Derek's Soapbox

Qualifying groups for the Premier Events Reward Program announced

Derek Guder — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 00:41:00 GMT

This announcement has been a little while in the making, delayed a bit by the launch of event submission. I am please to finally announce the official form of the Premier Events Reward Program, designed to reward and recognize gaming groups and companies that closely follow Gen Con's policies (most specifically in turning in their tickets and accurately estimating their expected attendance).

The requirements for inclusion in this program are:

Turn in Tickets for at least 80% of Events
Groups must maintain a minimum of 80% rate of ticket return (i.e. 8 out of 10 events must have some kind of ticket data).
70% of Actual Attendance vs. Submitted Maximum Number of Players
A group's total actual attendance (based on tickets turned in) must be at least 70% of the total maximum number of players, as submitted with the group's events.
At Least 60 Total Players
Groups must run events for a total of at least 60 players.
Discretionary Criteria
In addition, groups that are eligible for the program as a result of their tickets must still maintain a good working relationship with Gen Con. Specifically, groups must still submit in their events and badge/hotel requests on time (and accurately). We reserve the right to refuse inclusion of a group for any reason, including too many errors during event submission, late requests, excessive complaints, or other significant problems and obstacles.

The benefits in the program include:

Priority Placement of Events
Qualifying events will be placed before other events submitted within the same cycle. They would still be subject to the overall cycle format, but would get top priority within each cycle.
Premium Event Chart Listings
Event listings for qualified gaming groups would receive the Indy flag icon and release of a separate downloadable event chart of just featured groups.
Inclusion in Two Email Blasts to Attendees
At least a week before event registration begins, a list of premier event organizers will be included in an email blast to attendees. At least a week before event registration closes, a list of events run by premier groups that still have tickets available will be sent to attendees.
Eligibility for Program Book and Web Site Event Highlights
Premier event organizers are eligible to submit descriptions of their events and their group/company for inclusion in the event highlights in the program book and web site (formerly these were open to anyone who submitted).

A number of valid concerns were raised when I asked for feedback on the program, and it should be explicitly understood that this program will be subject to change in the future. Specifically, it will be closely scrutinized this year before, during and after the show. If you have any concerns or encounter and problems with it, please let me know so that I can try to address them.

The List of Premier Event Groups

Eligibility for the 2009 Premier Events Reward Program is based on data from 2008. The following 31 groups met the criteria outlined above and will be part of the initial trial run this year.

AEG - Heroes of Rokugan
Amorphous Blob Games
BYOV
Catalyst Game Labs
Chaosium, Inc.
Code Monkey Publishing
Crafty Games
Dayton Regional Aerodrome Group
DragonHearth Productions
Evil Fleet Productions
Fantasy Aspirations
Greymalkin Designs, LLC
Infinite Imaginations, Inc.
M Collective
Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd.
Millennium Interactive Gaming
MU Skulls
Northern Virginia Gamers (NOVAG)
Ottawa Red Shirts
Paizo Publishing, LLC
Paradigm Concepts
Playroom Entertainment
PST Productions
Rogue Judges
Smirk and Dagger Games
Steve Jackson Games Men In Black
The Indy Mavens
The Shining Jewel
The Wrecking Crew
TwinBlade Games LLC
Zombie Buddy Productions

I will be contacting event organizers from these groups to coordinate with them, as I will need additional event details to use for program book and web site highlights.

If you are an event organizer for any of these groups and have any questions, please feel free to contact me directly and I will be happy to help you.

Looking for Feedback

Derek Guder — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 19:15:00 GMT

In the continuing trek to try to improve Gen Con, we've got some ideas percolating that we want specific feedback and brainstorming on.

The first is a program designed to help highlight and reward gaming groups and companies that follow the rules and run well-attended games. It's called the Premier Events Reward Program and the proposed details can be found here, in the GM forum. It's a fully-formed program proposal, ready for some tweaking before it's enacted.

There is also another thread asking people to discuss and brainstorm ideas about how to recognize and reward individual GMs. This is a more free-form discussion, no proposal is (as yet) ready to be formed into an actual program and enacted. We're still discussing ideas and challenges.

Our intent is to leave these discussions up until we get back from the holidays (early January) and then try to wrap them up a bit. About a month seems to be a reasonable time for focused feedback.

If you have any ideas or opinions, please take some time to read through the threads - but I ask that you read the entire thread before you make a post of your own. Some topics have already come up and been discussed to their full extent.

That's all from me this time, just a quick note. Many of us will be out of the office very shortly, off on our holiday adventures. I hope that y'all out there have some exciting winter wonderland plans of your own to keep you busy during the break. I'll see ya again in 2009.

So what do we do during the "off season"?

Derek Guder — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 18:56:00 GMT

I can tell you what I've been doing, at least. Hell, I can show you.

During the "off season," I spend most of my time figuring out what I want to improve in the following year and then trying to figure out how to actually do that. One of the fruits of that is a proposal I have for event organizers and game master: the Premier Events Reward Program.

Basically, PERP (bad acronym, I know) is intended to reward companies and groups that run popular events and adhere closely to our policies are given some of the recognition they deserve, some addiitional exposure and get first pick of event space. The program is still in the proposal stage, though, and I've released details to the GM forum for event organizers to discuss and debate so we can work out the kinks and make sure it's actually what people want before moving into it.

I dunno about y'all, but I like being able to talk about changes we have in mind and get some feedback before they're made official. Gen Con is quite literally built on the backs of our volunteers and GMs, so I like to try to include everyone whenever I can.

I've also been spending a lot of time pouring over our attendance data from 2008, analyzing both submitted events and tickets turned in to try to get a sense for trends. I've been doing stuff like graphing attendance (both submitted and actual) hour-by-hour over the whole weekend for different event types, companies and locations, trying to see where we can be more efficient or improve things - and to determine what events are our strongest performers and biggest draws.

A lot of the conclusions I've been able to draw from this data might seem a bit obvious, but there's a big difference between having a feeling about something or basing a decision on anecdotal evidence vs. actual wide-ranging data. There have also been lots of interesting surprises, like how RPGs are the only standard, ticketed event type that has fewer final players than people who pre-registered (meaning there are lots of people who sign up but flake out and don't show) or that the peak number of concurrent players for LARPs is just about equal to the peak number of concurrent TCG players (that's the maximum number of people playing at the same time, not the total number of the whole weekend).

Or what about the trend that more people submit events for Saturday, but actual attendance is higher on Friday?

I've been preparing lots and lots of graphs over the past month or so and hopefully I'll be able to cobble them together into some kind of reasonably intelligible report I can share with everyone. Not only would it be useful for event organizers when planning their events, but it would also be useful to prove to everyone just how important and useful it is to turn in your event tickets.

Does anyone like GM time sheets?

Derek Guder — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 23:30:00 GMT

So it's never too early to start planning for the next Gen Con, trust me. In that vein, I've revised and released the glorious Event Host Policy in all of its glorific glory. The initial 09 revision is now available.

What's new, you ask? Well, not a whole lot, honestly. I added info about Wednesday gaming, clarified some stuff,etc.

Oh, and I got rid of GM time sheets.

Hopefully that got your attention. Yup, my plan for 2009 is to get rid of GM time sheets. I don't like 'em. You don't like 'em. People have complained about how much of a hassle they are, etc. They get lost; aren't filled out properly; you forget to get them sign by the HQ; you don't even know where the HQ is; you weren't asking for reimbursement but you filled one out anyway, etc. There are lots of reasons time sheets can be a bit of a pain in the neck for some GMs.

But they're essential, right? There's no other way to confirm who ran what to refund them, is there?

Now that I've been more more agressive in getting people to turn in their event tickets (thanks to everyone who did!) and we have much more accurate attendance records, I've taken another look at GM time sheets and I think I have a better way.

TIme sheets reall served two functons:

Confirm that you actually ran your events
Provide a formal way to request a refund and get me the info I need (mainly your account number and contact info)

With rigorous ticket collection, thoguh, we kind of have purpose #1 covered. Our policies already state that if you don't turn in the tickets for your event, then it effectively didn't happen. We've gotten to the point with tickets that they can basically serve as your time sheet now.

Did you turn in your tickets? Great - then your event went off and your OK, just as if you had gotten your time sheet signed off on. Oops - you mean you didn't turn in your tickets? Well, you better get 'em to us ASAP or we won't be able to reimburse you based off of those events.

This change should make it easier for GMs (who have one less piece of paperwork to worry about) and better for me (as it should encourage even greater ticket return and I don't have to worry about sorting through a big stack of wrinkled papers).

That still leaves purpose #2, however. If you want a reimbursement, you'll still need to tell me (and provide specific information) but now you'll be able to do it via email.

So getting a reimbursement is now a 2-step process:

drop off your tickets
email me your info to ask for a reimbursement

Keep two more things in mind, though: First, make sure your email includes all of the appropriate info (explained in the EHP). If you don't, it'll be sent back to you. Second, if you are expecting hotel riembursement, I still need to recieve a copy of your hotel bill (with your name printed on it by the hotel!) before I can send you any money. No hotel reimbursements will be issueed without hotel bills.

So that's the New Order. One less bit of pwperwork to worry about! Hopefully this will make things easier for all of us, but if you have any questions, concerns, comments or suggestions on this (or anything else) let me know sooner rather than later so we can address them well before the show.

Thanks, and here's the quick guide to changes in the new revision of the EHP. Make sure to download and check out the whole document.

Guide to Changes in the Event Host Policy

Major Policy Changes

GM Time Sheets Are No Longer Required
Gen Con no longer requires GMs to fill out time sheets in order to get badge or hotel reimbursement. However, you must turn in tickets for all of your events and you do still need to make a request.Reimbursements will not be issued if you do not turn in your event tickets.If you want reimbursement for your badge or hotel, you must:1. Turn in your event tickets (and hotel bill, if applicable)2. Email events@gencon.com with the appropriate informationRefer to the Reimbursements and Payments section for full details on what you need to provide.
All Reimbursement and Payment Inquiries Must be Received with a Month of the Show
Gen Con will be closing its books earlier, so all financial inquiries or requests must be received at the Gen Con LLC offices within a month of the show. Badge or hotel requests or ticket payment requests made after that date will not be honored.If you are expecting money from Gen Con, you must let us know within a month of the show or we will not be able to help you.
Wednesday Events
We have been experimenting with a limited number of Wednesday events the past few years and have added details to this document. Wednesday events are free and do not require tickets. Space is limited and Wednesday events will be reviewed and placed after all other events.
Policy & Process Clarifications
The following policy and process clarifications are summaries. Please see the corresponding sections in the Event Host Policy for the actual policies.
Badges are Required for Everyone At All Times
There are no exceptions – valid badges are required for everyone at all times. All players must have a badge. All GMs must a badge. All presenters, hosts, guests, panelists, participants, etc. must not only have a badge but have it with them at all times when in the convention space.It’s a good idea to have your badge out and obvious or you risk being stopped by security.
You are Solely Responsible for the Accuracy and Status of Your Events
You are responsible for your events, not Gen Con. You should double-check them for accuracy as well as to confirm their status. Gen Con is not responsible if your events are never placed because they were still “in progress” or if you don’t show up to run your game because you didn’t know it was accepted.
Additional fee for events with a cost over $20/2 hours
Any event with a final cost greater than $20 per 2 hours (or $40/4 hours or $60/6 hours, etc.) is subject to an additional 10% administrative fee. This additional fee will be added to the Gen Con base price and deducted from your requested Special Pricing.

Almost recovered, and my haul from Indy

Derek Guder — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 23:54:00 GMT

Well, we're back in the office now, or at least most of us are - some staff members have taken advantage of the lull in the office immediately after Indy so take a quick vacation and visit friends and family. Until our pallets (where most of our paperwork and notes from the show were packet up) from Indianapolis arrive, we're kind of in a holding pattern. Then we'll dive into wrapping up the show and getting geared up for 2009.

Until then, though, we're resting up, relaxing and recovering from our mad dash to the show. What have I been doing? Flipping through the books I picked up at the show.

I was able to snag a copy of the much sought-after Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide and it looks pretty cool, though what I'm really waiting for is the player's companion - I want character options. In other D&D news, I got a physical copy of the hard-to-find Pathfinder BETA playtest. It's available free online in PDF format, but the physical printing sold out incredibly fast at Gen Con and Paizo's new Pathfinder Society organized play program had an amazing launch.

I didn't just pick up D&D stuff, though, another of my favorite games (Shadowrun) had a few new releases I grabbed: Unwired and the Runner's Companion. I was also able to finally find a copy of CthulhuTech, something I'd been trying to hunt down since last year's Gen Con. As an added bonus, I got the new, prettier printing and got the author to sign it.

Another hard-to-find book I managed to track down was Delta Green: Eyes Only, a reprinting of the older Delta Green chap-book-things with some additional content. I was only able to get the softcover edition, though. I think I'll need to pre-order their next book if I want one of their super-low print run hardcovers.

Fantasy Flight had a new RPG at the show: Anima. I've seen the card game and miniatures game floating around but had no information on it, but when I was told that it was an anime-styled RPG by way of Spain, I knew I had to at least check it out. I also picked up a starter set for the pre-painted miniatures game Confrontation so I could finally check that out and see how it plays.

It wasn't all news stuff that I picked up, though. I also got some older White Wolf books I'd been meaning to pick up for a while, Requiem for Rome and Fall of the Camarilla. I've been itching to run a Vampire game again and I'm hoping the historical Rome setting will lure some of my friends away from D&D long enough for them to realize they can enjoy another game too.

I grabbed a handful of indie games that looked interesting for a friend, picking up 3:16, Darkpages and Hot War. They all looked pretty cool and came highly recommended from Mssrs. Hite and Sorenson. I also grabbed 2 copies of Hite's Tour de Lovecraft (one for me and one for another friend).

I did have one thing I wasn't able to get, annoyingly. The Maid RPG was apparently pretty popular, 'cause when I finally found it on Sunday it was sold out. Frustrating. It's supposed to be the first Japanese RPG translated into English and I'm curious to check it out (and anxious for the other Japanese RPG in process - Tenra Bansho Zero).

So I just wanted to pop on and pimp some games I was able to grab at the show. Next time I'll try to give some of my impressions on how Indy ran this year, and maybe a few things I want to try differently next time.

Finally arrived in Indy

Derek Guder — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 05:30:00 GMT

Well, I'm finally here on site. After a cascading flight delay in Seattle, I've arrived something like 6, 7 hours later than I had originally planned. My head's stuffy with that feeling like you just got blind-sided by a big truck who ran off with a whole day and you have no idea where it went.

I was hoping to have a chance to write something actually useful tonight before I went to bed, but that ain't gonna happen. I've already stayed up too late answering emails. I've got meetings way too early tomorrow.

I'll try to post something Monday night. Is anyone still around then? It's hard to tell, sometimes. I leave so early for the show it's easy to forget that Gen Con isn't a 10-day event for everyone else.

The Eleventh Hour

Derek Guder — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 05:20:00 GMT

It's been a bit from my last post. But I've got an excuse called event review and placement for over 4500 events. I know I might sound like a broken record, but it's insane that actual event placement is already done for almost all events. It may not seem that awesome on the outside but it puts me months ahead of the ball...

Anyway, it's been a long night. Bear with me. My dinner was a Butterfinger ice cream bar, a box of nasty-tasting "citrus twist" tic-tacs and a bottle of apple juice. Oh, and some Smartfood popcorn.

Why am I still here? Well there's this little thing called "event registration" happening on Sunday. Maybe you've heard of it. Even though the "final" event catalog was released late on Wednesday there was still plenty to do: there were last-minute submission to go through (like stuff from WizKids), events that had been returned for correction, and generally lots of little bits here and there that needed to be patched up. Events that had slipped through the cracks and hadn't been made active yet. I think I've taken care of most of them and I've urged EOs/GMs to take another look at their events and make sure everything is in order.

The event catalog is effectively "complete." I say effectively because stuff is going to be added right up until the last minute, I'm sure, and because there are some large gaps from companies that have not submitted their events to me for review - but it's got everything that came in before the deadline and it's about as "final" as it's going to get before event submission goes live. If it's not in the list now, then it wasn't submitted and I just won't have time to process anything else that comes in at this point.

At this point it's starting to almost feel like the night before Christmas. Except I've got another whole day to wait.And my presents will all be phone calls from frustrated attendees who run into some problem during registration.

I also went through and added GM badges for everyone who submitted badge requests forms so that they could go buy tickets on Sunday. That was nice and smooth. I think people might actually get it this year.

I even managed to put up the tentative Wednesday events. I had been planning on dealing with those after event registration when I could confirm specific locations, but people wanted 'em up earlier and most of them were pretty much good to go. We'll still need to have another post explaining/promoting that someone soon.

There is such a huge weight off my shoulders now that this is done. I can actually go back to doing anything other than event review/placement. You know, like the rest of my job. My pet projects of anime, film and video games need some attention.

But for now, I think it's time to head home and try to relax a bit tomorrow (except I think I'm spending much of it helping a friend move...). Man, it's so cold in this office at night...

The event catalog previews

Derek Guder — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 23:04:00 GMT

So the event placement process continues. I'm still neck-deep in reviewing and placing events. Just about everything from cycle 1 is done, but I need to get through cycles 2 and 3 in about a week or so. Should be fun.

The whole process has been very different this year. In the past we've reviewed all the events in a big batch just prior to event registration and didn't place them until later, when locations needed to be prepared for the program guide. This time, we're trying to get confirmed locations for everything for eache event before we make it public and viewable to attendees. It's an amazing feeling to be taking care of a lot of this now instead of a few months down the road, but I've had to take a closer look at a the space we assign events to be as efficient as possible. That can slow things down - and make me worried when it seems like I'm able to fit more events in half the space we used last year (hey TCG and LRP event organizers - check your space assignments for me, would ya?).

The other totally new things we've been doing is releasing event details as we are able to confirm them. Every year, lots of people ask for event details earlier so they can pour over them and plan out their schedule. We also wanted to try get people to visit the site more often and kind of ramp up the excitement for the show, so we figured we would release incremental event updates, weekly batches of the events we were able to go through and review. That has caused its own problems and confusions, though, as many attendees have searched online or downloaded the event charts and are worried when they don't see what they were looking for.

We've tried to clearly explain that more events are continually added and that the list wasn't final by any means but it still caused a lot of confusion and concern. It's kind of catch-22 - we want to release events but we don't want to cut off event submission any earlier and if we release only blocks of events not everyone is going to be aware that it isn't complete. Not everyone floats around the forums or sees the explanation/warning text.

So it's a tough question. I just wanted to vent about it a bit (do me a favor and if you see someone asking that question, remind 'em the event list is always changing) and start y'all thinking about it. What's the best way to get events out to everyone? Is piecemeal better? Should there be fewer chunks? Is it better to just have one big dump before event registration?

Obvsiously it's too late to change things for this year and I'm not promising that we'll be able to make any big changes next year either, but I just want to ask people to take a moment and think about what might be the best way to release event details. But not just the best way for you to get the details, but the best way for everyone: for the EOs and GMs who want more time to submit everything, the attendees who want to get all the confirmed details ASAP, and for the poor Gen Con staff that needs to wade through everything to get it ready for public consumption.

Ponder that for a bit and get back to me. I'm sure someone out there can think of a Better Way.

The first batch of event locations are released months early!

Derek Guder — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 21:50:00 GMT

Every year people ask for event details to be released earlier and this year we have to keep a much tighter eye on space, so we tried to kill several birds with one stone by kinda of combining event review with event placement and just try to take care of all of it much earlier than we have in the past. That's what most of the point of those event cycles were - to get people to submit event data much earlier so we could go through everything and release event details sooner. Looks like it's working so far...

I spent much of the week placing more than 1000 RPGs. My Sunday was eaten up banging my head into Excel trying to do fancy stuff and making no progress so I just gave up and went with a simpler method, but that still kept me in the office past midnight on Tuesday. It's quite a feeling now that it'd done, though. This is something that we would usually be doing months down the road on a much tighter schedule. Having it done now (and having a realistic view of our current space usage in the RPG rooms) and being able to clear up any placement issues with groups and companies now is going to be a huge weight off my shoulders down the line.

I'm not done, though, of course - I just finished the RPGs. I still have to go through LRPs, TCGs, and miniatures. At least I don't have to worry about boardgames and seminars/workshops. Still gotta work on my anime, film and video game stuff too...

But anyway, as I mentioned at the start, the first batch of event locations are done and you can view them by searching within the registration system or downloading our usual Excel charts. I've only bothered to put up the overall charts - once we've gone through more events I'll break it out into the individual day and event type files (but you can do that yourself in Excel anyway - filters are your friend).

Please remember that the list if neither final nor complete - this is only the first cycle of a single event type. There are still cycles 2 and 3 as well as all the other games out there. If you don't see what you're looking for yet, check back later or - better yet - send a message to your favorite publisher/gaming group to ask about their plans for the show.

We'll be releasing updates as frequently as we can, and I'll try to give everyone a heads-up when a big batch of new events have gone live.

Now I want to share what might be the coolest event I've come across so far:

RPG01232 - Now We're Troubleshooting with Portals - Paranoia, XP edition - Fantasy Aspirations - Friday 9 pm - 3 hours
Good news citizen! Your permanent record and behavioral log have pre-selected you for exciting and glorious service to The Computer! You will be joining other candidates just like you as you form a brand new troubleshooter team. Just one thing: you are to receive a highly experimental device that will allow for instant transportation across space. do not let it fall into commie mutant traitor hands! Do what you must, because you can.

It's one of those wonderful gaming mash-ups that are just so perfect you have to wonder how come no one did it before. Paranoia and Portal were clearly made for each other. The cake is a lie! The cake is a lie!

What I remember from the blur of event review

Derek Guder — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 23:24:00 GMT

No event placement update this week yet - expect a huge dump next week, though. Big stuff, I hope. I've got my fingers crossed.

This week, though, I figured I'd give a few quick examples of games that caught my attention during the review process. This is hugely slanted towards RPG and is totally influenced by my personal idiosyncratic taste in games, but basically it's a quick list of the games I'd be registering for if I had any free time at the con.

I used to wait until the show itself to figure out what games I would play (mainly because I'd spend most of my time running games and would rarely end up with time for a con game anyway). I'd grab a program book and just go through circling everything that looked interesting, then I'd see if I could fit it into my schedule.

First off, I'm gonna say I'd be most excited about playing Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition. I used to be a hard-core D&D hater but my friends eventually got me fully invested in 3E. I've played a brief sample of 4th and everything I've heard about it damn near perfect - so I can't wait for that and I'm glad to see a fair number of people have already submitted 4E games.

There are also a number of other games I'd love to try out in the convention environment:

Rain of Fire and Catalyst Game Labs are both running a ton of Shadowrun 4th edition games and I still haven't had a chance to really try it out.
Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy also looks very interesting, though I'm much more into the background and the world than the system. I had an... interesting experience with Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay.
I've always had a soft spot for Vampire and the World of Darkness so I like it when I come across those submissions too. I'd like to see someone running Wraith or Mage: The Ascension using the new rules set.

As for specific games.. let's see...

Infinite Imaginations is running 2 RPGs (RPG00902 and RPG00903) using the Hero System based on the Sci-Fi Channel miniseries The Lost Room. I've never messed around with Hero, but the show was great.
An independent GM (James Blaze) is running a Dune game (RPG00629) that promises some intrigude: House Olin hosts a planet wide celebration and trade delegation every 10 years. Only 5 major houses are invited to determine which house will be given trading rights with House Olin. House Adici is sending delegates to negotiate in their interest. They bring a gift of a 1200 year old kindjal blade that was used to assassinate an ancestor of Olin's current Viscount. The assassin was from House D'murjzin. A rival house of Adici's at the delegation.
Ron McClung submitted a game that's short on details (the description is just "Players investigate the disappearance of a Hawkwood noble thought lost to the jaws of a space kraken.") but it's Fading Suns and that's always worth a look.
Infinite Imagionations is also running an Inspectres game (RPG00884 Things That Go Bump in the Night Thump! Thump! What could be making that noise in old Ms. Richardson's house? It's up to you and your team of investigators to find out. Inspectres is player driven storytelling, rules light, with role playing & fun emphasized. "We fight the forces of darkness, so you don't have to!"), which is something any fan of indie-type games should not miss.
One of my favorite games of all time is Nobilis, even if I've never been able to get enough people together to finally pull it off. 13 Oak Lane Productions is running 2 sessions of it over the weekend (RPG00593 & RPG00596, Pandora's Key "They say that Pandora's Box contained all the woes and evils of the world, and until they were released, Man lived in a golden age of glory. What if someone simply closed the lid again? Could humanity survive in a perfect world? Betrayal and mystery lurk on every side, and the fate of all the worlds rests in the hands of the Sovereign Powers. (Pre-generated characters only.)"). I can't recommend Nobilis highly enough for anyone who likes their RPGs a bit werid and pseudo-philosophy/metaphysics heavy.
My other favorite game is probably Unknown Armies and as luck would have it, there are two sessons of that submitted so far by Todd Furler (RPG01341 & RPG01342, A Hole in the World, "Victor Kjeldsen always gets what he wants. Always. Now he wants the only thing you can't do without."). It's an amazing, flexible game - another good game for those who like to idly ponder metaphysical symbolism as much as they like to shoot bad guys.

So those are some of the RPGs that caught my attention, mainly because they happened to be games I already have a knee-jerk pre-disposition to love 'em anyway. I wasted way too much time with my old gaming group pouring through some of those gems and it always warms my heart to see 'em come up again. It can be very hard to find people who have read Nobilis or Blue Planet and even harder to get enough of 'em to play it. One of the things I'd always loved about cons in general and Gen Con in specific was that you could almost always count on at least one session of even the weirdest game.

So gimme more of that, folks - more weird games, and more old games brought back! Let's see some more Planescape and Dark Sun stuff in the new 4th edition rules. Play around with stuff and indulge in those games you never get to play at home, for whatever reason.

That's what Gen Con's for.

Short and sweet - prepping for event placement

Derek Guder — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 23:17:00 GMT

Let's try something shorter and simpler this time around. Maybe I can keep up with that a bit better.

So I've spent pretty much the entire week wrestling around in Excel, making the new event grid for 2008 that we use to place all the events. Yup - the magic happens in Excel. You submit your events via the system, we review 'em in the system, export to Excel and to do a ton of visual manipulation of tables and schedules, then manually create another Excel file to export back into the system with location information. It's a prety involved process that involves lots of copying-and-pasting merged cells.

This year I've taken it upon myself to try to improve scheduling and space management by creating an Excel file with some additional functionality, allowing for filtering and making it a bit easier on the eyes, as well as adding in some additional information for reference. I spent Monday and much of Tuesday figuring out how to format and arrange data so Excel would know what to do, then the rest of Tuesday and Wednesday was spent putting all of our space details into the structure - and then double-checking everything to varify contractual confirmation. Still need some tables counts for some rooms, but it's largely done.

I've already put in some of the major events and tested the functionality with chunks of last year's schedule and the more I use this new form, the more I like it. I think it'll make this whole placement and space management process easier, especially when combined with how much earlier we're going through all this - which is especially important because I'm fully confident that we'll need whatever help we can get in dealing with the space crunch this coming year.

I'll prolly spend a fair amount of my weekend reviewing the last batch of events that came in just before the deadline for cycle 1 event submission and then starting to place them. What does that mean? Well, aside from some extra-curricular work for me, it means that we should be able to release event information much, much earlier than we have in the past - and not just what events are happening but also where they are going to be held. Further, we won't be dumping all the events on you at once, but instead will be rolling out approved and placed events as they are confirmed. We'll have more details on that as it gets closer to actually happening, but I figured I'd give everyone a sneak-preview-heads-up-insider-info-hint at what we have planned.

Next week's blog post should be after I've placed the bulk of events, so I'll try to give some insight into how quickly space is going.

Event submission has begun!

Derek Guder — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 01:01:00 GMT

Event submission began on February 3^rd and in almost 2 weeks we’ve already received more than 1300 events. It looks like our new cyclical event review and placement schedule has really worked at getting people to submit events earlier this year. I don’t have the numbers on hand, but I’m almost positive that it took us more than 6 weeks to get to this point last year.

Don’t know what I’m talking about? Confused by “cyclical event review and placement cycles”? Wondering why so many other people submitted their events early? You might want to take a closer look at the Event Host Policy (and this forum post explaining the submission process).

I’ve spent the past week reviewing almost all of those events. In fact, I spent all day yesterday reading events while listening to 101 different cover versions of “Stairway to Heaven.” It made for quite the surreal experience.

A lot of events have come in already but I wanted to take a quick moment to go over some common mistakes and give some quick tips.

Changes to item… & Returned for Correction

First off it should be understood that I have to make minor (or not so minor) tweaks to a fairly large number of events. When I go through and review events, I’m basically checking three things:

Is everything filled out properly?
Are all right fields filled in the right way? Is round 1 of a tournament an entry round and is the final round advancement-only? Did you fill out your name and mailing address if you asked for special pricing? Stuff like that.
Is everything clear and is there any repetition/redundancy?
Do you say the same thing or duplicate information across multiple fields? Is the description clear enough to understand?
Is everything spelled correctly and is the grammar intelligible?
This is pretty straight-forward.

If I can make quick, simple changes to fix any apparently problem I find, I do so and you’ll get an automatic notification about what I tweaked. If it’s more complicated, affects a large number of events, or I’m really not sure what you originally meant I’ll send it back to you for correction.

The important thing to remember is that I’m not always right. Sometimes I didn’t quite understand what you were trying to say or I don’t know the game well enough or I wasn’t clear enough in my explanation to you about what was wrong. Just because I changed something in your event doesn’t mean it’s set in stone or how you did it “isn’t allowed.” Make sure you’ve read the EHP and event submission form instructions to see if any rules have been broken but if you don’t like a change I’ve made or are confused about a comment, don’t hesitate to email or call me to find out what’s up.

Maybe I changed the game system to something I thought was clearer and I was wrong or I removed some duplicate information from your description that you really wanted there because lots of people miss it.

Sometimes I’ll also see something that seems like a problem but I won’t change it, I’ll just send you a note about it. Usually this happens on something I’m unsure about or isn’t a big deal, but could be clearer.

Again, just remember that the event submission process is basically a dialogue between me and you (the event organizer). Feel free to speak up.

Alright, let’s move on to common problem fields.

Gaming Group/Sponsor

If you have a sponsor or part of a gaming group, put their name here. If you don’t – just leave it blank. It’s not a required field, so you don’t need to put in your own name, Indie, or None if you don’t have a group or sponsor.

Title

If you’re running an RPG or LARP (or anything similar) do not put the name of the game in the title. Seriously. Don’t.

If you’re running “Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil,” then that is your title – not “Dungeons & Dragons: Return to Temple of Elemental Evil.” Similarly, “Werewolf: the Forsaken – Let’s Go Kick Some Vampire A$$” is not acceptable.

Don’t put the GM or scenario author name here either. This is the title of the game session – and that’s all that should be in it.

Event Description

Don’t list the game system here either – that’s what the Game System field is for (more on that below). Aside from spelling and grammar problems (double-check that before you submit your event!) the biggest problem with event descriptions tends to be duplicate information.

Don’t include your gaming group or sponsor, or your GMs. Don’t include the game system or rules edition. Don’t list age or experience requirements. Don’t say “materials provided.” Don’t say “advancement only.” Etc.

Basically, don’t duplicate information that another field specifically exists for.

There can be exceptions to my “don’t duplicate!” rule, but they’re relatively rare. Sometimes you do need to really re-iterate something that you’ve had problems with in the past. I usually just remove as much duplication as I can, though. If I cut something you really, really want there, email me and we’ll figure it out.

Game System & Rules Edition

These can be the two trickiest fields. First off, if you’re running a game, they are required. Just because you’re running a board or card game and the title of the session is just the name of the game doesn’t mean “N/A” will be accepted. Where this can get complicated is with Rules Edition and RPGs/LARPs (or any custom game).

As a general rule of thumb, try to use official form as much as possible and think of those two fields are reading “_____, ______ edition” (with Game System being the first blank and Rules Edition being the second).

Game System is pretty straightforward except with RPGs or a game where you use a rule system from one game to play the setting of another. Things can get a bit wonky then. I recommend that you use Game System for the actual system: Dungeons & Dragons, d20, Vampire: The Requiem, Nobilis, etc. If you are running a specific setting, like Planescape or Forgotten Realms then include that information in the description.

That’s a guideline, however. Game System is a common field people use to search for and sort events, so put what you think your players are most likely to look for you event under. If I change the system in your event and you’re concerned, just let me know.

You don’t need to include “edition” in the Rules Edition field and I very much prefer absolute and official edition numbers: 1^st or 5^th or 3.5 instead of “current” or “old.” Relative edition terms (like “new”) aren’t as clear and can potentially confuse a player who isn’t following the game’s releases – and with D&D this can cause a lot of confusion. If you submit a D&D game with “current” as the edition people will register for it before Indy – but by then a new edition will be out. Be as exact as possible.

If your game has only ever had one edition, just list 1^st. It is the first edition, after all. Sometimes a number just won’t work, though, like with Vampire: The Masquerade, Revised edition. Sometimes you’ll want to list rules variants or options added on, like a GURPS supplement you’re using or a Hero System version. Maybe you’re running the d20 edition.

Just try to use the official spelling/terminology whenever possible and remember to read the two fields to yourself – “(game system), (rules edition) edition” – to make sure it sounds right and you should be fine.

Tournaments: Round Type

This is the most common mistake when submitting tournaments, so make sure to double-check this field.

If you want people to be able to register and buy a ticket to this round, choose “Entry Round.” An entry round should also be designated as round 1 in Round Number for this Submission.

If they need to have completely a previous round before they can play, choose “Advancement Round” (and the round number should not be 1 unless this is a special invitation-only event). This will automatically set the price to $0 and prevent anyone from registering for it.

Biggest piece of advice: Double-check everything!

Man, that got long. Hope you’re all still awake.

The last thing I want to say is: double-check your event and if you have a question, ask. Gen Con isn’t a faceless corporation whittling your round event to fit in a square peg – it’s just me thinking something doesn’t seem quite right and tweaking as best I can.

Finding stuff to do at Gen Con

Derek Guder — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 21:20:00 GMT

Fancy that. I actually got a comment at my last post. People are reading this during the off season? What's more, it's actually a request to cover some stuff in the blog. I am shock-ed.

So let's get to it, or at least try. It's obviously too early to really talk about what events are cool at Indy 08 yet (watch this space next spring), but I figured I could talk about how I found cool stuff when I wasn't working Gen Con and some generally cool areas.

I used to run games for Eden Studios and a GM's weekend at Gen Con is pretty damn busy. You have to set up your schedule of games before you really know when anything is, so I was never really able to plan around going to some big event (I've still never been through True Dungeon...). I used to just schedule from 10-2 and 4-8 so I wouldn't have to wake up that early and so that I wouldn't be workin' too late. Usually there would be a few days where I had to run two games, which left little time for anything else, but I can usually breeze through the exhibit hall real quick (here's how: walk through the whole hall real quick, just noting things that look interesting - then go back and check those later. Don't try to look at everything the first time you see it - this helps save you some money too), so it was never a big issue.

I don't think I ever looked at the schedule of events before the show - I saved that for on-site. I'd pick up the program book the night before the show and relax from traveling by flipping through the event charts, circling everything that seemed half-way interesting (pretty much just RPGs for me). Then I'd narrow things down if there were conflicts, check to see if my friends had any plans, etc. Eventually I might end up registering for a game or two (usual Wraith or something that I can never find outside of a con).

The event charts were the primary way I figured out what I wanted to play, though I always made sure to ask exhibitors about demos of a new game that looked interesting. An actual play experience is always a better way to gauge quality than a sales pitch.

There's always downtime at a show, though. You know, that period you feel a bit bored, a bit restless. You can't pin it down, but you're sure you're missing out on something awesome just around the corner. If only you knew what it was you were missing...

In those cases, there's a few things you can try (and all are, of course, much more effective when you've got your gamer posse to back you up. Friends don't let friends go to a con without some companionship).

If the exhibit hall is open, you're almost guaranteed to be able to find something to amuse yourself with in there, even if you've already done the full circuit like I mentioned above.

The other all-purpose solution is to grab those event charts again and just pick the most interesting sounding game going on right then. It doesn't matter if it's your normal kind of game or if you actually end up playing it. Just pick something and start walking to it. You're bound to find something fun along the way or enjoy the game itself.

Things get a bit tougher as it gets later, though. Everyone usually wants to wrap up their games around dinner and while that's when the LARPs come out in force, they aren't for everyone. That's probably the best time to wander around for random fun, though. Video rooms are always at their best after 6 or 7 pm, I think. That's when the weirder films and videos start coming out and people start filling up the rooms. So wander by there and see if something catches your eye. That's also about the time people settled down a bit. They've had dinner, they're full, and they pull out the new games they bought that day. Most people would be more than happy to bust out the new boardgame and try it out with con strangers late Saturday night. Random late-night pick-up games of some weird RPG are easily among the best con games I've had.

So that's the general advice on how to find cool stuff to do at Gen Con: check the event charts early and often, and don't hesitate to wander around the exhibit hall/film rooms/open gaming area whenever you get a wee bit restless. Bring 2-3 friends and you're pretty much guaranteed to find something fun before long.

The other question the commenter brought up, however, was about how to get involved with volunteering at Gen Con. That's a completely different department (coordinated by the Wonderful Wes and ultimately under Aleta's responsibility) and I strongly encourage anyone who is even vaguely interested in getting involved "behind the curtain" at Gen Con to email volunteers@gencon.com.

I'll be honest with you, ever since I started working at conventions, I couldn't go back. I just can't enjoy a show anymore without that mix of insanity, exhaustion, and constantly running around trying to stomp out fires. I thrive on trying to juggle a half-dozen crises and the comfort of the crash that comes after spending 22+ hours on your feet running around all day for 6 days.

Volunteers don't get a schedule like that, but since I love it I try to grab as much work as I can until I'm runnin' myself ragged for a week or so.

You get involved with Gen Con simply by volunteering, though. You help out during the show doing whatever we need, filing gaps and helping in emergencies. After you work with us for a bit, we can find another position helping out with specific departments or events. Check out the volunteer page for more information.

Basically, if you want to get involved in helping Gen Con to actually run, email volunteers@gencon.com. If you have a very specific idea of what you would like to do, contact the appropriate department head directly to talk about it. Just drop a note and start a conversation. That's how it all starts.

So that's some very general, broad advice on how to find stuff to do at a convention (and Gen Con in specific). I'll try to give more details in '08 when more events are set.

So the year continues

Derek Guder — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 22:21:00 GMT

Alright everyone, let's get back into the swing of things.

I haven't really posted anything in quite a while - I was super-crazy-busy just prior to Indy and afterward was filled with the post-con depression and all those boring wrap-up details. We've been counting tickets, having meetings, writing proposals. We've got a whole year ahead of us this time and it's a very strange feeling to already be trying to pin down some details for something 10 months away (and counting down!).

We've been counting tickets, checking time sheets, coding receipts, and getting all our paperwork in line. All GMs should have received their badge and/or hotel reimbursements and event payments should be going out shortly. I'm definitely glad to have all those firmly and solidly put to bed before 2008 starts - I don't want to have to resolve any lingering issues when trying to plan a new show.

I've got plenty more to do, though - there's still a big stack of mislabeled tickets (or simply not labeled at all).

When we aren't tying up the loose ends, we're laying the groundwork for 2008. The amount of time we have until the show gives us the luxury of sitting back and really reconsidering just about everything. Is there something we want to change? Did something bug us all year or cause a big problem that sent us scrambling? Now is the time to consider what we can change for the next time around. A lot of what I'm spending my time on now is following up with all those ideas I jotted down when I was going insane during the show to do "next time." You have to take those ideas and then hammer them out until you hate them, look at them from all sides and then if it actually seems to work, you gotta smash it around again for a while until you actually like it again. And throughout that you have to get everyone else to like it too.

Lots of fun, that is

Anyway, I just wanted to get back into the saddle a bit with this blog, get back out to remind people that Gen Con does work on this stuff year-round. I'm not sure how much interesting information I'll have to share for the next few months, but I'll try to keep this as regular as I can and remain accessible to anyone who has questions.

Updates at the 11th Hour

Derek Guder — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 08:30:00 GMT

So it’s about two hours before I fly out to Indy. I’m leaving at the ass-crack of dawn to get in pretty early on Sunday afternoon. I’ll probably be worthless most of the rest of the day but I hope to get to email again tonight. Either way I should be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed come Monday morning. Or at least as much as I ever am in the morning.

Anyway, it’s time to get back to this blog, something that has fallen by the wayside of late – along with a number of other things, such as the forums, posting information on the web site and even answering email in many cases. Why? Because I’ve been in the hell of space conflicts.

Some of you may have noticed that a fair number of event locations (mostly events that were in the Omni) have been moved and shuffled around – sometimes more than once. I want to apologize for everyone about the confusion and consternation that may have caused any of y’all, I was trying to do the best I could with a constantly worsening situation. For a while there it seemed like every day I came into work got me another “So Derek… I’ve got some bad news for you. We don’t have this room/it doesn’t fit as many tables as we planned on…”

Needless to say this will not happen next year. I’m sure there will be another big mess, but it won’t be this again if I have anything to say about it.

So the past few weeks (seems like an eternity) has been me moving and re-moving events to try to fit into the limited space we have, shifting cells around on a deteriorating Excel sheet and then updating them all in the registration system. Not any fun at all and a system fraught with peril of all kinds.

The biggest problem, however, was that meant I had virtually no time for email and certainly no time to visit the forums and actually share a lot of the information I’ve been dying to get out. Video game schedule, anime events, film news, etc., I simply haven’t had time to tell anyone about it. I apologize for that too. These past weeks have been a big personal disappointment in that regard. I went into this year with a list of things I wanted to change and problems I didn’t want to repeat, but some of them came to pass anyone.

Either way, I’m gonna take a few minutes now in my half-conscious, stayed-up-all-night-for-my-ealry-morning-flight state and try to share what I can actually manage to articulate in this state. Maybe all of you out there who are actually reading this so close to the convention (all 5 of you) can try to spread the word a little bit and let your friends know what’s up.

I’d wanted to share excerpts from the program guide like I did last year, but unfortunately I don’t have easy snippets of the final layouts right now…

eGame Arena

The biggest big news to get out is some real details on the eGame Arena. This pet love of mine has been very nebulous and hazy for most of the year – so many things were in flux for so long that it was impossible to really release and reliable information about it.

It’s a big change this time around: the eGame Arena isn’t in the hall like it has been in the past, nor is it in a separate room. It’s in the exhibit hall this time, at the back of the new Electronic Exhibits area. That means we’ll basically be operating on exhibit hall hours.

Some of you may be say to lost that late-night gaming, but in return you get to play everything for free. You read that right – all events in the eGame Arena are free this year. You don’t need to get a ticket, though like a seminar it will guarantee you a spot if you show up on time. Now you have no excuse not to show up and throw down.

I’ve posted the schedule online in PDF form and the events are all also listed in the event system (have been for a few weeks, actually – sorry about not sending out a big notice)

Anime Avenue

I’ve talked a bit about this before and there isn’t a whole lot of new news to share, other than to pimp the Gen Con Voice Acting Contest again (you can win a real role in an upcoming production) and to drop that even though I’ve had to cancel a few shows here and there I should be able to make up for it with some last-minute goodies I got from FUNimation and Geneon (like Hell Girl, the classic Slayers, Ragnarok, Rozen Maiden, and Saiunkoku).

We should also have several additional panels and live events too – so you better stop by the Westin event HQ (Anime & Film HQ) for the up-to-date schedule.

Film Festival

It took some wrangling, but we did manage to get a special sneak peek at the upcoming Dragonlance animated film – y’all better thank Tracy Hickman something proper for pulling that together for the show. Don’t miss the big event on Thursday at 6 pm in the Westin Grand Ballroom IV & V.

We’ve also got sneak peeks a few other films, like some midnight looks on Friday and Saturday at Fantasy Flight’s dark fantasy film Midnight. The creators behind The Force Among Us will also be at the show and I’m still working out some details for Brave New World as well.

And that’s before we even get into the always-popular Dead Gentlemen films and all the entrants in our fantastic film festival. So again, don’t forget to stop by the Westin HQ for an updated schedule to see what’s playing when.

Wednesday Gaming

Another pet project of mine this year, I haven’t had time to really publicize Wednesday gaming as much as I’d have liked. I’ve still got some stuff to work out for it – but if you’re in Indianapolis on Wednesday night, make sure to swing by the Hyatt. The Stink will be there in Regency A-D and we’ll be using Regency E/F for the special Wednesday gaming.

There’s more as well, actually. The local Indiana RPGA is running their pre-Gen Con events on the third floor in the Cosmopolitan A/B ballroom. With luck, we’ll have a special surprise for Harry Potter fans in Cosmopolitan C/D too, but that’s one of those things I still need to work out at this late hour, so I’m not committing to it yet.

Off to the Show

It’s about that time. I gotta finish my last-minute packing and take a crack at a few more emails before I leave. I’m hoping that saying up for almost 24 hours will mean it’ll be super-easy to sleep on the plane… but I can’t say I’m too optimistic. I’m making sure I bring a good book.