Dreamation 2007

[Helvetian]

As you all know, Double Exposure loves having you guys.  :)  We're plowing forward into Dreamation plans now, so I wanted to post and get this particular ball rolling.  As always, you'll have a suite at your disposal and we'll again schedule a function room for a party one evening (you ARE doing more chili and all, right? ;).  You'll be in that central area on B deck, between the elevators and what's traditionally (for the winter convention) the RPG rooms.  Let us know what you need, and if we can do it, you've got it.  :)

I also wanted to put forward a suggestion for one evening.  I've noted in the past that actually getting the time to sit, eat and chat together seems to be hard.  Everyone's running from game to game, and then scurrying (well, not scurrying) during the dinner break to great something or swing by the staff suite before the break ends.  Would you be interested in having me walk around menus during the day that isn't the party, and arrange to have food delivered for the dinner break?  That way, people could sit and chat without that hurrying and spending time on food runs.  I'd be happy to collect orders and money, and make sure the food arrives in time to relax some and enjoy it before the next games start.

Looking forward to what's been a very successful convention for you guys in the past!

Becca

[iago]

The food thing -- at least for the GMs who get even less time to be away from the tables -- would be great, I imagine.

I'm definitely going to be there in January -- this'll be my "birthday con". :)

[Helvetian]

I should post the dates, or something.  Duh.  ;)  January 25-28.

And yay!  I'm looking forward to seeing you there.

Becca

[timfire]

I'm pretty sure I'll be attending this year. I'm not sure if I'll want to take advantage of the free suite or not.

[TonyLB]

I should post the dates, or something.  Duh.  ;)  January 25-28.

Awww ^%@&.

I am not missing my son's birthday in order to be there thursday evening and friday night.  There are very few things that take priority in my life over a Double Exposure convention, but this genuinely is one of them.

I guess I'll get there friday evening, eager to pack three days worth of gaming into two days.

[M. J. Young]

I should post the dates, or something.

Um--yeah, and, um--the location? I know it's in some part of New Jersey that happens to be very inconvenient for me, but I'm still trying to work out getting there.

--M. J. Young

[Andrew Morris]

It's in East Brunswick, NJ, at the East Brunswick Hilton.

[Nathan P.]

I don't see any reason why you hooking us up with food would be a bad thing!

Looking forward to my one-year Con anniversary.

[Clyde L. Rhoer]

Hi,

I haven't been to Dreamation. I'm presently eyeballing it. I'm curious about what you mean by a suite being available. Does this mean there is a place set aside for Indy games?

[iago]

Hi,

I haven't been to Dreamation. I'm presently eyeballing it. I'm curious about what you mean by a suite being available. Does this mean there is a place set aside for Indy games?

The RPG schedule at Dreamation and Dexcon is, by reports, always full of indie games.  Dexcon, at least, certainly was.

I think the suite's something else.

[Nathan P.]

The Double Exposure staff graciously provides a free hotel suite for indie folks. I don't know the details (I think the contact person has been Brennan for the last couple cons I attended).

[Michael S. Miller]

Hi, All!

It's time to start looking ahead to Dreamation 2007. As the years go on, the various aspects of the Indie RPG Explosion just keep multiplying. I'm looking forward to a great convention and hope many of you will be a part of it!

Running Events: Here's the nitro of the Explosion! Come one, come all, and run cool games! Run games you're designing. Run games you love to play. Run games you've always hungered to play, but never have had the chance to. Run, run, run. It'd be great if everyone ran at least two sessions.

I'm going to start a new thread JUST for listing the events you want to run. As the schedule develops, Kat will be maintaining a website at http://www.enter.net/~whim/Conventions/dream07IGE.html Please let us register everyone together. DO NOT submit to Double Exposure on your own. Please post the events you want to run in this thread.

The Suite: Double Exposure has once again graciously offered us a complimentary suite for crash space. In the past, Tony has done a great job coordinating the folks staying in the suite—as far as who's sleeping where, who's got keys, and the like. Since Tony won't be there on Thursday night, and I won't be staying in the suite, we need someone else to step forward to fill this role.

The Booth: We've also leaning heavily on Tony in the "manning the booth" department. I'll be arriving on Thursday evening. Ideally, I'll make arrangements with Brennan to bring the IPR stock with me. I'll bring the cash box and do setup and stuff, but I will not be tied to the booth. I don't think it's unreasonable to ask all the publishers present to do a 2-hour shift sometime during the weekend. Folks who like hanging at the booth are always welcome to do more. I'll take the Friday 8am to 10am shift.

BTW, you do not need to be a part of IPR to sell product at Dreamation. Contact me privately for more information.

The Party: Saturday evening. 6pm to 8pm. We will feast! Kat will be bringing 2 gallons of With Great Chili... Other folks are more than welcome to bring food to share.

Sunday morning seminar: Sometimes these have been hits. Sometimes not so much. Anyone interested in talking game theory, game design, publishing nuts-and-bolts or anything else? Although Sunday morning has become traditional, if you want to run a seminar some other time, I'll gladly put it on the schedule.

Playtest swap: Some time ago, someone (I don't remember who) mentioned having some sort of playtest swap. It's a grand idea, but I'm not organizing it. If someone wants to pull it together, feel free to post to this thread.

Other stuff: The fun doesn't have to stop there. People have talked about doing demo passports, live Iron Game Chef competitions, Jungle Speed-aholics Anonymous, and all kind of craziness. If you're willing to do the legwork, I'm willing to help and, in all likelihood, so is Double Exposure. They're a convention staff like no other! So come out for a great time!

[iago]

*Want* to run, or are *committing* to run? :)

I'm definitely contemplating *something*.

[Michael S. Miller]

"Committed to running," Fred. If you say "I'm going to run Don't Rest Your Head in the midnight slot on Friday" (hint, hint) I expect you to be at your table at midnight ready to run a group of players through some dark surrealness.

This is a great con to promote new games! If between you & Rob you can't put at least one session of both DRYH and SotC on the schedule I'll be ... frankly, I'll be a little bewildered.

Now, if you're talking about a game in-development that you're not sure if it'll be ready by January, then my advice is different.

1) If you're the kind of guy that's helped by having firm deadlines, they don't get much firmer than "six strangers are going to want to learn my game at the end of January."

2) If deadlines like that tend to damper your efforts, then dont' put it on the schedule at all. Just leave yourself some open time and--if the game is indeed ready in time--grab some other non-committed folks for a pick-up playtest.

Does that help?

[iago]

This is a great con to promote new games! If between you & Rob you can't put at least one session of both DRYH and SotC on the schedule I'll be ... frankly, I'll be a little bewildered.

Now, if you're talking about a game in-development that you're not sure if it'll be ready by January, then my advice is different.

1) If you're the kind of guy that's helped by having firm deadlines, they don't get much firmer than "six strangers are going to want to learn my game at the end of January."

2) If deadlines like that tend to damper your efforts, then dont' put it on the schedule at all. Just leave yourself some open time and--if the game is indeed ready in time--grab some other non-committed folks for a pick-up playtest.

Does that help?

Yep!

Actually, it's not a problem of what to run, it's a problem of there being a wealth of things to run.  Plus, Judd and I have talked about "game swapping", e.g., I run a session of Dictionary of Mu, he runs a session of Spirit of the Century, that sort of thing.

So it's not so much a question of whether or not I'll commit to running something -- it's a question of how many slots of running, and what to put in those slots.