4. I go to quite a few local conventions with under 100 people. Lots of regular attendees are gaming friends who I only see at cons, and we click.

Some of my very best games (and certainly all of my very best one shots) have been con games (I’m talking as player, as GM, and as GMless game participant). And some things I’ve loved at con’s have bombed with my home group.

For me home games are a solid staple, but cons are where I strut my stuff or experiment. Probably my con buddies would fall into patterns like those I game with regularly if some of us formed a group to game regularly together, but as things are there’s a certain freshness, and a changing circle.

Of course, some experiments fail, otherwise they wouldn’t be experiments, but when they work they can raise everyone’s game.