Handy Haversack wrote:

For Meal of Oshregaal, I just gave 'em all the standard starter pack from Waif of Boreas (which I used for stats, names, races, descriptions, too).

Waifs has been downloaded over 3900 times! I'm glad so many people have been getting so much use out of it.
I'm a couple weeks away from releasing something I hope referees will find equally useful.

My two main fears with convention games are: A. Not having enough adventure planned to fill the 4 hr timeslot and B. Killing off characters too early in the session.   I think I've gone the other way with A but  I'm always looking for ways to deal with B.  

For me if characters are killed off in the third act, or 4th hour, I think that is a fine, even successful, outcome especially if it's in the pursuit of some goal or final showdown (or a particularly grisly death). If its before that I worry as well.  Usually this works out because players are so careful at first and get more adventurous at the end of the session that they tend to make this timeline work.  Most of my solutions have been providing some form of resurrection magic either with the pregens (usually a scroll of reincarnation or raise dead) or within the dungeon.  

My other solution, that I used in an AD&D game, was to make a stack of index cards with  "dungeon replacements" these would be individuals that could conceivably be met within the particular dungeon locale.  Most (well all really!) were not completely conventional character types and usually had some sort of hidden agenda or secret that might or might not be helpful to the main party.  I thought this would be a good middle ground for giving players a new character and to add a bit of randomness to the game for me and the players.  I envisioned them just picking the top character and running with it - if they really hated the character picked they could discard and pick the next one.  I've never seen it actually happen in play though as I ran the adventure twice with that setup and everyone managed to survive up to last half hour. 
 

Blackadder23 wrote:

Handy Haversack wrote:

For Meal of Oshregaal, I just gave 'em all the standard starter pack from Waif of Boreas (which I used for stats, names, races, descriptions, too).

Waifs has been downloaded over 3900 times! I'm glad so many people have been getting so much use out of it.
I'm a couple weeks away from releasing something I hope referees will find equally useful.

Waifs is my go-to for pregens all the way. I have used it for four cons now! We also use your Quick Start Equipment in our home game.

So make with the next thing already!

lige wrote:

My two main fears with convention games are: A. Not having enough adventure planned to fill the 4 hr timeslot and B. Killing off characters too early in the session.   I think I've gone the other way with A but  I'm always looking for ways to deal with B.  

For me if characters are killed off in the third act, or 4th hour, I think that is a fine, even successful, outcome especially if it's in the pursuit of some goal or final showdown (or a particularly grisly death). If its before that I worry as well.  Usually this works out because players are so careful at first and get more adventurous at the end of the session that they tend to make this timeline work.  Most of my solutions have been providing some form of resurrection magic either with the pregens (usually a scroll of reincarnation or raise dead) or within the dungeon.  

My other solution, that I used in an AD&D game, was to make a stack of index cards with  "dungeon replacements" these would be individuals that could conceivably be met within the particular dungeon locale.  Most (well all really!) were not completely conventional character types and usually had some sort of hidden agenda or secret that might or might not be helpful to the main party.  I thought this would be a good middle ground for giving players a new character and to add a bit of randomness to the game for me and the players.  I envisioned them just picking the top character and running with it - if they really hated the character picked they could discard and pick the next one.  I've never seen it actually happen in play though as I ran the adventure twice with that setup and everyone managed to survive up to last half hour.

I'd say you are doing fine with both from my experience!

I like your AD&D solution, too. Added complications once they're in the dungeon are all to the good! As the old saying goes, more testicles means more iron.

With AS&SH, I also try to advertise it to the slight limit of my DMing abilities. So I like having a bunch of pregens representing all the classes and letting those next-one-up it into the ranks when people go down early.

Ar'Pharazon wrote:

Either way, I try and do right for the players. They chose my game for one reason or another and it's important to me they enjoy themselves. I've been in con games where somebody dies in the first 30-60 minutes and they've been told they're S.O.L. by the DM.

I agree with this sentiment. If they have fun I have fun.