Spiel Essen 07

[iago]

Evil Hat Productions is in, if you've got people who can represent Spirit of the Century and Don't Rest Your Head, and if IPR's doing an en masse shipment like last time. 

Given those provisions, can we get in the door?

I can at least send along PDFs of demo characters for each game, though we don't (presently) have a "structured" demo scenario for SOTC. (Given three or four demo characters -- the iconic ones from the book -- someone familiar with Spirit shouldn't have too much trouble throwing a situation at folks with just the characters.)  DRYH at least has some notes to mesh with the three sample characters in the kit.  SOTC's a strong enough seller that I'm figuring we should send along 20 (or more?) SOTC, 10 DRYH, but feel free to adjust my expectations there.

I'll try to stay abreast of developments here, but forum threads are a bad way to keep me in the loop. evilhat AT gmail DOT com is better.

[Eero Tuovinen]

I am unfamiliar with Evil Hat products, simply because there's so much indie nowadays that I haven't had the opportunity to look at it. From what I've heard, though, I'm sure we can handle Spirit of the Century at least. I remember reading about DRYH, too, but it's premise escapes me - it's not that jenga tower game, is it?

Anyway, the thing I do in the indie scene is representing games, so here's what I'd like to do: if I get PDFs of the product, I'll play a session or two of each to familiarize myself, and follow up with a demonstration plan, akin to what I did last year. I'll also prep the Finnish monkey in advance, so we'll have at least a couple of people on the scene who can walk the walk with the product.

For numbers, I'll say 20 of both. I can take up to a dozen copies of any quality product at retailer discount after the convention, so if you sell to retailers at all, there's little reason not to send more than that. (This assuming that your product has any chance to sell in Finland; I'll let you know after seeing the stuff if I think that it'd be a slow seller or no-seller.) Also, the booth fees will be high enough that it's better to make sure you have enough stock to make some profits as well from the enterprise.

But that's that. I'll come a-calling for sample pdfs later.

[oliof]

aaargh, why does Spiel 2007 cover my marriage anniversary? Because otherwise, Evilhat would be covered by now...

[Frank Tarcikowski]

Well, if Nicolas Crost is in, we have at least Don't Rest Your Head covered. And, as an internet friend put it for Spirit of the Century: There is an ape on the cover! And he is flying an airplane! I must have it.

Anyhow, you might be thinking of sending only one game to minimize your financial risk. I know that Paul really profited last year from concentrating on My Life with Master (though I'd still have loved to demo Bacchanal).

- Frank

[iago]

Eero's made me a fine offer to evaluate the games in PDF form and provide backing for both of 'em if needs be at Spiel Essen.  So no worries.  It's mainly a question, now, of how many copies, and we can get that settled later.

[Meguey]

Sure! I'll figure out a way to get 1001 Nights there. I'll talk to Emily. Thanks for the invite.

[iago]

I've dropped a message over on the IPR list to see if any more interest can be drummed up.

[Brennan Taylor]

I'm in with Mortal Coil again. I'll send more this time, since it did so well last year.

[Justin D. Jacobson]

I'm in again this year. I think I'll go with Passages and leave the Dawning Star stuff behind. It's much easier to demo and fits in better with the group concept.

[Nathan P.]

I'm in, with carry.

[Frank Tarcikowski]

Hi there!

Bad news: Harald, Gerd and Jörg of last year's crew are definitely out, Agata is at "probably in" as is one quality replacement guy. The only "definitely in" is Dirk Ackermann, but if there should be a Burning Wheel/Burning Empires presence at the fair, I'd have to lend him to Luke because anything else would be a terrible waste.

Moreover, many of the games signed in by now are pretty much unknown even to the German Forge-O-Sphere, so in order to represent them properly, we'd face a lot of work up ahead even with the mighty Finnish warriors of indie gaming backing us up. At the moment, I don't see this coming together, or in order to come together require an effort on my part beyond what I'm willing to put up. On this basis I can't give a go for booking the booth.

And as I have to arrange something for BARBAREN! now, I'll be checking in with another booth. Knowing the people of Vortex/Sighpress and also Red Brick, I'm pretty confident to find an arrangement.

So, I am sorry to announce that the Forge Booth Essen 07 is not going to happen. Thank you anyway for your commitment and trust. Thanks especially to Eero, whose enthusiasm and competence remain unmatched.

Best, Frank

[iago]

Thanks for the effort all the same, Frank.  Please don't let this be a signal to stop trying to organize a German presence for us in years to come.  Here's to Spiel Essen 08!

[Ben Lehman]

Ack!  Sorry to hear that, Frank...  Good luck with Barbaren!