Having a successful Dice Masters local community isn’t always an easy endeavor, but here are a couple steps to help start and encourage a Dice Masters community.
Before starting a Dice Master community, ask yourself, am I the right person for this. It is okay for that answer to be no. Some people are great at organizing, others are great at playing. As a Dice Masters Organizer, I spend roughly 70% of my Dice Masters time doing things not related to playing. Once you have an established group that attends organized play events regularly, this becomes easier to accomplish.
- Start from the basics:
Not everyone that wants to play Dice Masters is experienced. It’s easy for new players to be nervous showing up at a Rainbow Draft or constructed event with little or no experience playing the game. Seeing other players with binders of cards and loads of dice can be intimidating. To welcome these new players to my friendly local game store and the Dice Masters community, every few months I hold a “Free-to-Learn” event. This is a great opportunity to showcase the game to new players. Typically, our more experienced players and volunteers will help the new players get started by teaching basic strategies with low rarity cards that are good for beginners.
For “Free-to-Learn” events I create common dice sets to hand out. New players love the idea of being able to try out a game without having to buy the product. If they like the game, they will end up purchasing it and hopefully joining your Dice Masters community. Let’s be honest, Dice Masters may not be for everyone, so making sure that people can try the game for free is vital for getting people in the door.
While some players might have purchased a starter and are testing the waters with playing outside their own home, others may not have played at all. These players will benefit the most from demos. It’s easy for experienced players to demo Dice Masters but it is important to not overwhelm beginners by throwing everything at them at once.
Demoing tips:
- Create teams strictly for demo purposes since tournament teams can be super complex
- Demo teams don’t need to be 8 characters, 4 will be enough
- To simplify the teams, try including characters that don’t have abilities in their text boxes (Ex: Ant-Man: Biophysicist or Iron Man: Big Man)
- These cards are good for introducing a character’s stats including cost, attack value, defense value and damage
- Minimize Global Abilities and cards with tricky effects, but include variety
- Example of a diverse team:
- A character with a “When fielded” ability (Ex: Miri Riam: Beacon in the Dark)
- A character with a “While active” ability (Ex: Wonder Girl: Silent Armor)
- A character with a “When attacks” ability (Ex: Mystique: Alias: You)
- A character with a “When blocks” ability (Ex: Beast: Big Boy Blue)
- Keep in mind: A new player will not only be trying to learn the cards and dice, but also needs to understand all of the rules of the game
- Start by having two volunteers play a demo against each other to show new players the basic game play
- Get new players involved by pairing each with an experienced player to teach them step by step
Now that you have established a player base with a mix of new and experienced players, it’s time to strengthen the community by hosting events that can bring everyone together. Between family, job and other responsibilities, scheduling an event that everyone can attend can be impossible. It is important to support players by having regular events that they can attend during their free time. Reliability is an important piece of the framework for building a Dice Masters community.
- Have consistently scheduled events:
People participate in regularly scheduled activities. For some that means watching their favorite TV show every Monday night, for others it’s a regular meetup with friends on a Friday evening. For people like myself, Dice Masters is or will become a staple of their week. Having a recurring event with a set day and time makes it easy for players to remember and plan their schedules around if needed. Also, if a player can’t make it one week, the time between missing an event and their next chance to play is minimized.
Scheduling Tips:
- Have the events on the same day and same time (Ex: Mondays at 6PM)
- People won’t always check the date and time of events
- If they know events are always Mondays at 6PM it’s easier for players to drop by or plan further in advance
- Before you schedule events, look into what your local competition is doing
- Schedule events that aren’t in conflict with other Dice Masters event and other large events in your area
- Example: If a WizKids Open is happening nearby, and many of your Dice Masters players will be there for HeroClix, it might not be a good weekend for you to schedule an event
When scheduling your events, remember, you want to grow the community, not divide it. Your regulars may stay loyal to your store and events but you’re also going to want to expand your crowd and attract more players.
- Have varied events:
As important as it is to have a consistent player base showing up each week, you’ll want to build your player base while also keep your regulars satisfied. To make sure players aren’t getting bored coming to the same event each week, you’ll want to mix it up with different formats and theme nights. Get a sense of what your regulars actually want which usually isn’t the same unlimited constructed tournament all the time. This is also the same for Rainbow Drafts as not every player can afford 12 foil packs every week. I try to have one rainbow draft (two if it’s a release month), one unlimited constructed and two themed events per month.
Event Ideas:
- Different formats:
- Unlimited Constructed
- Rainbow Draft
- Doubles
- Themes (get creative)
- Commons Only
- Single Affiliation
- Single Energy
- Ladies Only
With all of these fun events going on in your Dice Masters community, you are going to need a way to get the word out.
- Advertise your events:
Using your store website and social media pages is a great way to advertise to your regular costumers and those familiar with your store. If you want to reach more Dice Masters players, you can create a local Facebook group that’s not tied directly to your store but brings local players together. Another great resource at your disposal WizKids Event System.
Taking advantage of the WizKids Events System will give outsiders a chance to come enjoy your events. The WizKids Event System allows stores to schedule events and makes it easy for players to search for stores and events around the world. Stores can also earn achievements for updating their accounts, scheduling and reporting events and more. These acknowledgements can lead to your FLGS being rewarded extra OP kits along with cool events, such as Rainbow Draft Weekend, and more!
The last few sets (and future sets) of Dice Masters have had inserts in each booster that will send players to check out the WES. Players picking up foil packs elsewhere or getting boosters as a gift are directed to the WES where they can find your store and learn about your events. It is free to sign up and use so why not reap the benefits of free advertising. Check it out here: www.WizKidsEventSystem.com
- Prize Support:
Some people play Dice Masters for the fun, others are motivated by the prizes. This may be the most important point on the list. It is up to you, the tournament organizer, to decide how you want to allocate prize support for different events. I’m a firm believer in not only rewarding the top performing players. If resources permit, all players should feel rewarded at an event, whether it be with prizes from Organized Play Kits or extra Booster Packs.
Rewarding only the top performing players will discourage newer players from coming back. Positive customer service is a reward you can always offer to all players – having a good attitude and being outgoing are free!
In almost every scenario, it is critical for you to have partnership with the store you’re running events at, especially since Organized Play Kits are only available to stores from their distributor. Some stores I have come across pay the cost of the OP kits and don’t charge for certain events beyond what product is used. Other store will want to charge a tournament fee. This is an important discussion to have with your local game store before organizing events.
Be mindful of the wide range of people playing and their income level. Charging $10 for a constructed event where only the top 3 players receive prizes is likely going to leave a bitter taste in people’s mouths, especially new players that you are trying to encourage participation from.
I’ve found that charging anywhere from 1$-3$ for events is cheap enough to allow people to participate frequently while also cover the cost of the OP Kits provided by your Friendly Local Game Store. Any extra money can go towards providing booster packs as extra prize support. Even if someone loses and only gets one booster, they haven’t left empty handed and they have the chance of pulling a card or two that is worth far more than what they’ve spent for the event.
While prize support is important, having the right person to host events is just as vital.
- The right person for hosting events:
As a tournament organizer, you must realize these events are not about you, they are about the players. You need to be welcoming, encouraging, knowledgeable and fair. No one will want to come to events if you are argumentative, rude, or come off too aggressively. New and old players alike can be easily intimidated by an organizer that is overly assertive. Listen to your players and make sure they are having fun.
Be ready for rules questions. You might not know every answer, but try to be familiar with the rules and able to make knowledgeable and objective decisions. Be ready to answer the same question(s) many times since you’ll hopefully have many big events!
As a TO, if there is a rules question from your opponent, it’s best to defer to another experienced player for a ruling. This will prevent players from developing an impression of cheating on your part. On that same token, if you don’t know the answer to a question, ask the group how they feel about it or if anyone else has insight on the question. WizKids has provided some judging guidance, and you should feel comfortable pointing to that as the basis for your decisions.
With the framework to build a Dice Masters community, you are on your way to becoming a successful tournament organizer. The more time you can dedicate to teaching beginners and promoting your tournaments, the sooner you’ll be able to run consistent events and attract a bigger crowd. It’s time to get out there, talk to your local store, get your friends together and start playing!
