RPG Game Cafe - Adult Program for Beginners

Last night I hosted my first RPG Game Night. I floundered a bit, feeling underprepared but then everything worked out great. It was a very rewarding program, with simple set up. Anyone can do, especially anyone with a little creativity.

Setup

I hosted the program in our open meeting room using round tables for seating and playing. On each end of the room I had a long table. One for snacks and one for games. I had a few Table Top Role role-playing games. Several I received for free from Hatchette Games. They have a fantastic librarian program you can check out here, and you're also able to inquire about a free pack of games to get started. They sent me Critical: Sanctuary, Assasin's Creed Orlog, and Virtual Revolution. Really nice quality games!

Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Begins

I purchased the Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Begins board game. This game is fantastic. It gives players both new and experienced a great gameplay experience that is light on the rules, and heavy on the fun. The players customize the end boss, the map layout, the characters, etc, in simple ways. Seriously, it's just turning a card around one way or another. The Dungeon Master gets guided playing cards to walk the players through the story. Really anyone can play this and get started on DnD. And every time playing it is a brand new experience. I'm excited to introduce it to more players.

I printed some "print & play" games from Itch.io. There are free RPG games you can download as PDFs, print, and play right away. Many of them only take 20 minutes to an hour to play. So it gets your folks into stories and games quickly. I suggest Honey Heist. Super cute!

Finally, to set the mood, I played a "Tavern Aesthetic" video from YouTube on our TV. Then served popcorn in single-serve bags and Kool-Aid. 

Execution

During the program, I greeted each patron that came in. We chatted about our experiences with gaming and fantasy worlds while allowing other players to arrive. I hosted the program on a Friday night after hours from 5 to 8pm. So I expected some folks to arrive after getting off work and trickle in.

One table of gamers brought in their own drinks and pizza. I'd suggest you be mindful of whatever building rules you have, just in case. Our folks had Mountain Dew. Fairly harmless ;) That table also brought in their own board games and went to it. The other table of gamers played the DnD Board Game and had so much fun they wanted to play it again the next month.

Future Plans

I plan to host the Game Cafe monthly on the last Friday of the month. So our next one will be in July. I also plan to drop the RPG from the title, and keep it to games in general. I want gamers of all types to feel welcome. May even consider setting up a console for video gamers to join in the fun. I also want to play through a few of the free print and play RPGs so that I can feel confident leading one of those.

Overall, this was a successful program. We had 9 adults come to a program, with 8 of the 9 never having attended one of my adult programs before. That and the laughter in that room makes me feel it was extremely successful. I'm excited for next month's game night!