What weird indie game should I run at GASPcon?
I ask of you, dear reader: What game should I run at a con I've never been to?
Background:
Jason (a guy we played Polaris with for a while) is trying to convince me to go run something at GASPcon (local con run by the Gaming Association of Southwestern Pennsylvania). He wants to have a bigger presence of small press/indie rpgs/story games/etc. That's a reasonable goal, in my mind, and so I'd like to support that plan.
Now, I've never attended this con before nor even a GASP meeting. But the con is right here in Pittsburgh, so the worst that happens is I waste a weekend and am out some admission fees if the con sucks. But it means I don't know what to expect of the con atmosphere or anything... looking at the GASP website, it seems like there is a lot of very traditional roleplaying happening at GASP, with Jason and maybe some others promoting the sort of weird indie games I'd be running. (GASP and the con do not appear to be terribly LARP-friendly, or I might run one.) I can't tell from reading the website if I still get my con attendance refunded if no players show up for a game I plan to run. I need to run at least two four hour sessions to get a GM refund.
On the other end of the equation, I have played a fair number of "story games" (or whatever the cool kids are calling them these days) but not a huge number. And I've GMed even fewer. Ideally, I'd want something easy to GM.
Mainly, I'm being indecisive and trying to gauge what people would actually be interested in seeing. Yeah, I know, you're unlikely to be at the con, but I really just want someone else's input to help make a decision.
Games I'd Consider Running:
Games I've Read But Not Played or Run:
The Shab-Al Hiri Roach, in which academics fight little bureaucratic squabbles and an ancient evil roach tries to destroy mankind, or something.
Don't Rest Your Head, about sleep deprivation, insanity and an alternate magical city that exists overtop of our everyday one. (Apparently someone else is running this already.)
Puppetland, about childlike hand puppets dealing with very real adult tragedies and horrors.
Games I have Played but not GMed:
Dogs in the Vineyard, Mormon cowboys struggle with the intersection between morality and theology.
Lacuna Part One: The Creation of the Mystery and the Girl from Blue City, a surreal science fiction spy game involving exploration of the collective unconscious.
Polaris, a chivalric tragedy about immortal beings living in the frozen north and dealing with the destruction of their culture by demons. GMless, which means it's easier to run, though still hard to explain.
The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron munchausen is a game about being a wild, 18th century blowhard telling tall tales. Also GMless, and easier to explain to boot.
Games I have Actually Successfully GMed:
Executive Decision, in which the President and his advisors have to deal with a crisis situation. Has the advantages of having been run before, having been successful and having been easy to GM. At this point, the most likely game for me to run.
Bloody Forks of the Ohio, though I ran it heavily modified. George Washington faces off against French forces in a situation likely to cause the French and Indian War. Would it being local history help the game's popularity?
Otherkind (not sure if that link works... stupid web filter), about elves and the loss of magic and their complicated relationship with the world of man. I might just dump the elves and fantasy and use the core system to run something else, like you see in GHOST/ECHO. Maybe just run Ghost/Echo itself.
Unknown Armies Jailbreak, a scenario about convicted felons escaping out of jail and possibly into somewhere much worse. Is Unknown Armies really story-game-y enough, though?
Games I have failed Repeatedly to GM:
Any other Unknown Armies games.
Games I Wrote Myself and Therefore Are Unlikely to Attract Players:
House of Masks won an award in last year's Game Chef, but I've never gotten to play it myself. Six players play three characters with conflicting goals, using a unique number free conflict resolution system.
Department Nine, actually got playtested three or so times, and was a lot of fun. It's a science fiction/espionage/classical Greek tragedy/comedy game where you play agents of the mythological Fates, but are fighting against your own prophesied future.
I suppose I could run something else, too, if someone were to suggest a good idea. There are a ton of interesting games out there to run; this was mainly sticking to the ones I have on hand and have read thoroughly enough to consider them as options. I am currently leaning toward Executive Decision and one or two other games. What other games? Is there some compelling reason not to run Executive Decision? What game should I run?
Background:
Jason (a guy we played Polaris with for a while) is trying to convince me to go run something at GASPcon (local con run by the Gaming Association of Southwestern Pennsylvania). He wants to have a bigger presence of small press/indie rpgs/story games/etc. That's a reasonable goal, in my mind, and so I'd like to support that plan.
Now, I've never attended this con before nor even a GASP meeting. But the con is right here in Pittsburgh, so the worst that happens is I waste a weekend and am out some admission fees if the con sucks. But it means I don't know what to expect of the con atmosphere or anything... looking at the GASP website, it seems like there is a lot of very traditional roleplaying happening at GASP, with Jason and maybe some others promoting the sort of weird indie games I'd be running. (GASP and the con do not appear to be terribly LARP-friendly, or I might run one.) I can't tell from reading the website if I still get my con attendance refunded if no players show up for a game I plan to run. I need to run at least two four hour sessions to get a GM refund.
On the other end of the equation, I have played a fair number of "story games" (or whatever the cool kids are calling them these days) but not a huge number. And I've GMed even fewer. Ideally, I'd want something easy to GM.
Mainly, I'm being indecisive and trying to gauge what people would actually be interested in seeing. Yeah, I know, you're unlikely to be at the con, but I really just want someone else's input to help make a decision.
Games I'd Consider Running:
Games I've Read But Not Played or Run:
The Shab-Al Hiri Roach, in which academics fight little bureaucratic squabbles and an ancient evil roach tries to destroy mankind, or something.
Don't Rest Your Head, about sleep deprivation, insanity and an alternate magical city that exists overtop of our everyday one. (Apparently someone else is running this already.)
Puppetland, about childlike hand puppets dealing with very real adult tragedies and horrors.
Games I have Played but not GMed:
Dogs in the Vineyard, Mormon cowboys struggle with the intersection between morality and theology.
Lacuna Part One: The Creation of the Mystery and the Girl from Blue City, a surreal science fiction spy game involving exploration of the collective unconscious.
Polaris, a chivalric tragedy about immortal beings living in the frozen north and dealing with the destruction of their culture by demons. GMless, which means it's easier to run, though still hard to explain.
The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron munchausen is a game about being a wild, 18th century blowhard telling tall tales. Also GMless, and easier to explain to boot.
Games I have Actually Successfully GMed:
Executive Decision, in which the President and his advisors have to deal with a crisis situation. Has the advantages of having been run before, having been successful and having been easy to GM. At this point, the most likely game for me to run.
Bloody Forks of the Ohio, though I ran it heavily modified. George Washington faces off against French forces in a situation likely to cause the French and Indian War. Would it being local history help the game's popularity?
Otherkind (not sure if that link works... stupid web filter), about elves and the loss of magic and their complicated relationship with the world of man. I might just dump the elves and fantasy and use the core system to run something else, like you see in GHOST/ECHO. Maybe just run Ghost/Echo itself.
Unknown Armies Jailbreak, a scenario about convicted felons escaping out of jail and possibly into somewhere much worse. Is Unknown Armies really story-game-y enough, though?
Games I have failed Repeatedly to GM:
Any other Unknown Armies games.
Games I Wrote Myself and Therefore Are Unlikely to Attract Players:
House of Masks won an award in last year's Game Chef, but I've never gotten to play it myself. Six players play three characters with conflicting goals, using a unique number free conflict resolution system.
Department Nine, actually got playtested three or so times, and was a lot of fun. It's a science fiction/espionage/classical Greek tragedy/comedy game where you play agents of the mythological Fates, but are fighting against your own prophesied future.
I suppose I could run something else, too, if someone were to suggest a good idea. There are a ton of interesting games out there to run; this was mainly sticking to the ones I have on hand and have read thoroughly enough to consider them as options. I am currently leaning toward Executive Decision and one or two other games. What other games? Is there some compelling reason not to run Executive Decision? What game should I run?