Gen Con - How did it go for everyone?

[MatrixGamer]

Time to share your experiences and thoughts. I'm putting this in the publishing section because this would be for people who were there selling.

First off I want to say congrats to everyone. It looked like all the Indie booths were hopping. Biggest kudos got to Sorceror and My Life with Master for making it into the 40th year history of Gen Con book they sold at the gift store.

Next I want to praise loudly the Indie passport. It was great!!! It brought a lot of people in who played my demo. It definitely helped me. Also I think it made the players feel cool and special - which is also a plus.

On my own part we made a solid profit at the con (after all the expenses and cost of sales) due mainly to our sale of plush dolls and puppets but the game sales were better than they've ever been.

What were you experiences with the "Marshalling Yard"? I had hoped to avoid it but couldn't because I failed to get a cart when the hall closed. I put my brother on cart watch and left my wife at the booth while I went over to the yard to wait. I thougth I would be there for hours - because there was NO organization. As it was I got out quickly because I stayed in the trailer so I'd hear when the woman there said people could go. That information didn't seem to make it out of the room. Being assertive really helped here. We were fully loaded by 5:45 (so an hour and 45 minutes after the hall colsed.) I certainly don't like the system but I bet it is here to stay. It kept the streets clear. The city will be happy about that. I think I'll build my own loading cart with one of my folding tables so I can load up and cart out without waiting. There is another parking lot near the loading dock that can be used.

Did anyone else talk to podcasters? I spoke with the guys at Pulp Gamer, All Games Considered and The House of the Harping Monkey.

If you had people running your games out in the con, how did that go? I have three game master who I bring to the show to run for me. For years I did it myself. They stuck them out in Union Station in a room that didn't exist. The rumor I heard was that the con was pushing small games out of the convention hall. This is not new for Gen Con. I remember the grousing historical miniatures players did when Gen Con did that to us in the early 90's. The answer then was to for umbrella organizations that guarentee games. I used to belong to Interest Group Milwaukee for that reason. Now I'll join up with "Rogue Judges". When you're in an umbrella group they guarentee that GMs will show up - they get in return better space and the right to organize their own people.

I have to say the construction in Down Town Indy was a mess this year. I did a seminar on book binding and had a hell of a time finding my way into the Embasy Suites. I was amazed that as many people attended as did. They also came by the booth later so it was good marketing as well.

[Jason Morningstar]

Hi Chris,

Bully Pulpit ran five scheduled events with positive results, but I'm not convinced that it was worth the time and effort that went in to coordinating them.  With Games on Demand and after-hours gaming, with the right publicity I could have had that many games on my own terms, without bureaucratic snafus, miserable slots, deafening rooms, and missing players.  I'd consider doing it again, but only if I could rope some more folks into running games for us. 

[MatrixGamer]

When I started running Matrix Games I never got players. The system was just too out there at that time. So I learned how to attach gamers walking by. I got pretty miniatures, made cool terrain and learned to hook people in. To do that walk by traffic was everything. If open gaming areas were placed in a good traffic flow area it would make a difference.

I always used to like running games at Gen Con. There was a pagent effect to it all. You got to see your name in print and all that. When properly affiliated the hassle of bureaucracy is not too bad. Someday I hope to do it again - but I can't while I'm running a booth because I don't have that much energy.

Chris Engle

[JustinB]

We had at least a 33% sell rate from each of the full play-sessions we ran. I think that full play-sessions are extremely useful and, except for Saturday, we didn't have any problems filling the slots in our games. That said, I wouldn't take time away from the booth myself to run game sessions, booth time seems more important than running play-sessions.