I've been doing it since 1992, I think, and I've had ups and downs of course.

Dos
My main advice would be to be yourself. Play exactly as you play privately and don't put on a "GM'ing at convention" mask.

If your game relies on planning ahead, then make sure you do that, and feel comfortable that you've got the grasp of it. If you hate planning, play a no-prep game.

Don'ts
Don't prepare your session an hour before you're running. I've tried. It doesn't work.

Don't admit to your players beforehand that you're not prepared, or you think the scenario, game or whatever sucks.

Per
http://darkplaces.squarespace.com

Also, there's often an expectation that you'll present the players with an adventure. It's less a collaborative effort than playing at home: it'll be seen as "your game".

So, as Per says, do know the rules and the scenario backwards. I'd suggest being friendly, in a host-like way: introduce yourself, smile.

Don't say things like "I'm not sure of the rules on this" or "I'm not sure about this next bit". At a convention, I'd bluff it rather than admit I didn't know what came next. (Players like to think they're in safe hands).

However, you can do things like hand narration over to the players>. Players often respond well to "Tell me how you beat him" or "In this game, you can chip in and narrate things yourself. Don't hold back."

Just my opinion, of course, and others will differ.

Graham

Arrive early.

Bring pencils and paper and dice (if required).

Start on time, if someone turns up a bit late bring them in as soon as possible.

Expect some people to not turn up so make sure your game will run with less than it's full slots.

Keep and eye on the time and don't over run. There is often not much time between game slots, you will proably have something to do, as will your players and the table will be needed for the next slot so try and wrap up a little early for post game chat and such like.

Try and keep the game fast moving and fun. Because everyone at conventions is a little out of their comfort zone playing with new people you need to make sure things keep flowing and people are enjoying themselves.

Good luck. I'm acutally not formally running any games at Conpulsion this year which is a bit of a shock. I'm even hoping to play in some.

Plus have a few playtests of I can has XP.

Simon Proctor
Cognoscite aliquid novum cotidie

Unless character creation takes a matter of minutes (or is absolutely critical, such as with the PTA or the like) make sure you turn up with ready made characters.

Make sure you can explain the rules and setting in 5-10 minutes. Nobody wants to still be there an hour later waiting to start (and I've been in games like that).

Make it pacy and keep swapping between characters. There's nothing worse than a slow game, or one where the GM labours all his attention on one or two players. Usually the ones sitting by him!

Actually, evilgaz has a great guide to running convention games - I'll poke him over here to give his own hints.

Come and ask for help if you have problems. There's the CE table and the GOD table, and we'll all be around to offer help, pep talks and confession.

It's ok to take a break. And if you have a game with proper scene breaks, make sure the group are giving you feedback on what's gone before, and what they might want later.

Have everyone introduce each other. I quite like asking everyone why they came. It usually throws them a little (which is good) and starts them talking to _each other_ instead of the guy at the head of the table.

If you're passing out characters, describe them and sell them to the group - 'This guy is noble but flawed'. And leave a few details for the players to tweak themselves - two skills to allocate, one relationship to write up.

If you're generating characters (which I wouldn't recommend at all), keep it brief.

If it's that sort of game, have players take over the role of NPCs. For players who hold back from 'sub-optimal' tactical choices for fear of having to leave the game (and I'm shuddering inside at that), playing NPCs is freeing.

And if you're running D&H, get feedback at the end. Lead the feedback with problems you saw.

First things first. Read my article here: http://www.ukroleplayers.com/2008/02/23/evilgazs-top-ten-convention-game-pitfalls/
Its for traditional games really, but there is stuff in there that's good for any type of rpg. Fill your boots.

What are your goals? Things get done a little differently round here sometimes. I would think though that you want to sell some games off the back of your demo, by way of having an ace game.

Most attendees want
(a) A good game, i.e. fun
(b) To find out if the game's any good from someone who know's what they're talking about

DO
*Know your stuff inside out. Work out what you're going to do and prepare that. Don't worry about things that won't come up in the game.
*Prepare as much as you can. This might just involve getting things straight in your head. It might be crib sheets to refer to when you're explaining how the game works. Whatever helps you feel like you've got it all sorted and have what you need.
*Enjoy yourself
*Remember that you're not playing for your home team and the players might require more information or help than you'd normally expect

DON'T
*Worry if you make some mistakes. Make the game fun and largely on target and discuss any bits and bobs you want after the session.
*Get flustered. Call a break if you want to revise up on something or work the next bit of the plot out. You can even make out like its for the player's benefit, but that's not usually necessary if the players aren't dicks.
*Get into lengthy rules dicussions, arguments, chats about Eastenders.
*Keep dragging the game out to fill the slot if its obvious to everyone its a turkey. Better to keep it short and punchy if you can.
If you let me know what you're running and how it works I could probably be more useful.

Just a couple of bits on other people's comments...

If you're not infamous, then have a name badge, or GM insert, or t-shirt with Neil, Just Neil on it or whatever. Or do like Graham says and introduce yourself.

Per wrote "Don't admit to your players beforehand that you're not prepared, or you think the scenario, game or whatever sucks."
If you're in that position, you shouldn't be running the game. So make sure none of that applies to you, if it does, find something you think is ace to run, and prepare that instead.

scimon said "Start on time", but I'd do it differently. Be prepared for a couple of players being stuck at the bar or whatever, but don't wait all day. If you've got to explain rules or make characters, its better that everyone's there for it, than do it two or three times in a row. You can always discuss some aspects of the game while you're waiting. His pointers on keeping time (I often take my watch off and stick it on top of my notes), and pace are Good.

As Andy said explain only the necessary background and rules and get stuck in. A quick once over the character sheet is usually advisable. You can explain extra rules and nuances as you go and fill in background details about the world through description in play.

As Joe mentions, I wouldn't make characters on the day unless your game depends on it. Write pre-gens and give them a bit of XP or Story Points or whatever to beef them up. Why does everyone insist on trying to demo games with weak beginning characters that are flat and lifeless? I don't know. Don't go crazy with the backgrounds. Giving players a few words to hook into usually works. Give each player a one liner about what their character thinks of each other character can get them interacting with each other in no time.

Get players to introduce their own characters to each other.

Does that help, or have I said nothing using lots of words?

Anything specific you want help on, let me know.

Cheers

Gaz

Edit - I hate the fucking tags on this forum. Yes, yes, I should have previewed it... grrr

Another take on the creating characters thing:

For me, creating characters is one of the pleasures of a game. So I like letting people create characters at the start. You can do it remarkably well in about half an hour: I'm reminded of a Dogs In The Vineyard game, where Steve D hurried us through character creation in 45 minutes, including initiation, and it didn't seem hurried. It involves saying things like "Don't flick through the book, just choose the skills you like".

If character creation is particularly fun, or something you want to test, then I'd suggest letting players create characters. I'm letting players create characters for all my Gumshoe games.

That's what I think and I know very well that everyone else disagrees with me, so there you go.

On Andrew's thing about explaining the setting in 5 - 10 minutes: I'd go for 5 minutes maximum. Preferably just 2 minutes, with the rest explained as you go along. I couldn't listen to a GM explain background for more than two minutes.

On Joe's thing about feedback: I absolutely agree about asking for feedback. I, personally, wouldn't lead the feedback with problems that I saw. I've had problems with that in the past: often, I'll start by outlining what I thought the problems were, only to find out that what bothered the players was very different.

Graham

A hell of a lot of the bases have been covered really well here, there's a lot of solid advice. So, I'll try to avoid 'me too!'-ism and concentrate briefly on one small aspect: Characters.

Creating characters is fun and can be quick (depending on game). There are a couple of pitfalls though. The main one is that some people, despite prodding, help and the constraints of time, will take an age to create a character. Some will take an age just to come up with a name. That's a major pitfall and can really drag the game to a shuddering halt.

How to get round this? I've found that partially created characters offer a good balance between allowing players input into the charater and having a solid foundation on which to get things started. For example, with my Cold City games, the character has a name, background (very brief), attributes, a couple of traits and a National hidden agenda. The players then get to create the other traits, the Personal hidden agenda and go through the Draw Scene for the character. Seems to work very well.

So, you have some idea of what the characters are going to be like, but it also gives players the chance to make the characters their own. It might not be to the taste of everyone, but I've found it is a workable and enjoyable compromise.

Cheers
Malc

Contested Ground Studios

Just to labour the character thing, but if they're pre-gens, then you can set up the relevant skills, relationships etc., to fit in with the game you've got in mind. So when it comes to the big poetry competition someone's got Haiku 37 and A Book of Proverbs +3 in their backpack.

I'm aware that some of the hippy games make plots up as you go along etc., so it does depend on what you're running and how you're going about it.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Thats all really useful.

I've decided that for Hot War I'm going to follow Malcolm's example and do half-baked characters and let the players add their own icing and hundreds & thousands. For D&H character generation would probably be a session unto itself so I've given them the signature characters from the book and two simple missions each (one shared military and one personal) which vaguely intertwine. That should spotlight the system fine enough (and chargen has been playtested into the ground)

Neil

Take the King's shilling at http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/