Some thoughts, at Vincent's behest, about GenCon 2005

[Joshua A.C. Newman]

Over at his blog, Vincent challenged me to write a couple of things up for the Forge. I've been putting it off until my computer gets back from the hospital, but since that doesn't seem to be happening, I'll just post from this ol' clunker.

My vote for person who should write about how well his or her game did: tied! Emily and J.

I'm not sure if Emily has written yet, though I've seen a lot of buzz about Breaking the Ice, which is excellent. But I've been charged with the task of tooting my own horn, so toot I will.

I went to GenCon expecting to sell ten copies of Under The Bed. I sold almost five times that, with sales still coming in on a daily basis through my site. While there, I learned a lot from a couple of demos, particularly Luke's Burning Wheel combat demo (frankly, he could have been running Snot Ogre vs. Dragon Ninja using AD&D and people would have been rapt) and Mike Miller's With Great Power, which was engineered so well that I leapt up and grabbed a copy of the game immediately following the demo. Which I then lost, but that's not the point. The point, despite my sadness at having lost a game I was really excited about, is that Luke taught me about engaging with me demoees (though my process was, of course, different) and Mike taught me about making a tense, engaging story that leaves the folks wanting.

TonyLB also helped a pile, with his natural enthusiasm coming through, selling several copies, and even getting one buyer excited enough to request a signing.

The real triumph, though, was watching others play the game - my game! - over at Embassy Suites. And it worked without me prompting them! They read the book I wrote, played with the cards I made, and then told difficult stories about growing up! Sumbitch!

Overwhelming satisfaction, that's what I feel. If your game is wallowing around in half-written, half-playtested limbo, finish the damn thing. Work on it a few hours a week, at least, and playtest every idea you have in time for next August. It's really very satisfying to see people thinking about what you were thinking about when you wrote the game. It's like telepathy!

My vote for person who should write about the social dynamics at the Forge booth, compared and contrasted with the con at large: J.

What, just because I had snotty comments?

The Forge booth is saturated with enthusiasm. Its sexist imagery was nonexistent. There were women and whole families at the booth. For the most part, we were neither pretentious nor ill-scented.  These are in contrast to most of the other booths I saw. Did I say something in particular that you want me to comment on?

[Emily Care]

... and Mike Miller's With Great Power, which was engineered so well that I leapt up and grabbed a copy of the game immediately following the demo. Which I then lost, but that's not the point.

No you didn't! You gave it to me at some point, and home with me it came.  Been meaning to give it back.

Congrats on your sales! It's a great game, you deserve it.  And hear, hear to the magic good demos and of seeing your own game at work.  It's easy to believe that it's just you, or that it's just a fluke that people enjoy it, but to see a game in action without you is something else.  Here's a question, how did you end up honing your demo down, J?

The Forge booth is saturated with enthusiasm. Its sexist imagery was nonexistent. There were women and whole families at the booth. For the most part, we were neither pretentious nor ill-scented.  These are in contrast to most of the other booths I saw.

All this too, and the thing I noted most was the incredible energy at the Forge. I wandered the floor on a couple days & saw how many booths had 1) very little product, 2) very little to draw you in or 3) had too much of either of these.  The Big Vendors had interesting gimmicks, like giving away free things with the only requirement being that you had to stand in line for it: creating a huge line that drew people in and so on.  What were they giving away? T-shirts to advertise their product. 

The booths I liked best were the ones with many things of great value that drew the eye: like a brassworks booth that Star showed to me, and the Key20 booth.  The many, many board game booths often caught my attention: Out of the Box & others had tables set up with samples laid out, tempting me to finger the little pieces and puzzle out what the intriguing maps & boards were meant for.  I remember thinking how nice it would be to have so much space to do demos. Where people could have watched more comfortably, or sat & read a book after buying it.  Though, of course, then we get into the game-shop dynamic, where people come to hang at the tables & soak up space without investing in the goods.

some of my observations...

yours,
Em

[Joshua A.C. Newman]

No you didn't! You gave it to me at some point, and home with me it came.  Been meaning to give it back.

Hooray! Thanks!

Congrats on your sales! It's a great game, you deserve it.  And hear, hear to the magic good demos and of seeing your own game at work.  It's easy to believe that it's just you, or that it's just a fluke that people enjoy it, but to see a game in action without you is something else.  Here's a question, how did you end up honing your demo down, J?

It was all technical decisions. First, I decided to start everyone with two stones, rather than three. That meant that no one's toy could be lost on the first round, which is a downer when you don't know how easy it is to get a new one.

Second, I took my own stones out of the bag and explained that this was so that I would get the first narration to take the pressure off the other players, which was true. The bigger reason was so that not only would I not get a turn, but someone else at the table would have the winning toy. That's not a prize I wanted. At the beginning of the con, my toy won in two demo games in a row. Laaaame. I also played to three coins to keep the time down. It's juuust enough time to see how it works.

The Forge booth is saturated with enthusiasm. Its sexist imagery was nonexistent. There were women and whole families at the booth. For the most part, we were neither pretentious nor ill-scented.  These are in contrast to most of the other booths I saw.

All this too, and the thing I noted most was the incredible energy at the Forge. I wandered the floor on a couple days & saw how many booths had 1) very little product, 2) very little to draw you in or

Oh, man, that was sad. Those guys wanted to sell their thing so bad, but they didn't have any ability to drum up sales. I'm thinking of one booth of guys, but I saw it in many places. It's so true.

3) had too much of either of these.  The Big Vendors had interesting gimmicks, like giving away free things with the only requirement being that you had to stand in line for it: creating a huge line that drew people in and so on.  What were they giving away? T-shirts to advertise their product.

It's a valid strategy. Remember that Blizzard or whoever is there to increase excitement, not sell products. I'd say that we should do that, but we get the line already, just with people wanting to check out the games. It would be nice to focus it the way they do, though.

The booths I liked best were the ones with many things of great value that drew the eye: like a brassworks booth that Star showed to me, and the Key20 booth.  The many, many board game booths often caught my attention: Out of the Box & others had tables set up with samples laid out, tempting me to finger the little pieces and puzzle out what the intriguing maps & boards were meant for.  I remember thinking how nice it would be to have so much space to do demos. Where people could have watched more comfortably, or sat & read a book after buying it.  Though, of course, then we get into the game-shop dynamic, where people come to hang at the tables & soak up space without investing in the goods.

Well, nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd. It just has to be worth the dollars to get the space and set it up properly.

There was some talk about this during the con, but I'll say it here, too: we need to keep posters organized and attractive. Everyone's posters were good, to be sure, but they're promotion. That means that they can't be drowned out by each other, and they have to be orderly and arranged attractively.

Next year, that's my job. I'll do a little pre-con coordination, then keep on top of the situation as posters change. This year, our graphic presence was sub-par (except for those guys. Man, I wanted them to do well, but...). Never mind the Axis and Allies cathedral or the World of Warcraft naked elfette, or the Warzone X-Treme Skullborg. It's the board game folks I think we should learn from. Their uniforms, big and clear banners, posters, and ephemera that explained the games in clear and colorful fashion all can teach us things:

1: Uniforms make you look like you're working at Dairy Queen, no matter what the uniform is. There's nothing sadder than selling a game about gothpunk revolution while wearing a polo shirt that says "GothPunk Revolution: Real Men Wear Black Vinyl." The only possible exception to this is Apophis, who looked like they were going to go hang with Siouxsie and Budgie after the con shut down. Which, well, it might just be me, but I think that's hot, where polo shirts totally aren't.
2: Big, clear, colorful banners bring people to the booth because of a coordinated design. They stand up and out. Is there a way we can hang our Forge banner higher? Maybe vertically like a Japanese banner? Do we risk being hit by lightning or something?
3: Posters can convey a lot of information, but you neither want it to tell too much (your audience will make up its mind without touching the product or talking to a salesperson), nor do you want it to be too abstract (a guy looking awesome with a gun, no matter how cool, will not make people remember the name of your game).
4: Ephemera. Man, I wish I'd thought to give away the Forge product lists instead of business cards earlier in the con. It didn't occur to me until we ran out of cards. DuuuUuuh. Anyway, such a sheet with two sentences for each product might really help second-level and post-con sales; that is, sales made because Ann had the sheet and Betty saw something cool on it. Individual sheets for each game would, I think, hurt sales, unless Jasper was handing them out elsewhere at the con.

[Michael S. Miller]

Joshua: Congratulations on the success of UtB!

Mike taught me about making a tense, engaging story that leaves the folks wanting.

Glad you enjoyed the demo. I actually dodged a bullet demo-wise this year. I was planning to run a WGP combat demo, like I did last year. It's fun, but a bit involved. There's lots of cards and lots of options for folks to weigh--which, in a full-length session is cool. In the snapshot demo, it becomes information overload. I managed to run the conflict demo first thing Thursday morning with Thor, the tall, thin Scottish guy whose name I cannot remember, and someone else. It was too long and too slow for a booth demo. Luckily, my insightful wife had created an enrichment scene demo kit (over my objections, but I'm just dumb sometimes). Running just one enrichment scene a piece really gave people a chance to get a little, tiny taste of the soap opera-angst that the game's all about.

As for making a "tense, engaging story" you know that you guys did all the work, right? i just concocted some heroes with problems that their powers wouldn't solve and said "show me these people dealing with these problems." You guys did the rest.

[Joshua A.C. Newman]

I can't tell you how happy I am that my copy of WGP... isn't lost. It's exactly what I always wished a superhero game was like.