Primer for demo tournaments

GUIDE TO RUNNING DEMO TOURNAMENTS
Tournament Size: 6 new players 2 experienced players. Where the
numbers are greater, multiply the stock needed as necessary.

What you will need:
1 Starter Box
1 Demo Kit
1 Tournament Kit (optional)

Terminology:

NP = New players who have little/no experience of the game.
Mentors = Players who have a lot more experience in the game (at least
6 months of competitive play)

Table Layout:

Each table run will have 3 NP and 1 mentor as a standard (otherwise
work according to normal tournament seating, except that one mentor
must be at each table - although they do not necessarily play in the
game).

Pre-event

Be sure to advertise the event well beforehand and get a hard-working
player or two to drum up interest, as well as getting in contact with
and informing potential players. That way you will have an idea of how
many new players will try the game out, and how many mentors you will
need.

It will also be a good idea to prep your mentors and your NP
beforehand.

Mentors can be shown a rather good article written by Dave Z (Atom
Weaver) http://www.thelasombra.com/vtes_demo_commandments.txt

I've also written an article that is good for NP to have beforehand.
http://www.thelasombra.com/Vals_Guide_to_VTES.pdf

Try and run the event alongside a major tournament or other gaming
event in order to increase the numbers of spectators who may just get
interested in the game by watching the other people learn the game. I
also suggest getting hold of the event organizer and telling them of
your plans and ask them to spread the word, if possible. It is usually
critical to get hold of people in charge of any local tertiary
education institution's role-playing/card-gaming/war-gaming society,
and let them ask for and find new potential players that are willing
to try the game at a very low or no cost, and be able to go home with
a playable deck.

I suggest either asking White Wolf support (currently Oscar Garza III)
and/or taking in a small extra fee in other tournaments held
throughout the year in order to make this a completely free-of-charge
tournament. This will dramatically improve your chances of getting new
players interested, and once they're hooked, they'll amaze you with
the amount of stock some of them will buy up in a short span of time.

Organization:

Start early in the morning with a couple of rounds of demo games for
the new NP. This will run from 9:30 - 11:30. It will usually be a good
idea to start this before the actual main events are run at the
tournament.

If you are using new demo kits, then the mentors will go through the
preset game with the NP with an open crypt and hand (explaining the
rules as they go along). A big feature which I always ask to be
pointed out is hand replenishment - it takes a while for NP to learn
to draw whenever they play a card. If you have the option, and do not
want to spend money on the demo decks, then get a script from the net
(http://www.white-wolf.com/vtes/downloads/VTES%20Demo%20Game%20Script.doc),
and build your own decks with the same/ similar cards.

Experienced players should be invited to come along and help out.
Remind them that the more players you have the more fun and varied
your games will be (not to mention
greater prizes at tournaments).

After a run through of the scripted play, let the NP have their own
mini-game, with the mentors walking around and helping them out. Start
them off on less pool, like 15/20. This game doesn't need to be
completed, but they need to get a good few rounds in to get a decent
grasp of the game.

At the end of this time, let each of the NP get a preconstructed deck
to play with (randomly selected) - the mentor will use the left-over
decks (if there are any available). If you have tournament kits, then
hand out the promo cards as well to the new players.

Everyone will then get an hour break in order to get whatever
food/drink they want, and look through their precon decks, ask
questions about the cards and rules etc.

Then their demo tournament should start at 12:30 and run all the way
through until 16:00. As they will be new to the game, expect that they
will need a whole lot of extra time. This demo tournament should
consist of only 1 round of play, and prizes are determined by GW and
highest VP tallies.

If possible, use left-over starter decks as prizes. If there are none
left-over, and you have a tournament kit, use the boosters supplied in
there instead. Otherwise, ensure beforehand that you have at least a
booster to offer as a prize. The mentor's will not have access to the
prize for the NP's tournament, but should be allowed to take the deck
they used home with them.

Of course, if rules do get complex, and when it's possible, the
experienced players involved on other tables, the official tournament
judge/s or other players should be asked to please help out.

Written by
Val Teixeira - Prince of Cape Town