You're the GM Now: Tips for Running Games at Your First Con
The table is full. Players are pulling out dice, glancing at their character sheets. The chatter fades. Every single one of them showed up to this convention, paid their registration, picked this game out of dozens of options, and now they wait with bated breath, hope, excitement, and precious con-time for this game to start. It’s electric. And then it hits you.
Oh no. You're the GM.
If that image makes your stomach drop a little, good news, you're already thinking about this the right way. Running games at a convention is one of the most rewarding things you can do in the TTRPG community, and also genuinely different from running for your home group. Here are a few things I've learned that might help.
Run what you love, not what you think they want.
Here's my hot take: don't default to D&D 5e or Pathfinder just because it's the most recognizable thing on the schedule.
Run the game/module you know cold. Run the one you've read three times and could explain in your sleep. For me, that's a Chicago-set modern Vaesen module I wrote myself. It’s a weird little love letter to Chicago history superimposed on a simple dice pool system. I've run it at cons three times now and gotten a packed table every time.
People love the classics, but they often want to try new things at cons, so you can trust that the obscure one-pager you're obsessed with might be exactly what someone has been hoping to find. Your enthusiasm will be contagious. Your familiarity with the material means you can actually follow your players instead of white-knuckling the rulebook, and you can have fun with their choices. Give folks the gift of a “home-cooked meal” that you know and love.
Prep for strangers, not your usuals.
You do not know these people. They do not know you. Fix that before you start playing.
Start by going around the table and asking each player to introduce themselves, their character, and what drew them to this particular game. That last part matters more than it sounds and can give you clues on how to support the table. A person who picked your game because they love folk horror is going to play differently than the one who just had a free slot. Knowing that helps you run for the table you actually have rather than the one you had in your head.
From there, look for ways to get characters interacting with each other early and often. Maybe even consider starting in media res. Spenser Starke started an episode of Candela Obscura with her characters literally running on a moving train, and it was epic. Dropping everyone into a moment of action or tension right out of the gate lets the characters reveal themselves through what they do rather than what they say about themselves.
Con players are usually game for it, and it gets the table humming before anyone has time to feel awkward. The goal in that first stretch of play is to give your strangers a reason to become a table.
If you're running a game with mechanics that are unfamiliar to some players, don't stop the action to deliver a rules lecture — scaffold as you go. Introduce each mechanic at the moment it becomes relevant, in the context of something exciting that's already happening or after a player tells you what they would like to do.
Cullen McDonald, one of my favorite con GMs, does this beautifully with Fate of the Norns, a rune-based game that could feel overwhelming on paper. Players learn by doing, and by the time the stakes are high, they already know what to reach for.
Use appropriate safety tools.
With a table of strangers, you have no idea what someone is carrying into the room that day. Think about how safety tools can set a welcoming tone, but think about which tool actually fits your game.
If you're running something with intense content (cosmic horror, body horror, moral darkness) lines and veils are worth the two minutes. Players get to name hard stops, and things they'd prefer happen off-screen, and everyone sits down knowing exactly how weird they can make things.
But if you're running something lighter, a simple tool like a brake card (or X Card) might do the trick. It just gives people a low-stakes way to call for a pause, slow down the scene, or honestly, ask for a bathroom break without feeling like they're derailing the game.
Think about what your game needs to create a solid foundation of trust so folks can take risks, and then bring things to the table that help it meet that threshold. Your players are trusting you to.
Don’t be scared to finish early.
This is the one that trips up first-timers most often. You have a four-hour slot, so you think you have four hours. You don't.
Everyone will be late. One dude will get lost and show up after you spent 10 minutes on mechanics. So assume you're starting late, and then aim to reach your climax with about twenty minutes left on the clock.
That's not wasted time, that's epilogue time. That's "what does your character do now that it's over?" time. That's “bathroom-before-the-next-game” or “house-a-hotdog-in-hallway” time. A well-paced ending with room to breathe will leave your players feeling satisfied in a way that a frantic sprint to the finish line never will. A satisfying moment of closure is the thing they'll remember.
Remember, you belong at that table.
Convention GMing can feel like performing, but it's really just hospitality. You're creating a space for people to play. You prepared, you care, and you showed up. The players at your table chose your game. Let that be enough to get you started, and then get out of your own way and let them surprise you.
One last thing — leave your players with a way to find you again. I hand out custom poker chips with my contact info. As we talked about last time, the con circuit is smaller than it looks. The strangers at your table today might be your regular group in a year. And tell them about CTGA!
See you at the table. Probably a little late. I needed to grab snacks.
This article was written by Susan Haarman, PhD, a board member of the Chicago Tabletop Gaming Association. If you’d like to get more involved with the tabletop community in Chicago, join us at one our upcoming events or on Discord to be apart of discussions like this one.
Disclaimer: The information in this blog and on www.chicagotga.org is presented for educational and entertainment purposes. Any statistics, recommended products, or other information is researched in good faith, but no warranty is made to the completeness nor accuracy of the source. All written and multimedia content published here is the intellectual property of Chicago Tabletop Gaming Association (CTGA) or contributing community members and is not for reproduction or sale by third parties. By accessing this site and all its materials, you agree to and acknowledge these terms.
