Two years-and the addition of John Corrado, Greg Crowe, Dave Mercier and even Rebecca to the writing staff-later, we had our game. It seems to me to also have been more or less a success. However, Drink Deep's production also had its share of problems, which this article is going to address. This is just my view of things, let me stress, and I am not trying to blame anyone for the problems. I just want to briefly analyze the problems that we encountered and how anyone out there thinking of writing a game can avoid them.

I am going to divide this analysis into three separate sections. The first will deal with actually producing all of the materials for the game, the second with plotting, and the third with runtime problems.

Production

This is the area that I have had the most problems with in the two weekend-long games I have helped to write and run. And these problems occur not just in the games that I have been involved with. It seems that production problems are the number one bugaboo of games. Listed below are some of the problems we had, along with my suggestions for avoiding them in the future.

1. Character Sheets. Possibly the biggest production failure a writing group can face is not having character sheets for its players. In Sic Semper three players went their whole game without sheets. We avoided that in Drink Deep, but the fact is that a few players did not get their sheets until Saturday morning. Granted, due to the fact that Drink Deep was a Write-Your-Own-Character LARP, this problem was less crucial than in a standard game, but that is no excuse for not being ready for your players. In our case the delay was due to two factors: (a) last minute rewrites to correct continuity problems and (b) inability to write two of the characters due to the fact that the general manager (GM) responsible for them spent all of his time printing other materials for the game.

The continuity problem was due to the fact that we had allowed a few players to submit characters long after our deadline had passed. Thus earlier written characters were now incorrect in many areas and rewrites were required. As far as I can tell, the only way that we could have avoided this problem would have been to prohibit anyone from registering after our deadline had passed, and perhaps we should have done this. Sometimes, though, it is hard to turn away anyone who wants to play your game. After all, what writers don't want people to play their game? Still, it was not fair to those players who had submitted their characters far in advance and were inconvenienced by the attempts of the GMs to include these last-minute characters.

The printing problem was due to the fact that we had six GMs, four computers, and three printers. One of each of the computers and printers was tied up constantly-printing character sheets and special ability cards-thus preventing the one GM who knew how to print characters using the Clickbook™ software on the tied-up computer from finishing the characters he had to write. One of the other computers and printers was tied up producing other game materials, leaving only two computers to do the rest of the writing. One way this could have been avoided would have been to print and bring to the game as much as possible ahead of time. I had resolved to do this after Sic Semper but had failed. Try to do as little printing of game materials on-site as possible; there are too many things that can go wrong. If you do what you can beforehand and things go wrong, at least you will have more time to correct the problems. At the game site, time is too precious a commodity to be wasted doing things that could have just as easily been done at home. I can't stress this enough. I have seen it happen again and again at games; don't rely on your computer to be able to print the stuff you need at the game site, something will happen (it always does) and you will be left explaining to your players where their character sheets are.

2. Special Ability Cards, Item Cards, Bluesheets, Name Badges, Etc. These are not nearly as time-consuming to produce as the character sheets, so many writers put off doing them until the last minute. Learn from our mistakes and DON'T DO IT. As I said above, the last minute will be filled with fixing things that have already gone wrong, so you will usually not have time to do these then. The sad part is that they are easily done in advance and should be. I will emphasize this point: Have as much done as you possibly can before coming to the game site. This will both save you time and reduce your stress.

3. Character Packets. Once all of the character sheets, special ability cards, item cards and other paperwork necessary for your game are complete, you still have to put them all together to hand out to your players. At our game we had set up the character packets, but somehow a lot of the work we did manage to produce in advance did not make it into the packets. We had planned to include a checklist for inclusion into each packet that would list what was supposed to be in it, but we ran out of time. Such a checklist can help you make sure that you don't forget anything essential, and it also allows the player to double check your work and be sure that everything is there. Such redundancy can reduce or eliminate those awkward moments near the end of games when the GMs discover that the player who was supposed to have the Maguffin never received it in her packet and had no idea she was supposed to have it. That happened to me as a player once, and I can tell you-it was very frustrating.

Plotting

A perfectly produced game with poor plotting will quickly crash and burn. Listed below are some of the more common plot concerns.

1. Plot Balancing. There are few things worse than playing in a game in which you have nothing to do. As a game writer, you must balance your plots so that each player has enough to keep him occupied. A rule I try to follow was first articulated to me by Mike Young: "Give each player at least three more things to do than he could possibly accomplish in the game." Overplotting like this ensures that when a plotline falls apart (and some of them will, no matter how carefully cast and plotted), the players will have other plots to fall back on.

2. Character Tie-ins. This is one I learned the hard way as a writer. No matter how good a player is, if she is not tied in to the backgrounds of at least a few other characters, it will be very hard for her to connect with people in the game. Exceptions to this rule involve characters that other characters will naturally seek out for help. Characters like Sherlock Holmes rarely lack for involvement regardless of how lightly plotted they are since players tend to drag them into their own plots. This is not to say you shouldn't plot for them, though; do not take anything for granted.

3. Continuity. One of the hardest jobs in writing a game is ensuring continuity among the character sheets. There is nothing like the sinking feeling you get as a player after you have worked for hours to arrange a secret meeting with your long-lost love, only to discover she has no idea who you are because you never made it into her character sheet. Any game with multiple writers will run into continuity problems. Having character sheets done well in advance of the game helps with this, as you have a chance then to read them over looking for continuity problems. I highly recommend appointing a continuity GM whose main job is to ensure continuity throughout the game.

Runtime Problems

While these are often less obvious than production and plotting problems, they can also mess up your game.

1. GMs. The rule here is simple: Be sure you have enough GMs to prevent your players from always having to wait for one. Often the ratio is one GM per ten players, which can work, although one-to-seven or, better, one-to-five players is preferable. Remember, the less time your players spend waiting for GMs, the happier they will be. Also, having more GMs means that you are able to rotate your GMs off the floor once in a while to give them some downtime, an important consideration in a weekend long game. Floor GMs need to be fully briefed on the plots of the game and, whenever possible, on all of the characters as well. A "God Book," with a copy of every character sheet, every bluesheet, and a plot synopsis, is a great aid in this. The God Book should also contain a list of all of the major items in the game and where they are at the start of the game. As I suggested above in the Production section, try to have this done before coming to the game site. We wanted to do this for Drink Deep but ran out of time.

2. Player Involvement. While a great many players will involve themselves in everything that comes along, and others will have enough to do based on their characters, there will always be some who will fail to get involved in things and will have nothing to do. These players need some GM help. You can start before the game if you know that a player has a tendency to have this problem or if you know that he is a new player. Try to cast him as a character that is a member of some group in the game. That way he has an instant "in" with other players and even if he doesn't seek out those players, it is entirely likely that those players will seek him out. Another way to deal with this is to partner him with a more experienced or outgoing person. Do whatever you have to do to get this person involved; nothing will turn people off from gaming as quickly as being bored and unnoticed.

3. Unanimity. It is important that the GMs present a unified front to the players, regardless of disagreements, short tempers (increased by lack of sleep, endemic among gamemasters at the start of games), and other frictions. Few things will ruin a game for the players faster than seeing the GMs fighting among themselves. Keep these types of disagreements behind closed doors. Even the best GM groups will have occasional clashes, but don't let them ruin your game.

4. Getting Rest. It is important to do everything possible to keep your GM team fresh and well rested. We did this with a one-hour lunch and dinner break each day. This served a dual purpose: It allowed us to rest for a bit and eat in peace, and it also let us exchange important information relating to the game. Another way to help keep the GMs fresh is to circulate them around the game site. If you set up specific sites for the GMs, make sure you rotate people through the various locations; this will help ensure that they see new faces and keep everyone feeling more connected to the game. It also helps to set a schedule and stick to it. Good decision-making is not helped by sleep deprivation. Try to build enough room in the schedule for each GM to get a good night's sleep. One way to do this is to send some GMs to bed before the game wraps at night, and then having those GMs open the game the next morning.

To paraphrase an old military adage: Always remember, no game survives contact with the players.