June 2023 Newsletter

The Past

Ticket sales have been really good over the past month. We went from ~26 on 5/11 to 52 today. We’re only 10 away from the maximum so if you still haven’t got your tickets or have any friends on the fence, now is the last chance you’ll get.

Buy tickets to Gods of the Ancient World

A couple of weeks ago, I was in England and had the opportunity to play a Megagame called First Contact:2023. It’s a Watch The Skies style game where you’re all playing as nation leaders when Aliens show up. It had a massive 200 players and I led the Israelis as the Head of State. I just published my After Action Report writeup on our site which you can find here: https://www.dukesofhighland.net/blog/aar-first-contact-2035. Within that post, there’s also a link to lots of pictures over at the Very Large Huge games website.

I wasn’t in town to hear the radio bit but apparently it happened? What I do know is that it had very little impact on traffic to the site nor to the ticket sales. Probably not something I’ll do again but it was an interesting experiment.

The Present

For anyone that’s playing in GAW in 3 weeks, you all should’ve received the pre-game survey. If you’ve not filled that out yet, please do so as it’s absolutely VITAL to ensure you get to play on the same team as your friends, make sure the role is a good match for you, etc. Check your inbox for an email from a few days ago.

On our discord server, I’ve set up a new event to talk through the rules for Gods of the Ancient World. You don’t have to be playing to join in - all are welcome. For those of you that are playing, this is an optional event - I’ll be sending out the rules next week and I have to assume zero knowledge when the day arrives so they will be a full walkthrough before the game begins.

Here’s the link if you’d like to join in: https://discord.gg/nBf4dDgN. (This link is only good for 7 days after posting. If you’re interested in joining the discord, shoot us an email.) I’m hoping some of the control team will be on so you can get to know them a bit too.

I’m also in full building-the-game mode. Design is a large part of putting on a megagame but after that it’s all about getting the components ready. For anyone that’s played with us before, you’ll remember a nice manilla envelope and a baggie of larger components that begins the game on your table. That and all the special tables have equivalents (military map, senate, Gods room, etc.). My printer, laminator, glue gun, button maker and paper guillotine are all smoking right now as I’m getting components ready for the big day. I’m also Amazons number 1 fan as I buy a lot of supplies from that beast (it’s so convenient). What’s that, I’ve run out of lamination sheets again? Click click click… ding dong… supplies at the door.

The Future

Gencon is fast approaching and the wheels are fully in motion for that too. We had lots of volunteers this time and I had to do very little begging to get people to sign up. A free badge and somewhere to stay are good incentives for people.

Once June is over, I’ll need to tweak GAW rules and reprint any documentation, and package it up all over again for when August rolls around.

In some ways, Gencon is easier because as an organizer, you just sort of show up. Both GAW and Den of Wolves sold out in seconds so I don’t have to worry about advertising. The room is “given” to us by Gencon so I don’t have to organize that and the volunteers fall over themselves to help.

In other ways, it’s very much like a black box. If I have a question on hotels or the room, it’s very hard to get answers. Not only do I have to rely on Gencon for information, there is also a full team of megagame organizers (the Megagame Coalition) who I’m working with, all with their own needs and various levels of experience.

If you want to get in any of the megagames at Gencon, whilst the games are sold out on the event list, by contacting the organizer you can oftentimes get on the wait list. Once you’ve done that, you simply turn up with generic tickets up to the same value and there’s a decent chance you’ll get to play (we have some drop outs and some games are conducive to squeezing in an extra player or two).

Once again, thanks for getting this far through my ramblings. I love putting on megagames and the community it brings together. I hope to see you drop into the discord soon.

~Tony