Getting Indie Games Going in Your Area

[Brennan Taylor]

There are a lot of game designers living in and around New York City, and the Dreamation convention has become a real gathering place for designers due to their very favorable treatment of small press people. Starting at last year's Dreamation, and again at DexCon run by the same event company, we've been running an 'Indie Press Explosion' at the convention, a big list of indie game sessions run at the con that serve as an introduction for the curious and a way for fans of the games to get in some play if they haven't hit it with their own local groups. These have been very popular and successful, and I have begun trying to run an 'indie games track' at other local cons, which seem pretty successful too. Interest in these games is out there, but a lot of times no one steps up to run these at smaller, local conventions.

So, in my capacity as one of the owners of Indie Press Revolution, I'd like to try to inspire and assist a similar effort nationwide, and help people coordinate their various local conventions. I am calling this the Indie Press Gang, and it is open to all GMs who are willing to run indie press games at local conventions. Of course, I will be facilitating all of the IPR titles, but other indie press games are fair game as well.

Here's what you should do:

• Find some local GMs who like indie press games and ask them if they are interested in running at local cons. You can also come post on the Indie Press Gang forum over at IPR and see if other GMs in your area are already interested.
• Contact your local convention and get ahold of the game coordinator. Try to get the game coordinator to set up an "indie games track" at the con, giving you exclusive use of one or two tables for the whole convention. Most of the organizers in my area have been happy to do this, they are usually scrambling for GMs.
• Work out a schedule with your fellow GMs and get the game coordinator to put it in the offical schedule. See if you can get a special billing as an indie games track, or some other way to set apart the game slots you have secured.
• Make up and photocopy some flyers advertising the event and put them up wherever gamers gather in your area, and slap them around at the con (get permission first!).

I will give what help, support, and advice I can offer over on the IPR forum. If you are interested in getting this going in your area, IPR may be able to provide some more assistance, like free t-shirts and flyers to hand out at your gaming table.

[Iskander]

I am interested in this to:

- learn to run new Indie games
- learn to demo new Indie games

...which serve to...

- hone my skills as a player of games, not least as a GM

It may deserve a separate thread, but I want to talk about what GM skills are transmissible, and what techniques folk have used to teach/learn/osmose those skills. If it is all just "play more games and run more games", then I want us to think hard about extracting some pedagogy from the playing of games.

[Iskander]

Also.

Why I want to do this is to avoid a repeat of a generally mediocre experience at GenCon Indy '05. Instead, this year, I want to go armed with a fistful of cool games, sit at an open table, and run the shit out of them for whoever the hell turns up and takes an interest. I want them to rock enough that they get up from the table and go buy at least the game they just played. I also want to be able to talk to anyone who didn't like the game what Indie games they might like instead. And then demo it.

Optimistic, much?

- Alexander

[Zach]

Hello,

I'm definately interested in this kind of organization. As soon as the IPG boards start cooperating, I will be over there and explaining my role as an organizer of a small convention in Iowa. In the past the event has been a chance for gamers to show off their "once-a-year" big idea which often manifests in public runs of a new game. Indie press games for a small, indie con? It seems like there's some kind of synergy going on there.