[DexCon 8] Schedule of IGE Events

[TonyLB]

Okay folks, there will be a great meeting of the minds at DexCon.  The second Indie Games Explosion!  If you have a game to pimp then you really, really want to be part of this.  Don't take my word for it... check out these testimonials to the first IGE.

Right here, right now this is what I've got.  I absolutely expect that it is unacceptable to a great number of people.  So yell at me!  Tell me you're not represented even though you sent me a million messages.  Tell me that you're scheduled for things even though you aren't attending.  Yell about the fact that your most high-traffic slot is scheduled opposite Vincent Baker and/or Luke Crane (to which... yeah, join the club).

Now, apart from correcting errors, I'd also like people to jump on some opportunities.  Particularly:  I have no idea what people (if any) are going to be there wednesday night and thursday morning.  If you're going to join me for the early-bird schedule then I'll take advantage of you.

Note also:  If you're scheduled for something now, you are not entitled to definitely getting that slot in the final schedule.  If we get more people wanting to run, I will do one of two things:  Cut back on slots I've already assigned, or open up a third track.  Personally, I think the traffic of DexCon 8 could support a third track with ease, but right now (again, right now) I don't know of enough people running games for us to cover it consistently.

[Michael S. Miller]

Hi, Tony.

Kat and I won't be there at all on Wednesday/Thursday. We will arrive for the first slot on Friday and stay till the bitter end on Sunday. Any chance of turning one of those WGPs into an NoPRess Anthology game?

[TonyLB]

Michael:  Rescheduled.  And I'll get you an NPA game in here somewhere, yeah, but I'm going to wait to slot it in until I hear back on some other things.

[Ben Lehman]

I don't feel comfortable running TSoY, unless there is absolutely no one else who can possible do it.

I'm not sure if I'm going to be there Thursday or not.

And schedule more Polaris, damnit!  In for a penny, in for a pound!

yrs--
--Ben

[Luke]

is space limited or something? I'd prefer to run my games from 8 to midnight on friday, from 10 to midnight on saturday and from 12-4 on sunday.

is that cool?
thanks,
-Luke

PS I think Thor would be happy to run Shadow.

[TonyLB]

Space is not limited.  At Dreamation (my closest past experience to this venue) there was some concern that we'd overfish the available supply of folks interested in Indie Games.

For DexCon, I'm just not feeling that concern.  What I am feeling is that with a four day convention, people can and will burn out.  Plus, time spent running a four hour slot is not time spent running smaller demo games.

Now... you want a two hour slot on saturday?  We can do that, but I'd like to make sure I understood.

Shifting sunday to one 12-4 slot might not be a bad move, actually.  Dreamation was awfully dead come two o'clock sunday.  I'll take a look at what people get back to me with this evening, and have a revised schedule up soon.

[Luke]

the friday night and saturday morning/afternoon games I run are walk-in demos. An hour each at the most. I run two big, four-hour games saturday night and sunday afternoon.

I'll be helping organize GMs for other games, but I'm not running any myself. When I go to a con, I must promote Burning Wheel.

thanks,
-Luke

[Brennan Taylor]

I'm not sure I'll be up to doing a midnight game, and I would like Bulldogs! in some more favorable slots (closer to prime time, rather than morning hours).

I realize all I am doing is bitching here, but you did ask! :)

[Helvetian]

I'm not sure I'll be up to doing a midnight game, and I would like Bulldogs! in some more favorable slots (closer to prime time, rather than morning hours).

I realize all I am doing is bitching here, but you did ask! :)

Brennan, actually the prime time slots might be the least favorable for drawing over new people to try it out.  There are a LOT of games happening in the evenings especially, including a lot of LARPs.  You'll get more people looking for something new/different/interesting earlier in the day.

My $.02, anyway.  :-)

Becca

[Brennan Taylor]

Brennan, actually the prime time slots might be the least favorable for drawing over new people to try it out.  There are a LOT of games happening in the evenings especially, including a lot of LARPs.  You'll get more people looking for something new/different/interesting earlier in the day.

OK, good point. However, my experience with morning RPGs has been bad almost uniformly. Maybe early afternoon?

[TonyLB]

Becca, if it's not an imposition on you, I think I'm leaning toward opening up a third track (i.e. stealing another one of your gaming tables) on friday and saturday, particularly in the evenings.  There's just so much good stuff being run (much of it not even on the draft schedule yet... I have people who know they want to run, but haven't figured out what) and, as Brennan rightly points out, a certain dearth of prime slots to schedule it in.

[TonyLB]

Okay, I slacked off and didn't push this forward.  My fault entirely.

I now have the penultimate schedule.  I expect this one is much closer to what everybody wants.  I would like the following from people who are coming and running:[list=1][*]PM me descriptions of your events, including Title, Paragraph description, Number of players and any PG-13 or higher rating.  I will assume that newcomers are gleefully accepted and taught rules.
[*]Take a look at the greyed empty slots in the schedule.  Those look like yawning gaps to me.  I'd like to fill them, if we can.
[*]Check what I've scheduled you for.  If you can't do those time-slots, please tell me.[/list:o]I'd like to get this finalized list to the DexCon people pretty quickly, so even a quick PM saying "Yeah, those times work for me, let me get you descriptions later" or "Put me in to run TSoY in the thursday 2-6 slot," would be a great help.

[Luke]

i'm  a little confused about this schedule.

Do we have a dedicated place set up where we can run short, walk-in demos for any and all of the games? A place that GMs not running big slots can rotate in and out of?

Do you have an exhibitor's booth, Tony? I know the Nerdnyc guys are interested in coming and selling their wares, and I need a place to lay out my spread, too. As does Brennan, I'm sure. Should we post a schedule of booth hours and folks to man it?

Is there a reason I can't run my normal suite of games: Friday, 8 to midnight, Saturday 10 am to midnight, Sunday 12 to 4?

thanks for taking care of all of this!
-L

[TonyLB]

Yes, we have booth space for the IGE as a whole.  Terrific booth space, bracketing the entire entrance to the RPG room, where every single gamer will have to pass through our gauntlet repeatedly.

Yes, we will be running demoes at that booth.  Your "Saturday, 10a.m. to midnight" would (I imagine) mostly be that:  sitting at one of the demo tables at the booth and demoing the game in short increments to people who walk up and want to play it.  Thor Olavsrud is organizing those demoes on this thread over at the dedicated forum.

But this schedule has nothing to do with that.  This is an entirely different animal.

There are players who will not sit down for fifteen minutes in order to have a demo at the booth, but who will plunk down four hours of their lives if it's on the schedule.  Strange, but true.  We are, therefore, putting games onto the DexCon schedule with formal slots.  These games will start at a preset time and generally run four hours.  They will occur away from the booth, at a table in the main gaming room.

Yes, it's time away from doing quick demoes at the booth, but it's also a way to attract people and to run at a length that demoes aren't suited for.  Does that make the purpose of this particular schedule clear?

[Andrew Morris]

Tony, maybe I'm missing something, but why are there three tracks, when 1 and 2 have seven available slots and 3 has only 4 slots taken? Why not stick with two full tracks rather than three tracks with lots of gaps?