[Gen Con 2007] Demo Planning

[Jason Morningstar]

Hey, can we talk about our Forge booth demos?  Can we lay down the law regarding length and format?  How about pinning down the particulars of a pre-show demo session?

I'd really like to share materials in advance, so we can come more or less prepared to demo each others games.

Here's my Roach demo script from last year.  I used this in conjunction with a pair of premade characters and a dozen picture cards with NPCs on them. 

[iago]

I'm orienting on a SOTC demo as a freeform template having to do with:
- 5 minute "tour of the character sheet"
- 5 minutes of "make sure you hit all the cool features of aspects"
- 5 minutes of "fudge factor to absorb overspill and enthusiasm from the prior 10 minutes"

Materials on hand need to be:
- 12 to 16 fudge dice
- 3 character sheets (Mack, Sally, and Jet, to maximize the love triangle; one on one demos focus on Jet and his "First on the Scene" compellable aspect, one on two Jet + Sally thanks to her "Jet's in Trouble!" and his "Sally Save Me!" aspects) in transparent sleeves
- 3 vis a vis pens

Personally I want my demos to run *less* than 15 minutes whenever possible.  There are too many games; a smaller time footprint should help share the love better.

DRYH will have a similar setup.

My question, ultimately, is "does it need to be more than that?"

[Kevin Allen Jr]

Primitive Demo works like this,

•hand out cha-sheets (demo-ees can keep these when they are done)
•Talk about how dice interact, explain rolling two pools against each other, brining in qualities, adding challenge dice.
•Explain the no talking thing, and little bit why thats cool.
•Start playing. Players are on a hunt usually, in some situation where they are seeking an only mildly dangerous prey. Let them plan non-verbally what they want to do.
•when it finally comes to fighting, explain how combat is just a little more intricate than normal challenge resolution
•fight
•Conclude by talking about how the game works in both short term and campaign style play, how there is a new book (Record of Threats) of just setting and ideas (especially usefull if they like the story but not the game).
•Shake hands, answer questions, put books in hands.

[GreatWolf]

I'm putting together the necessary demo kits for both Legends of Alyria and Dirty Secrets.  I figure that one scene apiece is probably good, especially to aim for that 10-15 minute mark.

This actually leads to a couple of questions.  First, from the demo prep side:  what makes for a useful demo kit for someone else?  I mean, I know my game, but you don't.  Let's say that I hand you a box with all the necessary equipment, a rulebook, and a point-by-point script (e.g. "Now do this; now say this.")  Is this enough?  Are there tips on making a demo script useful to you?  What equipment would you want to see in the box?  What specific pitfalls can I avoid when prepping my kits?  Are there any good ways that I can give you a head start on learning my games?

Second, from the demo presenter side:  how can I prepare to help demo your game?  What should I do to help represent you honestly and effectively?

Obviously, I'm at the booth to push my games, but, in the spirit of mutualism, I want to be a helpful resource to all the rest of you.  I can learn games quickly and remember rules fairly accurately.  I want to be helpful to you.  How can I do that well?

[Jason Morningstar]

Hey Seth,

Last year I only demoed games I knew really well, but I want to expand that group this year.  One extraordinarily helpful thing we did last year was to have a demo party on Wednesday night, where we tried out each other's demos and learned about all the games on offer at the booth.  Playing a demo and watching the creator pitch it is really useful.  Even if you don't feel comfortable running a demo of my games, I really want you to know about them and be able to steer someone to them if it is a good fit, and I want to do the same.  There's a lot of suggestive selling and reference work at the booth. 

[GreatWolf]

Hey Seth,

Last year I only demoed games I knew really well, but I want to expand that group this year.  One extraordinarily helpful thing we did last year was to have a demo party on Wednesday night, where we tried out each other's demos and learned about all the games on offer at the booth.  Playing a demo and watching the creator pitch it is really useful.  Even if you don't feel comfortable running a demo of my games, I really want you to know about them and be able to steer someone to them if it is a good fit, and I want to do the same.  There's a lot of suggestive selling and reference work at the booth. 

I had heard about the Wednesday demo crunch and had been generally planning on it.  That should be very helpful.  So, where do we meet up for that?

Also, given that Grey Ranks is at the top of my buy list (as in "walk into the exhibitor hall on Thursday and fork over my cash right then"), I'll definitely want to have that demoed to me so that I can properly encourage people in its direction.

[btrc]

For anyone interested, I've put together a short EABA demo using the Code:Black modern horror gameworld. Just a short standoff/negotiate/combat to get a feel for the system and gameworld, several minutes with some hands-on, demo character sheets, etc., with a guide for the  EABA-novice GM on how do it. I may also run a one-shot Code:Black for any Forgers interested, on one of the nights when there are no awards or free food or drink being handed out (or after said stuff transpires).

Greg
BTRC

[GregStolze]

Hm, yeah, I should whip something up.  I've got a load of character sheets, people like the One-Roll Character generation, that's good for five minutes... five minutes of Company management, that should pique interest... end up with a five minute fight.  Easy peasy.

I also printed out a box of business cards that say "(your name here),  KING"  with the REIGN website at the bottom.  There's a "QUEEN" version too.  I figure that if I put that in people's hands, along with the character sheets and let them look at the book, mention that buying it at GenCon lets them miss S&H costs... I'll just make a script. 

How many character sheets should I take, d'you think, if I'm letting people walk off with them?  Though I suppose it'll be just as easy to print more if needed there as here.

-G.

[Jason Morningstar]

Greg, there is a Kinkos nearby for last-minute photocopying.  I found last year that not everybody wanted to take a character sheet, so factor that in.  I'd encourage you to try out your demo on real people who don't know your game to make sure it fits in fifteen minutes - if you aren't used to that format, you might be surprised how fast it can go. 

I just put up my first crack at a Grey Ranks demo here. I'm trying it out this week to see if it can fit in fifteen minutes - there's a lot of stuff in there, but I think going through a complete mechanical iteration gives you a nice feel for the game. I'd welcome comments - I sort of wrote it for myself, but if it makes no sense to somebody who has played the game, that'd be good to know. 

[GreatWolf]

I'd encourage you to try out your demo on real people who don't know your game to make sure it fits in fifteen minutes - if you aren't used to that format, you might be surprised how fast it can go.

Quoted for truth.

I tested my Dirty Secrets demo out last night on my wife and sister, who were roleplaying n00bs.  Crystal is good at forgetting things (her quote!), and Gabrielle has helped me demo in the past, so both are able to do a good job of simulating the sort of gamers that will come by the booth.  (Once, when demoing my game Junk, two people started duelling with the tape measures.  Yeah, we know all about demoing....)

Twenty minutes, my demo was.  Twenty minutes!  And I'm looking at it, thinking, "This is the bare bones.  Now what?"  Thankfully, we managed to reorder some things and trim out some other things, so I think that we're down to fifteen minutes.

Anyways, point is this:  it's amazing how quickly the time goes, even without factoring in silly people doing silly things.

[iago]

My first pass at a Spirit of the Century demo kit, for 1-2 players: http://www.deadlyfredly.com/gencon07/sotc-convention-demo.pdf

[GregStolze]

I'd encourage you to try out your demo on real people who don't know your game to make sure it fits in fifteen minutes

Oh, that's just very unlikely to happen, unless I inflict it on my in-laws this weekend, and they already think I'm strange enough.

-G.

[Gregor Hutton]

My <a href="http://gregorhutton.com/boxninja/promo/gencon_demo_2007.pdf" target="_blank">Best Friends 2007 demo</a> is now online.

It's a modified version of <a href="http://gregorhutton.com/boxninja/promo/BestFriends-GenCon.pdf" target="_blank">last year's demo</a>. You can compare the two if you like.

The idea is not to read all of it out, but once you've read the demo text and done one demo you should be able to run it time after time.

[You can also find the .mp3 of last year's demo <a href="http://gregorhutton.com/boxninja/promo/" target="_blank">in the promo folder</a> too.]

I think the new one is to the point and is enough to ensure it ends up under 15 mins, and gives everyone a flavour of the game.

Oh, typically I create a character too, just so we have spread the hatreds around, so that way we can have 5 players (4 demoees and me) or as low as 3 (two demoees and me).

[Jason Morningstar]

Cool, good to see people taking the demos seriously. 

Gregor, please grab me to fill a Best Friends demo seat at every opportunity!

Let's have a Wednesday night demo-fest again so we can learn each other's games and refine our pitches. 

[Gregor Hutton]

Yup, after the Diana Jones Awards I'll be down at the Embassy Suites for demo night.

Does the Grey Ranks demo need a copy of the grid in it? (So I can print it out and put tokens on it.)

I'm looking forward to demoing Best Friends and Dead of Night at the booth. I'm also looking to learn some other demos too (like Grey Ranks). And of course picking up GR at the shop!

I need to print out a booth menu and start to learn the games too, and then put faces to books when I'm in Indy.