Signing Up to Run Games

Game submissions are handled through this web form. The primary purpose of the game submission process is to ensure that the convention staff have all of the necessary information needed to present to players so they can make their selections during player signups.

If you wish to see what other games are being offered during a given game slot you may do so by checking this spreadsheet. Please note that this list is maintained by hand and games may not appear immediately.

When reviewing your game submissions to prepare player information the convention staff will reach out to you if there are any points in your submission that need clarification. Please ensure that the submissions you are making are for the games you intend to run yourself. If you would like to submit games on behalf of an organisation or another user please contact the convention staff and they will work with you to get your games listed.

The standard game slot for A Weekend With Good Friends runs for four hours. If your game will require significantly more than four hours to run please contact the convention staff to arrange a multi-slot game. Game slots are detailed in A Weekend With Good Friends Game Slots.

When setting the maximum number of players for your game please do so with the expectation that every seat will be filled and cap the number of players at a level that you are comfortable running for.

If you should encounter any difficulties while signing up, if you have any questions about the process, or need to modify or cancel a game submission please reach out the convention staff, who will be happy to help you with any issues.

Maximise the Impact of Your Game Submission

The most impactful part of your submission will be your game pitch. A good pitch is around one to two paragraphs which presents players with the main hook of your game, the setting your game will take place in, and what role the PCs will play in the game. The following is an example:

Arkham, Present Day.
Your friend Tina has been researching strange rumours among the unhoused community of Arkham, stories of doors that open to Hell and creatures of nightmare that walk the dark corners of the town. No one took it seriously, including Tina. Now Tina is late for dinner with you and her phone is going straight through to voicemail.

Finding Tina again will take you places no sane mind was ever meant to see – hidden places where sanity is a dim memory and the way home is filled with monsters. If you lose yourself in madness too, who will save you?

The next most impactful thing you can do for promoting your game is to provide an image to include with your listing. Games which included images saw higher rates of player interest in previous conventions. Please do not use AI to generate these images.

AWWGF staff and volunteers do not use AI generated content in any materials related to the convention, and our strong preference is that no AI is used to create materials for this convention. If you do choose to use to use AI generated content at the gaming table, its usage is restricted to character sheet portraits and handouts provided during game, and you must disclose AI usage in your submission description.

After the Submission

After submitting your game convention staff will enter its information into the player signup system.

Player signups will run from the 21st of May to the 4th of June. Game masters are encouraged to sign up for any games they might be interested in playing in which do not conflict with their own offerings. A Weekend With Good Friends uses a lottery system to assign players to games. As a way of thanking our game masters we provide a special GM only round in the lottery process. All GMs who have signed up for games will have their names put in a (virtual) hat from which names will be drawn one at a time. When a given GM’s name is drawn, their list of prioritised games will be checked, starting with the highest ranked game. If no GMs have been assigned to that game, the drawn GM will be assigned and have their name placed in the general drawing hat (again, virtual). If a GM has already been assigned to the game in question the lottery process will check the next highest rated game for an available GM seat. This will repeat until the drawn GM has either been assigned a game or their list has been exhausted. An important difference between the GM only round and the general rounds is that during the GM round waitlists are not used so that GMs will have a chance to be added to games during the general rounds. For details on the general rounds, please refer to the Player Handbook page once it goes live.

The lottery results will be announced shortly after the end of player signups. As part of the results announcement, each game will have a thread created under the channel for the game slots. GMs should use this thread to reach out and contact their players by the end of the 8th of June. Important details to confirm with your players are the details of the various platforms you intend to use when running your game, any pre-game handouts or character decisions you feel are needed, and determining if players have hard stops to their game times or if games can spill over if needed. If a player has not responded by the 9th of June please contact convention staff and an alternate player will be arranged. It is not uncommon for players to drop between the announcement of lottery results and the start of the convention. If players drop before the start of the first game slot on 12th June, the convention staff will first try to fill the seat by using the game’s waitlist before opening the seat up to the server at large on a first-come-first-served basis. After the convention has started all seats that open will be filled on a first-come-first-served basis only.

If a player does not appear online and hasn’t at least contacted you within five minutes of your game starting please contact convention staff so that we may try to get an alternate player arranged without delaying your game for too long.

Player email addresses will not be provided to game masters. This policy is to address privacy concerns and to have a single service for convention related communications. As a consequence, this means that all communication must occur through the Discord server.