I've just got to know -- how was GenCon

[Michael Hopcroft]

GenCon is over at the time of this writing, and I wasn;t there. Probably just as well as I would have been miserable with all that standing on an injured back.  Nonetheless, I am very interested in finding out what happened there and how oit all went for the various Forge members who attended in whatever capacity they attended.

[hardcoremoose]

In short, GenCon was absolutely frickin' awesome.

I haven't collected my thoughts on the subject just yet.  I need time to cool down and relax.  And yes, there were issues that needed to be dealt with.  But the bottom line is that we sold a fucking shitload of games, and played our fair share of them too.

- Scott

[Luke]

Scott is my freakin hero.


I never thought I'd say this, but:

Gencon rockethed.

-L

[Jeffrey Miller]

Gencon rockethed.

Indeed! it r0x3rs so hard, I'm posting about it while I'm still here.

*jealously looks at everyone who's sleeping in their own bed tonight*

Seriously, all I can do is echo what everyone else said - Good sales, AMAZING discussions with people, and good games.  My mind is absolutely blown a fuse, and I need to go throw a new one in.  I'm completely recharged to work on not only my games in progress, but the ideas I got while I was here... ^_^

Now, how the hell do get all this stuff I bought into one suitcase?

-jeffrey-

[Gordon C. Landis]

Yup, I'll chime in with a quick "what everyone said" - the Forge rocketh, meeting folks was incredible, etc. and more freakin' etc.

A bit more "realistically," the convention itself had some snags dealing with badges (especially on Saturday) - at one point it seemed like there were as many people out in line as there were folks in the exhibit hall, which didn't thrill some of the vendors.  But Indy (IMO) turns out to be a pretty good place for a convention, and from what I saw - as a first year, in a new place, with a somewhat new staff running the thing - things worked out.  LOTS more space, and the hotels are convienent - though that "LOTS more space" sometimes means it's a bit farther from one place to another than you thought.

Not that I'm an expert on that stuff - I spent 90% of my time with Forge folks - but I thought I'd throw a little bit o' dry information out there.

Gordon

[jdagna]

I did very well at GenCon, partly helped by an unexpected cancellation by Wizard's Attic who had rented a booth across from us, but didn't show.  The con staff filled it with tables, so I brought my demo guys in to take advantage of the free space.

Sales were awesome the first two days and then slowed down (the opposite of what happened last year), but I was still way up from last year.  I got lots of excellent responses from players and even had one guy start running demos just for the fun of it (though I threw a free T-shirt at him anyway).  And, at least two extra people want to join our demo program to get us exposure in stores and local cons around the country.

I also met lots of store owners and distributors, which should pay off over the next few months.  We got boatloads of information from people about the logistics on expanding my game into miniatures.

[Space Cowboy]

Hey guys,

Congrats to everyone who went to GenCon and had a great time.  I'm also glad to hear that folks did some brisk business as well.  Just a quick question- for those of you who sold products, did you accept payment other than cash or check? (e.g., credit cards)  If so how did you process those sales?

Many thanks in advance!

[Gordon C. Landis]

At the Forge booth, only the big "sponsor" games (Sorcerer/Adept Press and Riddle of Steel/Driftwood) accepted credit cards.  They had an old-fashioned imprinter, and I assume they will process the transactions like, today or something (no dial-up confirmation from the booth).  A bit of a risk, I assume - as is accepting a check, which was up to each individual creator/owner to decide, on a case-by-case basis (look 'em in the eye and see if you trust their ink & paper to be worth somethin').

Other posters who had their own booths might have handled things differently . . .

Gordon

[jdagna]

In my booth, I accept both check and credit card.  For one thing, I've never had either go wrong due to customer fraud.  In fact, in two years only one credit purchase went bad, and that was my fault (the imprinter missed two digits and I didn't double-check the imprint).  Fortunately, it was only a $10 purchase.

I process the cards each night using my laptop and a modem, since I have a virtual terminal through my service.  If I wanted to, I could call my card service provider and verify each card on the spot, but with no past problems I feel like it just slows things down.  Still, it's a good way to be safe and only requires a cell phone.

In both cases, I check an ID, and often ask for a mailing address to go with credit cards.

This year, almost half of my Saturday/Sunday purchases came through credit cards, so I feel like it's a valuable service to offer.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Did they annoucne the dates for next year's GenCon Indy? This is a very important question for me as i have a prior committment the weekend of Jully 22nd-25th, 2004.

If Indy GenCon is too close to that date I may not be able to raise the moeny for both trips.

[Cynthia Celeste Miller]

GenCon Indy was very kind to me as well, especially from a business perspective.  Eddy and I ran a lot of demos for Cartoon Action Hour and it seemed to pay off, as many of the players went directly to the booth to purchase a copy.  This was at least partly due to an idea Ron and I hashed out, where anyone playing in a demo got a free copy of After These Messages issue 1.

So, yeah, I think GC '03 was a success.  Furthermore, I think it was yet another step in the evolution of the indie RPG market.

[Cynthia Celeste Miller]

Did they annoucne the dates for next year's GenCon Indy? This is a very important question for me as i have a prior committment the weekend of Jully 22nd-25th, 2004.

If Indy GenCon is too close to that date I may not be able to raise the moeny for both trips.

If they did announce it, I didn't hear it.  Right as the show was ending, they began plugging GenCon SoCal, but made no mention of next year's GenCon Indy.

[Space Cowboy]

Hey Gordon and Justin,

Many thanks for your replies!  I was curious how much of a hassle it was to process credit cards.

[GMSkarka]

If they did announce it, I didn't hear it.  Right as the show was ending, they began plugging GenCon SoCal, but made no mention of next year's GenCon Indy.

They provided the dates for GenCon Indy and GenCon SoCal for the next four years in the ad in the on-site book.   I didn't bring one home, so I don't have it handy.

GMS

[Paul Czege]

They provided the dates for GenCon Indy and GenCon SoCal for the next four years in the ad in the on-site book.

I've got it:

GenCon Indy

August 5-8, 2004
July 28-31, 2005
August 10-13, 2006

GenCon SoCal

December 11-14, 2003
December 16-19, 2004
November 17-20, 2005[/list:u]Paul