Author Topic: Gen Con 2015  (Read 11732 times)

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Offline Old Man

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Gen Con 2015
« on: December 13, 2014, 09:22:05 PM »
July 30th through August 2nd, 2015

Badge registration begins in just over a month (Jan. 25th 2015).
Details at http://www.gencon.com/

My wife and I will be there.

Regards,
Old Man
** Yes, some of ROCO IV and VII is my fault. **

Offline pyrotech

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Re: Gen Con 2015
« Reply #1 on: December 13, 2014, 10:28:57 PM »
Our current plans are to attend again as well.  Possibly with an additional niece in tow this year.
-Pyrotech

Offline John @ ICE

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Re: Gen Con 2015
« Reply #2 on: December 15, 2014, 09:07:08 AM »
OK let us know if you want to run games, if you need adventures and of course we can offer prizes!
Heavy is the head that wears the Iron Crown

Offline Wolfhound

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Re: Gen Con 2015
« Reply #3 on: December 16, 2014, 11:45:44 AM »
Not sure if I'll be attending yet or not, but if I do I'm hoping to talk my wife into going also. 

If I do go though, I may not be running anything this year.  I may be tied up with other stuff as I'm helping some friends start up a small game publishing business and we may be demoing some of their games (a couple of card games to start, with several possible board games in the future, so nothing that would directly compete with ICE/GCP) to evaluate interest in them from a marketing standpoint. 

But if that is the case if there are any openings in any Rolemaster, Spacemaster, HARP games that fall outside of the convention hours I might be willing to fill an empty seat (or two if my wife also goes) with generic tickets. 

But if ICE/GCP is active (has a booth) the following year (2016 as Nicholas had indicated) I'd be willing to volunteer some of my time to help out as needed (demoing, etc.).
Wolfhound (aka Aaron Smalley)
World of Aernth/Channel Cities setting: www.ChannelCities.com
City of Archendurn & Dun Cru author (for RM/HARP)
Cur. projects: RMU Creature Law 1 & 2, No Quarter Under the Crown (campaign module for RMU)

Offline Cory Magel

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Re: Gen Con 2015
« Reply #4 on: December 21, 2014, 12:25:16 AM »
Not going to go this year, and likely not the next. However I think I might try to get to the 50th.
The next two years will be drained of cash due to house upgrades and a trip east over the pond.
- Cory Magel

Game design priority: Fun > Balance > Realism (greater than > less than).
(Channeling Companion, RMQ 1 & 2, and various Guild Companion articles author).

"The only thing I know about adults is that they are obsolete children." - Dr Seuss

Offline Bruce

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Re: Gen Con 2015
« Reply #5 on: January 02, 2015, 03:01:12 AM »
I plan on going and would love to run a few games if possible. I had planned to run a HARP SF adventure but I haven't been able to work on a game much less play HARP SF. Maybe I could even demo my combat system if you HARP people don't mind.

Bruce
When you game, game like you mean it! Game Hard!

Offline markc

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Re: Gen Con 2015
« Reply #6 on: January 02, 2015, 08:28:27 AM »
Bruce,
 You should contact Colin at ICE about running games and demo your combat system. I do not have any info on the inner working of ICE but in general from a biz perspective running non-official game stuff at a sanctioned company event is tough to do.
 I have seen in the past when I have gone to con's many of the people running official games also run non sanctioned games with house rules in pick up games or mini-games but I have rarely seen (once) a game company allow non-official rules in an event.
MDC 
Bacon Law: A book so good all PC's need to be recreated.
Rule #0: A GM has the right to change any rule in a book to fit their game.
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Offline Bruce

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Re: Gen Con 2015
« Reply #7 on: January 17, 2015, 01:29:57 AM »
I sent an email to Colin via the ICE forums a few days ago but have since received no response. I'm not sure if it got sent so I PM'd him. Hopefully he will get back to me soon.

Bruce
When you game, game like you mean it! Game Hard!

Offline markc

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Re: Gen Con 2015
« Reply #8 on: January 17, 2015, 02:44:39 AM »
Bruce,
 Thanks for contacting him. If he does hot get back to you in a week (he may be on vacation) then I would try Thom @ ICE and see what he can do for you.
 Then again maybe Colin is waiting for info from someone else also.
MDC
Bacon Law: A book so good all PC's need to be recreated.
Rule #0: A GM has the right to change any rule in a book to fit their game.
Role Play not Roll Play.
Use a System to tell the story do not let the system play you.

Offline Thom @ ICE

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Re: Gen Con 2015
« Reply #9 on: January 17, 2015, 09:34:13 AM »
Discussions active behind the scenes.  Colin should be responding shortly if he hasn't already.
Email -    Thom@ironcrown.com

Offline Bruce

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Re: Gen Con 2015
« Reply #10 on: January 17, 2015, 05:58:12 PM »
No worries now. I was originally worried that the email and then the first PM didn't go through because my browser had acted a little weird both those times. I am used to things happening almost instantly in my browser and there was an excessive delay of more than two minutes so I reloaded my browser, but apparently they went through just fine.
When you game, game like you mean it! Game Hard!

Offline Bruce

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Re: Gen Con 2015
« Reply #11 on: February 12, 2015, 02:31:27 PM »
I am going to submit a HARP game event for 3 days at 4 hrs with up to 6 players. This is my first time doing an event at Gencon so I would like some advice. One thing I need advice on is; Is it better to see if the parent company will submit the event so I can possible get a GM badge and get my regular badge reimbursed or should I just submit the event on my own?

Any other advice on running an event at Gencon is welcome!


Bruce
When you game, game like you mean it! Game Hard!

Offline Wolfhound

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Re: Gen Con 2015
« Reply #12 on: February 12, 2015, 03:23:36 PM »
Bruce,

Go ahead and submit the event on your own, but contact someone from ICE to have them send an email about you doing an "official" event so that you can get the GM badge (that was how I did it last year).  That way you get the process started right away, and if you can get it squared away ahead of time, then you can get your refund for your paid-for badge much sooner. 

Last year they only allowed one badge for the number of ICE based games that were run (which I used since I was running the largest number of "hours" worth of games).  So that is something to keep in mind if very many others run ICE events (I won't be running anything ICE related this year, but not sure if anyone else will or not).   

If you do it on your own without ICE's "backing" then you need to have a minimum number of "hours" worth of tickets to get it (and sometimes people might not show up, so it can be difficult to get there), whereas if ICE "backs" your games, then you don't need to generate a full 100 hours (but you do need to run a moderate number "hours" worth of games.

Using your planned events, if they are full then you will have 72 "hours" worth of events.  I can't recall what the number is that you need to break to get the free badge (and you will be reimbursed for the badge 2-5 months after GenCon is over if you do it yourself).  Whereas if you do so with ICE's backing, then you can possibly get a refund for the paid-for badge much quicker (if you start the process before GenCon starts). 

GenCon did a good job of working with me and Colin on that last year (you need to pick up the GM badge at the GM HQ when you get there, which is separate from the Will-Call and other stuff (it was in a room in an out of the way place that has relatively short hours, so you will need to be sure to get there fairly early in the day to get it).

You will also need to be sure to keep track of all the event tickets that you collect and fill out a form for each event/session.  But it is well worth doing if you get a free GM badge out of it. 
Wolfhound (aka Aaron Smalley)
World of Aernth/Channel Cities setting: www.ChannelCities.com
City of Archendurn & Dun Cru author (for RM/HARP)
Cur. projects: RMU Creature Law 1 & 2, No Quarter Under the Crown (campaign module for RMU)

Offline Bruce

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Re: Gen Con 2015
« Reply #13 on: February 12, 2015, 05:49:11 PM »
The required hrs to be considered for the free GM badge is 70 hrs, of which is just under my 72 if I get all 6 players for each game. I didn't know I could submit the event then have ICE send an email to set it all up for me. I will go ahead and submit my event and ask the guys at ICE to make it "official". I am going to put it in for 10am Thursday through Saturday. I didn't want to pick a time as I was more for letting them choose a time for me but 10 am will work great. Hopefully I will get plenty of people to sign up for it either way.

Bruce
When you game, game like you mean it! Game Hard!

Offline markc

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Re: Gen Con 2015
« Reply #14 on: February 12, 2015, 07:50:03 PM »
 I would contact Colin directly and work with him to make the most out of the possibilities.
MDC
Bacon Law: A book so good all PC's need to be recreated.
Rule #0: A GM has the right to change any rule in a book to fit their game.
Role Play not Roll Play.
Use a System to tell the story do not let the system play you.

Offline Bruce

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Re: Gen Con 2015
« Reply #15 on: February 12, 2015, 11:05:56 PM »
I have been talking to Colin a little discussing the event and a few other things. I am also in contact with a few other people. Though I had emailed Nicholas on an adventure or something with updated stats from the archives I haven't heard from him yet. I assume he is really busy with being in a teaching position. I already submitted an event on the advice of Wolfhound. Gencon remembers doing what they did for Wolfhound for ICE last year, so it shouldn't be a problem. That is unless someone has already claimed the single spot ICE grants, again unless they might give more than one this year.
When you game, game like you mean it! Game Hard!

Offline Wolfhound

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Re: Gen Con 2015
« Reply #16 on: February 13, 2015, 03:50:32 PM »
The limit is based on GenCon's limit based on how many hours worth of events there are. 

On the note of the hours though, just to warn you the first year I would have had 144 "hours" had everyone shown up (and that was with nearly all of those tickets selling out (only two sessions had one or two tickets left with 6 spots in each of 6 4-hour sessions).  But with 132 hours worth of tickets "selling" or being claimed.  I only ended up with 102 hours of actual tickets, and that was with 2 people showing up with generics to fill empty spots (8 hours), otherwise I would have only had 94 hours of the 132 (only 71% response).  That is why you should try to get ICE to officially "back" you, so that if you do fall short of the 70 hours (which is possible due to people purchasing tickets but not showing up or a slot or two simply not selling) then you will still get the GM badge for free.

While I don't know the break-point at which GenCon will issue a second GMN badge to an ICE sponsored GM, I would guess that it would need to be after at least 120 or more "hours" of ICE sanctioned events are submitted and accepted.  But again that is only a guess on my part and I could be way off.

On that note, if you post your events here once they are accepted, then if time permits I'll try to get my wife and I into one of them, or at least try to have generic tickets for us to sit in if one of your sessions falls short on players or people don't show up (to help fill your slots if needed). 
Wolfhound (aka Aaron Smalley)
World of Aernth/Channel Cities setting: www.ChannelCities.com
City of Archendurn & Dun Cru author (for RM/HARP)
Cur. projects: RMU Creature Law 1 & 2, No Quarter Under the Crown (campaign module for RMU)

Offline Bruce

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Re: Gen Con 2015
« Reply #17 on: February 13, 2015, 04:15:36 PM »
I am in contact with Colin on getting everything set up for the GM badge. Hopefully it will turn out ok. I honestly don't think the game will run for 4hrs but we'll see. I put the event in for Thursday through Saturday starting at 10 am. It would be great to have you guys play as it would anyone else here on the ICE forums. I am also thinking of running a few demo sessions for the alternative combat tables I have developed and maybe my action system also. But that all depends on a few things over the next few months and the demo sessions will be a late addition if added.

Maybe we can schedule a dinner again for Sunday or some other day.

Bruce
When you game, game like you mean it! Game Hard!

Offline pyrotech

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Re: Gen Con 2015
« Reply #18 on: February 13, 2015, 05:27:21 PM »
I would definitely like to get in on a Harp game this GenCon.  If it is during the day/morning I should be able to swing it.  I may not be able to if it is at night however, as the hotel registration system this year gave us a late draw at the hotel rooms.  We barely got a room within 10 miles of the convention, and I'll have my wife and three minors in tow this year.

-regards
-Pyrotech

Offline Bruce

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Re: Gen Con 2015
« Reply #19 on: February 13, 2015, 07:30:20 PM »
cool, I look forward to seeing you there then as my event should be starting at 10am.
When you game, game like you mean it! Game Hard!