Gen Con 2009
Wednesday
I packed the car the night before, so I wouldn't feel as rushed in the morning. There wasn't much free space in there. Got rolling out of the cities at 6:15 am. It was decent weather and traffic flowed well enough. I hit up the Tomah truck stop at 8:40 am for an hour-long breakfast break, as per usual. Stopped in Madison at 11:00 am for gas and more coffee, and crossed the Wisconsin-Illinois border at 12:10 pm. Rolled long through the tolls around Chicago, then broke free and got into Indiana, headed south. Landed in Indianapolis and checked into the hotel at 5:30 pm (6:30 local time). 603 miles driven in 11 hours and 15 minutes.
Threw some stuff into the hotel room (which at least was nice enough to warrant the high expense) and navigated my way to the Convention center. Last year, I had the worst time finding my way through Indianapolis, and I was determined to get to know the street layout better. I got my Exhibitor Badge and made my way into the Dealer's Hall, only to find that the booth setup was already done. I called up Ron Edwards and found out what food spot folks had retired to. However, by the time I got there, people were finishing up and breaking off to various activities.
I tagged along with a handful who were headed to my other goal of the evening: the Diana Jones Awards.
The Diana Jones Awards was held in the first floor of Jillians, a sort of arcade/bowling/pool hall/restaurant. Place was pretty full. Met some folks, got to know one of my boothies, Nathan Leeson, a bit more. He's an Illustrator and Writer from Canada, and was representing the game Venus 2141. We had a good deal in common, and ended up hanging out a good deal of the weekend.
Following the Diana Jones, I went to the Embassy Suites and found Kira, a friend from last year (who is dating a friend of a friend back home - got it?), and hung out for a spell.
Full bloody car.
Tomah, WI Truckstop
Rest stop. Recycle coffee! Go go go!
Home sweet home.
Swank Digs Part One.
Swank Digs Part Two.
Swank Digs, Part Three. I could totally live here.
Assorted Forge Folk. Nathan Leeson in lower right.
More assorted Forge Folk. Greg Porter wearing the horns.
At the Diana Jones Awards. The fellow in the lower left is a familiar face from Con of the North. Right behind him is Tony Dowler, another Forgite.
At the corner Steak 'n Shake, for a late-night meal. It's cheap, it's nearby, and it's open all hours.
Gamers, meet calories. Calories, gamers.
Thursday
Got an acceptable amount of sleep, somehow. Found coffee (in hotel lobby! Yes!). Grabbed my handy 2 wheeled rolling carts, packed on boxes of product, and hauled over to the Convention Center. Wherein I discovered the joy that is handing out free gaming books to random people near the food court.
See, when gamers see anyone with a box of books and they start handing them out, said gamers will actually get up from their chairs and sidle on over. By the time the box was empty, I had a couple folks standing around, asking if I had any more.
“None more for today. Come back tomorrow,” I says. And into the Dealer's Hall I went.
As per my usual, I didn't really take any breaks. The Forge Booth folks only really expect you to be there about half the day. But the way I figure it, if I'm not there, no one really is going to do my work for me... they have their own games to push. So I did the time and worked the day, playing the roper and handing out club cards for my website. If people slowed down, I pointed them at my stuff. If they stopped, I tried to get them into a demo (mine or anyone else's game). And that's pretty much all I did, the whole weekend.
It works. I'm outgoing. I'm good at it. It's helpful for everyone involved. I handed out a few more free copies of Factions at War, too, but decided the “box” giveaway in the food courts worked better (and was more fun). All told, I gave away 18 copies that day.
Got some food. Hit the Embassy Suites, and found Gregor Hutton had a game of 316 AD ready to start, and got invited in. It was pretty much the same game as 3:16, except you play Roman soldier grunts fighting barbarians, instead of Space Trooper grunts fighting aliens. I actually liked the setting of the Space Trooper game better, but there were a few nice mechanic tweaks which made it pretty worthwhile. Which isn't to say that people won't enjoy playing Roman soldiers. For me, though, the overall mechanics and flow of play worked a lot better in a dark humor sci fi setting.
Found Kira and James, and hung out for a bit.
It got late. Went back to the overnice hotel room and slept.
Forge Booth, Day 1
Forge Booth from the hallway.
316 AD. That's Brennon Taylor in the glasses.
Greggor Hutton, preparing the barbarian hordes for us to kill.
Friday
Sadly, I forgot my rolly carts at the booth. Well, actually, Ron Edwards had borrowed one, so I only had one other one to forget. Either way, my ability to schlep freebie books was limited, so I just hauled one box of 12 books. Oh, by the by, Indianapolis is mother-of-all-get-out hot during Gen Con. And humid. And ick. Got to the Convention Center, did my give away thing to the book-hungry masses, and hit it again for another day. I got to know some more folks at the booth a bit better.
After another day of pressing the flesh, I found Kira and James. Up that night: the Ennies.
It was kind of interesting to see industry people reacting to winning awards decided by popular vote. Like most awards ceremonies, some people received graciously, some were very noticeably excited, some talked a little too long, etc. But the mood was pretty good, so no foul.
Afterwards, I went and did Nothing with some of the EnWorld folks. Nothing at all. It certainly didn't involve a bar. Or one dollar bills. Or anything like that.
Ennies Awards.
Greggor Hutton again, at the Ennies in a proper kilt.
Saturday
I remembered my rolly cart, and so unloaded two boxes into the hungry masses before the Dealer's Hall opened. Also, sweet-talked the White Wolf folks into giving me an invite to their private party later that night.
Another day of roping, doing demos, meeting ex-Forge alumni, and chatting up everyone. My voice was a little raw, but held together throughout the Con. I met Darcy Burgess, who ran me through an Ashcan (in-progress) version of Black Cadillacs, a narrative game about being soldiers (Explanation: Black Cadillacs is the Canadian-military nickname for combat boots). Darcy's game gave me some things to think about, mostly in how narrative game play might actually work for some of my own games in limited ways. He also wanted feedback, and I let the demo ruminate in the back of my mind.
After the Dealer's Hall closed, it was time to get some food. Then to the Embassy Suites, where I sat in on the end-game of Darcy running more Black Cadillacs. Some things clicked for me better after seeing how everything worked. I knew I'd have some good ideas for him, but I needed to let them work themselves out in my subconscious for a few hours. So I got changed for a night out.
Got to the White Wolf Party, and ran into folks like Justin Bow of Green Fairy Games, and we talked about possible next year booth plans. Also found Nathan Leeson again, who had also worked his way into the club. Nathan and I closed down the bar, then joined two guys from the Utilikilts booth to find a bar that was still open. We were successful, and managed another round before all of Indianapolis shut its doors. Talked game design on the streets until the tired monsters came.
Darcy Burgess
Nathan Leeson
Sunday
I brought three boxes of free copies to the hall and flung them about, delivering another 36 comps to the horde. Sunday was a short day, and everyone was showing the weary. It was over before I realized it. Once the hall was emptied, we set about the process of breaking the booth down into its component parts and loading up various vehicles of chairs, boxes, and packed-up foam flooring.
I rejoined the EnWorld folks for their end-of-Con picnic, which was just a gathering at the Rock Bottom Brewery. There were, I dunno, 40 people all together? Food and conversation was had. Greggor was there, too, so I got to hear some stories about Scotland. People wound down and took each others' pictures, then broke off to head their separate ways.
Went back to the Embassy Suites and hung out with James and Kira a bit more. There had been some previous talk of me running a one-shot for them, but everyone was too beat to make an attempt at it, and the last hold-outs chilled for a couple of hours before sleep threatened.
I went downstairs and found many Indie Games folks hanging out and chatting in the hotel bar, and got to yak a bit more with Greggor, as well as Luke Crane, whom I'd met a little the previous year, but didn't really know yet. Then the hotel bar staff kicked us out, and folks headed out. Chatted with Luke a bit more, then called it a night.
James!
Kira, falling asleep on the couch. And what appears to be Robert Bohl with the beard.
Monday
Got out of the hotel at a reasonable hour, loaded up the car (now considerably lighter, minus all those boxes of comp books), and headed for home.
All told, I did about as much in sales as I do at other Conventions. This was actually a step up from last year, where Gen Con was paradoxically my worst Con of the year for sales. So that was a thing... I was doing better. Who knows how I'd do if I actually had a booth set up with signage and the like? I've got a year to figure that one out. Also, the total number of give-away copies of the original Factions at War was 90 or so. Hopefully, some of them found good homes. I did end up hauling about 4 boxes back home, but oh well. So much for the “None come home!” plan.
I had a much better Gen Con than in 2008 in other ways, too. It felt much more like getting to see long-lost friends, than it was being in a pile of strangers. I was much more at home in the booth and in finding my way after-hours (which is were the real industry fun is, as you have read). Without getting clichéd or sappy about it, I had a good time and actively look forward to Gen Con in 2010.