I wanted to put a question out there for everyone that ran games at any Fear the Con. Each year we have done GM prize support so people who run games get something as a thank you. W really do appreciate everyone that runs a game. In past years we have been able to give something for every game run, but this year due to many reasons I'll get to shortly we did one prize per GM. As far as I know no other con does anything like this.

With the economy being as bad as it is and more publishers going digital the amount of prize support these vendors provide is shrinking. As the con grows the number of people running games increases. While digital prize support is still an option it simply does not look as appealing on a table and as this year showed tends to get passed up for physical items.

There have been suggestions about taking donations of used games from the community to supplement prize support. This was suggested to me by two different people at the con this year. There are also other things that we have been known to throw in such as custom forum titles.

Finally in my opinion the process of handing this stuff out has never really run smoothly. I have an idea for next year, but wanted to get suggestions on that as well.

So all of this stated here are my questions:

• 1) How important is GM Prize Support to you?
• 2) Would you care if a prize had been used?
• 3) Does prize support have any impact on whether you run a game or not?
• 4) When should prize support be given out?
• 5) How should prize support be given out?
• 6) Would changing it to attendance prizes be better? (from a selfish standpoint this is something that could be added to the advertisemens)
• 7) Any other thoughts or comments on the subject?

I ran a game for the challenge of it and the fun of it and because I wanted a special GM only FTB Dice. Die. Whatever.

I wouldn't have cared if there was no prize support other than the nifty keepsake die like what was given out last year. There wasn't any die this year just for GMs, and that made me sort of sad, but I got over it in about ten seconds.

So prize support is nice and all, but not needed. If anything, I would suggest keep it simple and do the same things for everyone. If you have any large ticket items, maybe do 3 special things and do a GM raffle. If you draw badges again next year, take the cards out of the holders. The lanyards didn't allow things to mix very well at all.

If all GMs got the same prize item (custom dice, something small, a card game, whatever) then you could do swag bags. When a GM walks in the door, their swag bag has their random card game or their dice or whatever in it already.

Do not do attendance prizes. If you wanted to do swag for the whole con, I think that would cost WAY too much money and be WAY too much hassle. Don't do it, please. The dice we get are attendance price enough. I love my FTB dice.

If you want to involve the whole con, you could do a raffle for a big prize. Proceeds can go back to fund the con.

While eliminating the Prize support wouldn't prevent me from running at future cons, it's a really pleasant bonus. It's a really powerful incentive.

I saw that voucher for the digital package and was seriously concsidering it.

If it needs to go, it needs to go, and I wouldn't shed any tears over it. You could make it a part of the tiered atendee package.

1.) While I greatly appreciated the GM prize support, I could live without it, though I'd much rather it simply be lessened than done away with.

2.) Assuming it was still in decent condition? No. Especially if it's an older/out of print book or game that you can't find new anymore.

3.) No

4.) I thought the timing for the last con's giveaway worked fine. I would say it needs to at least happen on the last day of the con so that GMs adding games when the arrive aren't left out.

5.) The random draw method used at FtC4 seemed to work fine.

6.)With the quality of prizes you are giving out now that seems unfeasible. I think the free die upon entry already fills that role fine.

7.) I can understand the concern. As the con grows, the number of games grows. More GMs mean more prizes, which means more money. The used game route probably isn't a bad idea, as long as entries are checked for some minimum standard of condition [not falling apart] and quality [not the Origins 2009 decks]. Also, I think a Jenga tower should be among the prize support next year. Just saying.

The prize support had no bearing on me running a game. It was cool, but not necessary. I like the idea of used items being offered as prizes. I have a box set of Tank Girl RPG I'll throw in

I like the Swag bag idea and wanted to do it this year, but didn't have enough stuff for something like that. I do think that something like that could somehow be used to help with the order people grab things. It could also include a quick description of whatever process we finalize.

1) How important is GM Prize Support to you?
It's not at all important. It's a perk for something I would do anyway.

2) Would you care if a prize had been used?
I would not care.

3) Does prize support have any impact on whether you run a game or not?
Nope.

4) When should prize support be given out?
In the half an hour break between 2/3 and 4/5.

5) How should prize support be given out?
The way you had it works, it just needs to be a little more streamlined: Move the drawing bin over next to the prize table so that the GM whose badge was drawn can pick it up on his way to the table, and keep that way as clear as possible.

6) Would changing it to attendance prizes be better? (from a selfish standpoint this is something that could be added to the advertisemens)
Door prizes could work. Could take like a master list of con-goers, roll 2d100 and add the numbers together to get the prize winner and distirbute throughout the slot.

7) Any other thoughts or comments on the subject?
Nope.

1) Not important but nice.
Other Cons will generally comp you your badge if you run X games for them. This is much bigger issue for me at cons with badges that cost 70+ dollars. I'd rather pay the $25 and support the community, than have you guys go broke comping all the GMs.

2) not especially. I tend to like wacky more than new.
3) Nope, I'm gonna run games unless you tell me not to come...
4) between slot 4/5 seemed to work fine
5) random draw is fine
6) no sure what you mean by attendance prizes, I'm guessing door prizes, which is a different beast from GM swag. But sure that could be fun too.

7) I have a small box of books I'd gladly donate if used prizes were solicited.

1) How important is GM Prize Support to you?
Not very. It was a nice way to convince me to run a game, but I did it for the love of the game I was running and my desire to get new people to play it. It was a nice bonus.

2) Would you care if a prize had been used?
Slightly used, then no, not really. I figure you don't mean that it's something that has already been well and throughly loved by it's previous owner.

3) Does prize support have any impact on whether you run a game or not?
Not really. It was a nice bonus.

4) When should prize support be given out?
Depends on what sort of thing you're doing. If it's grab bags, maybe the person and the welcome desk could hand them out right before the slot starts to the GMs.

5) How should prize support be given out?
I think the way it was handled this year worked well. It was random and fair. Of course, it also sucks being at the end and having the prizes picked over already.

6) Would changing it to attendance prizes be better? (from a selfish standpoint this is something that could be added to the advertisemens)
I think just getting a couple dice was more than enough for attendance. Since the GMs are putting extra work into their games and really making it possible to do the con in a way that focuses on role playing, then I feel they should get a little something extra, even if it's just a few more dice.

7) Any other thoughts or comments on the subject?
The swag bag idea is a good one. And as far as the digital content goes, I personally wouldn't have an issue with it. My online this is that if it's something like the downloads from Level 99 Games, which only offers downloads for the ipad, then it sucks to be someone that gets that when you don't have an ipad.