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Facilitating and Pitching Games

We strongly suggest you come along and play one of the games pitched for your first meetup as a way of understanding our play style and culture, rather than pitching and facilitating a game the first time you attend.

You do not have to run a game if you don’t want to. Most people don’t run a game, so you won’t be left out. But if you would like to run a game, you are more than welcome to do so!

There is no application or approval process to run a game. You can just show up on the day and pitch if you want to run a game. We do sometimes discuss games people want to run on Discord to get a sense of what’s on offer, but this is optional and you can change your mind at any time.

If you need any help facilitating or pitching a game, feel free to let one of the organisers know and we will try and help as best we can!

Facilitating a Game

The only rules we have for people facilitating a game are:

  1. Abide by our code of conduct. Especially ensure that you are using some manner of safety and communication tools at your table.
  2. Facilitate a positive and welcoming play environment at the table. This includes working collaboratively with others and having clear communication on content and boundaries. You can find more information in our Good Gameplay Guide.
  3. Be prepared to explain the game to others and help them pick it up and play. We have a wide range of familiarity with the hobby, and it would help to expect newcomers to TTRPGs at your table.

Finally, this is not a formal rule, but given that people who attend have a wide range of familiarity with the hobby and with varying tastes, attendees have tended to run games that are simple and easy to pick up.

This does not preclude people from running more complex games with difficult themes. In fact, a lot of people have run games like this at the club on several occasions! Just be mindful that if you are running games that can be on the heavier side, whether in terms of rules or content, it might need some planning or discussion in advance, and careful explanation when pitching.

Pitching a Game

We will ask people who have brought a game with them that they want to run to take it in turns to pitch what they have brought. This usually involves making a short announcement describing what the game is and how many people it can take. We also expect people to discuss matters of tone and content, as well as any sensitive issues the game may cover. We do this not to censor or eliminate sensitive content, but to ensure that games can run safely with every player’s consent.

General Format for a Pitch

  1. Introduction of the person facilitating the game;
  2. Name of the game;
  3. Short description of the game;
  4. General content and tone indicators (e.g. age rating, BBFC-style classification, ESRB-style rating, description of genre, or whatever system you find comfortable);
  5. Specific content advisories of any sensitive content you anticipate might come up; and
  6. Minimum and maximum number of players.

When describing the game, it can help to say briefly what the premise is, what the rules are like, and to give any relevant plot hooks or details.

The pitch doesn’t need to be overly long, just a couple of minutes should be fine.

If you pitch a game and not enough people want to play it for it to run, then you’re welcome to join any of the other games that have space. Anyone who pitches will get a situation sooner or later where they don’t get enough players to run, it’s no big deal. Having more games pitched than needed is a great situation for the club, and you can always pitch it again another time.

If you need any help with pitching a game, let us know!