Many of you have seen the fun times being had at Fireside Gatherings and are asking for them to be held in your own communities. If someone else isn’t hosting a gathering in your area, then now’s your chance to step into the Innkeeper’s shoes and host a Fireside Gathering of your own! It’s easier than you think to get your Gathering going, and hosting is really quite rewarding. Besides, what better way to get to know your local fellow Hearthstone gamers and make new friends, right? Becoming a Fireside Gathering Innkeeper also gives you the perfect opportunity to become an important part of the growing Hearthstone community. Oh, and did we mention even hosting a small Gathering is a great way to earn your Fireside Friends card back?
Fireside Gatherings are catching on, and we’re already hard at work developing a program so we can better support Innkeepers, and perhaps provide some perks along the way!
Interested? Great! It’s time to get started!
Find a Venue
First, you need to find a place to host your Gathering! All kinds of venues can be perfect for Fireside Gatherings, including restaurants, cafes, bars, game stores, book stores, community rec centers, college meeting rooms, internet game rooms, and even hotel ball rooms. Just drop by a likely location and talk to those in charge about your plans. You might be surprised at how receptive and enthusiastic they are about providing a place for your players to meet.
It is important to ensure that your venue offers Wi-Fi, or devices connected to wired internet, and it’s also quite useful if your chosen venue also has places for your attendees to plug in their devices to charge.
Promote Your Gathering
Once you’ve found a place for your Gathering and made sure that all the pieces are in place, the next (and possibly most important) step is to promote your event so people show up.
In Person - You can promote your Fireside Gathering in the real world with posters and flyers, both at your chosen venue, as well as other locations in the area where interested players are likely to congregate (with permission, of course!).
On the Internet - It’s also easy to promote your Gathering on the internet. Just drop by LiquidHearth, create an account, and submit your event. It will be added to a global list of upcoming Fireside Gatherings, so interested attendees can easily search to find one in their area. Many organizers also maintain a Facebook page for their events, so Gathering goers can stay up to date on when and where the next Fireside Gathering is taking place.
Make Your Gathering Great
It’s plenty of fun to get some players together just to play some games. If you want to go a little further to make your Gathering memorable, there’s plenty you can do to keep your players coming back again and again.
Tournaments – Attendees love tournaments, and they’re easy to organize, especially if you use a simple single-elimination format. Tournaments using restricted decks can also make participating accessible to players who maybe aren’t as experienced and present a fun challenge to players who are.
Fun - Games and challenges, such as Hearthstone trivia, or cooperating to build the minion with the most health and damage in the shortest period of time can also bring players together. Asking veteran players to help new recruits with deck building can also be fun. The only limit on activities you can have at your Gathering is your imagination!
Finishing Touches - Putting up some decorations, themed food and drink, or playing music that gives your ‘inn’ a Hearthstone feel are always fun touches to help set the mood.
Don’t be afraid to start small! Above all, the important thing is to have fun playing Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft and make some new friends!
Download our Innkeeper’s Resources guide for a more detailed guide on running Legendary Fireside Gatherings.