The Year of Seconds

This year was marked by repeats of two very special events from last year…

Second Silver ENnie!

For the second year in a row, Gnome Stew was awarded the Silver ENnie for Best Blog (yea!). Once again it was a great honor to have been awarded a Silver ENnie, and we thank all of you who voted.

Martin was not in attendance, so yours truly gave the acceptance speech with backup from Patrick and John. I would like to tell you what I said, but I don’t remember. When I got to the stage and looked down, the stage lights made it so that I could not see much of the crowd. All I saw was Monte Cook and Margaret Weis. To say I was a tad intimidated at that moment was an understatement. I did manage to say something, and my friends in the audience said I did not sound crazy, so that is a plus. To find out what I said, we will have to wait for the streaming broadcast that NEONCON will be posting.  (As of posting, no word when it will be up keep an eye on twitter for details.)

As cool as it was winning the Silver (again), it was equally exciting seeing the guys from Critical Hits win their first ENnie, and a gold to boot. We Gnomes are great friends with the Critical Hits guys and it was great to see them take the stage.

Second Book!

Masks made its debut out on the vendor’s floor, getting top shelf treatment at the Studio 2 booth, with Eureka right underneath. Seeing two books that I have co-authored, and as project manager shepherded from concept to book, is still full of awe. I stopped in mid-stride on the floor when I saw the books on the shelf and went right to them.

A number of people mentioned to me how much they have enjoyed Masks, which feels great. It’s a bit strange hearing that, and still strange being asked to sign books. Up to two years ago (and I still do it today) I was the one asking for signatures.

Bigger Digs

The Dealers Floor was quite nice and while I think it was bigger than the old one, it still felt as crowded walking from vendor to vendor. I take that to be a very good sign in terms of the record breaking attendance. The areas outside of the dealers floor were equally nice, with some places to sit, some tables to game at, and even some food and drink. Having been at Gen Con every year that it has been in Indy, I can say that its grown nicely over the years, without losing the things that make it the Best Four Days In Gaming.

Gnome Time

As in years past, we Gnomes hosted a seminar to discuss Engine Publishing, Gnome Stew, and to hand out GM advice. This year Patrick, John, Walt, and I hosted. We had a great group in attendance. We got some great feedback about things that we can do here at the Stew (e.g writer profiles).

My favorite part of the seminar, was when one participant told us that he was a player thinking of being a GM and asked for our advice on how to get started. We Gnomes gave our advice, and then we opened it up for all the other GM’s in the room to share some advice. If our fledgling GM took 1/10th of the advice given, he will be rocking behind the screen in no time.

Highlight Reel

One of the things I love about Gen Con is the ability to meet the designers of the games I love as well as meet many people I only know from Google+, Facebook, and Twitter. This year was no different, are here are some highlights (forgive me if I did not put you on the list, you still rock):

• Getting my copy of Burning Wheel Gold signed by Luke Crane as soon as the floor opened. I am hoping that Luke remembered me from playing in his Freemarket game last year.
• Spending a few minutes talking to Eloy Lasanta, from Third Eye Games. I have become a big fan of TEG over the past few months, and it turns out Eloy and I have a few things in common.
• At the ENnies cocktail reception, Patrick and I were invited (read: commanded) to attend Sean Patrick Fannon’s Savage Saturday game. Who could say no? The game was awesome. I have never met a GM who can run an 11 person table with new players and be as entertaining as Sean. I tip my hat to you sir.
• I attended a great Seminar about using Kickstarter which had Daniel Solis, Greg Stoltze, Wolfgang Baur, and Gary M Sarli. Afterwards Patrick and I had a chance to talk to Daniel about Do: Pilgrims of The Flying Temple.
• Last year, I was unsuccessful in tracking down Monte Cook to sign Eureka.  This year my luck was better, and with Eureka in my bag, I got him to sign. I am sure Monte is totally cool talking with fans, but for some reason, I always turn out to be some kind of drooling fan boy taking to him, and come off far less cool than I really am (seriously).
• I got to spend some great time on Thursday morning with my good friend, Philippe, the Chatty DM. Philippe and I have been friends since 2008, and it has been great seeing him go from blogger, to ENnie award winning blogger, to freelance game designer.
• While taking a break and having my 1000th iced coffee, I met Jeremy Southard  from Westex Games who gave me and a few friends a demo of his very cool game Arena of Heroes. AoH is currently in a Kickstarter, and something you should check out.
• I also got to see a few people I know on twitter including, @sunglar (would have liked a bit of that rum), vjwyatt, and @sponng.
• Getting to play in Patrick’s Top Secret/SI game, with John Arcadian and Bob Everson (creator of Masks’ Index Four).

A Bag Full Of Goodness

I will not lie, one of my favorite parts of Gen Con is the shopping. I typically save most of my hard cover game purchases until August. This year was no different, and I had a great time walking the floor and shopping. Here is a picture of my haul.

Most of the things in the pile were things I was planning on getting, but one item caught my eye when Patrick was looking at it, and that is the 4×6, multi-panel GM’s screen from Hammerdog Games. Take note readers, that in the pile is Vornheim, which I will begin to read shortly and write up my You Pick It, I Review It article.

Until Next Year

So that’s it in a whirlwind. It was another incredible year, and I am already looking forward to going next year. Until then its back to work on providing all of you the best GMing advice possible. If you attended Gen Con this year, what were some of your highlights? Or tell us about what what games you picked up? If you did not go to Gen Con, ask me some questions about anything I did not cover.

As a Gnomie, this was a special con. We won our second silver ENnie (I have it on pretty good authority that we were going to take the gold before a Halfling voting bloc tipped the scales) and debuted the hard copies of Masks! On a personal note, I was especially thrilled that I was a much better contributor at the Gnome Stew seminar this time around, rather than wobbling in and grunting like a zombie extra.

On a personal front, it was my first Con as the official Victoriana line developer for Cubicle 7 (which meant I spent a lot of time running events for it) and I got to see two of my freelancing projects, DC Adventures: Heroes & Villains, Vol. 1 and Paris Gothique, in print for the first time.

Since I’ve covered a lot of bases in previous installments, I thought I’d just cover a few notes and observations this time around:

1. Don’t expect things to be the same year to year. It seems that downtown Indy is always building something, and businesses come and go (I still miss a Cajun restaurant that came and went in a single year). Inside the con, the hot games this year, or even the past several years, may be hardly a blip this time around, while others rise to take their place in prominence on the floor.

I know this is horribly anecdotal, but from my perspective the presence and influence of Dungeons & Dragons (and, by extension, WOTC) seemed very diminished this year. Now, I didn’t play in any D&D events so I had no reason to go upstairs and see the tables, but their spot in the Dealer’s Hall was against the back wall and primarily promoted Neverwinter Nights. Judging by the products displayed at various tables third party support had really dried up, and all of the gamers I talked to that called themselves “fantasy gamers” (admittedly a small number) were playing Pathfinder.

That said WOTC’s presence was much more prominent than White Wolf, who used to be one of the “big companies” in the room. They were limited to sharing a small table with another company and the only reason I know that is because I looked them up in the GenCon guide. They were far removed from the rest of the RPG companies sans Green Ronin, who also had a crappy floor location.

On a more personal level I stayed at the Marriott Downtown this time, which I thought was quite the housing reg coup. Unfortunately, the Dealer’s Hall and the food court was moved further inside the Convention Center. Also, while Crown Plaza and Union Station used to be out-of-the-way, they were now the closest event-hosting hotels, along with the Omni, to the Dealer’s Hall. Marriott threw up another hotel as well and this one, while connected via Skywalk, is now the furthest event-hosting hotel.

On top of that, all of my events were scheduled at the Omni, so I actually had to go further in the morning to get to my events than when I was booked at the Hilton.

2. Rather than get generic tickets, check the GenCon website for open events and purchase them outright. The site is continually updated (although the GenCon app seemed slower) and you’re more likely to get in a game. The best times for generics (again, anecdotally) are early in the morning or late in the evening.

3. This one deserves its own article (guess what topic my next article will cover!) but if you’re running a game anticipate that shy, introverted players can often be as difficult to manage as a loud, obnoxious player.

4. Listen to your players and treat every event as a playtest if you are running it more than once. One of them questioned something in the adventure and I found myself agreeing with him so I adjusted things accordingly for the rest of the events. Also, my first event group inadvertently solved several problems I’d been struggling with for the final act and this made things run more smoothly and elegantly than I’d thought possible.

5. Sometimes you inadvertently turn off a GM or other players with your demeanor without even realizing it. I know one person who played in an event and left feeling that it was an excellent adventure and a great time was had by all, only for me to overhear the GM later complaining that said player was extremely difficult and almost derailed the event.

That’s it for now. If you were at GenCon how was your experiences? Did you find anything different, for good or ill, between this year and previous visits? Did you learn anything new?

Gnome Roll Call

DNAphil (aka Phil Vecchione)

 ”I will be taking it easy this GenCon and did not register for any events in advance, but may drop by some seminars and demos. I am planning my own Con Within The Con, where my friends and I are getting together to run games for each other and any new friends we meet.

When I am not playing or running games, I will be spending my time out on the convention floor checking out all the vendors wares. I will be tweeting (@dnaphil) updates throughout the day, and posting some daily recaps via G+. I would love to meet any of our readers, so if you see a tweet and you are nearby, come and find me, don’t be shy. I am easy to spot in my custom green and black bowling shirt.”

Patrick Benson

“This year I am going to try something different for Gen Con and I will be a roaming gnome.  For Gen Con 2011 I want to focus on meeting other gamers. I will be tweeting as @SinisterForces announcing my current location throughout the convention as well as how to recognize me. If you feel like stopping by and hanging out with me that would be great.

If you request it and if I have enough time I will run improvised games for you using a super simple system like Fudge or MicroLite 20. I might coordinate a group discussion on the fly about GMing, or maybe I will just suggest that we go grab a bite to eat.

This Gen Con I am going to focus on being in the moment instead of sticking to my schedule, and the most memorable moments are the ones you spend with friends both old and new. So if you want to hang out with me I am all for hanging out with you. See you at Gen Con!”

Walt Ciechanowski

“As Victoriana’s line developer, I’ll be running 4 events for Victoriana (“Bloody Retribution”) on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (Friday’s a two-fer). Outside of that and other events, I’ll most likely be in the Dealer’s Hall Thursday afternoon, early Friday afternoon, and after 4 on Saturday. I’m flying out Sunday morning, so I won’t be around after that. The best place to catch me or ask about me is at the Cubicle 7 booth. I’ll probably spend a little time at the Triple Ace Games booth as well.”

John Arcadian

“My official Gen Con plans are pretty sparse. I’ll be rolling into Indy on Wednesday, kilted and ready to go. I’ll be going to Iron GM where I’m going to help with some video stuff and play at one of the tables. Outside of that, I’ve got nothing official slated except for meeting with friends and hunting down a new sonic screwdriver. I’d be happy to run some pickup games or sign books for anyone. I’ll be in my traditional utilikilt and leather jacket.”

Events

There are two events where we will be in attendance, in part or in full.  Please look for us at:
ENnie Awards (Friday 7PM) 

Gnome Stew is a nominee for Best Blog and we Gnomes will be there to represent Gnome Stew as well as to support all of our friends in our category and in the other categories.

Meet The Gnomes Behind The Engine (SEM1123263: Saturday 10 AM to 12 PM)

Come and meet some of the gnomes behind the ENnie winning blog Gnome Stew! They’ll talk about what is going on at the blog, as well as their latest book from Engine Publishing – “Masks: 1,000 Characters to Populate Your Worlds”. Learn the tricks used by these veteran GMs to make the most of every game that they run. The seminar ends with Q&A when the gnomes do their best to help you with your GMing problems.

Pimping The Merch

Eureka On The Self

Dwarves are not the only short demi-humans who love gold, so I would be remiss if I did not mention that both our books: Eureka: 501 Adventure Plots to Inspire Game Masters and Masks: 1000 Memorable NPCs for Any Rolepaying Game, will be available at the Studio 2 booth (605). They will be there in limited quantities so if they are on your shopping list, pick them up early. It is also worth saying that the Masks books will be the last of the hard cover Masks copies available. [PIC of Eureka on the shelf last year]

You Pick It, We Review It Results

After looking over all your requests, we have made our pics for this year. The pics are:

Phil– One our late entries caught my eye. I am going to track down a copy of Vornheim: The Complete City Kit and I will also be looking to tracking down Jermey Keller while at GenCon to see if we can ask him some questions about Technoir.

John– Our first entry caught John’s eye, so John is going to take a look into the Microscope.

We will do our shopping and report back in a few weeks.

Keep Your Eyes Peeled

That’s it for this edition of GnomeSpotting. For those attending make sure you are following @dnaphil and @sinisterforces to be able to find us out at the con. Also make sure you are following @gnomestew for all your Gnome Stew updates.

For those that are not attending the con, we hope to see you there in the future, and make sure to check out our post-con recaps, where will share with you what we found at Gen Con, as well as our You Picked It reviews.

In years past you have picked out some great games to review: Hackmaster Basic [here and here], Realms of Cthulu, and Apocalypse World. You have had a great knack for finding some cool stuff to review. This year fellow Gnome, John Arcadian has offered to review one of the products you suggest.

With GenCon under two weeks away, I would like take on this quest once again. So lets cover a few things…

Lets Review The Rules

Just like last year, there are a few conditions on what we will pick up for review. These are the same as in years past, but let’s review, in case you forgot:

• RPG Rules or Gaming Accessory only—While we like board games, card games, and such, The Stew is an RPG Blog, so lets keep it to an RPG rulebook or gaming accessory. We would rather not review an adventure either since they rarely are meaty enough for a full review.

• Something New—While just about anything can be found out on the convention floor, we are not going to review the AD&D A-Series adventures (though they are awesome). Please pick something that has recently come out, that you have not had a chance to pick up at your local gaming store, or is debuting at Gen Con.

• Something we have not reviewed before– While we are not a product review site, we have had the chance to do some great reviews. Check out our Review section for all our past reviews. Obviously, don’t pick one of those.

• Let’s not break the bank—While we love you guys, bank accounts have limits. So lets keep this to about $30 (or a bit over…).

Get Picking

Ok, there are the rules. In the comments section, put down your choice of what you would like us to pick up. Next Friiday (8/29), I will announce the items that we are going to pick up in the GnomeSpotting 2011 article.  Then after GenCon we will put together some reviews.

So, what do you want to see reviewed…

I was inspired by an Endgame mini-con that I’d been fortunate enough to attend. It was a great day of gaming, and I really wanted to try out a local version of the same thing.

Planning

While we had discussed the idea of mini-cons before the Squirrel ever opened, we didn’t think seriously about planning a mini-con until after our first Used Game Swap, back in February. Among the things we learned from the game swap was that an auction room or used game sale space takes too much time, space, and attention to do alongside a mini-con. The two do go great together, but that’s definitely full fledged con territory.

During March, I mentioned our plans for the mini-con in passing to several of our regular GMs and players, both at Encounters nights, at the RPG meetup, and in passing to other people who mentioned GMing. During this time Jennifer and I decided that I would take the lead on the mini-con; she would share ideas, but I was responsible for making final decisions.

Drumming Up Games

By early April we had finalized our date, deciding to pair it with Free RPG Day on June 18th. I had some soft commitments from a few people, but I knew that I wanted a lot of games–three slots times six or seven tables during each slot. I also wanted many GMs, so everyone could enjoy playing in games too. I threw together a quick game session form, publicized it through previously established channels, and got some game submissions almost immediately. Eleven games were submitted during the first ten days, followed by a lull, then a rush when I told people that I was going to post the game signups soon.

Signing Players Up

Early in the process, we had discussed a nominal fee to play in the mini-con–something like $3 per session. By the time we got around to signups, I had forgotten that there was a financial part to the plan, so signups were amazingly easy. I suspect that requiring payment at the same time as game submission would increase the workload for the signing up stage dramatically.

My “trick” was to test the system with our GMs first, opening registration to them early as a reward for running games. Unfortunately, my trick didn’t work out–I didn’t get early signups from the GMs! I wondered if the system was losing their signup emails, but my tests all worked fine. Once I opened registration to players, everything submitted smoothly–our GMs were just being polite and didn’t seize everything the first moment they were allowed.

When players completed the signup form, it sent us an email of their picks. I copied the names into a google doc with the game names and capacities listed. If there was still space for them in the games they selected, I sent them an email telling them that they had a seat at the table. If we were charging for the slots, for simplicity I would have submitted a bill at the same time– “You have reserved three slots; that will cost $9. You can pay in advance or on the day of the convention.”

That was the next month–I just checked emails from the form, wrote back with a “you’ve reserved a seat” or “bummer, all the seats at the table are taken… do you want to try another game in that time slot?”, and updated my doc to ensure that I didn’t assign eight people to a 6 person table.

Con Day!

Finally, the day of the con came. We got there early and setup the tables to maximize play space– and to separate the tables as much as possible to make it (slightly) easier to hear your GM. One table was set aside for GMs to store their bags, sort minis, and grab free donuts.

Several players and GMs showed up early–excited by both the Minicon and Free RPG Day spoils. Fifteen minutes before the first session we opened the doors and let people peruse their picks, showing GMs the tables we had set aside for them. (Fifteen minutes may not have been enough time if we had to collect payment and issue tickets, though RPG Day picks are an obstacle that most cons don’t have to address.)

The GMs were all present before their slot, as were almost all of the players, even for the first morning slot! Game masters set their screens and books on their tables, we directed traffic so players could find their games, and the rush of people was over by 10:15. The first slot was in session!

Refreshments proved popular, exposing some deficiencies in our stock levels for the con. I grabbed breakfast for “con staff”, and hit the store to get more snacks and drinks. About a half-hour before the end of the slot we made a time announcement and were amazed that the tables (mostly) ended on time. Most people grabbed nearby food and were back in time for the afternoon session.

The afternoon session was larger, with seven games instead of four. Space and volume control were more challenging and there was a scramble when we realized that we were down one GM. He had been called into work– fortunately, his players were able to be join other games as they were still setting up. The session chugged along smoothly, with GMs handling their games well. A few ended sooner and others pushed into the dinner break, but everyone seemed happy.

The evening session followed the same pattern– in fact, it was running so smoothly that I got a chance to play in “We Be Goblins”. It was a hoot. Fear Poog, the mighty cleric! It was a great finish to a surprisingly easy day.

Leveling Up

It was a great event! We learned a lot, but it honestly ran more smoothly than it had any right to. Here are a few takeaways:

• You Need a Big GM Pool: Seventeen GMs signed on to run and 16 showed, which was great–but it’s also only a fraction of the GMs we know. Between playing and GMing with people for months in D&D Encounters, store Pathfinder groups, GMs who post “players wanted” posters, friends who were aware of the event, and other potentials, we knew 50-75 GMs.
• Own The Space: For our first con, correcting on the fly was easy. When we realized we were short on drinks, I drove to the store for them during a session. If we’d needed another table or chairs, I could have gone to a store. If you’re renting a space, you may have to use their services–and they’re not always reasonably priced. Or available at any price.
• Rooms and dividers are good: The other side of the “space” coin is that seven tables of GMs talking in one room is tough. Banquet halls and meeting rooms are much louder than suites or several smaller rooms. Consider partitions if you do have a large unbroken space.

We honestly couldn’t fit many more games or gamers into the room–leveling up would require a larger space, financial considerations like renting space, losing drink and snack income to the hotel/convention center, and other tricky tradeoffs.

This was our first attempt and it proved successful, so we’re looking at repeating it down the road. What have you encountered as a con organizer? I’ve heard stories about house cons growing into traditional conventions–how did you make the transition? If you’ve worked behind the scenes at a con, share your stories and tips. How do you make a con thrive? If you have any questions about running a con, ask away in comments!

SEM1123263
Saturday 8/6
10:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Meet the Gnomes Behind the Engine!
Come and meet some of the gnomes behind the ENnie Award-winning blog Gnome Stew! They’ll talk about what is going on at the blog, as well as their latest book from Engine Publishing, “Masks: 1,000 Characters to Populate Your Worlds.” Learn the tricks used by these veteran GMs to make the most of every game that they run. The seminar ends with Q&A when the gnomes do their best to help you with your GMing problems.

Once again we will be hosting a seminar and would love to meet you all in person. We are a lively bunch, and I promise there will be as many laughs as there is great GMing advice. Here is just a sample of what you can expect:

• Talk about the well oiled machine that is Gnome Stew (Really its like 10 Gully Dwarves with a i386)
• Talk about Engine Publishing’s newest book, Masks (Pimpin’ the new merch)
• Talk about Engine Publishing’s first book, Eureka (Pimpin’ the old merch, ‘cause Gnomes never stop pimpin’)
• Answers to your most complicated GM Questions (Seriously, we are pretty good with this GM stuff)
• Why Patrick and John always wear kilts, and how to tell the two apart (‘Nuff said)
• Why Halfling Soup will ruin gaming as we know it.  (Ugh..really that joke again?)
• A chance to tell us what you would like to see on the Stew (But don’t we already have a suggestion pot?)
• An Engine Publishing giveaway (Similar to what we did last year…what was that again?)

So while you are figuring out how to schedule both a friendship-ending game of Diplomacy and the latest Pathfinder delve, make sure to save two hours on Saturday to come join us in what is going to be an awesome GMing dialog. We are looking forward to having a chance to meet you.

Good luck on Event Registration.

Sean is the type of GM that I cannot say enough good things about.  The word "no” never crossed his lips.  Our characters could attempt anything that we were able to imagine, and instead of saying “That PC can’t do that.” Sean just let the dice decide instead.  I took full advantage of this when playing my steam punk, gizmo wielding, kilt wearing dwarf.

My PC launched a goblin via catapult at a giant mech in order to bypass its defenses and take that mech down.  Later on my PC had that same goblin get inside the cockpit of a second giant mech and, umm, mechjack it.  Yet even later my PC diverted all of the power sources on that giant mech into one titanic “I got your Deathstar super cannon right here!” that blew yet another even bigger super mech into pieces with the goblin as both pilot and gunner.

Yes you had to be there, but there are only two important details that you need to know:

1. Sean rolled with all of this even when his jaw dropped upon hearing what my PC’s plans were.
2. The goblin was played by Phil.

This was a crazy but wonderful game.  I was in my element, and other players at the table were applauding my over the top role playing and insane battle plans.  I was definitely bringing the awesome to the game and others recognized it.

But Sean recognized not only what I was doing at the game table, but what Phil was allowing me to get away with.  Phil and I have a great rapport and whenever I looked at Phil and said something like “How would you feel if I shot your PC out of a catapult?” or “Would you mind if we risked blowing ourselves up in order to blow something else up?” Phil would just consider my question for a moment and respond with “Go for it.”

I could not have accomplished any of my kooky ideas at the game table without Phil’s cooperation, and Sean rewarded me for my ideas and effort.  Even better though was that Sean recognized that Phil was supporting me in my efforts, and Sean rewarded Phil as well.  Phil’s goblin was my dwarf’s straight man, and that act could not have worked without him.

Remember how earlier I mentioned that this game had two tables?  Sean needed another person to aid him with the GMing duties.  That co-GM was Kurt.  Kurt ran the combat at one table for Sean while playing his PC at another table.  Just like my ridiculous tactics could not have worked without Phil’s help, Sean could not have run the game without Kurt’s help.  Sean recognized Kurt’s help as well.

How did he recognize this?  Simple, he just gave out bennies during play and acknowledged Kurt and Phil publicly for what they were doing.  Bennies are a game currency in Savage Worlds that allows you to do certain things in game and to shake off damaging effects.  Sean handed a bennie to those who earned them and also offered praise and good old fashioned recognition.  None of this cost Sean a dime in money, required only a fraction of a moment in time, and in the end these things made the game all that much better.

Anyone can spot the star, but a great GM sees the people who made that star shine. 

Do you have players who are not the “stars” of your game, but who make the “stars” shine a bit brighter?  Do you notice the players who are helping you to run a great game?  If so, how do you reward them?  How do you recognize them and their efforts?  Share your experiences and ideas in the comments section below, and tell us how you as a GM recognize all of your supporting cast.

Ok John, we get the point. You want to have Con On The Cob’s frizzy haired babies. Ok, yeah I like it, but I also got Patrick there last year and from all the talking we both did about it at Gencon, we’ve roped Phil and Kurt into coming and checking it out this year.That means that around 30% percent of the gnomes will be at Con On The Cob this year. That’s an impressive amount of gnomish awesome to fit into a small convention, and at least three of us will be kilted. I don’t know if the convention will take it.

If you’ll be at Con On The Cob, come and say hi and hang out with us. Our mugshots are below for easy reference. Aside from hanging out with us at Con On The Cob, you can pickup copies of Eureka from the Silvervine Games booth. If you won’t be lucky enough to hang out with us there, we might take gnome photo requests(kilted gnome conga line? Drop it in the comments and maaybe we’ll do it.) or try to whip together a podcast or video gnomet when all four of us have a chance. We’ll be presenting a seminar on utilizing Eureka, and you can be sure that will be going up as a video.

Phil                                     Kurt                              Patrick                     John

Game Mastering Convention Advice
Ok, Gnome Stew is all about the Game Mastering and I can’t ethically write an article without doing something to benefit the Game Masters out there. While some might argue that merely letting you know where Gnomes are so that you can hunt us down and rub us for gaming luck is enough, I prefer to take the high road and drop some gnomish nuggets of wisdom about running convention games, especially at conventions that are smaller than the big boys. Here are some tidbits of advice for running convention games and some links to great articles from the past.

• Not All Conventions Are Built Equally, But Treat Them All The Same When It Comes To Running Games – Every convention varies in size and scope. The dedicated people at your local college gaming club might whip something together for a weekend that is great fun, but it isn’t Gencon with its plethora of vendors and new products. When running a game at a smaller convention, expect things to be much more loosely organized but make sure you are treating it like any game you would run at a big convention. Be professional, be organized, be ready to fit into the time slots for the game. When it comes down to it, the size of the convention stops mattering when people are sitting at the table with you. At that point it is you and a group of people sitting down to game.
• 6 Rules for GMing Great RPG Events at Conventions  – A great article by Patrick on general rules for running convention games.
•  Expect The Same Problems On A Different Scale – Big conventions and little conventions have the same problems, just on different scales. At a big convention you likely have a team of 20 people trying to organize the thousands of games that are going on every day. At a smaller convention you have one person trying to organize the hundreds going on. Schedules will get messed up, it is inevitable. Deal with them like you should any other issue – politely and with tact, understanding that these are volunteers who love gaming.
• There’s A New Player At Your Table – Scott drops some wonderful advice for how to deal with gaming with strangers at conventions.
• Go To A Local Convention And Meet New People And Try New Games – This is my biggest piece of personal advice. Local conventions are great for getting to know people. The people you see in the games you run or play in are also the people you see at the very small vendors hall later and the people you see when you are looking to go grab some food from the restaurant down the way. I’ve made so many new friends at smaller conventions, and while some live farther away enough live close that I increase my local group of gamer oriented friends with every new convention I go to.  You can also try out new games at local conventions. It isn’t just at Gencon that new games get played. The people who pick them up at the big conventions but couldn’t get into a game there are going to run it at their local convention to try it out. So go to conventions, meet new people, and play new games.
• I Was A Gencon Virgin – Walt’s confessions about his first time at Gencon sheds a lot of light on things first-timers at any convention should know.

So that’s it for this humble article. What are some of your favorite local conventions? Do you have any outlandish request for gnome photos (we bow easily to peer pressure)? Any topics you’d like to see the four of us cover if we find the time to do a video or podcast?

This year’s Gen Con was very busy for me, and it looked to be pretty busy everywhere I went.  The dealer’s floor was crowded, lots of products were selling out, events were well attended (the ones I attended). Overall, the Con had a nice hustle and bustle to it. What was lacking this year, was the buzz, it is that gamer frenzy that takes over the Con, like when Vampire: Requiem released, D&D 4e was announced, or the release of the Pathfinder Core Book. The lack of the buzz did not detract from the overall experience, but its absence was felt.

Buzz aside, there were many highlights for the week, and I have grouped them below:

Purchases

I did take some quality time to make my way out onto the dealers floor and spend some money.  Overall I think I made out pretty well.  Here are some highlights:

• Apocalypse World — On the list from the You Pick It, I Review It article, this was the first purchase I made, and I have started my reading of it.
• Kagematsu — Also from the You Pick It requests; this tiny rule book is like a Tardis. I can’t wait to share it with you.
• Remembering Tomorrow– Gibson-esque cyberpunk game at $10; it was a steal. Thanks Rob.
• Gamescience Dice–  I actually purchased my set last year but filled out some extra d6’s.
• ICONS– this is a game that’s just starting up in my group and take note of the third author.
• Hamlet’s Hit Points– Robin Laws newest book on story pacing; reviewed here on the Stew.
• Deck of Names: Japanese — A deck of name cards for my new Blood & Honor game.
• Eclipse Phase– I have had my eye on this game for some time, and I could not resist adding this book to my collection.

Playing Games

For me, Gen Con is a time where I can test drive games that I want to consider running, or just want to try out out of curiosity. This year was no different, and while there were a few games I could not get tickets for (Eclipse Phase and Diaspora) I did get a chance to play the following:

Freemarket
This is the newest game from Luke Crane and Jared Sorensen. The game is a sci-fi game that moves far past hauling cargo and shooting aliens and looks at a near utopia world where cooperation outweighs conflict. The game is very innovative, and a paragraph will not do it justice. The game’s only potential weakness is that not every group will “get it”. Luke’s running of the game was great, and I now understand why people are so excited to get into his games.

Houses of the Blooded
Last year at Gen Con, I passed up on buying this book, despite the sales pitch directly from John Wick. After getting the book and reading it twice this winter, I got into a game, to see how it played. Our GM, Holly, was great, and her portrayal of her NPC’s were awesome; a reminder to me to act a bit more when I am speaking as an NPC. Holly did a great job of showing how the HoB system, with it’s shared narrative control, can create a full session from a simple premise.  The game was very enjoyable including my tragic ending, with the wearing of the black.

FUDGE
I have for some time been curious about FUDGE, looking for a light-weight game system that has some flexibility to it. I was lucky enough to get into Patrick’s, Eureka! Its FUDGE session, where Patrick let a player pick a plot from Eureka at random and then he improvised the game. Patrick did a great job playing on the fly, and teaching the FUDGE rules. I am definitely getting some FUDGE materials over the next few months.

Fiasco
While I have played Fiasco a few times, and have reviewed it here on the Stew, there was a lot of buzz about the game, including from Will Wheaton. Our Gnome In Chief, Martin had a chance to play a Fiasco game with a few guys from my gaming group, in a session called Milking The System, and fully enjoyed it.

Eureka

Eureka was available at Studio 2 Publishing’s booth. After a year’s work, it was quite surreal to see the book sitting on the shelf. On Saturday, we held a Q&A about Eureka, where seven of the nine authors (and Gnomes) had a chance to talk about Eureka and our experiences in the creation of the book. Afterward we signed copies of the book, also incredibly surreal.

By Saturday afternoon, Eureka had sold out. It was so exciting to see the response people had to the book. My only regret, was that I was not able to find Monte Cook to sign my copy. Rest assured that at Gen Con 2011 I will have my Eureka book in my bag, and will be looking for you Mr. Cook.

ENnies

Adding to the surreal-ness (if the is such a word) of the week was the ENnies. As we already announced, your votes fetched Gnome Stew the Silver ENnie. For me personally, it meant a lot to know that the advice we are posting is making a connection with you. Thank you all for your votes.

One note, after the ENnies we took a vote and decided to retrain our preferred enemy from the Halfling to the Kobold.

Friends

One of the great things about GenCon is the chance to meet some of the bloggers, podcasters, vendors, and designers that you normally cannot meet, except for once a year. Just a few highlights:

• Talking with Michael Wolf (Stargazer’s World), Zach (RPG Blog II) and Jeff Uurtamo (The Bonescroll) on Thursday afternoon.
• Playing Freemarket with ChattyDM and as well as sharing a few meals together.
• Quick hello’s with: Odyssey; Dante, Vanir, and Stupid Ranger, NewbieDM, Chad (Fear The Boot), and Micah from Obsidian Portal.
• Sitting for a demo of Apocalypse  World with Vincent Baker.
• Getting a chance to spend some time with my fellow Gnomes, in person.
• The million laughs I shared with the Greenshirts over the whole trip.

Until Next Year

In all this was an incredible GenCon for me, and likely one that will be hard to repeat in the future, but that’s ok. Every Gen Con is unique, and I look back at all of them, as a unique experience. I am looking forward to going again next year, after I rest and recover a bit, and read all those great books I purchased.

If you want to see a few more pictures of the Gnomes in action, go to our Facebook Page.

If you went to GenCon, share some of your prized purchases, games played, chance encounters, and memorable moments.

The Good

As probably know by now, Gnome Stew won a silver ENnie (and I jumped off the  stage wearing a kilt – not one of my brighter moments). We’re honored to have been among the excellent blogs nominated, and are proud to have taken the silver. Kobold Quarterly (despite the horrible choice of mascot) took the gold, which gives us a goal: Gnomes vs. Kobolds – a classic matchup. 

Eureka sold out! It’s a bit surreal to see your name in print at a convention. It’s downright moving to see the book sell out on Saturday. And it’s head-swellingly flattering to have complete strangers request autographs and give compliments. I’m glad I came home, where I get to change diapers and clean toilets…

I successfully ran my very first convention game, “A Stitch In Time”. I’ll have more in a lessons learned article, but a full table of novice to experienced players had fun while their brave characters managed to go back in time (twice!) and fix the past.

We Gnomes gave our own seminar. From my perspective, the most interesting aspect of the seminar was the disparate view of the Gnomes on various topics. We do not always agree, yet we are not disagreeable with each other.

Meeting other gamers. Not Big Names in the industry, but meeting some of our readers and some who’ve never heard of us. Gen Con is a rare time when we gamers don’t have to explain our peculiar hobby, but can instead just ask, “What’s your game?” Lifelong friendships have started with a chance meeting at Gen Con.

Scotty’s Brewhouse. Where else can you eat a jalapeño bacon cheeseburger with peanut butter (the “Paladin’s Reprieve”), listen to live nerdcore, and watch Ice Pirates with members of the 501st Legion? I just about had a nerdgasm…

The Bad

The biggest failing in this year’s Gen Con was my own fault. Despite my own experience and the advice of wiser gamers, I overscheduled myself, and ended up ditching two games on Saturday to hang out with my friends. This is the secret curse of Gen Con – There are just too danged many shiny toys to play with!

Another sour note – One of the four elevators at the Embassy Suites was out of order. In fact, it was entirely missing. One of the remaining three was extremely slow, sometimes taking ten seconds at a floor before the doors opened, and then there was occasionally a step up or down to the floor. Luckily, our floor was low enough that we could walk to the lobby.

The Ugly

There wasn’t much ugliness at Gen Con this year. Frankly, everything went smoothly for me, and for those I ran into.

Event Registration was frustrating this year, especially when compared to last year’s Great Success. In hindsight, it was still better than the years before, when it had to be rebooted, and a future Gnome wrote a certain someone a famous letter and got a solid response. (Holy Hyperlinks!) I did get confirmation from Someone Who Should Know that RUBI is already getting tweaked and tested, and should be in good form next year. Time will tell…

I played in a convention game (which will not be identified). The plot was fun, the GM was good, and the other players were really into it. But the gaming system did not fit the scenario. There are few bad systems, but each one has strengths and weaknesses. GMs should match the right system with the right scenario in order to maximize the amount of fun at the table.

What’s your story?

Did you attend Gen Con this year? What was your view of the elephant? Got a good or bad story to share? Sound off in the comments and let us know!

This self-check is timely because summer’s such a great season for gaming and a new school year starts later this month. Anytime you shake up your group or add new people to your circle, it’s worth a moment of reflection and a commitment to restraint. Many of these issues are particularly important if your home group is all male or strongly unbalanced in gender– it’s easy to fall into comfortable habits when you all have so much in common.

General Politeness

Polite behavior in mixed company is pounded into women’s brains more thoroughly than most comparable guys. I’m not talking about sipping tea with a pinky extended– but give them a few hours (better: a few sessions) before you start bringing up awkward topics or waiving all those hard won social habits.

Not all Gasses are Noble
Hanging out with friends, it’s easy to get in the habit of rudeness. Guy dominated groups are particularly likely to cut back on the social niceties– we belch and fart, it’s no big deal. Except that doing so can ruin the fun of other people around the table– particularly when belches have their volume forced and farts are ripped without a simple “excuse me”.

My wife came to dread attending our local RPGA events, because we kept getting stuck at a table with a guy whose main communication method was belching. You could tell that we were getting stuck with him because everyone else had firmly requested not to be at his table– and there weren’t enough tables to keep us all away from him. She ducked the events more and more often, with “belching guy” at the top of the list of reasons why.

Odors
It’s sad that this has to get printed in all con advice, but the advice is serious. Shower. It’ll make every table of players happier, and every person you’re packed close to in the dealer hall a little more able to bear the press of bodies.

Cologne and perfume don’t mask sweat and dirt, they just add another unpleasant smell to the mix. Increasing deodorant is better than not, but honestly, a shower is the best solution by far. Please take advantage of it.

The Table is not an Extension of your Dating Life

Often, a guy knows within a minute whether he’s sexually interested in a new player at the table. Unfortunately, everyone at the table– including the new player– often knows within a few minutes.

Don’t be rude. If you’re at a con to enjoy gaming, the same is probably true for the new player at the table. If you’re at the game table to kill goblins, the same is probably true for the new player. Over time, you might find out something more. (Maybe he enjoys lots of interacting with NPCs!) In all cases, showing an interest in dating or (especially) making a romantic move at the table just makes things awkward for everyone.

On the flip side
Just because you don’t find a member of the opposite sex attractive, that doesn’t magically undo their socialization. It might be easy to treat her as one of the guys– because, hey, you’re not interested in her as a girl– but that’s no reason to unleash noxious gasses on her or start discussing your favorite porn.

And it’s twice as annoying when you do manage to add a second woman to your table and everyone treats the attractive one as a princess and the other as “just another guy”.

Dating In Character
Short version: don’t do it unless you discussed it out of character, away from the table. Hitting on someone’s character can be confusing; are you hitting on the character because it’s what your character would do? As a way to develop your character? Do you hope to date in character for a while and see if it’ll transfer to real life?

If you only want to date in character: is it because the player isn’t pretty enough for you? Are you sure that’s what she’ll believe? If one of the players thinks the game relationship is a reflection of something more, it’s one of the crueler bait and switches they can experience.

GMs: Watch Out

Most of the time it’s best to treat a new player like everyone else, man or woman. There are a few things to keep in mind though.

Interruption
Men tend to interrupt others more often in conversation. This can be intensely frustrating to women who wait their turn patiently– and get tromped on three words in. This is reinforced because many people don’t notice when woman get cut off– the assumption is that she’ll jump in and cut guys off too. That will rarely happen in the first session– and if they can’t do anything and no one listens, do you really think they’ll come back for another?

There are several ways to combat this. Initiative is great, if only because it allows each person a clear time to lead the conversation– when their own character is acting. Using initiative for unstructured (out of combat) time can be a simple as passing around a talking stick. Or you can simply allow general discussion for a few minutes then directly address each person in turn and “verify” that you understand what each is doing. When the GM addresses a player directly, other players are less likely to interfere.

You can also point out the problem of people talking over each other before the session starts. If everyone gets better about allowing others to complete their thoughts, everyone benefits. Similarly, speaking over people when they freeze constricts their choices and makes the same action less good. (This is something I need to address myself.)

It’s a GM’s job to shine the spotlight and make sure that all of the characters get a chance to shine. Similarly, the GM should make sure that everyone gets a chance to contribute whether they’re naturally loud or quiet. Keep an eye on your table and draw out the quieter members every once in a while– you’ll often be amazed at what they’ve been thinking.

Play in Public

Right now, board gamers are pushing a play in public campaign for August. (Their facebook page.) The core of the movement is that people don’t even consider gaming until they’re exposed to the idea: people can’t do something they’ve never heard of. If you’re in public and having fun, you’ll get a lot of interest, and might get passerby to check it out. You’re broadening horizons.

Admittedly, passerby can be a little awkward for a roleplaying session– it takes longer to explain to most people than board games. Roleplaying is also more vulnerable to getting jostled out of a delicate suspension of disbelief. If we want to find other interesting people to play with and to have people nod at us enviously when we tell them we’re off to Gen Con, they need to know what they’re missing.

Now on to Game
The point of this isn’t to make everyone second guess themselves and make every game with new players awkward. It’s not that women are delicate flowers– it’s just an accident of socialization, a history we carry along unexamined most of the time.

Still, if a second the check out worst instincts can bring new players into the hobby– or make someone’s con experience pleasant instead of painful– why not give it a shot?

Your Turn

I know a lot of my advice has been sterotypical and is oft repeated. What pet peeve do you have? What’s the thing you see at an event that makes you regret signing up for an event? Help us figure out how to make you welcome at our table.

Friday Night  6:00 PM – Westin : Grand Ballroom IV: The ENnies: The 10th Annual EN World RPG Awards
Saturday 10:00 AM – Marriott : Santa Fe – Eureka! Cooking Up Adventure Plots with Gnome Stew

If you can’t find us at one of those, here is a handy picture guide to the Gnomes in attendance, in reverse last-name alphabetical order -  because I felt like it.

“DNAPHIL” Phil Veccione	Kurt “Telas” Schneider	Martin Ralya	Scott Martin
Walt Ciechanowski	Patrick Benson	John Arcadian

Ok, with that self-aggrandizement out of the way, we wanted to answer a suggestion from the pot by BryanB.

For you GenCon veterans….

Where are the ideal places to park (cost v. location)?

What are some of the tasty places to eat in the downtown area?

What are some of the cool sites to see in Indy?

Well Bryan, we’ve got a fair amount of info for you from the Gnomes. There are lot of people out there more qualified than us, so lets point you to some links first.

Links

The Gencon Survival Guide – Nice, clean, helpful – Alan De Smet’s site is a great source for Gencon info. http://www.highprogrammer.com/alan/gaming/cons/gencon_survival.html

Madbrew Lab’s Restaurant & Pub Guide – A great little list of Gencon eating establishments.
http://www.madbrewlabs.com/gencon-restaurant-pub-guide/

The Gencon Community Forums – There are a lot of great things here for Gencon Attendees.

The Forums – http://community.gencon.com/
Places to Eat – http://community.gencon.com/forums/p/24045/269173.aspx
30 Quick Gencon Tips – http://community.gencon.com/forums/t/19953.aspx?PageIndex=1

Sean K Reynold’s Gencon Tips – Sean Reynolds has quite a few good Gencon Tips for you at his website.
http://www.seankreynolds.com/rpgfiles/gaming/gencontips.html

Gencon Travel Tips – This forum post at tabletopgamingnews.com has a lot of good info regarding travel to Gencon.
http://talk.tabletopgamingnews.com/index.php?topic=340.0

Gnome Tips

We Gnomes have a few ideas about Gencon ourselves,  so in alphabetical order by last name here are our tips for Gencon.

John’s Tips:

• If you haven’t gotten registered for games, don’t fret. Walk around the areas where gaming goes on as there are usually open games or people looking to throw down for an impromptu game. You’ll probably find a lot of nifty games you hadn’t thought of trying. This holds true for bigger events as well. If you don’t mind not being with your group, True Dungeon sessions usually always have one opening or a few no-shows that they try to fill.
• The VIG is a great way to go if you can. It is expensive but provides a lot of extra options.
• Don’t forget to get stuff signed when you are at booths. It goes like this. You pick up a book at a table and say that looks nifty. You talk to a guy behind the table about it and have a good conversation. You realize halfway through this person made the game. You buy the book and forget to get it signed. I always get wrapped up in conversations with game creators and forget that I’m talking to a game creator. I’ve got so many books from people I know on a first name basis but don’t have them signed, and that seems like a pity. The same holds true for art in the Artist hall. My office walls are covered with art from artists I’ve worked with and am friends with, but very few are signed. The artists and creators are flattered when people ask them to sign stuff, but at the same time few creators push their fame and won’t mention signing a book. They are just happy for the sale. Remember, get stuff signed. The creators love doing it.

 Walt’s Tips

• When I drove, I usually parked in the lot in front of Conseco Fieldhouse. I preferred the Circle Center parking garage, but you have to get up pretty early in the morning for a space.
• Eating for me is catch-as-catch can. Circle Center mall has a decent food court and India Garden has a great lunch buffet but is several blocks away. There are plenty of restaurants in the area.
• I’m not sure about weekends, but there are food street vendors outside the Convention Center on weekdays. If you’re just looking to grab a hot dog or drink then you’re probably better off there than inside the Convention Center.
• The dealer hall is only open from 11-6. If you want to spend time there, then you probably don’t want to load up on back-to-back morning and afternoon events.
• Don’t get suckered by the Skyway. While it may seem convenient, if you’re trying to get from Point A to Point B quickly then you’re better off going outside.
• Also check out Walt’s “From Con to Con: I was a Gen Con Virgin” article for some more great advice. – JA

Martin

• Head a couple blocks from the convention center for breakfast. Get
  over by the war memorial, and you’ll find the same inexpensive
  breakfast options minus the giant lines. Avoid Einstein’s Bagels.
• I like passing by the war memorial because it’s a very cool plaza, but apart from that I’ve seen very little of Indy — which is too bad, because it seems like an awesome city. Sorry I can’t help with this one!
• This will be the first year I’m not parking at my hotel, as I’ll be
  staying with DNAphil and his posse. He knows all the sexiest parking
  spots, though, so listen to him.

Telas

• I prefer to stay at the Embassy.  Never underestimate the power of a good breakfast.
• The food court at the convention center is a last resort.  If you can make it to the mall, you’ll have a better selection and value. 
• The Claddagh is still one of the best pubs I’ve ever been to in or out of Indy, although the Ram supports Gen Con more.  Claddagh’s menu, beer selection, and (Irish) whiskey selection rock.
• The pizza joint by the CVS was surprisingly good; can’t remember the name now.  The CVS deserves a mention, if only for getting drinks and snack food at near-normal prices. 
• Buca di Beppo is a great place to take a crowd; the servings are massive.
• The entrees at the Weber Grill underwhelm me every year, but the deserts keep bringing me back. 
• The sushi place near the Ram was decent, and was mostly empty during an afternoon. 
• Finally, this thread at community.gencon.com is worth it’s (virtual) weight in gold: http://community.gencon.com/forums/t/22456.aspx

Phil

• Parking — The lot connected to the convention center is the most expensive and fills up quickly, but it is very convenient in terms of getting to you car during the day.  If the lot connected to the convention center does not work, then the Circle Center Mall parking is the next spot, as it is also connected to the convention center, though just a bit farther to get to.
• Caffeine Intake — If you have the Caffeine monkey on your back, you are in luck.  There are a number of places to get coffee.  I favor the Starbucks in either the Marriott or the Westin.  Here is a money saving tip.  There is like a $3.00 difference between Iced Latte and an Iced Coffee.
• Food– Stake ‘N Shake is always packed at lunch, so expect to wait on line for a burger. What is not as well known is that they also make a good and inexpensive breakfast, and not nearly as busy. 
• I do most of my eating at Circle Center.  It’s close, and you can find a good variety of food.  Seating can be tricky, so its best to find a table first, and then get a meal.  Kind of like college all over again.
• Also, PF Changs (if you like it, I do) has take out.  So call it in and then take it somewhere else. We do that typically at night, for our open gaming.  Get a table, call in an order to Changs, and then eat while playing.
• Things To Do At The Con– For $5 you can get an auction tag, and bid on items in the auction.  The auctions are pretty hit and miss, but I have seen some incredible things come up for bid.  I got a first edition Whispering Vault book for $5.00.  Plus its also fascinating to watch what items people will bid on.  After some time in the auction room, look at the auction shop, where there are marked down items, without the bidding.  I have never left the auction shop without something in hand.

Hopefully these tips are helpful to attendees. If you’ve got any tips for Gencon, drop them in the comments section. We would love to hear them.

Well it’s that time a year again, and Gen Con is just under 2 weeks away, and I would like to continue the tradition and ask those of you who cannot attend, what would you like me to pick up and review this year?

Update– After reviewing the comments and talking to the Gnomes, I have selected Apocalypse World, by Vincent Baker, and Walt is going to take the Pathfinder Advanced Players Guide.

No promises, but if I run into a copy of Kagematsu, that may wind up in my bag as well.  Thanks to all of you who put in your comments.

Lets Review The Rules

Just like last year, there are a few conditions on what I will pick up for review. These are the same as last year, but let’s review, in case you forgot:

• RPG Rules or Gaming Accessory only—While I like board games, card games, and such, The Stew is an RPG blog, so lets keep it to an RPG rulebook or gaming accessory. I would rather not review an adventure either since they rarely are meaty enough for a full review.
• Something new—While just about anything can be found out on the convention floor, I am not going to review the AD&D A-Series adventures (though they are awesome). Please pick something that has recently come out that you have not had a chance to pick up at your local gaming store.
• Something we have not reviewed before– While we are not product review site, we have had the chance to do some great reviews. Check out our Review section for all our past reviews. Obviously, don’t pick one of those.
• Let’s not break the bank—While I love you guys, my bank account has its limits. So lets keep this to about $30 (or a bit over…).

Get Picking

Now that you remember the rules, start tossing out ideas on what you would like to see me review. In the comments section, put down your choice of what you would like me to pick up. On Monday, I will announce the item that I am going to pick up, and after GenCon I will put together a review of the item for you.

No Red Bull For Kurt in 2010

It’s possible that by now you may have heard that we Gnomes wrote a book: Eureka: 501 Adventure Plots to Inspire Game Masters. You may also know that we Gnome love a good convention, and that we are big fans of GenCon.  And if you have been a reader for any time, you know that Gnomes love shameless self-promotion.  Put that all together and you get our 2010 GenCon Seminar: Eureka! Cooking Up Adventure Plots with Gnome Stew

Yes once again we Gnomes will be presenting at GenCon, and I would like to now beg interest you into attending our seminar, and giving us a chance to met you guys in person, and let us indulge ourselves in some shameless-self promotion.

The Details

For those attending GenCon, this is where you want to be:

• Game ID: SEM1009173
• Start Date & Time: 08/07/2010 10:00:00 AM
• Duration: 2 hours
• Location: Marriott — Santa Fe  (subject to last minute changes, so check when you get to Indy)
• Gnomes Present: John Arcadian, Patrick Benson, Walt Ciechanowski, Scott Martin, Kurt ‘Telas’ Schneider, Phil (DNAphil) Vecchione

It’s About Eureka…

Obviously we want to spend some time in the seminar talking about Eureka, because we are pretty proud of it, and we think that you guys will love it too. We will talk about the concept for the book, what the book contains, and most importantly, why having this book will make your life as a GM so much easier.

We also wanted to share our experiences about self-publishing Eureka with you. We know that we are not the only one’s out there, who have thought of making our own book, and we learned a lot going through the process. We would love to share some of that insight with you, as well as talk about some of our personal experiences in, what was for a number of us, our first professional writing project.

…And More

While we are pretty vain, though not as much as stupid halflings, we do not want to spend the whole two hours having you listen to us go on and on about Eureka. So the second half of this talk, will be an open Q&A with the Gnomes, where you can ask your GMing questions, ask about the behind the scenes at Gnome Stew, what is under John’s kilt, or anything else you can think of.

Did I Mention There Would Be Freebies

We have designed a small giveaway that we will be handing out at the seminar. It will be a one page mini-campaign based off of the plots in Eureka. The page will contain a brief setting, and a full plot for the first adventure in the campaign. It will also contain a list of additional plots, found in Eureka, which will complete the campaign.

So come join us at GenCon, on Saturday at 10am. We would love to get a chance to meet you, since its your support that that has made both Gnome Stew and Eureka possible. We look forward to seeing you at Indy!

PS– for those of you who will not be in attendance at GenCon this year, we Gnomes are working on some ways to bring parts of GenCon to you. Watch for upcoming articles in the next few weeks, as we get closer to August.

The most important thing you need to know about event registration are the times.  Rather than telling you, I will quote it from the last email from GenCon central:

The time is almost upon us! Event Pre-Registration opens on Sunday, April 11th . Here’s the opening schedule:True Dungeon tickets will go on sale at 12:00 noon (Eastern), all other event tickets will be available for purchase at 2:00 pm (Eastern).

The Goal

For those new to GenCon registration, it’s important to know what is at stake. The most popular events at GenCon, after the True Dungeon events, are the RPG events. The biggest problem with the RPG events is that the average event has only 4-6 players. Thus, in order to get a seat at a table, you need to get your tickets as quickly as possible, in the middle of the digital stampede, as your fellow gamers jam onto the RUBI system to get all their events at the same time.

The odds look pretty grim, but with a few tips, you can increase your speed to register for your events, which might make all the difference between you getting your seat at Dresden Files, and a fist full of generic tickets.

About RUBI

GenCon events are organized in a web-based portal called RUBI. The system controls the purchasing of the convention badges, and the registering of events. RUBI got a pretty good review last year, but it is still not perfect. So lets cover some of the basics about RUBI:

• You need a badge to register for events—sounds obvious, but lets be clear, you need to have purchased an event badge in order to register for events. So before Sunday morning, if you have not purchased your badge, do it. Do not try to register for your badge on Sunday during event registration. According to the GenCon Facebook page: “Badges and Event Tickets cannot be purchased in the same transaction.”
• True Dungeon Slams The Server—The True Dungeon game is so popular that RUBI opens 2 hours early for just registration for True Dungeon, and then opens up for everyone else. The net effect is that at the point when full registration opens, traffic is pretty high and the server is a bit sluggish. While over the years, the system has gotten better, there is still a performance hit, during peak traffic when full registration starts.

Planning For Event Registration

The key to getting through Event Registration is planning. There is nothing you can do about web traffic and server loads, so the only way you can speed things up for Event Registration is to be organized and prepared. Here are a few tips to help you get organized:

• Do Your Homework—Before Sunday you should be reviewing the events list coming up with a list of events that you want. You need to get the Event List from the GenCon Community website.  The Event List is a CSV file which can be pulled into Excel or another spreadsheet. If you use Excel, take advantage of Auto Filters to navigate through the list.  In then end, you should have a list of event ID’s that you want to register for.
• Have Backup Choices—Different events go faster than others. So make sure that your event choices have some depth, so that if you  go to pick an event and its sold out, you have another choice ready to go, so that you don’t lose any time registering.
• Make A List—RUBI uses Event ID’s for locating events and selecting events. As a time saver, make an electronic list of Event ID’s that you want to register for, in something like Notepad or Excel. Then you can cut and past the ID’s into the RUBI webpage, which is going to be faster than typing them in.
• Show Up Early—Get online before event registration and log into RUBI. While RUBI won’t let you buy tickets, it will allow you to log in. So make sure you are in the system and ready to start registering when the time comes.

A Stew Of Tips

Rather than just ramble on my own about event registration, I tossed out the question to the other Gnomes and got back some of their favorite tips. I present them to you with minimal editing:

Martin Ralya

• Plan on at least 30-60 minutes, based on last year’s registration experience.
• You need one person in front of a computer for every two people you’re trying to register for, and you should be on the phone or chatting over IM in order to deal with the inevitable falling-through of some of your selected events.
• Events involving famous people or Call of Cthulhu generally go first, so plan on trying to grab them first if you’re interested in any.
• Remember that unless you’re under ~22, you’ll likely want to get some sleep at the con — so don’t book events at 8:00 am unless you’re really committed to them, especially not if you plan on staying up late.

Walt Ciechanowski

• Check descriptions. I had a buddy last year schedule 2 events that he wasn’t qualified to play (since he had to play in previous events first). Sometimes they’ll accommodate you anyway, but don’t count on it.
• Don’t always count on “materials needed: no.” Some events I’ve been to with that qualification still expected me to walk in with dice and a ready-made character. If the event seems to be part of an established organization with a hierarchy of adventures, then you’re probably expected to be familiar with the rules and have your own character.
• Factor in where you’re planning to stay. If you’re offsite, chances are that you won’t want to play in morning events, have a six-hour break, and then play in an evening game (in other words, treat the schedule like college; commuters group things differently than residents).
• While sleeping in and getting to bed early are important, don’t schedule everything in the afternoon or you won’t have time to walk the dealer hall.
• Have a good sense of where everything is and give yourself time to get from one event to the other. If you’re scheduling events back-to-back, try to get them in the same location.

Kurt “Telas” Schneider

• Prioritize your list of events, making sure that you have enough time to get from one to the other, including meals and potty breaks.  Pare it down; there’s not enough time in four days to do it all.  Leave enough time to spend at least 4 hours in the Exhibit Hall, far more if you like to demo games.
• Make sure that everyone you’re buying tickets for is a “friend”, and doesn’t have any scheduling conflicts with the events you’re buying.
• Reloading and re-submitting does not make the server run any faster.
• Don’t get frustrated, and don’t take it personally when you don’t get what you want.  Nobody does; it’s the nature of the beast.  Go vent on community.gencon.com, if it makes you feel better.
• Release any tickets you’re not going to use.  Please.  Don’t screw over another gamer because your friends “might want to attend”.
• Go to all the Gnomish events.  Pretty please.

And on that point lets talk about….

Gnome Hosted Events

Once again, we Gnomes are getting out there to give a number of events and we would not be Gnomes if we were not pimping our own events.  Here is our modest list of events:

Friday 8/6:

• 11:00-1:00 – SEM1013233 – Pimp My Game, a “bring us your problems” seminar with Patrick Benson.
• 2:00-6:00 – RPG1013255 – A Stitch in Time, a multi-genre Savage Worlds game.

Saturday 8/7:

• 10:00-12:00 – SEM1009173 – Eureka! Cooking Up Adventure Plots with Gnome Stew,Come learn about our first book, and hang with GnomeStew.
• 1:00-3:00 – SEM1010602 – “With Great Power…” Leadership and the GM, a seminar on taking the reins.

Please look up the full details in the event listings, and please come and attend some all of the events.  We would love the chance to meet you in person.

Your Tips

We have shared with you some of our best tips (though not all of them, because there are only so many seats for Burning Wheel).  Now tell us some of your best tips.

Good luck registering this weekend. Here’s hoping you get all the events you want.