HOF8 – MurderHoboCon Primer by Frank Schmidt is a book published by Adventures in Filbar. Unlike most of their line, this is a factual book.
The book is available as a 15-page PDF for free from DriveThruRPG. One page is the front cover and one the Table of Contents.
1 Introduction & Disclaimer explains that this is how Murder Hobo Con was done, in the hope that their experiences will help.
2 Goals has the goals that were started with, the main goal being to do a virtual convention that matched or exceeded current offerings.
3 Budget & Organisation states that money is a deciding factor and that Murder Hobo Inc. had income to act as a bankroll and Adventures in Filbar also contributed. It was realised that a con could be a drain on both financial and human resources, and what was needed to make it successful was listed.
4 Venue explains that the organisers wanted more than just a bunch of Zoom meetings and an online world called Topia was chosen. How Topia works is detailed.
5 Advertising explains the things done for this, which including setting up a website and various social media profiles and groups.
6 Swag was the physical freebies that would be “handed” out, which with it being virtual had to consider postage.
7 Events looked at how to organise and run these.
8 Entertainment was things other than games that could be used, which were the use of media at the convention.
9 Timetable was the planning that went into the project.
10 The Event is on the actual day of the con.
11 Analysis is on finishing up after the event, including taking a break.
The final two pages have a map of the convention, the schedule of events and the con team.
HOF8 – MurderHoboCon Primer in Review
The PDF lacks bookmarks and, though short, these would have been useful. The Table of Contents covers the major sections. Navigation is okay. The text maintains a single column format and appeared to be free of errors. There are some illustrations from the con.
What this short PDF is, is a rundown of the author’s experience with running a virtual convention for the first time and the attempt to make it difference. It was successful enough that another is now planned. The event was run as a charitable endeavour and it did involve quite a few people and a monetary investment. It’s useful should anyone be thinking of doing their own, as it includes what worked, what mistakes were made, what was useful and some useful resources. HOF8 – MurderHoboCon Primer is a useful little recap for anyone planning on doing something similar and it can be downloaded for free by clicking here.
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