Let's follow up! I enjoyed myself greatly and invite all comments about the event. Let's put actual play talk into the appropriate forums (Actual Play, Playtesting), but the event itself is the topic here.

1. I liked the venue. Finally, lodging and eating were convenient, as well as access to the rest of the city if desired. The prices of the hotel rooms and the event space were ... to say the least, affordable. The event space was a little bit bland, but it was well-lit, well-ventilated, and physically comfortable. Maybe next time I might think about asking the hotel for some social furniture like couches.

2. The organizational breakdown was easy and excellent. Willow did a great job coordinating everything with the hotel, and we had enough people take rooms to halve the cost for the event space. So that only cost $75, and Matt and I decided simply to split that cost between ourselves and never mind nickel-and-diming everyone. So Forge Midwest was 100% free! Any expenses were only travel and food. What a deal.

3. I was disappointed that I couldn't go to the Table O' Buying, as the kids needed to be fed and put to bed right then, and I hope it went all right. If it wasn't a complete disaster, then maybe next year I can organize it better and we can make it more known and recognized as an event from the outset.

4. To move to more personal concerns, everyone was absolutely wonderful with the kids. They sort-of crawled about on the beautiful quilts Meg Baker made for them, they were held and played with, and they got all their feeding and nap times on schedule, even if the latter were a bit less perfect than usual due to the noise and light. They slept great at night and crashed for bedtime even with people in the room. Julie was a life-saver throughout, and I want to thank everyone, especially James for a crucial shopping run, for all the help and good will.

5. I played some really enjoyable games. Friday night, I ran My Life With Master with Daniel, Jerry, and Tim, which I think was a fantastic kickoff for all of us. Saturday morning, I ran Trollbabe with Julie, Willow, and Thor, and if you'll forgive me a little typology at the expense of individuality - Trollbabe, two tough women and a Norwegian guy! Whoooo! Saturday afternoon, I played Blazing Rose with a bunch of people, and although that happened to be the one time when the kids were a bit more demanding, I managed not to disrupt things too much. Sunday morning, eight of us played Spione, which really showed off how well it scales to more participants.

6. Clyde lured me into yet another too-revealing interview.

7. Socializing and personal talk was also very, very fulfilling - lots of high-pressure content but high-trust, relaxed interactions. I really needed that. I had a great time with everyone but wanted to thank Nat, Jae, and Tobias especially.

As it stands now, and unless this thread reveals horrible crises and failings and disappointments that I don't know about, the Madison venue and the current organizers seem like a big win to me - more than enough to say, "Next year, same again!"

Best, Ron

This was my first Forge gathering, and I had a blast. Many thanks!

The venue: I was a little disappointed that the hotel staff didn't do any cleaning of the meeting rooms over the weekend, nor refresh the water unless asked. But, I guess that's the flip side of the affordable price. One of the guys I was gaming with Saturday, Jason, was nice enough to get a big garbage bag from the front desk, and we consolidated all the refuse. Probably a good idea to get said bag (maybe a couple) first thing on Friday night next time.

The people: I really enjoyed meeting folks, and it was especially nice to put faces to names I've seen online or on games I own.

The setup: I felt a bit at sea when I first arrived on Friday. I'm used to ENWorld Gamedays or GenCon where there's a formal registration process, so just walking in and saying, "Uh, hello... um, you wanna play... something?" was kinda strange. That said, a) it got me talking to people, and b) throughout the weekend it got me to play games that I probably wouldn't have otherwise thought to try.

Games:

On Friday I played Covert Generation with Caz, Adam, Sabe, and Jason (?). Very cool. After, I started a game of Mwahahahaha! with Dave, Sabe, James, and a woman whose name now eludes me, but I had to give up after a turn or two, as I was starting to crash.

On Saturday, another Jason and I played a few hands of Anachronism (which I really liked, rare for me and card games) until Tim Koppang arrived and, quickly hijacked by me, ran some Hero's Banner for the two of us and Matt. We wrapped up after a quick lunch break, and then Tim, Dave, Clyde and I played some GM-less Best Friends. We dubbed the session "Totally Witches," the obvious title were it a TV show on Disney or the CW. This was a great example of a game I probably would never have thought twice about, but on which I am now completely sold.

Lastly, Dave, Matt and I played Don't Rest Your Head. Lots of fun in a "Night Watch" meets "Naked Lunch" sort of way. Good stuff.

On Sunday, I played in the aforementioned Spione game with, iirc, Ron, Roland, Len, Tim (not Koppang), Brendan, and Clyde.  The setting and convoluted plot we all concocted was really taxing my sleep-deprived brain, but the whole conflict mechanic was rocking my world.

Next time, I definitely want to come prepared to run a few games. There were a few moments when we had people who all wanted to play something, but deciding what took a little wrangling. I.e., "I'd really love to try that... does anyone know the rules?" :)

Anyway, kudos. I'll definitely be back.

I had a good time. I got to meet folks in person that I've only ever talked to online, had the chance to catch up with old friends a bit, play a few games and "talk shop" about game design, writing and other topics.

I did not get to play nearly as much as I had hoped...but that is pretty much on me. I was having a blast talking with William Hessian about his new card game regarding playtesting and publishing for half the day on Saturday and completely lost track of the time. On Sunday I was dog-tired and did not have the energy to actively dive into many games.

The venue was good, especially considering it is only a mile or so from my apartment. If the weather had been a little better I could have walked/biked throughout the weekend. There is plenty of good food nearby for after-hours drinks/dining.

Next year I'd like to game more, maybe even run a few myself. I brought a friend who is just starting to get back into gaming and he had a blast on Saturday..so that is a pretty thing.

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who put this weekend together.

Regards,

Matt

I had a great time.  I showed up hungry enough to eat a bear on Friday night, and walked in to hear Ralph saying "Who wants to go get food?" and that kind of serendipity flavoured my whole weekend.

I got some *fantastic* playtesting of Reality Cops done, and am very, very close to having the shape of the whole game roughed in, and even some good meat on those bones in a few places.

I got in a bunch of great boardgaming as well, including Puerto Rico, which I'd always heard good things about, but never gotten a chance to try, and now have.  It lived up to my expectations, and I'm not just saying that because I won.

Had an abortive attempt at Capes, which was a bit unfortunate, but now that I've sat at a table and learned how it works, I'm looking forward to running it through again someday.

And had tons of great conversations and meals with new faces, and old.  Plus, Ron let me play with his kids, who are *super* cute.

James

First off, one complaint from a local...

The weather just sucked.  Its not supposed to snow in early April!

I'm really happy to hear everyone enjoyed this, and that we can have you all back next year.

I'll avoid listing games I played in, and simply say the entire weekend was eye opening, and just simply great!

And I'll promise, next year, no snow!

Take care!

Ron, I'm happy to be typed as a 'tough woman.'

I had a great time.  I got to run my own Awesome Adventures, and also the Mountain Witch, and play Trollbabe, Sign in Stranger, and Under My Skin (all of those for the first time.)  I sold some copies of my book, which rocked, met cool people, and talked about gaming!

The Table O'Buying, if it's going to be a recurring feature, needs more work.  It was almost an afterthought when it happened, and didn't get too much attention.  I had a pretty cool conversation with Matt Snyder, who I sat next too, but I think he sold even fewer books than I did.

But overall, a great amazing time!

Willow wrote:
The Table O'Buying, if it's going to be a recurring feature, needs more work.  It was almost an afterthought when it happened, and didn't get too much attention.  I had a pretty cool conversation with Matt Snyder, who I sat next too, but I think he sold even fewer books than I did.

Forge Midwest...

I personally had a blast. I was in town for the convention, but made plans to see two bands, meet with relatives and meet with a few friends. Giving me less time that hoped at the actual convention. I do want to boast that the coolest people I met in Madison were those at the convention.

1. Venue- i didnt know what to expect, but I enjoyed the coziness of it all. Even though I felt most comfortable hiding in the back room.

2. Selling Table- Being a starving artist, I was hoping not to spend lots of money, but just knowing that Matt and Willow (who were both great people to meet and test my game with) had items for sale I am now regretting not browsing and picking up some things.

3. Playing my game- I wanted to thank everyone that took the time to try out....and give amazing feedback to my RIOT game. I took a ton of notes, and had CRUTIAL meetings with Matt who spents hours reworking my game mechanics with me, Willow who threw out some very important tweaks that have changed the game dramatically (i also think she was the fastest to learn and understand the rules better than me, which happened in a matter of minutes), and learned a lot from Jason, Valamir, and Nev (Dave) who all played my game and gave me extremely helpful feedback. 

4. Girl Genius - the works: I only played one game, besides my own, since I did come primarily to playtest my game with game experts & enthusiasts. I loved Girl Genuius and will be buying it soon, thanks to Dave for recommending me playing it and to Willow for having it and playing it with Kelsey and myself. 

5. Other games- Being my first gaming convention such as this, I would like to attend another in hopes of playing more games. I have never played RPG based games but found myself drowling over the game of Mountain witch that was taking place. I was an interest spectator for a good hour. While I know my lack of experience in such games makes me a little uneasy about joining a game, they look like a lot of fun. I also want to try out the Racing Car board game (i have no idea what it was called) that was taking place in the back room. I would have enjoyed playing Puetro Rico also, as it is one of my favorites. 

And Ron, cute babies! And from what I overheard of your 'too-revealing conversation' i agree with you completely.

Thanks to everyone that set it up. You were all a blast to meet, and I look forward to the next one.

William 

Girl Genius? Are we talking SJG's game or some other?

http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/girlgenius/

Yep, that's the one. I had suggested it to Wil as one game that uses an "edge matching" mechanic similar to the game he's working on.

This was a great time! I actually got to play a bunch of stuff, which was awesome. I even ran a game of DRYH, which I would not have had the self-confidence to run last year (any game, not that specifically). I had been feeling kind of down about the Forge community lately, but I feel now that my worries were unjustified. Everyone is still cool, and at no point did I feel cold-shouldered.

Thanks to everyone I played with, ate with, and chatted with. TMW was awesome, as usual- more cross dressing than I expected, but just as much eye-gouging! DRYH, even though I was running out of steam, was great- Buzz and... Matt? (sorry, man, I suck with names) were really supportive of my sometimes-floundering GMing and I think the game wrapped up pretty nicely. Thanks to Clyde, Buzz (hey, guys, Salmon made us some soup!), and Tim; we're like, Totally Witches!  Digging into the Blood Red Sandbox with Ralph, Mike, Keith, (and a couple other guys whose names I didn't catch) was a blast- the Daktari tribesmen will not forget this affront to their totem!  I was sad that The Rev had to bail on the Awesome Modern Wuxia God Shard Adventure, but I was feeling a little green around the gills- I think it was the Hardees. Had some good geek-chat with a bunch of people, which I just never get enough of.

Wil, I'm really glad you could make it and show off your game. The art is fantastic, and it sounds like you made a few good contacts among the designers and such, so hopefully some of that will pan out well for you. I look forward to challenging Ralph to a rematch with the new rules, and punishing him for his insolence.

Thanks to Willow for setting stuff up and for pretty much being everywhere all weekend, and to Ron and Matt for eating the cost. Coming from Schaumburg was expensive for me, especially since I was supposed to work Friday AND Saturday, so not having to drop for the con itself was nice.  Also, I got to rock a baby to sleep for the first time in years. It was nice to find I still had the knack.

I'm glad people seemed to dig the gamer nametags. Next year I will probably hook up with James Brown and do nonsticky ones with sleeves and elastic lanyards, so that people can just get one and wear it all weekend. Unless people like using a new one every day? I'm  open to suggestions. I'm also open to suggestions for more tags, I have about 15 pages of them, and I got a few good suggestions over the weekend. If you have a favorite game I haven't done a tag for, let me know.

All in all, I'm really glad I went, and I'll be back next year for more.

Dave.

Hey, whoever came up with all the name tags is terribly clever. They were nice little icebreakers.

I have little to add except another thank you to everyone who made this weekend so great.

Extra special thanks to Ron for some great games (my copy of Spione has been ordered), Emily and Eppy for almost making Willow pass out with laughter during Sign In Stranger, and Tobias too for helping Emily introduce us to the phenomenon that is Jeepform.

We all owe a deep debt of gratitude (not just 75 bucks) to Ron and Matt for paying for the conference room.  The best things in life are indeed free....

So, is April good for everyone again next year? :)

Let's see.  Highlights of the con for me:

1)  I got to visit State Street in downtown Madison, as well as Hillsdale Mall.  Next year, I might actually plan on taking the time to do this again.  There are a bunch of nifty little shops on State Street, including a cheese shop.  We are such tourists.

2)  I finally got to play In a Wicked Age.

3)  I got to see Crystal completely own Ralph with unicorns.  (Enjoy it!)

4)  We discovered the seedy underbelly of Madison in Dirty Secrets, including a drug lord who seemed to be sleeping with everyone.

5)  I had a really helpful conversation with Tobias Wrigstad about A Flower for Mara which was probably worth the trip all by itself.

6)  Ron's kids are really cute.

A couple of regrets:

1)  Crystal and I were really tired.  I don't think that we realized exactly how exhausted we were until we hit Madison.  Hopefully next year will be better in this regard.

2) Once again, I missed playing Spione with Ron.  But, at this point, maybe I just need to angle to get in on Shahida playtesting.

3)  I didn't have a really good chance to sit down with Jason Blair.  Sigh.

But, yeah, ditto to what Ron said.  Originally, I hadn't been really keen on Madison as a location, but now I'm sold.

And a big thanks to Matt for coordinating and Willow for doing the work on the ground.  We appreciate it!

Nev wrote: I'm glad people seemed to dig the gamer nametags.

i also loved the tags, I had:

My name is ______, you killed my father, prepare to die 

(which is awesome since I am already growing my hair out to look like Wesley, I figure I could be Inigo for the time being.)

and:

(80s computer font) Hello, my name is ___________  Would you like to play a game? 

(and war games is once of my favorite movies from the 80s)

My girlfriend had one about Zombies and one about Ninjas. Both were damn cool.

My nametag identified me as an Ox from The Mountain Witch. There were other mini-character sheet ones including (I think) Bliss Stage and Don't Rest Your Head.

The short version is that I had a good time. The informality threw me off balance at first, but Saturday was a good day for meeting people and playing games. (I was wearing the brown Risk shirt and played Blazing Rose and Reality Police.)

Madison was an excellent choice for the location, but I'm entirely biased.

Huge thanks to everyone involved this weekend!  Due to a number of factors largely my own fault, I didn't get as much gaming in as I'd hoped, but what I did participate in was of fine quality.  Covert Generation (great color, slippery mechanics), In a Wicked Age (Anthology Engine indeed, I want to see it in longer-form play), and two sessions of my own Blazing Rose, with a dash of Mwahahaha! on Friday night.

Thanks especially to Tim for the gentle but insistent nudges that kept me from missing a couple of great opportunities, such as my conversations with Emily and gaming with Ron et al.  I'm looking forward to the next opportunity for such things!

I had a blast, and would call the convention a success. Aside from playing Hero's Banner, Best Friends, Universalis, and Mountain Witch, I managed to snap a few pictures. There are more to come, but for now, feel free to browse these.

Tim, those are some great pictures. You've got a great eye for photography. The 030 picture is amazing.

Great work.

I have a few, less impressive, pictures on my Forge Midwest live journal entry: http://williamhessian.livejournal.com/1009.html

Tim i also stole one of your photos of Kelsey and myself with credit given, but I still wanted to ask permission to have stolen it.

I'm absolutely biased, since I'm a Madison native, but I thought the con was fantastic.  The Best Western was great with the already mentioned exceptions of 1) keeping us in water and 2) cleaning the room between days.

I have mixed feelings regarding the informality of the con.  I gamed pretty much non stop and didn't have any problems finding games or being involved, but it's hard to say in retrospect how much of that was the result of serendipity, my being more forceful, my knowing more people, or some combination of those factors in comparison to the first Forge Midwest (I skipped the second, stupidly).  I can see how someone new to this particular convention and the structure thereof could feel lost and ignored.  Conversely, I felt a lot of freedom with the lack of scheduling and I appreciated that casual, though still intense, fun.

The sales table wasn't a feature for me.  I suppose that for it to be a feature, it would have to include some demoing and such.  Simply having the games on display isn't enough for me, as a consumer.

As far as gaming, things were wonderful.  I was able to play some Blood & Bronze, My Life with Master, Dogs in the Vineyard, In a Wicked Age, Dust Devils, & The Mountain Witch.  I touched base with some old friends (Justice & Julie, I'm looking at you specifically) and played some great games with fantastic people I've never really talked with (Dave, Ron, Tim, Jae, Nick, Jason, Tobias, Nat, Jerry and others).  I can't wait until next year.

Regards,
Daniel

This was the first event of this kind I've ever been to; I'm glad I went. Every game I played was one I'd never played before. Every person I met was someone I'd never met before. Every missed opportunity just meant room for the next opportunity. On Sunday, after getting up after everyone else had already started games, I ended up able to observe Spione up to the first flashpoint, and then had a great time in Edward's Blazing Rose.

Apparently I missed the opportunity to play Don't Rest Your Head (one of the two games I'd really hoped to try), but I was either playing 44 or sleeping (or possibly telling my only middle east joke upstairs). The game of 44 was especially satisfying because I got my usual l'esprit d'escalier inspiration about ten seconds *before* my turn came to speak my epilogue, and was able to use one of robot control's Secrets to narrate a cool ending with one of my bonds.

The venue was good; the rooms were perfect for after-game socializing. All it really needs is more hours in the day.

Not having ever gamed at any other convention, the informality was everything I'd want: low pressure, high opportunity.

Dave, I did like using a new name tag every day, mainly because they were all so cool.

The only real disappointment was non-gaming-related. If anyone knows any good places to browse through records in Madison, let me know.

Three pictures that could have turned out better: http://www.godsmonsters.com/?ART=192

Jerry

I was at both of the Chicago area Forge Midwests and had decided, regardless of where it was held this year, I was going to stay at the hotel, so I was already expecting hotel costs.  The drive from Westmont to the other locations was at least 45 minutes (over an hour during rush hour), so I felt like I was missing something by heading home to sleep.  And parking at the second location was problematic if you weren't staying at the hotel.  I had a great time at both, and figured I'd go wherever it was this year as long as the distance wasn't so great that I had to fly (mostly for vacation time off from work reasons than anything). 

So I guess I'm saying I'm fine with the Madison location.  The drive from the Western Suburbs isn't bad (though I don't mind driving long distances anyway, so maybe I'm not the best judge of that) and the location itself was close to food (it was nice to be able to walk, even if the weather didn't cooperate) and the interstate.  The rooms were spacious and comfortable.  Breakfast was better than most hotel breakfasts.  I agree with the water and trash situation, but it seems that should be an easy fix.

And I had a great time at the convention itself.  I got to play Mwahahaha!, Dirty Secrets, Amazing Adventures (in the exciting, action-packed second half), Reality Cops, The Mountain Witch and Handy (I think I'm missing something from the list...)  I don't mind the informal setup myself.  On those occasions when I was without a game, I watched some games (Best Friends, Don't Rest Your Head and Dust Devils, all of which I'd like to try), which to me is about as entertaining as playing the game itself, especially if I've never played it.  It also gave me the opportunity to meet new people, which is cool.  I rather like the size of the convention as I can actually catch up with people I haven't seen in ages (as opposed to something like GenCon, where I ran into someone I went to high school with the first day I was there last year and never saw him again as we were playing totally different games all weekend) (Daniel in particular since it'd been a couple of years). I wasn't expecting gaming right off when I arrived on Friday.  Next year, I'll have to leave work a bit earlier so I don't miss out on the extra fun.

I think using the white board as advertisement for games for sale is a good idea, and maybe there can be some indicator that the creator is willing to run the game they created if enough people are interested.  Deciding on a time to set up a table and posting that on the board would be cool, too.  Might also be a good place to list things people want to playtest.

Thanks to those involved in the planning and organizing, as well as anyone who contributed stuff (Dave brought name tags and his big pile o' games, Ron hosted people in his room in the evening for game chat, Jae brought food (I know I ate a lot of those peanuts), game creators with stuff to playtest and/or sell, people who gave up their spot (or at least offered to) in a game because someone who had never played it before wanted in, people who contributed stuff I didn't actually see and people in general who were willing to strike up random conversation with total strangers).  There were a lot of great, fun, creative, considertate people among the attendees.

I took some pictures but haven't gone through them since I got home (it's been crazy here).  I doubt I've got anything that will top Tim's, though.

Anyway, it was good to see everyone again.  I'm looking forward to next year!

Juli

I weigh in belatedly to say that I also had a fanTAStic time!  One of these times, Ron, I will corner you into running Sorcerer for me!  In the meantime, drinking excellent beer (thanks for the pointer to the mega-grocery-liquor-store, Tim) and talking for hours will do. 

I didn't play as much as I wanted to, but that was as much my own doing as anything - I mysteriously crashed and burned on Saturday evening, but I really needed the quiet time/rest.

It's a heck of a long drive (the Garmin GPS is awesome, but it doesn't know about the Curse of the Ryan, and we spent 2 hours creeping across Chicago on the Ryan.  Which always happens to me if I drive on the Ryan, any time of night or day), but well worth it, and I had good company.  Who knew there was an indie gamer darned nearly next door?

I'll be back next year!

My photos are at http://picasaweb.google.com/Jaegamer/ForgeMidwest2008, and I will get around to captioning them eventually.  In the meantime, though, please feel free to email me or caption them yourself.

Jae