Diary of a new event: The World Went Dark. Part 1, by Cazz Walker

Two weeks before Christmas I posted on Facebook, desperate to find a post apocalyptic game I could play that ticked the right boxes for me as a player. After a lot of comments on that status most of which seemed to tell me to run a game myself I decided to do just that.

The problem with this initially was that having never run an event I had no idea what to do. So I decided to come up with my vision of a post apocalyptic world. I started writing down an overview, and then I sent it to a good friend who offered to help me run it.

From there I think the word snowball is the best description for what happened. In a 2 week period over Christmas and new year we made an FB page, we locked down a site, we made an event page, we sold out of tickets 48 hours after putting them on sale and we fleshed out the game world hugely.

Along the way we picked up more people to help run the game. If I have learnt anything in the manic 3 weeks its that being able to task people with jobs is a god send at getting stuff done. Especially when you have an idea and are failing at wording what you want it to be.

Skype has proved invaluable, as it means the refs who are a bit spread out can all get together once a week and have a brainstorm or just chat about what we've all been up to for the game.
Likewise Google docs is invaluable, as it allows all of us to edit and read documents live. So either while on Skype together or while chatting on Facebook. And all of you can edit at the same time, so no risk of saving your document and deleting someone else's work.

With the event sold out the next challenge is to go through all the players backgrounds and make sure they fit the game world and work with the playerbase to make the world a living thing. On top of that we have to start designing and making the crew kit, ordering the weapons, and ageing the guns.

Building up kit already! Rights Cazz Walker

So far its been a bit of a rollercoaster! I did not expect this to take off in the way it has. There are systems that have been running for years that don't sell out in 2 days. So for people to believe in an untried event enough to book us up, is awesome, but also an added level of stress. On top of that some of the people coming, run, what are in my opinion some of the best events in the UK. So have the pressure of that as well.

The worst part so far- the inevitable issue all event organisers have when some people dont quite get the event and try and shoe horn stuff in that doesnt fit, or start going on about how everyone will combust in flames if we dont have modern lighting... the solution? In our case its been talking to the players, ensuring to the best of our ability that they understand this event may not be what they are used to or what they think it might be like. Working with them as much as possible to make sure their backgrounds are enjoyable for them but also fit the game world, and offering as much help as we can with their kit and costume. Its really easy to slate someone who doesn't get the look and aspiration you are aiming for with costume. But I think every good costumer at some point was sat down by someone and told how to do it well. I know that was the case with me.

Best part so far was seeing people clearly into the idea of the event. The level of keen is amazing, and that in turn feeds our keen! 

Stay posted for more diary entries over the coming months.