In hindsight, GMing at Gen Con is not easy. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a blast! But a 60,000 player convention has a lot of moving parts, and I would have loved a guide to avoid all the inefficiencies, mistakes, and general frustrations I experienced during my first few years.

So, without any further ado, here are some of the things that are in the Event Host Policy document Gen Con releases every year, but hopefully a little more concise:

GM vs. Gaming Group
If you are running an event by yourself, you are a GM! That means you’re only responsible for yourself and your event. This eliminates a lot of possible advantages, such as getting complimentary GM Badges or requesting a GM Hotel Room, but this provides a much faster, simpler submittal process and you don’t have the pain of herding the cats that are your fellow GMs. Good job on not being insane!

GM Badges
As a GM, you still must purchase a Badge as an Attendee, then request before mid-May a GM Badge for pickup at GM HQ. Once you pick up your GM Badge, you drop off your Attendee Badge and, after the convention, request reimbursement.
As a Gaming Group, you can request a number of complimentary GM Badges equivalent to number expected of player hours generated from your approved events divided by 72 hours. What does this all mean? If you plan to run 72 player hours of events (# of Events x # of players x # of Event’s Hours), you’ll get a free Badge.

Continue reading A Quickstart Guide for Game Masters at Gen Con