Spiel 2006

[Martin Higham]

I know it seems like a long way off (its only 7 months) but time goes so fast as I get older. I was wondering if there were any official plans for a Forge/Indie RPG presence at this years Essen games extravaganza.

If there's nothing official should those of us who are going anyway try to organize something?

Martin

[Matt Machell]

There were a few keen people after last year, so I suspect it's possible. I certainly enjoyed myself last year, just wandering the hall and playing more boardgames than is healthy. A more organised Forge presence would be awesome and would tempt me there again.

From a bit of research, the Small 10M² booths are about £333. However, deadlines for booking appear to be in May, so that doesn't really leave much time for folks to organise if they are interested.

-Matt

[Martin Higham]

The May deadline is probably to make sure you get in the guide. I'm sure bookings can be taken after that. In the past I've seen stalls that were empty on the Thursday booked and occupied by Saturday!

[Eero Tuovinen]

Essen's on... 19th of October.

Here's the deal: I've never been there, but am interested. Might as well do the whole Forge booth thang, at least that'd get me going. Never get my ass down to Germany otherwise. I can live without going, though, so it all depends on who else would be interested. Therefore, my main requirement is two other respectable booth sponsors. What that means:
- Be somebody I trust to show up; no idea who's in this category without trying.
- Split the cost of the booth; 482€ is a bit steep for one guy.
- Split the sales duty; I wouldn't probably be bringing monkeys from Finland, and running even a small booth alone or solely with volunteers isn't working.
My secondary requirement is that we get a German native guide for the endeavour; this guy doesn't have to be a booth sponsor or anything like that, just somebody who'd like to tag along and make sure me and other foreigners don't get lost or break any local laws.
What I'm envisioning here is a pretty modest attempt; minimum size booth and no particular expectations of profit. Good practice for a big, international convention, and a fun weekend in Germany. I figure that if it looks promising, we can develop the presence in the coming years.

What I'd be bringing: nothing of my own design this year. For those who don't know, I run an indie retail in Finland, so if I were going I'd probably stock up on all the good games and sell those. In other words, the basic range of interesting product (from Sorcerer to Dogs, pretty much) is on me, should there be other folks who actually have their own games to push.

Of course, if Luke Crane does the unconceivable and bridges the Atlantic gap, all bets are off. If he goes, I'll go if he wants to have me.
On the other hand, if we don't have enough muscle/interest to make this work, I won't be heartbroken. More time to work on my own game, I guess.

[Matt Machell]

Eero, I think you've got all the key questions there.

Regarding local guides, it'll be worth talking to the Sighpress guys, who were there last year and know the ins and outs of the Con. They have also been known to post here.

Given the relative cheapness of travel to Germany, I'm sure some UK publishers could be convinced to get involved too.

-Matt

PS My writeup of last year may also be worth a look, for those unfamilar with Spiel and needing an overview.