RE: Starting a Demo?

In message <009A4D1B.783A0B60.22@basil.acs.bolton.ac.uk> Adam Delafield
writes:
> For FT, participation is the way to go. Use a bunch of 'cruiser' sized
> ships from any background. Obviously Star Trek would be a good choice
> as it is popular and well known. The ships should be designed to blow
> up relatively quickly (Maximum 1 shield) and have limited arc armament
> to encourage maneuvering. A thrust of 4 is usually sufficient. (2 is
too
> slow and 6 is too fast for beginners)

The basic reason why I picked up on Full Thrust was a "Star Trek"
themed "participation game" ("demo game" in the UK seems to mean no
participation by onlookers, they just onlook).

> Once you have the designs, it is important to produce clear
playsheets.
> These should consist of a single ship diagram (Shaped like the ship,
not
> a generic outline) and an order track. A5 is about the right size. 

An A5 sheet has plenty of room for not only the ship diagram and an 
order track but also a QR table of damage results and weapon ranges. 
This is essentially what Felix Enterprises sell themed about the 
Star Trek Micromachines. If you leave off the various odd weapons 
and stick to beams it takes about two minutes to explain the game 
and anything tricky to remember is there on the sheet.

If the sheets are photocopies it means the player can walk off with 
the ship design and enough game infomation to play at home. This may 
seem a little bit dodgy (and GZG have expressed a certain oprobrium 
for Felix Enterprises) but if they like the game they will buy it to 
get all the rest of it. I did.

Indeed it would seem advantageous to GZG to produce "lite" freeware 
versions of their rules to seduce people into buying.

> You'll also need a metal tape measure (for movement), a few 'clock
face'
> diagrams (for fire arcs and turning) and possibly a dowl rod marked
off
> in 12" bands (range). Make sure the dice you have are colourful and
quite
> large.

Make sure everything is in plentiful supply. Once the players get 
the hang of it they will happily be running individual head-to-head 
combats without referee input and throwing great handfuls of dice 
around.

Don't for God's sake worry about game balance and rubbish like that. 
Get an 8 foot square table and a dozen players, give each player one 
ship, divide them into two sides and let them slaughter each other 
with gay abandon. If somebody's escort gets whipped by a big cruiser, 
well, nevermind, next game in twenty minutes, he can get his own back
then.

> Oh. A nice black cloth and some 'scenery' (polystyrene asteroids.
Planet
> balls etc) wouldn't go amiss either.

GEO-HEX make nice starfield cloths, and it's always funny when a 
new player drives his ship into a planet. Everybody knows Star Trek, 
Star Wars etc. I wouldn't hesitate to say that Full Thrust is the 
most accessible game there is. If it looks good, people will want to
play who wouldn't be interested in big silly robots or tanks-and-
infantry or what-have-you. Make it a big, knockabout silly game and
they'll flock to you like flies.

-- 
David Brewer