Okay... The creative dam is breaking. To be honest, if I swing the provebial hammer and commit to what amounts to being a "really bad idea", the creativity is going to flood my life. Probably to the point where I pull away from EVRYTHING that is not job-related.
Basically, due a REALLY understanding wife and the desire to help out a friend who was going to get stuck with a bad deal, I am going to GenCon this year. For those of you who do not know what GenCon is, suffice it to say that it is a four-day celebration of all things table-top gaming. It averages around 30,000 attendees each year, and is gaming overload. Typically, at the end of GenCon, I hate dice...
However, in true maniacal fashion, I have come up with a personal challenge only I would be stupid enough to try. It is roughly ten weeks to GenCon, currently. I am thinking...
I want to actually run some games/events there...
Okay... no problem... I've pulled events off with less time than this before...
I want to do it using a homebrew system of my own concoction...
Again, no problem. I have about a half-dozen original systems on the hard drives already just waiting to be used...
I want to do it using an all-new game engine...
... ... ...Ummmm... ... ...Houston, we might have an issue up here in the Ego section. Just sayin'...
Yep, for some odd reason, the challenge of putting together around three or four events in differing genres, plus the game engine needed to power them all in roughly ten weeks time appeals to me. It appeals to me a great deal. I'm not entirely sure why... ...probably due to the "bigger, better, faster, more"-mentality I have in regard to gaming.
I have not decided either way (yes or no) to swinging the hammer, but my mind has the thing in its proverbial hand, ready to break down the wall...
-- GopherDave
I have your back, babe.
ReplyDeleteFar be it for me to give advice on this sort of thing (some of my best ideas are my really bad ideas) but I have to ask you to ask yourself...Is GenCon really the place for that?
ReplyDeleteI love GenCon and I have played some amazing game there, including indie games that I pretty much never saw or heard from again much to my chagrin. At the same time, it seems a place where those sort of games reach a more limited audience. While not quite as severe, it's like showing up to a Coca Cola convention and asking people to try your new microbrew cola. The reception would be enough to keep your bottles cold all Con long.
I new game here, a new game there sure but err on the side of caution is my only recommendation. This ain't Origins ya'know.
BA: I understand what you are saying, and to some degree, I agree with it. However, it's not like I am going there with an idea I am looking to publish. This is more of setting a personal challenge for myself. To have three or four games ready to run using an as-yet unwritten game engine. If I run them, and people enjoy themselves... fantastic! That is gravy to me. If I am ready to go and the events don't go off due to non-attendance... Ehh... It happens.
ReplyDeleteAs for placing GenCon over any other convention in terms of what should be run there, I'm afraid your logic and analogy is a bit flawed. Regardless of where I run a game, be it at GenCon or TinyCon, that game is only going to reach as many people as sit down at my table to play. Yes, based on the number of events being run at something like GenCon, it is harder for a little homebrew to get noticed. However, the player pool at GenCon is way larger than most any other game convention. Large enough that the player/event ratio is not too far out of line with just about any other game convention out there, so a lack of players is not as much of a concern as you might think. They are there. I just have to find a brave/bored few...
Finally, experience has taught me that if a GM can knock his first game out of the park at a convention, then people will spread the word and the GM's other events begin to fill with folks ditching other games to see what else he brings to the table.
It all boils down to a few questions to ask myself...
Can I get a game engine and four events put together in a usable form in ten weeks? Yep... No doubt in my mind that it can be done and that I can do it...
Would it be worth it for me to do it? Yep, if for nothing else to prove to myself that I can still pull off shenanigans such as this.
Can I be absolutely certain I can pull off my "A" game in this endeavor? Absolutely..? Not entirely, but I have confidence I can do it barring major mishaps...
Why GenCon, and not some smaller convention? Simple... go big or go home... I've done little before. Little isn't even a challenge...
Is it a good idea to even try this? Not at all... In the grand scheme of all things gaming, no sane man even attempts something like this. However, GopherDave is not my first "nomme de guerre" in terms of gaming. No... my first honoriffic would be "the Red-Haired Maniac", a sobriquet I gained precisely for game convention stunts such as I am proposing now.
...and that all leads to the final question to ask myself...
Do I let the Maniac out of the cage to run loose once again?
The jury is still out on that one. My lovely wife has my back either way, and for that I humbly thank her. Now I just have to make a decision, and the longer I wait, the more pressure I place upon my own shoulders...
I guess what I meant was that at GenCon, at least over the last 5-10 years, homebrew games that you've made yourself (i.e. games no one has heard of) are more often than not ignored in favor of either D AND D, PATHFINDER, SOME OTHER BIG NAME or occaisionally and awesomely, SOME HOT INDIE GAME.
ReplyDeleteTo say there is not a difference between that and a smaller con, well that doesn't line up with my personal experience is all I can say. At RECESS here in NYC I've seen more people playing out of print and how brew games than I see at much bigger cons (expect maybe DexCon, which is very indie focused). I've run my Muppets game at least 4 times now (Three Muppet Shows and One Sesame Street) and I really don't know that it would have gone over quite as big at GenCon.
As with all things, I could be wrong and your mileage may vary.
BA: I understand what you are saying, BA, and know exactly what'd I'd be in for if I were to do this. There are ZERO illusions on my end in that regard.
ReplyDeleteAs for GenCon and yourself, I believe you seriously underestimate the drawing power of the Muppets, sir. ;)