I'll be sending out more personalized invitations Real Soon Now, but I wanted to put the dates in peoples' heads ASAP.

I would love to have a strong Indie presence at Dreamation 2005, January 27-30, 2005 (preliminary information can be found at www.dexposure.com/d2005.html). We anticipate an attendance over 800, and as always we will knock ourselves out to help promote the companies joining us. Our online game registration form is already live, and can be found at www.dexposure.com/d2005p.html.

Please let me know, if you have any questions!

Rebecca Badurina
Double Exposure, Inc.
becca@dexposure.com

Your link isn't working. Am I right in assuming that the Con will be in or around New York?

http://www.dexposure.com/d2005.html

^ That's the fixed link.

/me sighs.

Why aren't there any cons in Texas? I'd even settle for it not being in the DFW area.

Ooops. Sorry about that. Thanks for posting the corrected link while I was elsewhere. :)

Don't be shy, gang - Double Exposure runs *great* conventions - speaking as a very happy demo minion at them. [Well, actually, I'm not longer a happy demo minion at them, because I got a job and moved half a continent away. But the reason I'm an unhappy demo minion is that I cannot get to Dreamation or Dexcon....]

JamesSterrett wrote: Don't be shy, gang - Double Exposure runs *great* conventions - speaking as a very happy demo minion at them. [Well, actually, I'm not longer a happy demo minion at them, because I got a job and moved half a continent away. But the reason I'm an unhappy demo minion is that I cannot get to Dreamation or Dexcon....]

JamesSterrett wrote: Don't be shy, gang - Double Exposure runs *great* conventions - speaking as a very happy demo minion at them. [Well, actually, I'm not longer a happy demo minion at them, because I got a job and moved half a continent away. But the reason I'm an unhappy demo minion is that I cannot get to Dreamation or Dexcon....]

Hi, Dregg.

My wife and I are likely going to Dreamation, so I'm very interested in how this con is going to shape up. Let's focus on our goals for a moment. What do you hope to accomplish by "having a huge Forge presence at Dreamation"? I see two possibilities: 1) Sales of indie games or 2) raising awareness of indie games in general. I'm not saying that the two are mutually exclusive, but one of them has to be in the driver's seat.

If the primary goal is Sales, I foresee a number of issues to be addressed:
• What to sell (you'll have Pulp Era, I assume, and I'll have some WGP previews and maybe some NPAs, so is that it?)
• Who's doing the selling (I don't have anyone to bring to the con to sit at a booth for 3 days)?
• Who's covering the dealer fee?
• How will scheduled events (very popular at Double Exposure cons, it seems) feed into sales?
I don't have answers to any of these. Sales is definitely a thorny path.

If the primary goal is Raising Awareness, we've still got some issues:
• What games to promote? (pretty simple--ones we can run well)
• How to focus those gaming sessions into an awareness of the "indie scene."? How do we get players to realize that the IS an alternative? (lots of possibilities here, like flyers, free games, etc.)
• How to schedule our games so as not to steal players from one another? (not too difficult, either)

Frankly, if it's just you and me, Dregg, I don't think that we can make Sales work. I *do* think that we can Raise a good deal of Awareness, and I have no doubt that the fine folks at Double Exposure will do everything they can to help us out. I, too, must say that they are one of the most helpful con staffs I've ever dealt with.

So, Dregg, how do you want to do this?

i'm a possible candidate for Dreamation.

I don't know if I can take the lead on this one, but, as you know, I do bring a lot of energy to the proceedings.

what's our deadline for arranging a table and schedulded games?


-L

If we get enough of a Forge presence committed for Dreamation, I've secured permission from Vinny for two Forge-dedicated hotel rooms for the event, for all three nights. If they have available connected double-doubles, I'd try to secure them. I wanted to aim for a suite, but Vinny informed me that the bedroom part of the suites are king-size beds, which isn't as conducive to crash space. The rooms would be yours to use for sleeping and storage, as well as scheduled games and parties. One of those parties would be a special event that I'll leave for its host to discuss. The other would be a more general Forge party, if the Forge-associated publishers joining us are interested. As with all parties at our events, we'd be more than happy to seed it with drinks and snacks.

Of course, all publishers joining us will also have free demo/display tables in the common areas (with permission to sell from the table) and enough badges for the people they bring. And, as always, we'll feed you for the entirety. That's an offer we've always made to every single game company, since you're the ones who make these conventions even possible. And if you'd prefer to be in the dealers room, rather than have to keep moving everything when you shut down and set up, that's certainly possible. It does limit displaying products to dealers room hours though, and I know a lot of people wander in the wee hours, and are ripe for the picking, demo-wise. I'd also be more than happy to pass along contact information for dealers who will be attending, as we do want to support them as much as possible for sales.

In return? Uh... Run lots of games. Have fun there. We're as dedicated to making sure the company representatives enjoy themselves as our attendees. We'd like to see at least one Forge-associated game in every time slot from Thursday night through Sunday afternoon, and would be scheduling a forum as well, for discussing independant publishing. I'd also make certain to place a small round table by the Forge associates, for those demos that need more space than the standard tables provide.

Ideally, I'd like to get most games registered by late November/early December, so we can get the grid done and posted as soon as possible. Which also would give ample time for fans of your games to see to their own schedules.

As always, feel free to drop me a note with any questions.

Becca

Kick Ass
I'm glad you are going Michael, we did not have much time to chat at Ubercon.
Abzu It would rock if you went. DE is offering us rooms for parties and gaming, and honestly De knows how to throw a convention.
I'll be there with new copies of Pulp Era and a readiness to demo till my eyes bleed.

Forgers this would be a great chance to get some great con play.

I'm up for Dreamation, and for demoing Capes. It certainly sounds like the Con to start out in... amazing the ripple effect enthusiastic organizers have on every facet from the largest to the smallest.

Mayhap we should try and organize a Indie workshop or panel

Hi, Becca.

Thanks for the generous offer. As I've run something similar to this at another convention, I'll gladly step forward and organize it. One thing to note: We can't call this the "Forge gaming track" or anything using the Forge name. What we can call this is the "Indie RPG Explosion." I'll be putting together a quick-and-dirty website at http://incarnadine.indie-rpgs.com/ige.html with final schedules, links to game pages, and the like. We'll get ourselves organized and let you know what events we'll be running. I don't think that one game in every slot will be a problem. Do you have a time preference for the independent publishing forum you mentioned? I'd like to know, so we can schedule who will be there.

Dregg, Tony, & Luke, I'd like to do the organizing in public, if you don't mind, so that other people might do something similar at their own local conventions. Let's take it to another thread: Indie RPG Explosion at Dreamation 2005