It's a *little* early, but I am pinging the forums now to see if someone is already planning to promote indie gaming at MACE this year.

If not, I'd be willing to commit eight hours each day to running indie games as a "envoy" of The Forge. I figure half hour to hour long demo session, rotating through all games present (i.e. if I am envoying for ten games, then every five to ten hours I would have "looped" through the whole list).
I figure all I'd need is one copy of each game to be demoed, and sell sheets or business cards with contact info to go buy the game direct/online.

Of course, if others are already planning to go, perhaps this thread could be useful to organize and coordinate our activities. For instance, if others are able to attend and willing to demo, then perhaps we could specialize in certain games, and thus run more demos throughout the con? Or if there is already plans for a dealer booth, then perhaps I could get on the bandwagon and run stuff for you?

Thoughts?
David Artman

Dave,

Jason M and I are planning on being there. Clinton can't make it. I think Remi and Adam Dray are coming, too. It's going to be a fun time.

-L

Eric Provost has coordinated a big Indie Gaming track at MACE this year. It's going to be awesome. Not quite the demothon you had planned, but more traditional 4-hour blocks. I believe Jason is going to running his crazy Aztec TSOY.

That said, I'm on fence about attending. It really depends on where I am in November. I'm hoping to go. I had a great time at MACE last year.

That's what I get for not using The Power of the Internet.... :-)
MACE's Gaming Schedule has several indie games slotted, though I couldn't find a particular reference to a "track" or collective (other than Jason's round-up).

So, I guess that means I am slightly modifying my above offer: If your game is not already well-represented at MACE, then I offer to be an envoy as stated above, running half- to one-hour demo sessions of each game I receive, in rotation, for two slots (eight hours) on both Saturday and Sunday. Please reply to this post to "register" your game into the rotation. Once I receive, say, four games (which would allow for up to four hours of demoing of each game!), I can register with MACE as a GM. If I get only three or four submissions, then I will switch to running full sessions for each one, rather than flipping through them every hour. Basically, I need enough to be able to viably offer MACE three slots worth of GMing.

I figure I'll leave this offer on the table until early October. Then, if there is not enough traction, I will approach Looney Labs about being an envoy for pyramids, as it seems they only have a card gaming focus so far, this year. I'm gonna GM something outside of the mainstream! :-)

Let me know soonest, folks!
David

Hiya David,

That's an awesome offer you've got going on there.  Anyone who's not going to be represented at MACE should really jump on the offer. 

You might be interested to know that Ron McClung of MACE is running out of RPG tables very quickly.  If you really want to have a place to run demos on the offical convention roster, you should really drop ol' Ron an email as soon as possible. 

-Eric

Rock on, MACE people.  I'll be in there swinging with Cold City and TSOY.

Also of note:  The Iron MACE design challenge.

OK, I just submitted a request for all day Saturday and Sunday, with a table near to the other indie games (you guys are on 8, 9, and 10, it seems). I also mentioned it might be necessary to be near a wall or enough space to mount/setup a stand for a banner... so I guess we gotta come up with a banner. :-) I was just going to do something with the game art, once I had my submissions, but maybe there's something you'd like, too, if I end up on a table near you?

I also (tried to) let them know that I might switch over to pyramids, if I don't get enough bites here by October 1st. Their online registration system isn't *quite* setup for optional planning. :-)

I guess we ought to decide here and now if we are going to present a "unified front" at the con (akin to GenCon) or wing it as soloists. If the former, we ought to decide on branding/affiliation soonest, to allow for banner art, updating game registrations at MACE, and coordinating common contributions (ex: making sure everyone has sell sheets for all products?).

Any more thoughts?
David

Jason wrote: Also of note:  The Iron MACE design challenge.

It's possible I'll be in attendance, and though I'm not expecting to *run* anything, I'd be happy to step up and help with any promo efforts while there.

I'm not sure we need more indie representation at MACE.  At least, not just for the sake of having indie representation, you know? 

I think what we could really use are more folks excited about playing some indie games.  Last year I had just enough players to keep my games rolling.  It would be great if there were some awesome indie-attitide folks playing along side the folks who just joined in because they thought the title of the game sounded interesting but never played anything indie before. 

I know I plan on being a player in every single indie game I can get my greedy little paws on while I'm there.

Well, one thing's for sure, Eric: additional representation will depend upon someone taking me up on my offer. ;-)

All in all, I am mainly wanting to run something at MACE. If my indie envoy plans go pear-shaped, I will want to be running pyramids or assisting with running demos: I am a bit "playered out" from recent conventions and my weekly game nights. I also want to bone up on my pitch and promotion skills, which will be sorely taxed come 2007, when I'm pushing GLASS at cons that likely won't permit boffer or airsoft play (never mind paintball!). :-)

So, that said, you folks already planning to demo could just ping this thread and get me onto your demo team for some (or all?) slots--I'm in it for the indie and small publisher, either way; and if I don't get enough bites to handle it solo, I'd help another handle his or her current plans. Six is one; half dozen, the other.

Lemme know....
David

David,

My Sunday GM slot is deliberately vague - I set it up as "Indie games roundup", hoping to grab a couple of free GM-types and run simultaneous hour-long demos of whatever people were interested in.  You're definitely welcome to be a part of that.  Ron McClung, the gaming organizer, needs to balance his tables by demand, so we may not get as much space as we'd like. MACE is a small and mellow con, and I think most of us are there to hang out, have fun, and play rather than seriously push our agenda or products.  If your goals are more ambitious than that, rock on.   

Thanks, Jason... I'll play it by ear. If Ron McClung doesn't want to allocate another whole table to the "indie track" I will certainly get into your round-up. Watching others demo would probably help me as much (or more?) than running my own repeatedly, vis a vis later plans at self-promotion.

Is Sunday the only round-up day, or do you plan to flex some of your other slots to accommodate demand/number of GMs/whatever?

Also, if I lose a chance at my own table, I can just split time between your round-up and, perhaps, Looney Labs's table, if they do not run constant card games. (Hmmm... I ought to e-mail that demoer....)

Like I said above, I just want to get in about 16 hours of solid, fun GMing/demoing, for smaller, cool publishers. I'll go wherever I'm aimed, if it serves that end.
David

P.S. Ron or Luke, will it be alright if I periodically bump this thread, to keep it on the first page and thereby (hopefully) centralize MACE planning? I know that's usually a Forge no-no, but I don't imagine you'd want me to try to reincarnate this offer with new posts every couple of weeks for the next two months, either. Mightn't this be one of those rare cases where a judicious bump would actually help the thread's utility and minimize forum database bloating? Thanks. -DCA

I'm running two formal, four hour games on Saturday and I'm responsible for a four hour "Indie smorgasbord" block on Sunday.  I can run my 15 minute Roach demo at a moment's notice, and demo a bunch of other games.  Eric is coordinating the overall mayhem, which includes stuff he's running and stuf Lisa is running and I don't know what all, and Luke's burning up his own sessions and demos.  That's a lot of goodness! 

Hey all, I'm going, and I'll be rolling dizzles with the L-U-Kizzle.

I'm also running two sessions of Tenra Bansho Zero. Finally. These will be the first ever official convention sessions of this game in english. It's gonna be a Ninja Blood Opera, and hopefully, "totally sweet".

David: I've got one session of AGON scheduled. Would you be interested in running it for me, say in return for me picking you up a free lunch or something? I scheduled that one up, but I'm more interested in being a Protagonist this time around. If so, hit me up via email (ziggurat at gmail)

Otherwise, we got some serious fun ahead of us. I hope I don't get too worn out!

-Andy

TENRA BANSHO HAI

BONSAI! SUGOI!

That's does it! Where's my katana... grumblegrumblegrumble...

For that crack, I'm gonna translate Burning Empires into Engrish. Here's the cover page blurb, thanks to Google Languages:

-------------------------------------------
The game of the fantasy scientific novel of the epic which is based on the Iron Empire realistic novel which the game designer and the author of prize acquisition of the wheel whose Christopher Moeller is hot very has designed and is extolled critically!!
   
Very hot Empire uses the very hot wheel system as a center, taking expands the extent of the story which decides the destiny of the world in order to surround!

With this game original technology, delicate infiltration, extreme revolution, the discussion which is burnt, the millwright for firefights and the strategic fight which burn is found. 

Quality of the player is their itself destinies, destiny and the friend of their families and the leading part of the story which they decide destiny of the world.

That is test of belief and conviction.

In order to rescue everything which in the empire where you are hot very is made important, you must pass by the fire.   

And it changes.   

Very Hot Empire is the digest which is classified 5.5x 8.5 (size where inside four color printings there is a gloss has been attached) is the hardcover book.

As for the game art work almost 400 parts, the art work both where were painted sufficiently from sketch and comic never front from the book of the sketch of the crith it was seen it includes.
-----------------------------------------

Yes!  I'm sold on the sufficiently painted artwork, and the delicate infiltration!

Hi, David,

Very cool.  I'm going to MACE to run several sessions of Dread: The First Book of Pandemonium.  Not sure exactly how many.  If you're interested in running a session or two, I'd love to talk to you about it.

Everybody else, I'll see you at High Point (isn't that in the Forgotten Realms?).

-- Rafael

Dude, I just ran to my Forgotten Realms setting book.

I checked the index, but didn't find High Point.  I did find High Castle, High Country, High Forest, High Ice, High Moor, and um... Highcastle.  Which I assume is different from High Castle. 

But no High Point.  And now I'm terribly dissapointed.

Wow.  There's also High Dale, High Horn, and Highmoon.  But alas, no High Point.

What a downer.  I'm sorry.

-- Rafael

The Furniture Capital of the World just don't get NO respect. :(

How about I do it like this, having not gotten word back from McClurg: I will just list the times I am willing to GM, and folks post to reserve those times? Be sure that I am given some kind of advance material to learn the game before the day, of course! :)
[table]
[tr][td]Saturday 11/11[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]10:00 - 18:00[/td][td]uncommitted[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Sunday 11/12[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]09:00 - 13:00[/td][td]Indie Games Roundup, Jason Morningstar[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]13:00 - 18:00[/td][td]uncommitted[/td][/tr]
[/table]
Sign up soon!
David

David wrote: How about I do it like this, having not gotten word back from McClurg: I will just list the times I am willing to GM...

I really, really think it would be cool to go ... if the convention did not precisely bracket my wife's birthday on the 11th.  Dammit!  Next year tell 'em to schedule it on different days.

Andy wrote: Given your previous statement of really wanting to be a Demo Guy (not for playing, but rather pure hardcore Running), you might actually want to consider going ahead and doing the board game blocks then.

If you're interested in taking over for me that slot, I can hook you up with the AGON book beforehand and "pay you back" with a free lunch or something (I'll still be listed as "running the game", but when it goes down you'll just pop in and take over. Or we could work on rescheduling that event to get you in as the registered GM).

Forgot one thing: I need not be compensated in any way by game designers, including but not limited to food, drinks, women, wine, and song (though I will seriously consider women and wine). I am doing this (a) to train myself at public promotion and pitching and (b) to get into MACE on the "employee" side rather than my typical "consumer" side. (I will also be making such an effort with Trinoc*coN, next and subsequent years.)

My desire for demo kits is only driven by my desire to do good pre-prep for them.
My desire for free admission is just in keeping with what is offered any other GM who doesn't take such a... flexible... approach.

I require neither of the above, just designers wanting me to show off their stuff. But if everyone says, "Yeah, demo my game, but you gotta buy yourself a copy," I will then turn to Looney Labs pyramid demoing: 130-odd games for which I already have materials and experience.

HTH;
David

Andy wrote: As I mentioned above, though, I'm still waffling on whether or not I run John Harper's excellent game AGON, as I'll be pretty busy overall (and would actually want to play it as much as run it).  If you're interested in taking over for me that slot, I can hook you up with the AGON book...

rafael wrote: I'm going to MACE to run several sessions of Dread: The First Book of Pandemonium.  Not sure exactly how many.  If you're interested in running a session or two, I'd love to talk to you about it.

Hey man- Cool. Looks like Ron got ahold of you.

Yeah, as we alluded to earlier, Ron told us that he's tapped out in terms of available space or slots for the Indie games. There's just no more room. I requested that he contact you about the Loony Labs boardgames/cardgames, looks like he did and looks like that's what you're going to be scheduled to run.

Between that session and the Roundup, I'd have a full day of supporting Indie Gaming.

Likewise, Jason, if you want me for the Roundup, you got me: how do I get the demo kits/books? Will I just have to borrow and study up before the con (maybe we meet at Sci Fi Genre?).

Thus, I have only *ONE* slot available to loan-out to demo/run for someone: Sunday from 2pm to 6pm. And that's only if Rafael doesn't want me to take over his Dread session at that time (if there is one). He has first dibs (sorry I didn't reply on that sooner--was dazed and confused, at that point).

The "Indie Games Roundup" is a four hour slot for which I am responsible.  I pitched it as "come try some crazy hippie gamez0rz!" and intend to keep it loose and friendly - I'll run an hour of anything I know, more if the interest is there, however it works out.  If a bunch of people approach me and want a full session of Dogs, I'll do that.  Dave et al, if you want to be a part of that, by all means join me and we'll divide and conquer, but I made the commitment and I can handle it. 

Jason: You got me--please let Ron know to add me to the "Other GMs" field of the database record for the Indie Games Roundup. (I am trying to hit 16 hours registered to GM, to be at 133% of the requirements for GM admission.)

Andy: Though I am sure Rafael is The Man for Dread, he *did* ask me further up the thread if I were interested in running a session or two. :)
Hmmm... but maybe he was merely offering to give advice on GMing, not offering up a table slot. Rafael?

Others: First come, first served, if you have a registered table slot for the 2pm to 6pm Sunday session and want me to take it over for you. Furthermore, I am shortening the time frame that this offer is open, to ensure that I am not left in a lurch for table space Sunday (I *will* be demoing something, and tables are filling up).
The new, final deadline to request me to GM for your registered Sunday 2 to 6pm table slot is September 20th, one week from today.

Sorry to have been so confusing up until now. I didn't realize I was such a latecomer to MACE Indie Games planning--or that it had hit a saturation point--or I would have just gone with Looney from the get-go.
David

David wrote:
Andy: Though I am sure Rafael is The Man for Dread, he *did* ask me further up the thread if I were interested in running a session or two. :)
Hmmm... but maybe he was merely offering to give advice on GMing, not offering up a table slot. Rafael?

Yo,

David, yeah, I'm running three games on Saturday.  But I don't have anything for Sunday at that time slot (not gonna be there), so it looks like this wouldn't work out.

I misunderstood your initial post -- I thought you were just looking for games to GM at the con.  I'm sorry about the confusion.

-- Rafael

rafael wrote: I misunderstood your initial post -- I thought you were just looking for games to GM at the con.  I'm sorry about the confusion.

Holy crap... a convention? In High Point? And I've never heard of it?!

Man, this is awesome. I just happened to see this thread listed in the "Latest Post", otherwise I never would have heard of it.

So I'm dying to go, now. But I've never been to a convention before--can anyone give me some information? And I don't mean like a website or anything, I'm talking about experience. What do people do at a convention? How do you sign up for demos? What should I expect? That kind of thing.
Aww man, I'm so excited! And members of the Forge who live so close--who knew? (I live downtown G'boro, by the way).

If y'all don't want to clutter up this thread, feel free to PM or email.

Thanks!!
John

Hi John,

Greensboro represent!  I'm married to a fiercely proud UNCG alumna.

This probably isn't the place to discuss what MACE is like, but bring it over to story-games.com or PM me and we can chat until dawn.

--Jason

Will some kind soul show me how to play Dogs in the Vineyard at MACE?  I usually GM things, but I haven't wrapped my brain around Dogs yet and would like someone experienced to show me how it should work.  I can probably scrounge up a few more potential players.

I just checked the schedule, and it doesn't appear that any Dogs is going down this year.  There's lots of other stuff going on, though.

-Andy

Andy wrote:
I just checked the schedule, and it doesn't appear that any Dogs is going down this year.  There's lots of other stuff going on, though.

-Andy

There can be pickup games, but most folks do just sit in on scheduled events.

-Andy

Yeah, no DitV unfortunately.  Last year I was the one to run Dogs at MACE, but I've kinda given up on running it at conventions.  It's exhausting trying to get to all the good stuff in just four hours.

But here's a list of Forgie-type stuff that is going to be at MACE this year, in no particular order;

• Tenra Bansho Zero
• Burning Wheel/Burning Empires Demos with Luke himself
• Dread
• My Life with Master
• The Infected
• The Shab-al-Hiri Roach
• The Mountain Witch
• Primetime Adventures

And, if enough indie-minded folks show up, I'm sure you'll be able to find players for just about anything you want to get a game of.

-Eric

Dang, I somehow managed to miss to indie games on the list.  And I was looking right at them when I was writing too.

• The Shadow of Yesterday
• Cold City

Forgie games are all over MACE this year. 

If any of you NC locals are hesitating about showing up this year, then stop.  Drag your ass to MACE.  Ron McClung, the RPG organizer, is a little nervous about filling all the indie tables.  I think it would be totally awesome if we had our indie tables full to the gills so that Ron wouldn't ever have to worry about us again.  I want Ron to think I need more of these indie people next year!  So, if you want there to be a local con where you can be confident about finding the indie scene, MACE might just end up being that.  But this year might just be pivotal in making it happen.

Show up.  Bring your friends.  Let's show MACE the crazy excitement of indie gamers. 

Ganakagok will also be at MACE!  Saturday night...
Mel

And I',m running Inspectres Saturday night...

jeff

Looks like I'll be able to bring along Perfect (and maybe Passages, by then), if it will help fill out the Sunday morning round-up options.
David

Well, I originally wasn't going to run anything on Sunday.  But, after thinking about it, I decided to go ahead, so I'll be running a total of five sessions of Dread at MACE.  Yikes.

-- Rafael

Check the MACE "indie"-flagged line-up:

Tenra Bansho (x2), Tahara/Arbiter, The Infected (x3), Shab-al-Hiri Roach (x2), PTA (x2), Little Fears (x2), Burning Empires (constant demos, one full session), TSOY, Dread (x5), Cold City, Garage Band, InSpectres, Burning Wheel, Ganakagok, My Life With Master, Mountain Witch.  Plus an "indie games roundup" pick-up session.  27 sessions, plus demos. 

Not only is that a lot of independent gaming goodness, but there are two games on there I have never heard of.  Super exciting!

rafael wrote:
Well, I originally wasn't going to run anything on Sunday.  But, after thinking about it, I decided to go ahead, so I'll be running a total of five sessions of Dread at MACE.  Yikes.

Andy wrote: That is awesome, dude.  I am definitely signing up for one. If I end up having the time, I'll try to get into two. Killing demons with creepy magic and kung fu makes me feel young again.

Greetings,
Just a quick note that today is the last day for MACE pre-registration.  As others have mentioned, there looks like a lot of indi-games on the agenda:

Ganakagok (which I'll be running)
Tenra Bansho Zero
Burning Wheel/Burning Empires Demos with Luke himself
Dread
My Life with Master
The Infected
The Shab-al-Hiri Roach
Primetime Adventures
Little Fears
The Shadow of Yesterday
Risus
Dogs in the Vineyard
Inspectre
and even an Indie games roundup!

I know I'm looking forward to a great weekend of gaming.
Mel

Hey Mel, hopefully you got the email I sent, but

Infected
My Life with Master
and
The Shab al-Hiri Roach

have all been cancelled (the Provosts couldn't come).  Hopefully you can get into some other events.

Also, to fill in the hole created, Jason has set up to run Dogs in the Vineyard (YAY!!!!!) and Mark is runnign a RISUS game based on the Specials.

It will rock.

-Andy

Reminder to all. I'll be running further playtest sessions of Hunted and Soft Landing on Saturday. They're not rpg's, but they -are- indie.

Greg Porter
BTRC

Looking forward to seeing you all there!

If anyone cares about such a minor thing - I'll be there too. I'll see you guys on Friday.

See you folks in two days--with my Looney Labs Pyramids! (Hey, isn't Looney considered independant? I think the whole company is, like, six folks....)