Faq

GENERAL

Who are you people?

We're a loose community of role-players centered around Seattle, Washington. There are no membership requirements other than not spamming the lists. You don't even have to be a member of our mailing list or any other organization to show up for our games, but if you want to keep informed on who's running what when, we suggest you sign up.

  • Seattle Gamers Assemble! (SGA) is the mailing list where the Monday night games first got started.
  • Emerald City Game Feast (ECGF) is the spin-off mailing list where Monday night games and other activities are planned and discussed.
  • Metro Seattle Gamers (MSG) is the gaming club where we meet on Monday night.
  • Dragonflight is an umbrella non-profit corporation dedicated to the advancement of the gaming hobby in the Pacific Northwest. Main activities include the annual Dragonflight Convention in August, an occasional publication ("Quest") and a year-round gaming location (Metro Seattle Gamers).
  • Emerald City Gamefest (ECG) is a non-profit corporation dedicated to promoting tabletop and live-action gaming, building cooperation between gaming groups, and bringing new people to the hobby. Main activities include organizing free one-day gaming events ("Gamefests"), the Monday Night Games, and gaming activities for other organizations' events such as the Dragonflight and ConQuest NW conventions.

Why more than one mailing list?

The club started aggregating as SGA in the late 1990s, with a mailing list on the now-defunct eGroups, and eventually solidified in 2000 when its mailing list was transferred to Yahoo! Groups.

By 2007, the traffic devoted to the weekly open-game events and other initiatives had become so abundant that a split was decided to be necessary: SGA would continue as a Web-based discussion of gaming topics while the Emerald City Game Feast list would organize events such as weekly games, workshops, LARPs, and get-togethers. Both lists are places where people can drop in to look for fellow gamers and active games.

Do I have to pay?

We have to pay a small fee to play at our current location, the MSG club house. Rates go thus:

  • Special Monday Night Rate (that's us!): the SGA Monday night gamers pay $15 a month or $5 per visit, and can game every Monday night; first visit is free, and the GM always comes in for free.
  • Regular MSG members pay $25/month; they can come in and game any time they want, provided a key member is there and the space is available; they can reserve space in advance.
  • Key MSG members pay $50/month; they get, duh, a key and can come in and game any time they want, provided the space is available; they can reserve space in advance, and can have up to four free guests a month (no one can be a guest more than 3 times a year).

GAMES

Who can run a game?

Anyone can run a game. If you are new, or have been lurking on the list but not chiming in, and you feel uncertain how to fit in — don't hesitate! Announce your game for any slot open on the calendar, and promote the game on the mailing list. We try to give priorities to new GMs rather than "old hands", though of course our goal is to accommodate everyone.

But there's a game planned every week for months in advance!

Our group is now busy enough that we are trying to establish two games a week on a steady basis. Just schedule your game on a night where there is space for a second game. GMs are encouraged to announce a limited number of spots (e.g., 2-4) and wait until both games' initial spots have filled before opening — if they wish to — a couple more spots.

What if I want to play in the other game?

It's our goal to have everyone get good gaming. If you have no interest in playing Game A that night and really want to get into Game B, please discuss this on the list and see if anyone is willing to switch spots. It's usually possible to accommodate everyone.

What kind of games can I run?

Any game you'd like!

When we first started these events, the focus was on indie games. While this was a fine idea and we have had many great indie games through the years, there were times when we just didn't have enough people to run and play only indie games, or when the general mood was simply for something else.

Nowadays, we're open to anything anyone wants to run. In practice, the games that have really got people fired up are the "Indies, Oldies, and Oddballs": small-press games, out-of-print games, home brews, forgotten favourites, new releases, weird mixes, etc. For an overview of what we've played in the past, check out the Gaming Night Archive.

How do I get players interested?

Promote your game on the mailing list for at least a week beforehand. This doesn't mean cutting other people's threads; but start getting people interested so they'll include your game in their schedule. Use teasers to generate excitement.

  • Teasers can also be all sorts of bits of information sent to pique players' curiosity: newscasts, character bios, posters, etc.. Some GMs will go all out and send a teaser a day for a week. For examples of teasers, see the ones from Crisis on the Island of Forgotten Toys! (2006), as reprinted on the RPG.net Actual Play thread; and Savage X-Crawl (2007).

WIKI

Who can join?

Anyone who is a member of the mailing list can become a member of this site.

  • First, you need to have a Wikidot ID or OpenID.
  • Next, you need to sign on:
    • by applying on the Join This Site page,
    • by using the password you may obtain from Anemone, or
    • by asking an existing wiki member to send you an invitation.

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