I'm starting to throw this idea around at the moment and hoping to get a few more ideas generated.

I'm planning to attend GenCon Oz in 2008 and I'd like to run something like the Games On Demand area that I've experienced at GenCon Indy over the last couple of years.

Basically I'm wanting to help promote/support the Indie games I've been into and others I haven't had a chance to check out. At this point I don't think I can be a seller of such games since it might be expensive to get into that (but I have yet to do my research). What I'd like to do is really just show off these games and point people in the right direction to be able to purchase these games.

I have a big stack of games that I've brought back with my from GenCon Indie over the last few years and a handful of PDFs. Of course it will be easiest to run the games I have, however I'm not trying to exclude anything in particular.

I'm trying to get a team together who will want to help me in this endeavour, but there will probably only be a small group of us and many many games to show off.

Has there been any other discussion about getting Indie games represented at GenCon Oz next year?

I've contacted IPR about this and asked for more information about the Indie Press Gang experiences they've had.  There are some mentions on the IPR forum about the IPG in non-USA conventions and I wanted to find out the experiences that Brennan Taylor had with them.  No response yet, but I'm hopeful.

The big thing that concerned me was that I might be the only person who wants to promote indie games at GenCon Oz.  That would make it a large task.  However, since you seem keen on the idea, how about we work together on this?  I'm sure we can run a variety of demos.  At the moment, my collection of indie games is not comprehensive, but that can change.

Hey,

I'm planning to attend Gencon Oz, and I hope to have my indy game up and running by then.

I'm just wondering who to get in contact with, and whether I'll have to fork out exortbitant amount of money to buy a booth, or something like that. I'm wondering how much this is going to like a trade show and how much it will be like the cons we've come to know and love (or how much it will come to resemble the old school Aussie cons of the late 80's, early 90's that a lot of people now mourn).

Either way, I'm planning to play some games, hopefully run some games, and "fingers crossed" promote some of my own work.

V

Have you been to the GC Oz website yet?  The structure is there, but they haven't enabled all the features yet.  The call for events was opened recently and they watch the boards fervently.  Here's the link.  http://www.genconoz.com/

I've had a bit of a look over the site. The call for events is what inspired me to get a move on working on this idea.

Working with others will be good for this. I'm trying to drum up a few friends from Melbourne to come up to work on this. They're considering it at the moment, but more will be good.

If we get enough people, we can try running both demos, and somewhat larger games as per Games on Demand. I've been running demos in small doses at Arcanacon and Conquest this last year so I know the interest is there.

I haven't checked the GenCon Oz website for a few weeks. I guess it's time to head back over and have a look.

V

OK, so there are three of us who seem keen to run indie games at GenCon Oz.  I'm expecting something from IPR about this next week.  When I hear back, would you like to hear about it?  Maybe through PM?

I have at least one friend that was certain to run something with me also and a few other 'maybes' at this point. I've started making a few enquiries to GenCon Oz about what they might be able to do for us for such an event. They said someone will contact me soon about it, and that they would like more detail on how it might run first and what we might need.
Let me know what you find out.

Count me in definitely, PMs if necessary, but if we keep the discussion public there's a good chance we might lure a few more outsiders into the group.

V

Great!  Now we just need to figure out the kinds of events we can offer (one shot sessions? demos?) and the number of people available to help run them.  Begin luring at once.  ;o)

Hey!  I only just found this thread.  I am intending to head on up to Brisbane from Newcastle for Gencon and would love to help out with running demos and generally talking up indie games. 

In regards to costs of booths, exhibitor requirements etc. the Gencon Oz website has a document detailing a bunch of info.  Just click on "Exhibitors" and scroll down to the bottom of the page and the links there.

Let me know if you want an extra pair of hands, teeth or a small, well manicured beard.

Cheers
Nathan

I guess I won't be trying to ply my wares at Gencon Oz, even if I do get a game ready in time for the convention.

$2000 or so, for a regular booth...I hope they aren't charging people to GM.

I realise this is fairly cheap in comparison to a lot of trade shows (having recently just been involved in organising one), but it certainly rules out a lot of the independant crowd. Besides, I would have thought role-playing was too much of a niche market to warrant this type of budgeting level.

I'll be interested to see the actual supplier turn-out based on these numbers.

V

I was speaking to a local (Brisbane) comics and games retailer last week and he seemed quite keen, almost adamant, that he was getting his store to GenCon.  And I don't think he's the only one.  So it appears as though there is some genuine retail interest.

Yes, the money looks intimidating at first, perhaps because we haven't really seen anything of this scale in the gaming scene in Australia (not to my knowledge anyway).  That said, I think a lot of retailers will be keen to get floor space - at least those that know the reputation of Gencon.  If I had a finished product and was ready for the next step, I would be very tempted to fork out the cash for a booth.

And while role playing IS a bit of a niche market, it is still a part of a pretty big industry, including card games, board games, wargames and all the rest - and there be gold in them there hobbies!  :)

Of course, if there were several people interested in plying their wares, Vulpinoid, cost sharing is always a possibility...

Peril wrote:
Of course, if there were several people interested in plying their wares, Vulpinoid, cost sharing is always a possibility...

Just realised, I quoted Peril Planet...then I forgot to address the quote that I used.

I'd definitely be interested in sharing the costs on a booth once I knew it was worthwhile. An independant publishers booth would be a great way to meet others in the same sort of position, and could aim toward the indy games passports as mentioned in another thread...

But as I've written above, I'll be doing some investigation into the matter and seeing where things stand. Worst case scenario, I'll offer to run a range of independant games and try to cut a deal with a store-holder if I'm, not able to ply my wares on the side.

V

Vulpinoid wrote:  Supernova has an "artists alley" for independant comic creators which is separate from the stalls and is designed to help out the fledging comic artists and companies from the local market.

I'm going to be enquiring if there will be anything similar to see if GenCon is able to help nurture an under-nourished local gaming development scene.

V

Peril wrote:
An independant publishers booth is certainly something worth further discussion, but I agree that every avenue must first be investigated.  Now, I read about the indy games passport, but am not 100% sure what it is - can you explain?

Sorry I've been away from discussion for a while - things got rather hectic.

I've just received an email from the GenCon Oz people. I enquired about running a Games On Demand area and what kind of set up they might be able to do for it. They like the idea and are currently looking into what kind of space they could offer. If we work out a bit more about how to run the event, I could give them a bit more detail on what we'd need.

We still have people interested in doing this?

Sorry,

I hadn't responded either because I was waiting almost two weeks for someone from Gencon OZ to get back to me.

I've nominated my interest in being an artist exhibitor at the event, and I've also queried their policies regarding independant games and non-profit roleplaying associations. I've had a positive response, but it looks like they hadn't really considered a lot of the potential options regarding independant groups and how they might be nurtured through the convention. Even so, I guess it's time to book my annual leave for July.

Unless something drastic happens between now and then, I'm in. 

V

Yeah, I'm definitely still interested.  Have you replied to GenConOz about how you think it could be run?

I haven't replied to them yet. I thought we could try a bit more discussion on how we might do it.
I'm also emailing around to people who have done something similar overseas for a few more ideas.

So I'm in, and I have at least one other friend who's interested in GMing games. I've got a few more friends I've approached but yet to hear back from them.

There's a lot of games to represent and probably a limited number of GMs for them. I've brought back a bunch of games with me from visits to GenCon Indie the past couple of years and bought a few more online. Still that's a lot of rule systems to try and memorise. One idea I had was for each GM that we have to run this, they would each have their own Menu Of Games. Basically a list of 5 - 10 games that they're comfortable and happy with running through Games On Demand. We could mix and match some of these menus to cover what games we have and to give a spectrum of different games.

The "menu" idea sounds good.  GM's will get to concentrate on the games they are familiar with (or think they can become familiar with) and Joe Public will hopefully have a broad range of choices - al a carte role playing!  I am still interested, but may soon be starting a new job which puts a big question mark over my leave entitlements!  Aaahhg!  Pencil me in.

I suppose that it means each session should only last for a short time, perhaps one hour (or less?) rather than three hours (or more!).  Otherwise the "on demand" part might not work out.

With regard to the "menus" I just had a mental image of some actual A5-sized menus printed up.
[center]"Games on demand"
GM: Andrew Smith

Spirit of the Century for 5
Burning Wheel for 4
etc...[/center]

I know it's just flavour, but it would make it memorable and also make it look coordinated.

Andrew wrote:
With regard to the "menus" I just had a mental image of some actual A5-sized menus printed up.
[center]"Games on demand"
GM: Andrew Smith

Spirit of the Century for 5
Burning Wheel for 4
etc...[/center]

I didn't even realise I'd started it with "flavour".    Who knows what we'll serve up next?  ^_^

Yep the imagery for the menu was pretty much how I envisioned it.

So what we need for the event....a few jottings...

GMs and their games. I think maybe a mix of those willing to run longer sessions on demand (2 - 3 hours) and perhaps a few willing to run some demos? (15 - 20min). People might not be sure which games they'd want for a longer session until they've had a chance to sample some of the games.

Tables to run the games. Depends on how many GMs we'd have.

Probably use of Generic tickets to sit and play a long session. Nothing for the demos. That's to get people interested.

Reasonably public area so we can have a few people walk by and become interested

Menus for the GMs and their games.

A bit of a schedule for which GMs might be rostered on at certain times for events (giving others a chance to run around and play too).

Pamphlets maybe to point out where to find out more about the games we're running. I'd like to be able to point people in the right direction to find the games we're running AND where to find similar games.