All megagames involve game mechanisms, to some degree. They inform the players what can and can’t be done and shape the experience of the day. However choosing the right mechanisms can be a difficult challenge. What is everyone doing at each phase of the game, who do the resources interact, how does this influence negotiations?
In Mechanism Design for Dummies, John Keyworth gives a high-level overview to implementing a game’s mechanisms, from where to find them, how to choose the right ones and how to string it all together.
About the speaker
John is an Oxford-based designer of megagames, indie RPG’s, video and board games, as a hobbyist and professionally. His completed megagames are Relics of the Fall and Ur: the Nexus City.
Attending the seminar
To attend, you will need to purchase a MegaCon ticket. The seminar will take place in Zoom and a link will be provided to all sessions within the MegaCon Discord.
To attend, you will need to purchase a MegaCon ticket. The seminar will take place in Zoom and a link will be provided to all sessions within the MegaCon Discord.
Keen to design your own game but feeling a bit overwhelmed? Coming up with an idea is just the start. This seminar explores the practical experiences of a first time designer, from making time for game design to the difficult task of finding the right venue, to game day anxiety. Learn from my mistakes and decide for yourself: is it worth it?
About the speaker
Holly is a new game designer with a particular interest in collaborative gaming. Her first game was Fete of the World with True North Megagames.
Attending the seminar
To attend, you will need to purchase a MegaCon ticket. The seminar will take place in Zoom and a link will be provided to all sessions within the MegaCon Discord.
In the quiet village of Ravenswood Bluff, a demon walks among you…
Take part in a digital version of this popular werewolf/Mafia inspired bluffing and deduction game. Root out evil, or help it spread.
Blood on the Clocktower, by the Pandemonium Institute, is one of the most eagerly anticipated games from Kickstarter, which is due to be fulfilled later this year. This digital implementation will be hosted by Storyteller Kevin, who will guide you through the game so you can focus on sussing out who the evildoers are. Or murdering people, if you happen to be an evildoer yourself!
Centuries of war between the factions of the Elpor Basin has finally ended. With the Elporia Pact signed, there is finally a chance for peace! Now comes the hard part… Building a unified Kingdom from the ruins of war while working alongside your rivals whom you were fighting with until recently.
Do you enjoy councils and lore creation? If so, the Councils of Elporia (formerly As Thou Commands) is the megagame for you! This megagame is a rules-light system where the players generate and run a province in a fantasy kingdom. Play alternates between drafting narrative elements and participating in council sessions where players negotiate the outcomes to the thorny issues bedeviling the Kingdom.
This game requires:
Access to a computer or laptop for the duration
A microphone connected and installed on said computer
A reliable internet connection
The game will make use of Miro and Discord for voice communication.
Operation Market Garden, possibly the most written about military campaign ever, has been the subject of hundreds of books, two feature films, dozens of computer games and board games. However, the battles for the bridges near Nijmegen has often taken second place, to the dramatic events just up the road at Arnhem.
This game is about the often desperate battles by widely dispersed American paratroopers holding open the road for 30 Corps in its epic dash to relieve the British paratroopers at Arnhem.
This is not a re-enactment – the game will not go as it did historically, players get the opportunity to be innovative and explore some important ‘what-if’ questions and at the same time the game really brings out the real-life challenges and dilemmas faced at the time.
The Generalissimo is Dead! Long Live the Generalissimo!
Il Generalissimo has kept the country together with an iron fist since the revolution.
Beloved of the people, feared by his enemies and respected the world over. Now, tragedy has struck and Il Generalissimo is dead!
How can the country go on? Who will lead the people? Take up a role vying to come out on top as Yugenya goes through its first succession crisis in a game inspired by the Death of Stalin.
A Megagame about a country in Crisis! The all-powerful leader is dead, but even in death, he casts a long shadow on the future of Yugenya!
Play as the various Ministries and Departments that hold together the small nation of Yugenya as it struggles to forge a new identity after its charismatic leader dies.
This game requires:
Access to a computer or laptop for the duration
A microphone connected and installed on said computer
A reliable internet connection
The game will make use of Google Sheets, Miro and Discord for voice communication.
Funny how no one really thinks about what comes next.
Something happened, and the world turned upside-down. No one really knows what it was, this event – you could go mad speculating, and I know a few people who did. One or two others went looking for answers… we never saw them again. Good people, the kind we couldn’t afford to lose… but it ate them up. What does it matter, here in the aftermath?
The Event happened, and maybe one in a thousand survived. What is important? You were one of them, and so were the people around you. Maybe they’re friends and family, maybe they’re just people that circumstances threw you together with…it doesn’t matter what came before. When you needed them, they were there for you. Together, you did what you had to in order to survive. But before it had even really begun, before anyone knew what was happening, the winter storms hit. Sub-zero temperatures, driving snows… all anyone could do was hunker down and take shelter. There was no time to prepare – but plenty of time to hope and pray. To chew through whatever rations were left, make bitter jokes about global warming, and try to wait it out.
Now it’s spring, everyone who’s left – yourselves included – has realised they’ve got their work cut out if they intend to see out the year.
