Demo creation guide out here

[Konji]

Hello Legion,

I was wondering if there was a guide to demo creation out there. I want to introduce new players into Hero and old players back to Hero and I want to make sure my demos are tight. How do I go about getting my demos reviewed for approval?

Thanks,
Konji

[Steve Long]

Well, basically all you have to do is submit 'em, and I'll take a look when I get the chance. We don't have any specific guidelines, since we want everyone to enjoy demo'ing and figure each person knows best what works for him when it comes to running games. But I'm sure other Legionnaires will be glad to chime in with what works for them. ;)

[AlHazred]

I have a few general rules for when I demo Hero at Cons.


Remember that you're going to be teaching Hero to people who don't know the rules, and have probably only heard that it features Calculus and Fractal Dynamics, and other arcane sciences. So write everything up as clearly as possible, with individual Notes on each power to explain what it does.
As a rule of thumb, I create an adventure for half the time available to me; if I have a four-hour slot, I make an adventure my group could go through in two hours. Then I come up with a short scene or two to expand it. This gives me the option to spend more time explaining things, or more adventure if the players seem to be "getting it."
Make an adventure with clear goals, and then make sure the players have no incentive to distract from that goal. I made a Fantasy Hero adventure where the PCs were thieves who had to steal something from a mansion; the adventure starts with them standing in front of it. I give everyone one Contact roll, and if they make it they get an additional bit of info about the mansion or the guy who owns it.
Give a prize. Everyone loves a prize and will remember a game more fondly if they got something out of it. I give out copies of Sidekick, since they're $10 so I can eat the cost if I have to.
Pimp Hero. I bring a copy of every Hero book I own to the Con, which means every book Hero Games has published since FREd came out. That way, if they say, "I like it, but we usually play X," I can pull out the genre book for X and say, "Yeah, they do that too."

[AlHazred]

I forgot one:

The players are going to have a very limited amount of time in which to familiarize themselves with their characters. In addition to Note 1 regarding Notes on each power, I also try to write the character background to be, at most, three paragraphs long. This requires that each character have an easily-grasped "hook" and makes them more stereotypical than most people usually like, but it more than makes up for those points by saving me loads of time. In general, if it takes more than fifteen minutes for everyone to familiarize themselves with their character, then it's too long.

[mudpyr8]

I have all my encounters set up before hand (maps, figs, etc.) so I don't slow the event down due to setup. I want to keep the pacing.

I plan 30 minutes on the front for character passout, discussion, and setup. I then open with light action, set the story, and then build with the climax.

Don't follow the normal character hook methods - people are there to play. Assume the group has already taken the hook and build that into the adventure. However, don't sit there and read pretext for more than 2-3 minutes. Let the story tell itself, and let the players play.