Big Game Thoughts

[ramennoodles]

Preface: If this is in the wrong forum, sorry, please just tell me.

After an off year (to say the least), The paintball field where I play has decided to step it up for the next year. I got together with mike (the owner) on saturday and proposed a big game for the spring to sort of kick things off. He thought the idea was great, and told me to run with it.

So here is the problem, I have never been involved in big games before. I ahve never played in a big game, much less organized one. So I am looking to you guys for help, if you would be so kind.

What I need:

-Ideas for a plot, not too complex, but enough to get people intrigued.
-Experiences that have made big games fun for you (things like how they ran it, prizes lunch break?)
-Things that made it bad(long air lines, bad reffing staff?)
-Remedies for things that made it bad?


I'm really a beginner in this aspect so please bare with me. Thanks for all of your help in advance.

-Isaac

[Chris_automag_07]

up....that'll be $1.00

[pachytriton]

It really depends on the scale of what you're doing. You need to have the right amount of people for the right size field for it to really work. Raffles are always fun. Plot-do whatever, make it funny. For the game itself you need to decide if you want it to be more scenario or mob. I go to 3 big games a year at one field in new hampshire where they open the whole field with 2 teams and have flag stations at either ends. They have spawnpoints at the flags and by the staging area. Players can respawn until the last fifteen minutes of each hour long game. It usually works well but too many players cheat because there aren't enough refs to cover the entire place. They usually get a turnout of about 800. At the end they put everyone in a big airball field-the paint :cuss: rains.

[Chris_automag_07]

Thanks a ton man.

[KJHawley]

I'm really a beginner in this aspect so please bare with me.

-Isaac

First of all, don't ask people to "bare" with you, hardly anyone will come then... :wow:

But seriously, the big games I've attended have had one main drawback- getting everyone registered, aired up, loaded with paint, chronoed, and onto the field. Once you get that done, the rest is pretty easy. You'll need to figure out a really good system for getting the paperwork filled out quickly, get safety briefings done, and all that. When people have to wait in line for an hour or two before they even start to play, things get ugly.

Look at it this way. Let's say you can get someone registered (waivers signed, money taken, etc.) in about two minutes. That means that one "cashier" can get thirty people registered in an hour. Multiply that by, say, 100 people, and it's going to take over three hours just to get everyone registered! So, think about ways to speed things up- can you hand out registration forms before people get to the counter to pay? Can you do safety briefings in line? Can you three, four, or more people accepting forms & cash?

As for a plot, start asking people who you know will want to play. If you can elect/appoint a "general" to each side, & both generals can really get behind their theme, you're on the right track. Then, you can work with them to hash out plots, props, and all that.

[punkncat]

Running a big game is a serious effort. It takes a great deal of skill and knowhow to pull it off. I would really suggest that you go cheack a few big games out before you decide to try and pull one out of a hat.

Here are a few things to consider...

food
staff
a cohesive plan and a few fall back plans
staff


GL

[siloseven]

-Ideas for a plot, not too complex, but enough to get people intrigued.
you can probably look at any movie or video game and get an idea, or like a few places do, just open a history book. a fun one some of us were thinking about doing is a Mortel Kombat game. Order of light with Lodr Raiden leading them aganst the Shadow Forces and general Shau Kon and insted of having hand to hand battles, earth fate is being decided on the paintball field. but to the marketing prolog I would word it more colorfully then that though.

-Experiences that have made big games fun for you (things like how they ran it, prizes lunch break?)
Fun games to me and the teams I hang out with are spontanious and not "to the beat of a drum" it is good having missions are ok and standerd but if they have nothing to do with a story and to move it along, it gets boring. let the generals/leaders make the missions for their teams and let them work twards objectives ont he field and for some added spice, throw a required mission in there to get the story to the next point or to where ever it might need to go.

-Things that made it bad(long air lines, bad reffing staff?)
the above people are correct, notthing sucks more then a slow start. the faster it gets going correctly the batter. regestration and that stuff is good to get going, but one they left out is the chronoing! I can't tell you the times the chrono line is so long I just put my gear down and get a hotdog and wait and wait and wait. it is at every game I go to! get a few stations and have them ready to go and have multiple lines to get everyone ready efficently. another one of the bad things I encounter way to offen it the reffing staff not knowing what is going on, keep every one up to date and let them know how things are going to go threwout the day and what is coming into play and what is no longer in play and every thing like that. it really bite for the player to come up to a ref and ask a simple question and the ref go "i don't know hang on a minute and let me check." example; me and a few guys are goin galong and there is a tank in the middle of the field, peope are in it, we see them they see us noone rases a gun. so we keep walking. all of a sudden a whistle blows and the tank opens fire, do note we are not 4feet away from the tank, we get blasted at close range, ref standing right there and no-one dose anything (another good thing to know is rules and do's and don'ts, it took the rest of the day to get something done about that, but I still have the scar) but those how survive hit the tank with a antitank round but the ref dosn't call it, why? because the tank is immortel, we assk the ref who was there watching us get pinned down and mamed, how long the tank was immortel so we could go, we get the previous above answer.

-Remedies for things that made it bad?
have a time for orientating refs as well as the players! and have radios for all refs. have a medical staff! one of the best thing I have seen to date is everyone, player and ref alike, had their first-aid and cpr certs copyed and filed so if there was an emergincy they could respond, and the players with those certifications was granded a medic position for the game. and abviously have multiple paint, paper and air staff and lets not forget chrono stations. and one thing goo to do that I have seen done once, incurage teams and players to get their stuff early. one place gave a discount to players/teams that baught,paid and picked up their paint and regestration stuff early, so all they had to do was air and chrono when they got there. and a nice thing that is not requiored but is cool is like a comemritive tee-shirt or something. nothing fancey but something cool, or maybe like a game day photo with every one who played and every person gets one after the game.

[PumpPlayer]

The first decision you need to make is what type of gameplay you want. Everything falls in after that.

Big games are generally just that - larger-sized "normal" paintball games. People aren't generally allowed to use props, launchers, mortars, etc. Most fields will still allow grenades depending upon their home rules.

Scenarios generally have a larger number of key players, props, special missions, etc. It's a lot more work to put on a scenario because of the inherent complexity.


If this is your first try at putting a game on, I would go with a big game format. Have two sides and a huge field. Have re-insertions every 20 minutes and just use flags. Either a simple two-flag format (return the opposing team's flag to your base to win) or have a number of flags at key points around the field. To take control of a point, just raise your team's color flag on the flagpole. Points are scored by how long it stays up (refs will need to pay attention and have game clocks). The only 'role' I would introduce would be medics. Medics make the game fun and keep it moving, whereas other roles slow it down. I wouldn't try to do anything more complicated than that.

Keep the game simple and you'll make it easier on yourself and your players. Maybe after you have some experience you might try running a full-fledged scenario, but I wouldn't take that big of a bite on my first try. Good luck.

[ramennoodles]

Thanks for a ton of GREAT help guys.

BTW you guys may be over estimating the size of the "Big Game." I'm shooting for 50 people.....maybe. Yeah, we don't get that much traffic. Anyway, thanks again.

-Isaac