Gen Con 2013 Report

Hey, folks.

This won't be much of a report, but I wanted to at least get the ball rolling so we have a place everyone can pitch in their perspectives.

We had the volunteer gathering this evening. The >G folks are, as always, a bunch of great folks. Had a great time catching up with people I hadn't seen for a while and meeting some new people. A group of us then wandered over to the Exhibitor's Hall to get our shirts for the Con. There we saw the booth.

Oh.

My.

First, the booth is huge! Seriously, lots of room (no more crawling over tables to get to the inside game!), with (if I remember correctly) 7 tables for playing and a massive counter (where additional demos could be run, if needed), behind which is a huge set of shelves completely hidden by a black curtain.

Best part? The ceiling banner.

Yes, Greater Than Games has a con ceiling banner.

This is shaping up to be a great Con…

(Everyone else, please feel free to post your experiences and observations. I doubt very much I'll be able to do this every evening, so hopefully we can share the load. )

My Gencon experience is that of experiencing jealousy towards those going to it 

Sadly, I have nothing to report other than this is shaping up to be the best con ever!

THe >G guys are awesome and I look forward to working with everyone and playing some epic demos of SotM.

This is my first GenCon, but it is definitely going to be great. We have a huge team of volunteers who seem absolutely psyched to get everything running. The shirts are awesome, the booth looks great, and we have plenty of room for games. All in tomorrow!

This. 

me three.

A crazy and very packed day today at GenCon. We had about 6-7 tables set up for Sentinels action, one to try out the prototype for Sentinels Tactics! I got there a little early today and sat down to help. Before I realized it, it had been 4 hours. We put in quite a few games over the span of the day, but a three-round beatdown of Blade to kick it off was a nice run. We had a couple of great costumes in the form of Spite, Nightmist, Wraith, Absolute Zero, and Grand Warlord Voss, so our booth seems to be a rather dynamic one. Great first day, but Day 2 is just a few hours away...

I was really impressed by the cosplay; folks did some awesome work! Don't forget about Wraith - Ariel (I think that was her name - I suck at remembering names. Evan?) did a great job with that costume.

I had the afternoon shift yesterday, so morning was spent helping another friend who had a booth get his stuff set up, etc. Once I was in the >G booth, though, things went amazingly fast! It's hilarious how quickly time passes when you're just showing folks the game.

Finishing up a demo with new folks and getting the question of "Okay, that was awesome - how much for everything you have?" really kinda makes your day. Although, I think the best was seeing the excitement in a young child while playing their favorite hero (Expatriette), beating on Voss's minions, while her parents enjoy spending time with their child… Really pretty cool.

Got to mess with the Sentinels Tactics game some, also, which was fun. I'm really looking forward to playing that some more.

The Exhibitor Hall was crazy-busy, yesterday. Lines were all over for most of the morning, and even >G was hit with the initial flood. Might have something to do with the coupon for free stuff…

Okay, today was insane.

First, I forgot to mention we sold out of Rook City Friday morning, and a few hours later we were out of Infernal Relics. When I say sold out, I mean sold out - there are no more copies of these available to >G. (Some local stores and distributors might still have some, of course.) However, they're planning to reprint them, so we should hear more about that sometime in the near future…

Today was all kinds of crazy. Being Saturday, it was costume day, and the SotM fans were no exception! We had some great costumes! If I'm remembering correctly (someone please chime in with anything I missed!) there were Spikes, Wraiths, NightMists, Unities, and one each of Baron Blade, Legacy, Apostate, Argent Adept, The Scholar, and Ra. (Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera - long story - so no pictures from me. Hopefully some others are able to share…)

Lots more fun with folks playing Sentinels Tactics, today playing heroes versus villains - with the villains run by designers Kevin and Luther!

I was very heads-down in the booth, working behind the counter with the exception of half a demo game I facilitated, so I didn't catch a lot of what was going on, but apparently there was a demo of Galactic Strike Force Christopher gave to some game reviewers. Appeared to go pretty well, from what I've heard (third/forth hand).

We've had a great Gen Con! Lots of buzz, lots of love, lots of people, and lots of fun.

Sorry to the folks who couldn't make it. Hopefully you'll be able to make next year and/or do something at a local Con. If you have a local con and there's no official participation, feel free to see about setting up something with the con organizers! A few folks here on the forums have done that, and it's gone really well. (Arenson9 might have started a thread on that, but I'm completely Con-brained right now and need to go coma…)

There's a spectrum.  I spent a good chunk of Gencon living it vicariously while in a hospital room with a sick daughter. This is much better than being too strung out to live Gencon vicariously because you’re in the hospital with a very sick daughter, so I'll take it as a good thing.  I'm very happy to see the Sentinels Tactics demo on youtube.

Contrats on running out of Rook City and IR!  I hope the new printing happens sooner than later, but am apt to believe that economy of scale might dictate that they’re shipped with Vengeance and GSF.

I just wanted to say, I wandered by a number of times and was pulled into an open seat on demos (knowing folks working the booth who knew I knew the game and liked it helped with that).  Killed Baron Blade so many times on Thurs/Fri.  :-)  Some things in particular I REALLY liked about the demos, and wanted to point out as a "nice" for whomever came up with the nuances for it:

1. In the demo games I saw, it was always against Baron (easiest villan), and the person running the demo always played Legacy (great support).  This let the new players try the game with a villan who was neither complicated nor hard, while being able to feel awesome and see the effects of Legacy's boosts, since it's the sort of thing that can feel boring for a new player who doesn't realize how powerful the support is.

2.  The Sentinels points gave an incentive for people who already had the game to stop by and play.  Bonus points for each new player in the game, and more bonus points for using stuff from an expansion.  This allowed the demos to display some non-base heroes to help sell the expansions, and also have someone on hand who a) knew the game to help field questions, b) could play a more complicated hero that might be a bit overwhelming for someone new to the game (I swear, had I not shuffled myself I'd think that Unity was stacked to easily get out 3 raptors and stealth bot, smoothest early hand I've had with her for that 4-5 turn Baron kill), and c) have someone at the table who was enthusiastic about the game.  It really helps sell a game people don't know to have more people than just the person paid to be there sitting down having fun with it.

3. I swear there was a 3 when I started this post...

Thanks, Huttj! Most of the details were evolved by the >G folks. We used to do "half-games", but realized it was going to be easier to just do a game and let folks see the whole thing, feel the threat of potential lose (occasionally), etc. (If a new-comer is pressed for time, we'll still do that on occasion.)

And playing Legacy can be challenging, as we usually try to make sure we're not stealing the thunder from the other players (although there are different opinions on this). For example, if I have a choice between doing a Flying Smash or a Bolster Allies, I'll almost-always go with Bolster Allies as it will help everyone else be awesome. If I'm trying to accellerate the demo, I'll make acceptions, but generally I don't have Legacy do damage during a demo to allow the other heroes to have the fun of beating BB down.

FYI: The folks running the demos aren't actually paid - we are volunteers! (I try to remember to tell folks that; as you said, it really does make a difference to know we love this game so much we're willing to give up some/all of our con to be there. )

Nothing much special to report about today - more similar things going on. The con went really well!

Next up: PAX Prime in 2 weeks.

(If I'm lucky, I'll actually be recovered from this by then… X-\ )

While my time in the dealer hall was pretty limited, I did manage to watch about 10 minutes of a Sentinels Tactics demo.  You guys were packed to the gills when I was there, 

And, honestly?  As a designer/developer?  There's no greater feeling than watching people having fun playing something you've created--doubly so when you're not running it/directly involved.  I'm sure the GtG guys appreciate it!

I must say, working with you guys this weekend was an absolute blast. Granted, I wiped out Blade so many times that I think he will be seeing the shelf for a while. I think the best part was seeing the faces of everyone who got to try the game for the first time (no offience to you experienced players, but nothing beat the glow on a person’s face when they get into the game.) I do hope I get to be a part of the action again next year.

Game is amazin, had to buy it pretty much immedietly!

Thanks to the guy (I forget your name sorry!) that was cosplaying Spite for the demo, we had quite a bit of fun.

This

I'm going to toss my couple notes in here. The convention was a blur for me, but I'll do my best.

First, I want to thank all of the amazing volunteers that showed up. I was going to call them out by forum name but realized I'd probably forget one or two. But yes, they were fantastic, especially our becostuméd ones. I mean, seriously. What fan wouldn't want Ra(bit) himself running a game for them? Anyway, these seventeen were the faces of >G to many new players, and they shared their passion wonderfully. Jacob and I didn't have to do much to make sure things ran smoothly, and that was the best part.

Second, costumes! So many costumes! Heroes and villains! Plushy animate hair dryers and raptor bots! It made my day when someone showed up in costume.

There was lots of buzz about SotM and >G in general. When I was out and about, wearing my Greater Than Games logo shirt, I got more than one comment from people about how amazing Sentinels is, as well as excitement for GSF and Sentinels Tactics.

The best (paraphrased) quote from the convention I heard came from our own awp832, volunteering at the booth. Someone had said something regarding how the game had characters no one had heard of, but was still really neat. He responded with, "You haven't heard of them yet," or something along those lines. That seems to be the case. If this multiverse we've all been taking part in for the last couple years keeps up its momentum, these are going to be characters people have heard of, even if they haven't played the game. Let's keep this going, everyone.

Imprimis5 out.

While I may not be as wordy as the others and I just woke up from my patented GenCon Recovery Pod, I will have to say the highlight of my experience this weekend happend on Sunday when a mother and her 3 kids stopped by for a demo. None of the kids had to be over 12 and the youngest was so excited to play Bunker and when the Baron when down for the final time he was all smiles. The girls were really excited about playing even when one of them got incapacitate by that dasterdly Baron, she was all smiles when she got to allow her sister to activate a Power that took the Baron down. It warms my heart that even the youngsters love this game as much as we do.

I cannot thank the >G guys for the opportunity to be part of this experience enough. When I was at a publisher meet and greet I kept getting asked if it was me that was responsible for SotM (I told them the real designer was way cooler than me and they should come by and talk to him). It seemed that they all knew the game and loved it as well or at least heard of it and its success. 

I really appreciated that the >G team took the time to think about how working the booth would effect their volunteers and planned accordingly. Thanks again guys for letting us enjoy the con as well as helping you out.

Enough rambling from me I must return to my pod and recover some more. I know the Multiverse is safe in your hands.

P.S. Almost for got check what few pics I took this year here: https://www.facebook.com/TheRegularIrregulars

Wonderful pictures! Well, I would like to say personally, it was a wonderful first con for me. The >G guys were fantastic and the volunteers I was able to work with were wonderful and very patient. I think that not only were the people excited to see us there, but those who didn't come as fans were quickly converted. The greatest thing I noticed was that the enthusiasm from the volunteers was passed on to the people who came out to play. We really had a great variety of games to show off, with Tactics getting tons of demos and a brief demo of Galactic Strike Force (I was running the demo at the next table over, didn't get to watch it). I think everything else that could be said has been said, but I want to say thank you to everyone who worked at the booth and those who came out to visit!

For people who volunteered, what advice would you have to someone thinking about volunteering in the future, both in terms of whether or not to volunteer and how to prepare to volunteer?

Definitely volunteer. First, have fun! Being flexible to help out is always good, but also realize that demos are the area of biggest need. Enjoy the game enough that you can do Baron Blade repeatedly, because he really is a great villain to show off many of the mechanics of the game while being easy enough for most newcomers to beat him. Grab people who look interested, because they probably are. Mostly, explain thoroughly and be patient, because the game will sell itself if you set it up well. 

1. Volunteer.

2. Wear a tuxedo.

And yes, Rabit, her name was Ariel, you remembered correctly. 

I'll try and start uploading all of the cosplay photos I have soon.

First and formost, make sure you enjoy the game. Otherwise it’s going to be a long weekend. Be paitent and delibrate with your demos, and be ready to feild a lot of questions. Don’t be afraid to offer new players advice, but don’t play their turns for them. I actually had the new players play with their hands up and the first turn I would offer a bit of advice, but after that I stayed out of their turn unless they asked. And lastly, be enthusiastic. That energy will quickly transfer to the players who will soon be enjoying the game.

I just joined the forums so I could post this.

Prior to GenCon I had known people who really liked Sentinels, but I had yet to play it myself. I got a demo and long story short I now own everything that can currently be bought for the game, and all the promos they brought to GenCon. All of my friends and I really like the game a lot, which is quite an achievement, so kudos to everyone who had a hand in making it what it is today.

What I wanted to say was how cool it was to see LITERALLY EVERYONE in and around the booth be so excited to show new people the game, and so eager to share what they love about it. I've had demos where the people giving them didn't seem to care much, and that leaves a negative impression on a game for me. So thanks to everyone who worked, volunteered, and played at GenCon, you made several new fans, and I'm sure we aren't the only ones 

Welcome, GoodGuyJim - glad to have you join us!

Welcome to the community, Jim!

For those interested, the Geek Dad had a great set of Gen Con photos that included some from the >G booth. And the note on the last one is absolutely correct.

The booth was awesome. The tables were always full and Christopher and Paul seemed to be full of energy, even on Sunday. I spent most of my Sentinels Points to get a couple of the promos for a friend of mine who just got into the game. I wish school didn't start so early sometimes. My school didn't start until August 14, but it's tough for me to take more than one day off that early in to do the GenCon thing. Otherwise I'd have loved to have volunteered for a few days.

I had a hoot demoing a bajillion games over the four days of GenCon. I can't even recall the huge numbers of new players that immediately popped over to the register to purchase after playing. So many people were just completely awesome to watch play, discovering different things about their character as they went. Gah! What a joy!

I do, of course, feel a little bad for my favourite Vengeful Scientist, as on more than one occasion, he barely got a single flipped turn before being decimated by the heroes. L'sigh. I am proud of him, though, standing against hundreds of games and almost pulling out some wins with a few shock turns thrown in.

And kudos to the booth space. It was an impressive set, and not a single person could say they didn't notice Greater Than Games at the convention.