Last weekend, I was at a convention and played in the single worst RPG session I have so far played. Then, after lots of drinks and retelling how bad it was, I realized I haven’t said anything here about running RPGs. Thus, since I haven’t posted in months, I’m going to talk about running a game at some sort of convention, where you don’t know the players.

First: make sure your session fits in the time slot. Aim to take up no more than 80% of the available time, because your players will likely play slower and be less familiar with the system.

Related to that, keep the game moving. There’s table talk and there’s a 15-minute breakdown of the current Marvel movie trailer. Look for players that are not engaged with either the game or conversation to know when you need to guide people back. Likewise, don’t put an extended focus on one character. Again, a quick glance at the non-participating players can usually tell you when the scene has gone on too long.

If your players are struggling with a plan, it’s okay to point out obviously bad plans. Things their characters would know, like “traveling at night is dangerous and exhausting” are okay to point out if no one else says anything.

Make sure the action the player describes matches the action you’re assuming. “I’m going to keep watch” might mean to the player “I’m nearby but looking for threats”  but you may assume “I’m hanging back a football field away.” Ask for clarification as needed to avoid sidelining players.

Most important for a public game: don’t include controversial content. Generally, keeping content PG-13 is advisable. Keep in mind, people may have had to live through rape or serious abuse or a host of other very bad things. Don’t toss them into the session as a cheap way to up the stakes.

This last point bears repeating, especially because if you are running a scheduled game at a venue, you are implicitly representing them. You have presumably contacted them and offered to run a game. They have presumably given you a timeslot to do it. This comes with an understanding that you will not do something to make the place look bad. If you do not want this responsibility do not run an organized game.

If you instead think, “I’ll just run a pickup game,” that’s fine, but be aware that most of the same rules apply. Mainly, if your solution for avoiding having to moderate your content is to run an unsanctioned game, maybe just don’t run it at all.