Yeah two tables sounds about right Gregor. If we can get demo space near the table as well that would be good. I am willing to lend a hand with any organisation needed on the rpg front.

Cheers

Iain

Mob Justice now available!

'The Giant Brain':Small games, big ideas.

Bloody hell. I feel I'd better come, if only to apologise for the things I do to his website.

Two tables sounds about right to me.

Graham

I'm happy to run more Game Track stuff.

But could we run a Games on Demand instead/too?

Joe.

I'm of course on as well - I have this crazy idea of demoing Burning Empires for the masses, without safety net.

Games on Demand - TOtally.

Per
http://darkplaces.squarespace.com

No Conpulsion for me, but I feel I can still contribute!

At Kapcon in Wellington this coming January, I'm involved in a Games On Demand table, which looks like it's shaping up quite nicely. In fact, we're having our first proper meeting next week to discuss how we'll organise and run everything. S obviously, I'll feed my experiences back to you guys. It might be helpful if you're thinking of doing the same thing.

Mike (With Great Power) and Kat Miller would also totally be the people to speak to if you wanted to pick some brains about Games on Demand. They've run the event at Gen Con for the last couple of years. A much bigger event, certainly, but still good people with good ideas.

All the best!

Cheers
Malc

Contested Ground Studios

I'll try again - my posts seem to be blocked by some moderation-thingy, is there some way to turn that off, please?

I'm there demoing at Conpulsion, of course. Games on Demand is a good idea, I've done that at a Danish Con.

Per
http://darkplaces.squarespace.com

Two tables sounds good Gregor.

I think an Indie Games Track might have a better player uptake than Games on Demand but heck, let's try and do both!

+++
JoE
+++

Prince of Darkness Games
Rock N' Role-Play....

There's nothing crazy about that Per! I ran a demo adventure of it the Furnace before last! Or were you thinking 15 minute/1 hour demos?

Whatever setup we had last year seemed to work, especially with the comfy chairs behind us to ensnare passing gamers!

Comfy chairs!

Hell, let's bribe them with stuff.

A big jar of sweeties in the middle would be nice, and I know a guy who'll give me discounts on traditional sweeties. Not indie sweeties, alas. So they'll come with a viking hat and sense of entitlement.

Indeed, it is Vincent that will be the guest.

The good news is that very senior people Teviot have stepped in for us and so the booking now looks assured. (Teviot has recently refurbed their bars, de-centralised them, and so on, and at a lower level there was perhaps an uncertainty over who had permission to authorise what usage of their rooms and bars.)

I am thinking of us running an Indie Games Track of 1 hour teasers and a "Games on Demand"-style slotted arrangement.

In other news, Games Workshop will be there too and WH40K should be out (I believe). This may interest Mr Kenrick... :)

I will be offering accomodation and food as I did last year again to those who wish it.

Looking forward to it already, especially considering I should be launching the Giant Brain properly then.

Cheers

Iain

Mob Justice now available!

'The Giant Brain':Small games, big ideas.

I suspect I might get co-opted into running some 40k: Dark Heresy too. Serving two masters now of course ;-) DH is currently sitting on my desk eyeing me suspiciously.

That sounds like a bad Chaos mutation...

More seriously though:

One hour demos are a thing I've been thinking about. Basically, I think that they tend to be somewhat unsatisfying for the players, who really want a full game. That's anecdotal (and yeah, the plural of anecdote is not evidence) but I'm pretty sure most players would much rather play a full session if the game is good or a 15 minute demo if it's pants. Or a 15 minute demo which they like, followed by a full length game. I dunno, I'm not really adding much to this discussion at this point am I?

Oooh look, a squirrel...

...if I'm picking up on Rich's point, we should maybe have a range of games on offer as 15-minute demos. No schedule, nothing. Just come along and try some out.

Then... we have slots at specified times of day for say 1 (or maybe 2) tables of a 3-hr game (in phase with the regular game slots). You book these based on things you liked in 15-min demo?

I think that could be cool? So, we have longer games running for regular length, parallel tyo 15-minute demos of lots of games (helping sales and informing the public about these games). Then the next slot is going to have a game pop up in it which has been asked for. it would give time to get the game advertised at the sign-up table, or whatever too.

Now that I've had some caffeine, I think what I was trying to say was this:

1) 15 - 30 minutes is enough for most games to get a decent taster. I don't know about slavishly sticking to 15 minute slots, but certainly less than 30 mins ought to let the victim know if they game's for them or if it's not.

2) Most games don't really provide much of a satisfying experience for the players or GM in one hour. So I'm not really seeing that a 60 minute demo gives you much over a 15-30 minute one. Which is propably why so few of the Gaelcon demos stuck to the 60 minutes.

Gregor,

I can see that working in the right environment, but I'm not familiar with Conpulsion. That would fail dismally at Conception for example (because there's nobody hanging around to ask for demos), but might have worked rather well at Gaelcon (insane dysfunctional laptop game-slot booking aside).

the important thing would be to get a list and descriptions of all the games available to be demo'd and run on demand. these descriptions need to go into the programme and website/forums/mailing list etc. Just like they were regularly scheduled games.

My worry would be people not actually playing/running the demos. Because:

a) Seeing something on a schedule and signing up for it

and

b) Walking up to someone and asking them to run a demo for you

are really different things. People are expecting to do a lot of (a) at most Cons. They quite often won't bother with (b).

I think that you really need to be running some sort of schedule for the games, possibly one which you make up 8/12 hours in advance as you go along? But some people (reactive types) want to see stuff and decide to sign up or not.

I dunno, still not making a lot of sense really...

What would be uber-cool would be if the 15 minute examples could somehow end in a little bit of a cliffhanger or a poignant moment and then the fallout of this could be seen at the start of the main game. So that the people who did the 15m demo could be pimped with a 'if you want to see what happens next, sign up for the game' and then get a little whack of denoument when they play. Nothing major sort of ... well as an example:

15 minute demo of Duty and Honour plays through a Skirmish challenge where the company ambush a french cavalry troop escorting a captured officer and his consort.

Game starts with the plans that have been recovered, carried by said consort all the way from Paris, uncovering a secret Frog plot to launch a fresh naval assault on Cadiz.

Neil

Take the King's shilling at http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/

I'm all for 15-30 min demos, and I think slots being filled based on feedback from gamers will work too.

Conpulsion will be like GaelCon, but with organisation. There are gamers wandering about looking for Indie Games.

It's also worth pointing out that there will be a games design event on during the con. The Johnnies, run by John Wilson, is a 24-minute RPG competition. It could well be on the Sunday morning/afternoon. I'm always trying to think of ways to involve artists in that event...

Previous winners are Phil Masters and Joe Prince.

I'll beat them into print, you see if I don't :P

Solipsist RPG, on its way ... eventually

At last a convention I'll actually be at :)

I know I'm not a fully paid up member (in as far as there are such things) and I don't have a finished game yet, but I'll happily do anything needed on the day or before.

I've been doing gradually less and less at Conpulsion each year, going from running the con, to running the CCGs to running LARPS to running nothing, so it would be nice to be doing something again! :)

Solipsist RPG, on its way ... eventually