Okay, people ... DexCon approaches like an oncoming freight train of Indie RPG goodness.  July 12th through the 16th, in East Brunswick, NJ, if you didn't know.

You remember last year?  Forget last year.  Last year does not prepare you.  Go here and check out the schedule.  Saturday morning (morning!) there are FIVE indie games running simultaneously.  Second session of the day that number rises to six, and then seven for the packed saturday evening.

Seriously.  They will be running 1st Quest, Carry, Ganakagok, Pulp Era, Spookybeans, Burning Wheel and With Great Power ... all at the same time.  And is every single one of those sessions being run by the game creators?  My goodness, it certainly looks that way!  This is some stunning, emergent stuff here.  I'm proud to be part of it.

Now ... because I love each and every one of you, you will not have to forego games like that in order to play Capes with me.  Aw hell no.  You won't even have to forego them in order to play Capes in a scheduled way (which is way harder than just grabbing me and saying "Hey, let's play Capes!" which almost always works).  Capes is scheduled in time-slots nobody else wanted, so as to not interfere with much other gaming:  Wednesday night, Friday morning, Saturday morning.  Mmmmm ... I'll either have absolutely nobody or I'll have some damn dedicated people.

I am hoping to run all three of those sessions as an ongoing story of the invasion of the earth, complete with the debugged tournament rules.  Damn, that would rock.

Now these slots say "Experience required" and what that means (if you've never played it) is "Get your ass over to the Indie Explosion booth and have Tony teach you the rules."  Got it?

So here's a question (to cap off my gushing enthusiasm):  I've got three sessions, all in tournament format.  Should I do some sort of elimination-style thing?  Or should I give a prize for each individual session?  Or what?  I'm not thrilled with the idea of giving away a click-and-lock folder for each individual session, because they take a long time to make, and are really expensive ... but I do want to reward people for playing.  Thoughts?

Gift certificates to the Indie Explosion booth.

Your enthusiasm and energy distilled into a consumable form for our refreshment?

I am jealous.  JEALOUS, I say.  I'm not gonna make it Dexcon.  I can't even make it to Gencon.  I'm trying rilly rilly hard to make it to DragonCon, though.

In other news:  I second the gift certificates idea.

I already have the click-and-locks binder and since I'm going to win I second the gift certificates idea. ;)

Yeah, I'm liking the gift-certificates idea, too ... and it's got the popular vote.  Thanks, Fred!  Good suggestion!

You could also give away copies of the game. It's certainly easier than the click-and-lock book, though it does have the potential to cut out a sale. And if it goes to someone who already owns it, they'll probably end up giving it to their cheapskate gamer friend who thinks Capes sounds awesome, but will never actually spring for a copy. Either way, it leads to more Capes being played.

I definately think you should get a T-shirt/hat/somthing made that says, "I totally kicked your ass at Capes!" or something to that effect.  The winner could then where said item and lord his Capes-meister status over all the mere mortals.

How about you have that shirt made, and wear it to the convention, and if we kick your ass then we take your shirt away?

Ooooh... a challenge.  I'm not going to be at DexCon but I'll see if I can have that shirt made for GenCon.  Then all the Capes fanatics can try to take it from me there.

Oh I will have that shirt.  Oh yes I will.

yrs--
--Ben

So ... for GenCon, right?

Folks who are going to come to the convention wearing such shirts, tell me your T-shirt sizes.  I'll be making up "I lost my shirt playing Capes" T-Shirts, to exchange for your lost clothing.

EDIT:  My wife recommends, by contrast, that I make up a stencil, and simply paint that message on your naked backs.  She's mean.

Your wife sounds uber-cool.  She should come to GenCon too.