I tend to favor events with a purpose beyond socializing, so your sermon idea is very appealing to me. It has lore relevance, learning potential, and enhances immersion, too. You also have the option of opening the floor up to other attendees to share their unique take on their faith in the Twelve. That can be a bit risky -- I'd recommend a time limit, and/or have people sign up in advance and have their story prepared.
In general, lore-relevant events seem to have the benefit of (a) helping to bring shy role players like myself out of their shell by giving us a task to focus on, and (b) sparking deeper roleplay by forcing characters to react to uncommon events. It takes a little more effort on the part of the organizer, but I've always seen these events get great receptions, and they're usually well-remembered.
Here are a few other event ideas I have either run or attended which seemed to work out very well:
- refugee assistance programs
- political or social rallies
- "Occupy [city]" events where a big group spreads out around a single city (or district within a city) and roleplays out daily life or whatever they feel like doing
- historical lecture series
- training workshops and classes
- pilgrimages
- holiday celebrations and performances
The most important thing is to invite audience participation. For a show, this might be as simple as having a fashion contest section where characters are invited to participate by being a contestant, or by voting for the winner. For a sermon, you might keep the sermon itself short in order to leave time at the end for characters to mingle and discuss their opinions on what they heard.
I have done a few large-scale adventuring/quest type events, and I have mixed feelings on them. The main challenge is balancing the adventuring momentum with the slower speed of large group roleplay. One solution for this is splitting people into smaller groups of 4-5 people and assigning each group a different task. Then everyone can reconvene at the end and share the spoils together.
Honestly, facilitating smaller group roleplay in larger events is probably a good idea no matter what you're doing. The main complaint I've seen about public events is that there's too much text scroll to keep up with. The trick is finding ways to group people up with characters they've never met before -- otherwise they'll just stick with their clique.
Anyway, that was a long-winded reply to a short question. I hope something in there helps, and good luck with your sermons! I'll be keeping an eye out for your future events.
In general, lore-relevant events seem to have the benefit of (a) helping to bring shy role players like myself out of their shell by giving us a task to focus on, and (b) sparking deeper roleplay by forcing characters to react to uncommon events. It takes a little more effort on the part of the organizer, but I've always seen these events get great receptions, and they're usually well-remembered.
Here are a few other event ideas I have either run or attended which seemed to work out very well:
- refugee assistance programs
- political or social rallies
- "Occupy [city]" events where a big group spreads out around a single city (or district within a city) and roleplays out daily life or whatever they feel like doing
- historical lecture series
- training workshops and classes
- pilgrimages
- holiday celebrations and performances
The most important thing is to invite audience participation. For a show, this might be as simple as having a fashion contest section where characters are invited to participate by being a contestant, or by voting for the winner. For a sermon, you might keep the sermon itself short in order to leave time at the end for characters to mingle and discuss their opinions on what they heard.
I have done a few large-scale adventuring/quest type events, and I have mixed feelings on them. The main challenge is balancing the adventuring momentum with the slower speed of large group roleplay. One solution for this is splitting people into smaller groups of 4-5 people and assigning each group a different task. Then everyone can reconvene at the end and share the spoils together.
Honestly, facilitating smaller group roleplay in larger events is probably a good idea no matter what you're doing. The main complaint I've seen about public events is that there's too much text scroll to keep up with. The trick is finding ways to group people up with characters they've never met before -- otherwise they'll just stick with their clique.
Anyway, that was a long-winded reply to a short question. I hope something in there helps, and good luck with your sermons! I'll be keeping an eye out for your future events.
The great way is only difficult for those who pick and choose.
