GenCon 07 Games On Demand / IGE

[Michael S. Miller]

Kat and I have been in touch with GenCon about securing table space and promotional opportunities for the Indie Games Explosion and Games On Demand. I'd like to discuss these two things separately, as the registration deadline for events is very early in April, and we'd like to get these finalized as soon as possible.

INDIE GAMES EXPLOSION
The Indie Games Explosion at GenCon is a collection of scheduled events of independent RPGs being run at the con. If you would like to run a scheduled event as part of the Indie Games Explosion, please contact Kat's e-mail (whim at enter dot net) as soon as possible. If you run enough games, you can have the cost of your GenCon attendee badge refunded (does NOT apply to exhibitor badges). At the present time, only one person has sent us events to be included in the Explosion. This looks like a tiny Explosion compared to previous years, and we invite you to join us and run some great games!

GAMES ON DEMAND
Games On Demand was a big experiment last year. The idea is simple: Show up at a table with an indie game you want to play. Maybe there will be some folks there willing to play it with you. Turn in a generic ticket and PLAY. At GenCon 2006, we learned about how the idea worked in practice and hope to expand it this year.

Games On Demand works because of the Table Custodians who collect the tickets, run some of the games, connect players with GMs, play in some of the games, and generally have a good time. However, at the moment, NO ONE has volunteered to be a Table Custodian for Games On Demand 2007. This is a big problem. Without Table Custodians, Games On Demand cannot function.

The Games On Demand tables run on three 4-hour shifts on Thursday, Friday and Saturday—they are 10am to 2pm, 2pm to 6pm, 6pm to 10pm. Sunday has a single shift from 10am to 2pm. That's ten shifts. If Kat and I each take one, that leaves eight unfilled shifts. If we don't have volunteers for those shifts by next Sunday, March 25, there will be no Games On Demand at GenCon this year.

Furthermore, if we are only able to get one Table Custodian per shift, Games On Demand will operate on the same scale it did last year. If we want to expand, we need more Table Custodians.

If you want to be part of one of the coolest events at GenCon, you can sign up for a specific shift in this thread, or by e-mail to Kat (whim at enter dot net). Thanks!

[GregStolze]

I'm in.  Depending on my Forge booth duties, I'm flexible.  I'd actually incline towards morning duties, since I'll probably be awake early anyhow.

-G.

[Matt Gwinn]

Put me down for Friday from 10am to 2pm for being a Table Custodian.

If I refresh my memory, I should be capable of running: MLWM, Primetime Adventures, The Questing Beast, Risus, Kayfabe, Sorcerer, Little Fears, Appalachia Now, Universalis, and proabbly a few more than I'm just not thinking of at the moment.

I will also have my serial killer game "Fragile Minds" ready by then, if things are slow (it's a 2 player game).

,Matt

[Hans]

Did I miss another notice about this somewhere along the way?  This is the first I have heard about a deadline.

I will send Kat four different submissions for IGE.  I just love to run games at GenCon.

[Kat Miller]

Hi everyone,

I have updated the God Schedule information.

the schedule can be located on the IGE community Livejournal here:
http://community.livejournal.com/ige/1546.html?view=3338#t3338

as of now I just need one shift left of coverage sunday morning at 10am-2pm

No one has had any interest in running a 6pm to 10pm shift so unless there is a change, the GoD tables will only run from 10am to 6pm.

Did I miss another notice about this somewhere along the way?  This is the first I have heard about a deadline.

I will send Kat four different submissions for IGE.  I just love to run games at GenCon.

Hans, the deadline for submitting anything to GenCon is April 6th, so I need events as soon as possible.
You didn't miss a notice.  I was waiting on booth-i-ness to settle first.  I'm not sure how much of it has settled but April 6th is fast approaching so I am going to need any and all events for IGE by March 31st.

please post your events to this thread on the IGE livejournal community. 
http://community.livejournal.com/ige/664.html

You do not need to join the community to post to it.   I'm trying to get all events posted to that link so that they are all on one place.

thank you to everyone for your continued support of IGE and the GoD event.
-kat

[Ben Lehman]

I strongly recommend that anyone planning to participate in the Forge booth also participate in GOD / IGE.

Kat: I'll take any open GOD slot.

yrs--
--Ben

[Blankshield]

I strongly recommend that anyone planning to participate in the Forge booth also participate in GOD / IGE.

Kat: I'll take any open GOD slot.

yrs--
--Ben

Ditto for me.  Give me any open slot, if there are no open slots, consider me part of the critical mass available if you want to expand the table allotment.

James

[Clyde L. Rhoer]

Hi Michael,

I'd like to commit to one shift. The only problem is I can't say when as the Game design seminar is going to be my highest priority this year. Assuming there's another game design seminar, so I would want to make sure I work around this. Games on Demand is where I planned on spending most of my Gen Con time anyway. This would obviously be hard to do without there being a Games on Demand. Is this acceptable?

[Kat Miller]

Ben - thank you so much.  I really appreciate your offer of help knowing how much work is involved in doing a booth.
I'm going to slot you in on Friday at 2-6pm if that's all right.

James - would Thursday 2-6pm be OK with you?

Clyde- there is an open shift Sunday 10am-2pm and that seems safe enough to slot for you, since its doubtful that the Seminar will be scheduled then.  I'll set you in then.

The God Event is going to be from 10am-6pm Thursday to Saturday and 10am-2pm on Sunday.

thank you everyone.

The schedule can be found on the IGE Live journal Community
here:
http://community.livejournal.com/ige/1546.html#cutid1

[Blankshield]

Thursday is good for me, thanks.

[Clyde L. Rhoer]

Rock. Good thinking Kat. Thanks.

[Matt Gwinn]

I think dropping the 6PM tp 10PM slot was a good idea.  I know a lot of us enjoy going out to dinner together after the exhibit hall closes.  This may explain why people were reluctant to volunteer for that time slot.

Now that we have a schedule set, what now?  Is there anything we need to do other than show up?
How awkward is it to coordinate tables AND run a game at the same time?
Will games be restricted to the standard 4 hour blocks or can people show up at any time and play?

,Matt

[Clyde L. Rhoer]

To add to Matt's questions... how many tables will G.o.D. be this year? My assumption is that you will expand some on last years success.

[Kat Miller]

These are good questions.

I'm hoping to have 6 Tables
30" x  8'
There will be Two Custodians on each shift,
Each custodian will be responsible for 3 tables.


People can show up any time and play, but they must hand in a generic ticket for every two hours of game time unless they are a gm.  Gms do not have to pay.   As a TC (table custodian) you help them get settled, matching players with Gms and collect tickets.   It sounds more awkward than it is, things ran very smoothly last year.

Here is a link to the TC's duties:
http://www.enter.net/~whim/Conventions/custodians.html

[Matt Gwinn]

Kat,
I was looking over your table Custodian Duties page and I have a few questions.

Am I correct that players will need to determin ahead of time how long they want to play?  Seems like it would be awkward to interupt a game half way through to collect more tickets.

Also, seeing how a game can spring up at any time, it may be awkward to keep track of how much time each table has left to play.  This may seem a bit too structured, but maybe it would be helpful to have a timer at each table.  If GoD gets really busy we should make every effort to ensure that everyone that shows up gets an opportunity to play.

Is GoD restricted to indy games or is it pretty much a venue for open gaming?  If a bunch of people show up and want to play D&D or WoD is that cool?  I think we should be open to any game, but at the same time D&D clearly draws more people to GenCon than any other game, and the registered D&D games always fill up quickly.  I'd hate to see the indy games driven out by mainstream games as people become more aware of GoD.

,Matt