Running a 1 shot can game.... here's my problem.

[Shekbo]

Our local con... www.carnagecon.com wants me to run a Dresden game again this year. Last year's was very popular. But honesty, I wasn't satisfied.

The main problem was... the characters were not challenged enough.

For the con game I had 5 characters, chest deep. That means that as a group they were plenty powerful.
My problem was that my interesting, thematic encounters were too easy.
For this group, according to the books, for an equal encounter I'd need to bring a 40 refresh point adversary to challenge them. Or 5 8 refresh monsters. That's a lot of opposition.

My other option is to split the party and bring smaller bad guys, but that means some people are sitting and watching.

So my question for the forum is... how to I design a Con game with 3-4 encounters that will really challenge the PCs without seeming way over the top.

Tom in VT

[Sanctaphrax]

Keep in mind that those guidelines are based around the idea that the players and the opposition have equal numbers of skill points. Also, they don't take into account the level of optimization/focus among characters or the stategies that they employ.

Smart, skilled opponents who are heavily focused in one area can challenge characters vastly stronger then them.

You can "cheat" by giving the players suboptimal skills and powers. I'm not saying sabotage them, just very deliberately don't minmax.

PS: I think that the opposition guidelines are based on spent refresh rather than total refresh.

[toturi]

For the con game I had 5 characters, chest deep. That means that as a group they were plenty powerful.
My problem was that my interesting, thematic encounters were too easy.

Tom in VT

Who felt the encounters were too easy? You as the GM or the players?

If the players felt the encounters were too easy, then there is a problem. Given the popularity of your event, did you consider that perhaps they liked it because it was easy?