Plus on 92nd and Beliot in Milwaukee County
(Greenfield); they also carry Dirtside 2 and Miniatures for both games. I plan
on holding one demo at Wonderous Relems in Waukasha then another at Chadwick's
Games in Kenosha.

On Tue, 02 Jul 1996 16:09:09 -0600 "Mark A. Siefert"
> <cthulhu@csd.uwm.edu> writes:

I can see the look on my wife's face if I told her I wanted to go to
Wisconsin, not to see her family, but to play a game of FT!;}

Date sent:  4-JUL-1996 10:07:34

> Hi Ya-all:

> So far there is only one game store in the South Eastern

> to spread the holy word of Full Thrust and increase GZG availability, I

> want to start a few demo games. However, I don't have the foggiest

For FT, participation is the way to go. Use a bunch of 'cruiser' sized ships
from any background. Obviously Star Trek would be a good choice as it is
popular and well known. The ships should be designed to blow up relatively
quickly (Maximum 1 shield) and have limited arc armament to encourage
maneuvering. A thrust of 4 is usually sufficient. (2 is too slow and 6 is too
fast for beginners)

Once you have the designs, it is important to produce clear playsheets. These
should consist of a single ship diagram (Shaped like the ship, not a generic
outline) and an order track. A5 is about the right size. These can then either
be photocopied (To use pen or pencil) or faced with transparent sticky backed
plastic (To use OHP pens). The second option is initially more expensive, but
looks more 'professional' and makes the
sheets re-usable.

You'll also need a metal tape measure (for movement), a few 'clock face'
diagrams (for fire arcs and turning) and possibly a dowl rod marked off in 12"
bands (range). Make sure the dice you have are colourful and quite large.

Oh. A nice black cloth and some 'scenery' (polystyrene asteroids. Planet balls
etc) wouldn't go amiss either.

The point is to make a good first impression. Get a good looking game that
people can play. Let the game do the rest.

And also use 'Adam's rule of thumb' when dealing with any possible problems
while running the game. If two options are presented (Are they in that fire
arc or not?) choose the one that will cause the
most carnage. 8-)

Date sent:  4-JUL-1996 10:54:42

In message <009A4D1B.783A0B60.22@basil.acs.bolton.ac.uk> Adam Delafield
writes:
> For FT, participation is the way to go. Use a bunch of 'cruiser' sized

The basic reason why I picked up on Full Thrust was a "Star Trek" themed
"participation game" ("demo game" in the UK seems to mean no participation by
onlookers, they just onlook).

> Once you have the designs, it is important to produce clear

An A5 sheet has plenty of room for not only the ship diagram and an order
track but also a QR table of damage results and weapon ranges. This is
essentially what Felix Enterprises sell themed about the Star Trek
Micromachines. If you leave off the various odd weapons and stick to beams it
takes about two minutes to explain the game and anything tricky to remember is
there on the sheet.

If the sheets are photocopies it means the player can walk off with the ship
design and enough game infomation to play at home. This may seem a little bit
dodgy (and GZG have expressed a certain oprobrium for Felix Enterprises) but
if they like the game they will buy it to get all the rest of it. I did.

Indeed it would seem advantageous to GZG to produce "lite" freeware versions
of their rules to seduce people into buying.

> You'll also need a metal tape measure (for movement), a few 'clock

Make sure everything is in plentiful supply. Once the players get
the hang of it they will happily be running individual head-to-head
combats without referee input and throwing great handfuls of dice around.

Don't for God's sake worry about game balance and rubbish like that. Get an 8
foot square table and a dozen players, give each player one ship, divide them
into two sides and let them slaughter each other with gay abandon. If
somebody's escort gets whipped by a big cruiser, well, nevermind, next game in
twenty minutes, he can get his own back then.

> Oh. A nice black cloth and some 'scenery' (polystyrene asteroids.
Planet
> balls etc) wouldn't go amiss either.

GEO-HEX make nice starfield cloths, and it's always funny when a
new player drives his ship into a planet. Everybody knows Star Trek, Star Wars
etc. I wouldn't hesitate to say that Full Thrust is the most accessible game
there is. If it looks good, people will want to
play who wouldn't be interested in big silly robots or tanks-and-
infantry or what-have-you. Make it a big, knockabout silly game and
they'll flock to you like flies.

On Thu, 04 Jul 1996 10:56:31 +0100 Adam Delafield
> <A.Delafield@bolton.ac.uk> writes:
I am from Fort Wayne, Indiana... my wife is from Delafield, Wisconsin... we
now live in FT. W.

> Adam Delafield wrote:

Sometimes a variety of ship sizes is best. This way players can quickly get a
taste of battle with some easy kills on small craft, yet still have some
larger ships remaining through the game. I found that most players are eager
to blow something up early on in the game, but do not want to find their
entire fleet vaporized in a short time.

I usually use build points of around 1500 per fleet making about 4-5
ships with escorts, cruisers, and one capital ship. For beginners, I use the
core rules with some advanced rules like damage control, and some advanced
weapons(submunitions, pulse torpedo, megabatteries, and needle beams).
Multi-turn weapons are recommended only after the basic mechanics are
understood to help keep it simple.

> You'll also need a metal tape measure (for movement), a few 'clock

I highly recommend using 1/4" tape measure since it's cheap and is
easier to move between miniatures. If you use cheat sheets(listing weapon
ranges, damage, etc.), the sheets themselves can be used to mark off the 90
degree firing arcs.

> Oh. A nice black cloth and some 'scenery' (polystyrene asteroids.
Planet
> balls etc) wouldn't go amiss either.

This would greatly produce a more interesting terrain, but might be difficult
for beginners since it could affect game play.

> At 10:56 AM 7/4/96 +0100, ADAM DELAFIELD wrote:

Gee, all I got was a lousy anthropologist.

Several people have suggested using Star Trek or Star Wars as backrounds
because they're both familiar. I've never run a demo game, but it seems to me
that SW might be better than ST.Trek ships, weapons, etc. all behave
differently from standard FT, and there are a lot of Trek-fanatics out
there (no offense intended) who might be apt to dismiss FT as being a poor
Trek
simulation. (ie -- "shields don't act like that," or "why can't I do
this
maneuver when Picard did it in such-and-such episode" and so on.) Has
anyone experienced this?

> On Sat, 6 Jul 1996 16:44:16 -0400 FieldScott@aol.com writes:
and so on.) Has anyone experienced this?
> Scott Field
I've not had this problem. When you explain the rules, let the players know
that you have tried to stay as true to the genre as possible without violating
the game rules. I have had to tweek SW stats quite a bit to be true to the
games. I mean, you can't exactly build a Star Destroyer with 160 BATTERIES and
20 various fighter squadrons on it and still be reasonable.

For ST, I classify by beam batteries. Most ST ships fire with the same
weapon beams in the front three arcs so I clump as 3-directional beams.
It works well enough...

----------
From:	FieldScott@aol.com
Sent:	Saturday, July 06, 1996 3:44 PM
To:     FTGZG-L@bolton.ac.uk
Subject:	Re: Starting a Demo?

Several people have suggested using Star Trek or Star Wars as backrounds
because they're both familiar. I've never run a demo game, but it seems to me
that SW might be better than ST.Trek ships, weapons, etc. all behave
differently from standard FT, and there are a lot of Trek-fanatics out
there (no offense intended) who might be apt to dismiss FT as being a poor
Trek
simulation. (ie -- "shields don't act like that," or "why can't I do
this
maneuver when Picard did it in such-and-such episode" and so on.) Has
anyone experienced this?

Date sent:  8-JUL-1996 08:42:10

> Several people have suggested using Star Trek or Star Wars as

> Scott Field

With the 'Hard Core' trecker, you can experience the 'Hood' syndrome. (The one
where in Naval wargames ALL british ships blow up due to 'lucky' hits to ammo
storage). This is because ST eps are solved by plot lines (or plot loopholes)
and not by a straight out slugfeist. I usually know enough about the episode
to counter any attempt to use it as an excuse to do something outside the
game. (eg the 'Picard maneuver' is now so commonly known that
all ships carry equipment to monitor micro-pressure variations as a
standard part of their scanners. And the only reason it worked in the
episode anyway was because they didn't want to blow the ship up 8-) ).
But still, you can't have the complex 'role playing' as part of a 'simple'
fast paced game.

In fact, at the end of the day, ST weapons do not behave any differently from
FT weapons. The only difference is in the descriptions. (With TNG and the
Films, ships with shields up can, and do, take damage).

I'd be sceptical about using fighters as part of a participation game for
beginners.

> Adam Delafield wrote:
(The
> one where in Naval wargames ALL british ships blow up due to 'lucky'
hits
> to ammo storage). This is because ST eps are solved by plot lines (or

> Which store might that be? I am around the Delafield and waukesha

  I don't think I got anything...  BTW- does anybody know of anyplace in
the
Norfolk, VA area that sells FT/DS stuff?

> I don't think I got anything... BTW- does anybody know of anyplace
Try Campaign Headquarters on E. Little Creek Road at Wards Corners. Sorry I
can't supply a number but I just moved from SE Virginia (at the beginning of
June) to Los Angeles and threw out all of my phone books! They're one of the
best stores in the area.

I went to Campaign Headquarters back in 80-84!! Great shop! They have
(had?) a big gaming area that could be reserved! Also, one of the biggest
shops in the Southeast is Enterprise1701 in Orlando, Fl. They have a complete
catalogued mail order department and the catalog is free! They have a very
nice Web site at:

http://www.enterprise1701.com/94

If you E-mail them let Lance or Troy know it's all my fault...;-)

> Try Campaign Headquarters on E. Little Creek Road at Wards Corners.
Sorry I
> can't supply a number but I just moved from SE Virginia (at the

  Thanks- I got transplanted from NY about two years ago, but been
underway on a SSN for a year and a half in the last two and a half...