Okay folks, there will be a great meeting of the minds at DexCon. The second Indie Games Explosion! If you have a game to pimp then you really, really want to be part of this. Don't take my word for it... check out these testimonials to the first IGE.

Right here, right now this is what I've got. I absolutely expect that it is unacceptable to a great number of people. So yell at me! Tell me you're not represented even though you sent me a million messages. Tell me that you're scheduled for things even though you aren't attending. Yell about the fact that your most high-traffic slot is scheduled opposite Vincent Baker and/or Luke Crane (to which... yeah, join the club).

Now, apart from correcting errors, I'd also like people to jump on some opportunities. Particularly: I have no idea what people (if any) are going to be there wednesday night and thursday morning. If you're going to join me for the early-bird schedule then I'll take advantage of you.

Note also: If you're scheduled for something now, you are not entitled to definitely getting that slot in the final schedule. If we get more people wanting to run, I will do one of two things: Cut back on slots I've already assigned, or open up a third track. Personally, I think the traffic of DexCon 8 could support a third track with ease, but right now (again, right now) I don't know of enough people running games for us to cover it consistently.

Hi, Tony.

Kat and I won't be there at all on Wednesday/Thursday. We will arrive for the first slot on Friday and stay till the bitter end on Sunday. Any chance of turning one of those WGPs into an NoPRess Anthology game?

Michael: Rescheduled. And I'll get you an NPA game in here somewhere, yeah, but I'm going to wait to slot it in until I hear back on some other things.

I don't feel comfortable running TSoY, unless there is absolutely no one else who can possible do it.

I'm not sure if I'm going to be there Thursday or not.

And schedule more Polaris, damnit! In for a penny, in for a pound!

yrs--
--Ben

is space limited or something? I'd prefer to run my games from 8 to midnight on friday, from 10 to midnight on saturday and from 12-4 on sunday.

is that cool?
thanks,
-Luke

PS I think Thor would be happy to run Shadow.

Space is not limited. At Dreamation (my closest past experience to this venue) there was some concern that we'd overfish the available supply of folks interested in Indie Games.

For DexCon, I'm just not feeling that concern. What I am feeling is that with a four day convention, people can and will burn out. Plus, time spent running a four hour slot is not time spent running smaller demo games.

Now... you want a two hour slot on saturday? We can do that, but I'd like to make sure I understood.

Shifting sunday to one 12-4 slot might not be a bad move, actually. Dreamation was awfully dead come two o'clock sunday. I'll take a look at what people get back to me with this evening, and have a revised schedule up soon.

the friday night and saturday morning/afternoon games I run are walk-in demos. An hour each at the most. I run two big, four-hour games saturday night and sunday afternoon.

I'll be helping organize GMs for other games, but I'm not running any myself. When I go to a con, I must promote Burning Wheel.

thanks,
-Luke

I'm not sure I'll be up to doing a midnight game, and I would like Bulldogs! in some more favorable slots (closer to prime time, rather than morning hours).

I realize all I am doing is bitching here, but you did ask! :)

inthisstyle wrote: I'm not sure I'll be up to doing a midnight game, and I would like Bulldogs! in some more favorable slots (closer to prime time, rather than morning hours).

I realize all I am doing is bitching here, but you did ask! :)

Helvetian wrote: Brennan, actually the prime time slots might be the least favorable for drawing over new people to try it out. There are a LOT of games happening in the evenings especially, including a lot of LARPs. You'll get more people looking for something new/different/interesting earlier in the day.

Becca, if it's not an imposition on you, I think I'm leaning toward opening up a third track (i.e. stealing another one of your gaming tables) on friday and saturday, particularly in the evenings. There's just so much good stuff being run (much of it not even on the draft schedule yet... I have people who know they want to run, but haven't figured out what) and, as Brennan rightly points out, a certain dearth of prime slots to schedule it in.

Okay, I slacked off and didn't push this forward. My fault entirely.

I now have the penultimate schedule. I expect this one is much closer to what everybody wants. I would like the following from people who are coming and running:

• PM me descriptions of your events, including Title, Paragraph description, Number of players and any PG-13 or higher rating. I will assume that newcomers are gleefully accepted and taught rules.
• Take a look at the greyed empty slots in the schedule. Those look like yawning gaps to me. I'd like to fill them, if we can.
• Check what I've scheduled you for. If you can't do those time-slots, please tell me.

I'd like to get this finalized list to the DexCon people pretty quickly, so even a quick PM saying "Yeah, those times work for me, let me get you descriptions later" or "Put me in to run TSoY in the thursday 2-6 slot," would be a great help.

i'm a little confused about this schedule.

Do we have a dedicated place set up where we can run short, walk-in demos for any and all of the games? A place that GMs not running big slots can rotate in and out of?

Do you have an exhibitor's booth, Tony? I know the Nerdnyc guys are interested in coming and selling their wares, and I need a place to lay out my spread, too. As does Brennan, I'm sure. Should we post a schedule of booth hours and folks to man it?

Is there a reason I can't run my normal suite of games: Friday, 8 to midnight, Saturday 10 am to midnight, Sunday 12 to 4?

thanks for taking care of all of this!
-L

Yes, we have booth space for the IGE as a whole. Terrific booth space, bracketing the entire entrance to the RPG room, where every single gamer will have to pass through our gauntlet repeatedly.

Yes, we will be running demoes at that booth. Your "Saturday, 10a.m. to midnight" would (I imagine) mostly be that: sitting at one of the demo tables at the booth and demoing the game in short increments to people who walk up and want to play it. Thor Olavsrud is organizing those demoes on this thread over at the dedicated forum.

But this schedule has nothing to do with that. This is an entirely different animal.

There are players who will not sit down for fifteen minutes in order to have a demo at the booth, but who will plunk down four hours of their lives if it's on the schedule. Strange, but true. We are, therefore, putting games onto the DexCon schedule with formal slots. These games will start at a preset time and generally run four hours. They will occur away from the booth, at a table in the main gaming room.

Yes, it's time away from doing quick demoes at the booth, but it's also a way to attract people and to run at a length that demoes aren't suited for. Does that make the purpose of this particular schedule clear?

Tony, maybe I'm missing something, but why are there three tracks, when 1 and 2 have seven available slots and 3 has only 4 slots taken? Why not stick with two full tracks rather than three tracks with lots of gaps?

Well, first, I'm not sure whether anyone is going to be there wednesday, and I know for a fact that many people won't be there until friday (including Michael, Kat, Luke and Thor).

Also, these slots are not all created equal, in terms of drawing people to play. I know you played in every slot (and we all love you for it!) but the midnight and morning slots are just not very big in terms of drawing power. Since my goal is to get people who need to get publicity for their game the ability to get players exposed, I value the "prime-time" slots more than the off-peak.

TonyLB wrote: Does that make the purpose of this particular schedule clear?

I hear what you're saying, Tony, but are you sure that it's cool to run a "track" if not all slots are filled? I assume you checked, but I just thought I'd mention it, in case not.

Also, I'm don't know if having time slots run without an alternate indie game is a good idea or not. I know I'm not the average convention attendee since I'm going only for the indie games, but looking at that schedule, I'll be doubling up on two or three games, and tripling up on one or two.

Are there no seminars or discussions at this convention?

Oh, and yes -- I'll be there Wednesday through Sunday, and gaming in every slot.

Okay, I've rearranged the schedule for what is hopefully the last time.

Andrew, once I looked at the schedule with an eye toward "How much variety can I get, grand total, if I play something every single session?" I immediately saw your point. Sorry about that, it was an artifact of two factors: (1) Many designers aren't going to be there wednesday and thursday and (2) Everyone wants a piece of the prime 8-12 friday/saturday slots, which draws them further away from other slots.

I have tried to shuffle the games that were being over-booked in places that nobody else wanted the slot (particularly Capes on our relatively empty thursday) to other places. If you can take a look over the new version and see whether it is more in line with what you want, I'd certainly appreciate that.

EDIT: Light blue means that I have gotten confirmation from the people involved that they like the slots they're in. If your slots (any of your slots) aren't in light blue, you've probably got either a PM or an email from me awaiting a response.

Damn, I'll still be doubling up on games. Well, I can bitch as much as I want about how it doesn't work for me personally, but that's not really the important factor. I'm sold on indie games -- no need to lure me into it. What matters is how the schedule works in general. So, here are the items I thought should be noted, or areas of concern (in no particular order):

1. There are only 15 different games running. There are 31 sessions for 48 available slots, leaving 17 unassigned slots. Also, that's not enough to even provide a single track with a different game in each slot (for which you'd need at least 16 games).

2. Of the 6 games that have only 1 session, 2 of them conflict (MLwM and TSoY). While I like "hard choices" in my games, I don't want to have to make hard choices about gaming.

3. The 12-2 p.m. slots for Pulp Era means no lunch for anyone planning on going to it and any game starting at 2 p.m. I need lunch, and so do other gamers.

4. None of the three tracks has every slot filled.

5. The Thursday 8-12 Polaris/Ganakagok option, paired with Polaris and Ganakagok each having a slot where they're the only indie game running, automatically means doubling up on one or the other, if you're going for as much indie-ness as possible, like me. I don't mind doubling up on Ganakagok, because I like the game, but I know nothing about Polaris (other than that it was an IGC game).

(1) Yes, because most of the designers coming here want to pitch their own games, it being their livelihood and all. While many designers have jumped in to run other games, most of our variety comes from non-designers who I drafted rather forcibly. We just don't have enough of them, sad to say.

(2) Yep, and that's fixable. Good catch!

(3) This is beyond my control. Dregg scheduled independently of us (for which I don't blame him, given my delay in organizing). I'm just listing him.

(4) Yeah, that's true. It's because I can count on the fingers of one hand the folks I know will be present to run games on thursday, and on the fingers of one finger the folks I know will be showing up wednesday. I can't move people's games from friday to thursday when they won't be there thursday.

(5) When is Polaris the only thing running?


I'll tell you what has made the schedule even vaguely possible... it's the folks who are not designers, but are showing up for most of the convention and are willing to run games. To whit, Rob and Judd. If I had one or two more of such people this schedule would look a lot more robust, both in terms of slots filled and in terms of variety of games being run. We could get some Conspiracy of Shadows, Fastlane, Mountain Witch, Paladin, Donjon, Dust Devils, HeroQuest and the like.

That would rock! Unfortunately, I don't have the people to do it. Seriously, seriously, people... if you are attending DexCon, and you have any vague notions of wanting to run an Indie Game on wednesday or thursday, do not wait to be asked. The only people I know are interested for certain are the game designers. If I haven't tried to draft you, it's not for lack of wanting folks under our banner.

Oops, it's not. I missed that Ganakagok was running in the same time slot.

Okay, yet another schedule update. Closing in on the last chance to get anything in, folks... we're just fiddling at the edges here.

Andrew, this will (I hope) address many of your concerns. With the inclusion of Paladin (which I've wanted to run for a while anyway) you can now go from one end of the convention to the other without hitting any game twice:

Wed: DitV
Thu: Ganakagok, Capes, Polaris, InSpectres
Fri: Paladin, Sorceror, Bulldogs, PTA
Sat: Burning Wheel, NPA, Pulp Era, TSoY
Sun: WGP, Universalis

There is some hope that we will also get a thursday session of TSoY, which would give you choices. Other than that, and the plaintive hope that somebody will volunteer to run wednesday or thursday games out of the blue, I believe this is the final schedule.

Folks who have not gotten me descriptions of their games, please start work on that. I'd like to finalize this formally with DexCon by end of day tomorrow.

Seems fine, but MLwM and TSoY still conflict.

Yep. As I said, I'm hoping to get a Thursday TSoY slot added on, but that's still in negotiations.

The full schedule of events for DEXCON 8 has now been posted, and you can find it at www.dexposure.com/d8sched.html. :-)