Another option is a co-GM, who can assist individuals as needed.

Explain at the beginning that this is going to be a fast-and-loose session. Ask the table to run with it, so that you can get as much fun:minute as possible.

Finally, follow the journalists “inverted triangle” or whatever technique they use to put the meat at the beginning. Save 5 minutes or however long for the “Throne Room and End Titles”, and cut your encounters from the back end as needed.

@martin: Yeah, we got the games down to the bare bones and are definitely going to fast forward past the mundane elements in order to get to the juicy encounters.

@omnus: I keep looking at your name and thinking Omnius, where is erasmus? We are definitely going with the laminated sheets for ease of tracking/preservation. Controlling the player’s pace wasn’t something I’d thought about, but that isn’t a bad idea. I might look for some kind of resettable timer that can gently enforce move quick. I was definitely planning on playing fast and loose with enemies pacing and difficulty in order to keep combats and encounters in appropriate doses.

All the suggestions are great, and I’m definitely a lot better off for running the games thanks to them. Gnome Stew, like Treasure Tables, is going to be great because of the community behind it!

Regarding those character sheets, I advise using laminated character sheets and dry-erase markers if you’re running multiple times. Keeping everything basic and accounted for means less headaches for you (did I print of enough of Earl the Fighter?)

Ultimately, also, the players have a lot to say about your pacing. It is of the utmost importance that you keep them moving; perhaps keeping a small minute-glass for combat turns to hustle players, or posing questions in a rapid-fire manner that lets the players know they do not have ample time to consider their next action. These are just a few things I’ve used myself.

So sayeth Omnus.

Comic gold… and completely in character and in period.

1. One or two meaty encounters. Seriously, that’s it — there isn’t time for an actual adventure, especially not with a system everyone at the table is guaranteed to have zero prior experience with. A short lead-in, two good encounters/scenes and an outro. That’s it.

2. Those two encounters should highlight the absolute best core parts of what makes the game fun. When you describe the stuff about the game that’s awesome to a stranger, it should sound like what’s in your two encounters.

3. Streamlined pregens. You can simplify rules, although that might not be ideal for a first look at a new system (up to you), or you can make sure that the characters only use the simplest rules.

4. Great character sheets. Slek, sexy and very easy to use.

I agree with Ish about simple, archetypal characters. That goes a long way, and I think it’s a must.

@Ish: Was that at last year’s con? My regular GenCon group played a HEX event run by the game’s creator with that premise, and his style sounds like what you described. It was one of the best events of the con.

Heck, I wonder if we might have been at the same table — how weird would that be?

One of the most memorable (and Cool) games that I ever played at GenCon was for Hollow Earth Expeditions. A game that I had only heard of by name before, and that the other players hadn’t even had that much knowledge.

Our characters – once you got past the names – were essentially the cast of Peter Jackson’s King Kong. Our set up was similar (you’ve gone to Haiti to film your zombie movie) and the scenario was easy enough to grasp (run from zombies, punch the nazis).

The GM’s fast, funny, and boundlessly enthusiastic style helped too. The universal truth of gaming, of course, being that a good GM can make anything into a good game.