February 2024 Newsletter
2 Events on sale right now!
A few months ago, you would’ve heard me say something like “from an outsiders perspective, there’s very little happening” and now I find myself positively overwhelmed with stuff to do.
Firstly and most importantly, there are 2 events open to ticket sales RIGHT NOW!
Deephaven - Louisville, KY - March 9th
Den of Wolves - Ypsilanti, MI - March 30th
Both are excellent games, though very different. You should come to at least one of them, but preferably both! :)
Deephaven is a free-form game where players are encouraged to come up with their own storylines using prompts from the world that’s going on around them. For example, a member of the Gully clan knocked over the mining tower and caused lava to spew all over the cavern. Now control is announcing that all the art supplies are on fire but you’re in the Artists guild and that’s your livelihood going up in smoke (so what are you going to do about it?) Or perhaps you’re an inspector and the irresponsible engineers have just erected a dodgy crane to move minerals from the depths of the mine.
On the flip side, Den of Wolves is very structured and is the perfect game for beginners to get a feel for megagames. Depending on your role, you’ll be either discussing issues in the council or negotiating for all-important resources so you can feed your people.
Megagames are primarily a word-of-mouth hobby so please spread the word about these two events. If I can’t sell enough tickets, it’s not worth my time/effort to run. There used to be a dozen megagame groups around North America prior to the Pandemic but they’re almost all defunct. We’re one of the few left so please tell your friends about this amazing hobby.
Gen Con
To most people, Gen Con feels like a lifetime away (~7 months) but we’re all systems go right now. We (the Megagame Coalition) have been actively recruiting game runners to put on megagames at Gen Con and we’re really close to revealing the final schedule. By this time next week we’ll be unveiling the lineup of games (providing that Gen Con accepts our submission) and we can tell you all about it.
The last big hoop to jump through is the Gen Con event room shuffle, where, once we’ve submitted all our events, Gen Con then assigns us rooms for all the games we want to run. Hopefully they say “that looks wonderful, here’s some huge rooms for you” but honestly we don’t know. Though by this point, we’ve been working with Gen Con for several years and they know how many player/hours we bring to them (their measure of success) and in all likelihood give us what we want. We already know we’re not getting the same room as last year so we’ll have to wait to see what we’re given.
All this to say, really soon we’ll be asking for volunteers to help us facilitate the megagames we want to run at Gen Con. Spoiler alert - we want to run double the games this year so we’ll need approximately double the number of volunteers. That means we want YOU to help us.
Never helped before? No worries, we will find you a spot. Scared about not knowing enough? We will train you. Think you’re not part of the “in crowd” - you just haven’t had the opportunity to help us yet. Oh and by the way, there is no “in crowd” - we’re just regular nerds who want to put on awesome games for people.
I’ll be posting the volunteer sign-up really soon on the Discord channel so watch that space.
Online events
Which leads on nicely to this section - the online events I’m running this month.
Firstly, if you’re still not sure about Deephaven, I’ll be running a “What is…” conversation on the theme, mechanics, gameplay loops, etc. This event is will be hosted on the main Dukes discord channel on Feb 6th @ 8pm EST (that’s TOMORROW!) and you can get an invite by using this link: https://discord.gg/UsQEBsQX78?event=1196887227133870241. It’s free and open to the public so even if you have no intention of going but are still curious about what this kind of megagame is, I’d encourage you to come along and learn.
Secondly, on Feb 13th @ 8pm EST, I’ll be leading a seminar on volunteering for megagames with an emphasis on Gen Con 2024. I’ll be encouraging anyone that’s curious about what it means to help out at a game to come along. Sometimes groups like the Megagame Coalition can feel very insular, like a “boys club” where there’s an inner circle and no one else is welcome. That’s simply not true and I want to dispel that myth by inviting you all to participate. Here’s the link to the discord event: https://discord.gg/Y74XTNcZ?event=1200478453066109020
I’ll be answering the questions “who, what, where, when, why and how” of volunteering. And at the end there will be a call-to-action on how to sign-up to volunteer with us at Gen Con 2024. We’ll also cover all the perks of doing so. It’s not purely selfless - you can get free badges, help with housing, etc.
I’m also inviting the folks I’ve got lined up to help me run the Dukes local games this year, because it’ll double up as training of sorts on what it means to be a good control member.
Worldwide survey results
In November of last year, I reached out to you on behalf of the Megagame Assembly to fill out a survey - a global survey on the current state of the hobby. The results from this survey are now available and can be found on the following pagees:
Results part 1: https://www.megagameassembly.com/blog/megagame-survey-results-2023-part-1
Results freeform comments: https://www.megagameassembly.com/blog/megagame-survey-comments-2023
Results part 2 (regional): https://www.megagameassembly.com/blog/megagame-survey-results-2023-part-2
I have thoughts, do you?
Podcasts
Did you know that I’ve been interviewed on 2 different podcasts?!? It’s true, I am famous and important and you should listen to what I have to say. :S
First off, I’m on the Megagame Assembly podcast where I talk about my humble beginnings - what games we started with, what changes we had to make, etc. You can find that here: Megagame Assembly Podcast
Secondly, my favorite Aussies interviewed me over at the Great Game podcast to talk about Gods of the Ancient World which you can find here: The Great Game
Spoiler alert - I have a third interview but it’s not been released yet - watch this space…
Social Media
Urrrrggg, just typing “social media” gives me the heebie jeebies.
But seriously, to build a community, social media is important. I like my information to come in a lovely packaged email which is why I spend so much time on these but I realize that’s not everyone’s preference. Some of you rely on Facebook, others use Reddit exclusively. I’m attempting to be a little more active on social media to get the word out on what a megagame is and where you can find upcoming events.
So this is a call to action for you - if you use any of the social media platforms regularly, please consider subbing to the main Dukes of Highland pages so you can be reminded when things are happening and easily share with your friend groups.
There are links to each of them at the top of the page.
future games
It belongs in a museum - is coming to Louisville and I’m really excited for it.
Because I’m a bossy boots, when I told the designers of IBIAM that I’d like to run their game, I also mentioned that I’d like them to write more teams for it to make it truly MEGA. And they agreed! What a bunch of trusting idiots!
I’m just kidding, not really. They’re fantastic lads who’ve put in a huge amount of work into their game, and with their additions, they’re putting in a huge amount more. They’re writing 2 brand new explorer teams and a brand new museum team, along with character back-stories and adventures for them to go on. They’re helping me bump the maximum player count from 34 to 43, bringing it much more in line with the games we’re used to putting on (with the exception of Deephaven - that 70-count player thing is stupid). There will be lots more information about this in a couple of months, especially when the tickets become available. The game is scheduled for June 1st and tickets will go on sale sometime in March.
As always, thank you for making this far. To comment on any of the things you’ve just read, head over to our discord channel and you’ll find a “Newsletter Feedback” thread. For that matter, say hello on Facebook, or better yet, share Deephaven and Den of Wolves Ypsi event pages with your friends and gaming groups.
Until next time,
-Tony