Geoff H
United States
Durham
North Carolina
U.S. 95th Infantry Division - The Iron Men of Metz
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I'm seeking everyone's input on how to proceed with tournaments in the area and would appreciate your responses and ideas.
First a bit of background... Over the past two years, I've tried to promote Dungeon Twister through demos, local tournaments, and attending conventions. My first local tournament had a great turnout -- I believe that we had 12 players. Unfortunately, that still remains the highest attendance I've had. I've had a few other tournaments in the Triangle with 4-5 players, but recent tournaments have not drawn a single player. The tournament I tried in Charlotte was not successful at all. The only other successful event was in Winston-Salem, where there is a strong base of 5-6 players.
In January of 2011, I attended my first convention, SCARAB, in Columbia, SC. I ran demos all weekend and had two tournaments -- a warm-up event on Saturday -- and a big tournament on Sunday. I think that we had 10 players on Sunday and had a great time. This is where most of the players in Winston learned about the game.
I tried the same schedule at MACE (High Point, NC in November) and SCARAB this past weekend. At Mace, I had only four players on Saturday and six on Sunday. This weekend there were seven on Saturday and only four on Sunday.
Unfortunately, I feel that these numbers do not justify the amount of effort I'm putting into the tournaments. So, I'm looking for your input, suggestions and comments regarding the formats of the tournaments. Please be brutally honest -- let me know what is and isn't working. Tell me what improvements you'd like to see and what needs to happen for you to attend again. If you are not interested at all, please let me know that as well.
I truly love this game and want to make the most of it -- let me know what I can do better.
Here are a few of the topics that you may want to comment on:
1) What would you like to see as far as local tournaments in North Carolina? How often would you like them to be held? What locations, formats, prizes, etc...? Times and days of the week?
2) Is there any interest in more frequent informal gatherings? Perhaps a weekly, bimonthly, or monthly meeting on a weeknight to play 1-2 casual DT games? Maybe this would help to familiarize everyone with the expansions and other formats that are available.
3) Are the prizes good enough? What else would you like to see?
4) What adjustments should be made to the schedule at conventions? Should I just run demos there? What other things or support do I need to improve DT's showing at cons?
5) What do you think about holding the North Carolina (and South Carolina) Opens (the big tournaments) outside of a convention setting? Would you be willing to drive if we had 8-12 players? We could just play four rounds at a central location like they do in Europe...which location would be OK with you?
6) Would you like to see expansions used more often in tournaments? What would be the best way to introduce them?
7) Would anyone like to run tournaments in other states? Please contact me and we'll figure out a way to support you.
I know that there is some friction in the US over the base game to Prison transition, the lack of standups for Prison, and the lack of 3/4 player support. Believe me when I say that I've done everything I can to promote these ideas. Outside of that, what else can I do to promote DT in the US?
Please comment below so that everyone can see your thoughts. I hope to get a discussion going so that we can generate some new ideas.
Thank you for your time -- I really appreciate it.
Sincerely,
Geoff Heintzelman
Vice President, International Dungeon Twister League
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Irish Man
United States
Charlotte
North Carolina
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Im in NC, (Charlotte) and just got the game in a math trade. Im a bit upset finding out that the game is obsolete, and they are comming out with a second edition. I should have done research before I added it to my want list.
That being said, just learning the game, if you ever had a get together in charlotte Id show up, but more on a friendly basis.
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Geoff H
United States
Durham
North Carolina
U.S. 95th Infantry Division - The Iron Men of Metz
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Although we are 'competing' in tournaments, they are always friendly and sportsmanlike. Newcomers should not be apprehensive about attending a tourney; it's just a good opportunity to learn strategy and play 3-5 games in a day. A great way to learn...
Geoff
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Yours Truly,
United States
Gainesville
Florida
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I'm in the Southeast US, and I'd drive up to an hour for a tourney, but, I think I'm a little TOO far south for NC/SC tournaments
As far as attendance, I think a lot of it is publicity & marketing. If I was running one here I would probably post in the local BGG guild, make sure the local gaming groups knew about it, maybe put flyers in the local gaming stores. Lot of work and hats off to you for running these.
As for prizes, maybe they'd be willing to produce Prison stand-ups as prizes? Personally I don't mind mixing the minis and stand-ups when doing mix-and-match, and I'm really happy with the Prison miniatures, they are among my favorite miniatures in any game, wonderfully detailed and I like that they are to scale to emphasize for example the hugeness of Colossus. But, if there is demand for Prison stand-ups that might be a good prize option.
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Geoff H
United States
Durham
North Carolina
U.S. 95th Infantry Division - The Iron Men of Metz
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If you are willing to run tournaments in Florida, I will help you to get started and send some goodies to give away as prizes.
Thanks for the input. I'm not getting as much as I'd like, though.
I've advertised in forums, game stores, local meetup groups, etc... and I've had a few successful events.
At this point, I'm going to try to set up monthly DT friendly matches, where we just get together to play. As far as conventions, I'll just run one tournament on Saturday afternoon and demos the rest of the time.
At SCARAB there was some interest from the loyal players to have a tournament once/year in the Triangle area and they were willing to drive from as far away as Winston or Myrtle Beach.
I may try that this summer.
Geoff
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Irish Man
United States
Charlotte
North Carolina
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Geoff,
WHere are you in NC? Are you up in Winston? Send me an email. I may meet you half way to learn some Dungeon Twister.
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Geoff H
United States
Durham
North Carolina
U.S. 95th Infantry Division - The Iron Men of Metz
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I'm in Durham, but I've run a tournament in Winston. I'll be glad to meet you somewhere to teach DT.
Geoff
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Yours Truly,
United States
Gainesville
Florida
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gheintze wrote: If you are willing to run tournaments in Florida, I will help you to get started and send some goodies to give away as prizes.
I might be interested in that in the future, not enough time to invest in it at the moment though 
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Braydon Dodd
United States
North Carolina
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some responses:
I think casual gaming is easier at this point then a bunch of formal tournaments. I know there are a ton of local conventions (i attend alot of them). My suggestion would be to attend them if and when you can. Play & teach DT, but also get out and play some other stuff and take time for yourself. That way your success there will be measured more by your fun then by the DT turnout.
I think the term "tournament" turns away alot of would be players. DT is a complicated game, and the idea of playing someone who is much better isnt always appealing, then there is the 3+ hour commitment for a tournament. So thinking back to what got me interested in DT...it was the base game: the characters were simple, the board wasnt so chaotic, and the tactics and fun of the game were all there. I think Prison maybe just to overwhelming to the new player. I think you should teach using the original base set and save prison for more advanced players, IMO.
I think the prizes are fine, the addition of other boardgames as pries at scarab this year was nice, especially since i already have (almost) all the DT expansions. U seem to have good product support, so maybe you give out tickets to everyone who trys out DT for the first time and then do a drawing at the end of the convention for some prize....just a thought. Remember, the first hits always free =P
I could go on and on but ill stop...just my 2 cents
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U.S. 95th Infantry Division - The Iron Men of Metz
