[VeriCon, MA] Send us support material? More guests?

[DevP]

previously http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=7735, more con info therein.

Vericon is still looking for RPG designers who'd like to be part of our (growing) panel on RPG design and the industry in general. So far, abzu and lumpley (Vincent) are in. Anyone else?

Also, if anyone want to send their product our way to be promoted in their absense, let me know! We could try various things:
* a pretty Display, showing lots of Forge'd RPGs
* a few copies for people to page through and browse
* possibly giving away said copies at the end of con as prizes

Becuase of our non-profit status, we can't have a Dealer's Table as such at the Con, although we do have demo tables and promotion opportunities. (As well as informal sales.) You can have open sales right next door at the FLGS [urk=http://www.pandemoniumbooks.com/]Pandemonium[/url], actually.

[Luke]

i'd be happy to haul up my Forge display so kids could look through Sorcerer, Fvlminata, Pax Draconis, Multiverser and Universalis.

-L

[DevP]

i'd be happy to haul up my Forge display so kids could look through Sorcerer, Fvlminata, Pax Draconis, Multiverser and Universalis.L

That's perfect. <g>

If need be, I can print&bind my own few PDFs / provide those books that I own to augment the display. (There's quite a few of them in fact.)

[Luke]

Dev,

Can you tell me (us) a bit more about the um, "Actual Play" of the convention. I've been by the site a number of times and it doesn't seem like the standard set up.

Is there a "gaming track"? Do I need to register events with you? If not, do I just run games in the Open Gaming area? How many games can I run? (Ok, I can run a lot, how many may I run.)

Am I on some panel that I don't know about? If so, what and when?

thanks,
-Luke

[DevP]

Is there a "gaming track"? Do I need to register events with you? If not, do I just run games in the Open Gaming area? How many games can I run?

Great questions; sorry for being unclear.

If you register the game with us, we can put it in the schedule and the printed guides. Players could pre-register through the site (although they usually don't). Also, with the schedule you can make sure that your demo doesn't overlap negatively with other demos or events.

Of course, a whole lot of gaming happens in the open gaming rooms as such, so you can just run a game there.

As far as *rooms* goes; we easily have both the open gaming rooms and separate demo rooms, and I think we'll encourage the playing of demos IN the open gamings rooms.

The RPG Schedule is here, empty for now (but with a form for adding new events):

http://www.vericon.org/events/RPG.html

Am I on some panel that I don't know about? If so, what and when?

Ah. Only if you'd like to be!

The indie game design panel (there *could* be multiple ones) is going to solidify once I hear back from a few more folks. Soon, I'll email everyone who's interested to talk about the content/timeframe of the talk.

[Michael S. Miller]

Paul Czege pointed this convention out to me. Although 5 hours is quite a haul for me (plus hotel, plus child care) I would like to know more.

You've said attendence varies between 200 and 250, but you also seem to draw from a comics crowd, as well as a gaming audience. How many would you estimate are there to actually play? Can you give us an idea of how many RPG sessions were actually run in previous years?

Also, a problem I've found endemic to college cons is that the local gamers show up to play games run by local GMs and us out-of-towners are left twiddling our thumbs. I know this isn't the fairest question, but are there gamers there willing to try something new, or are just you, Dev, enthused about the indie scene. (Not that there's anything wrong if it's just you--that's the role I play in my own circle of gamers)

Why the lack of actual pre-reg? I know it's not something to easily pin down, but are there any theories?

Sorry for the tough questions, but I wouldn't ask if I weren't actually interested.

[DevP]

I'm doublechecking my memory against those of some of my fellow organizers; but here's what I know so far.

You've said attendence varies between 200 and 250, but you also seem to draw from a comics crowd, as well as a gaming audience. How many would you estimate are there to actually play? Can you give us an idea of how many RPG sessions were actually run in previous years?

I would definitely say that almost all of the attendees could be classified as "gamers" in terms of their interests. Our con tries to run the gamut in terms of diversity - anime, comics, writers - but I'd say gaming is often a common thread. Not all of these persons are ready for a pick-up RPG game at a con (versus random open gaming), but most people are open to the idea and can be convinced..

How many sessions? Roughly, I'd say "several". LARPs are usually very popular at VeriCon; I remember there being at least 4-5 LARPs of 10-20 persons each, running over Friday and Saturday. I'll try to have the designers corroborate to prevent oversaturation or ill-timing of demos.

Also, a problem I've found endemic to college cons is that the local gamers show up to play games run by local GMs and us out-of-towners are left twiddling our thumbs. I know this isn't the fairest question, but are there gamers there willing to try something new, or are just you, Dev, enthused about the indie scene.

I've never heard of this sort of problem before, but it's a reasonable concern. Speaking exclusively for the local student group: as such I'm the only "indie" RPG advocate; folks have been really interested in indie-games I've introduced, but these are bloody Harvard students, and it can be hard to get them to schedule a game in their "busy" schedules. Hmph.

More importantly, though, is the local gamers in general (since they'll be the majority of the con-goers). If you can make somebody know who you are / listen to why your game is cool, and if it sounds cool when you start it up nearby the open gaming spaces, then I think you will find players. Boston-area gamers tend to be experienced/savvy in gaming, and are often extremely indie-friendly. (The city also seems to be a hotspot for White Wolf fans. You know how that is.)

Most of the games that actually get run have typically been those run by student/alum GMs related to the Harvard group, but that also means that lots of college kids sign up to play games in which they don't know anything about the GM or other players..,

Why the lack of actual pre-reg? I know it's not something to easily pin down, but are there any theories?

I'm not certain what you mean re: lack of pre-reg. The Registration[/url link seems to indicate web-based registration at pre-registration prices. Or do you mean that snail-mail is required for payment?

Sorry for the tough questions, but I wouldn't ask if I weren't actually interested.

No problem; more detailed answers forthcoming. I hope I've been able to provide some answers.

[Paul Czege]

Hey Dev,

...these are bloody Harvard students, and it can be hard to get them to schedule a game in their "busy" schedules. Hmph.

Did you see Vincent Baker's blog entry about his participation in an indie RPG designers panel at UNY-con:

http://www.septemberquestion.org/lumpley/lumpley.html

It seems the only attendees were immediate family members of the panelists. Can I ask how you envision promoting/scheduling your designers panel so there's attendance from actual conventiongoers?

Paul

[Michael S. Miller]

Hi, Dev. Thanks for the quick response. What I meant by lack of actual pre-reg was your comment:

Players could pre-register through the site (although they usually don't).

From what you've said, it seems like the con is driven primarily on open gaming. Which is good to know. Thanks.

Out of curiousity, can I ask how you're promoting the con at a local level? Will you be doing mailings, or flyers at game stores, or something else?

[DevP]

Back from the VeriCon planning meeting with some fresh answers.

...these are bloody Harvard students, and it can be hard to get them to schedule a game in their "busy" schedules. Hmph.

Did you see Vincent Baker's blog entry about his participation in an indie RPG designers panel at UNY-con? It seems the only attendees were immediate family members of the panelists. Can I ask how you envision promoting/scheduling your designers panel so there's attendance from actual conventiongoers?

To be clear, this quote is about the school year; the con is in between school terms, and in any case most con-goers aren't Harvard students anyway. So the comment is almost more relevant in an "Actual Lack-of-Play" thread. <g>

As for promotion: I'm going to seek out the many Boston gaming communities (within colleges and outside of them). The college kids will be drawn to novel/interesting/"kewl" stuff, while a lot of the mature gamers around should be knowledgeable about indie culture. Knowing the mentality of most would-be game designers, the possiblity of a panel (possibly a workshop?) on their favorite topics will be an instant attraction.

And as for scheduling: I'm making very sure that we do the scheduling (especially of panels, but also of demos) just right, so some events don't clobber others. The precise scheduling alchemy will become concrete in the coming weeks, but we'll make sure to give the designers' panel the best timeslot possible.

From what you've said, it seems like the con is driven primarily on open gaming. Which is good to know.

I think this is pretty much true; open gaming rooms frequently pick up a game, while segregated demo rooms have (sometimes) been less populated; we'll be integrating them better.

LARPs have been pretty popular in the past; we've usually had several LARPs going in an evening with 10-25 people in each. Since we'll be scaling down the LARPs, that translates to a lot more roleplaying-friendly folks around, looking for something to try.

IMHO I think a demo via one-shot (perhaps <2hrs) is the best way of getting folks to play (getting over their "fear of commitment", let's say). There is definitely a willingness to try new stuff, so long as the new stuff looks cool. (From my experiences, a lot of indie RPGs tend to "look cooler" casual passersby; my recent game of MLwM was certainly such a case.)

Out of curiousity, can I ask how you're promoting the con at a local level? Will you be doing mailings, or flyers at game stores, or something else?

The publicity plan consists of postering, flyers in FLGS, mailing lists, college gamers, and local gaming groups. Boston is a pretty gamer-rich town, so there's lot of potential there.