MIB North Extras: Director's Cut: The Play's the Thing

Director's Cut - Hunter's Story

I sit around and try to think up really cool convention events. This is something that I'm getting increasingly better at, and it's an enjoyable activity that can be enhanced by discussion with others, Long Island Iced Teas, bubbles, whatever. And, sometimes while free-associating my way through ideas, I'll hit something that makes me laugh, or puts an evil grin on my face.

And then I'll stop, and think to myself: is Hunter going to tell that story again?

Hunter is a fellow MIB and Cheapass Games Demo Monkey, and is someone that I wish I could game with more often. Where I am impetuous, always willing to dash off in a new direction, he's calm, thoughtful, deliberate, and still seems to get to the same place I do, often ahead of me. He's one of those people that make game victories against him feel earned. I like Hunter.

A few years ago, I told Hunter about an idea for a bit of street art/game promo work I was considering. This would have been a full-contact event, out in the public eye and specifically designed to tweak a particular group that peripherally appeared at this convention each year. Hunter listened to the idea, and then told me a story.

I have no reason to doubt the story's truth; it works equally well as an apocryphal tale. The star is a well-known person in the gaming community, and basically tells the tale of two Jehovah's Witnesses who came to the door one day during a role-playing session and stayed to play. It's a heartwarming tale of inclusion and brotherhood, and when Hunter tells it, you can hear the violins swell at the end of the story. The moral's fairly obvious: don't freak the mundanes without cause, as they may be for you rather than against you.

To both Hunter's and my credit, he has only told me the story twice, and he even recognized the fact that he had told it to me once before. (I, on the other hand, am already practicing for the day when my grandchildren will sigh and roll their eyes and listen to one of my stories for the 87th time.) But for me, the story is less important that the source. Hunter is a person whom I admire in my circle of acquaintances, and his quiet disapproval is something I take seriously.

Creating a good gaming event is a balancing act, and varying perspectives brought to bear on an idea will either temper or trash it. I have to consider if it's going to annoy my compatriot GMs, or if the game designer or company will consider it an appropriate use of their product, or if the targeted gamers will find it interesting. The better you can get at flexing your creativity within the bounds of the potential audience, the better your efforts will be received. Art for art's sake can be fun, but when you're trying to create a game event, you've failed if no one is willing to join in.

So, at the risk of having Hunter look smugly at me for the new few years or so, his is one of the voices I listen to when I'm coming up with ideas for events. Sitting around with friends and coming up with ideas for guerilla-style gaming is fun, but to promote the hobby, you need to be attentive to the voices of temperance relevant to you. Listening to them will give you the chance to be a story for someone else.

Alex Yeager
AlexYeager@yahoo.com
SJ Games North US MIB RD/Cheapass Games Demo Monkey