[GenCon] EN World photos and stories - add your own!

[Sialia]

Yea, and we had the best waiter ever! I think next year I'll need to leave my dancin' shoes at home - seems that most gamers don't dance....

Nah--it's just that this dancin' gamer can't ever seem to get herself to GenCon.

Sigh.

But I would, you know, I would.

Bring the shoes and save a dance for me next year . . there's always hope.

 

[jgbrowning]

Well, after a long nights rest, I'm up and ready to post.

Wow, where should I start? Guess I'll do the daily run down for us and then on into more business related stuff.

Tues. We show up, get badges, gawk at how huge the retailer room is.
Wed. We set up, meet our table mates, Ann from Grey Ghost Press, Mark from Gold Rush Publishing, and Tika and Bynw from psionics.net (they host the chat here and with Kathrine Kurtz of Dyrini novel fame)
Thurs. The maddness sets in. We met droves and droves of people. All but a few, very friendly and socially skilled... We don't make it to little canadia because we're tired and plan on socializing on friday.
Friday: Keep working the booth and try to contain the nerves about the ENnies.

Thanks so much to everyone for voting for us. Its funny that we win an award for being good writers and I can't quite find the words to adequately describe the joy of sweeping 3 gold ennies. I don't know, its simply breathtaking. It let us know that all the effort and sweat we put into the product paid off. I thought there were people out there who would appreciate MMS:WE, but I didn't expect to win over the likes of the Book of the Righteous and Requiem for a God. Simply astounding. Thanks again!

Sat: more working the booth. I don't remember sat. hrm..... aha! I was hung over because I can't hold my beer anymore. My liver hurt.
Sun: break down the booth and have dinner with our booth mates. We both really wanted to see everyone at o'roukes but we got out to late to make it.


General people notes:

Russ: Tall, breezy, looked like he lost his luggage.... oh wait.. he did!
Hellhound: Friendly and jovial. Not at all the toughguy I was expecting.... hehe course buttering up the kids tends to do that with papa bear.
Dextra: (from suzi..) "We now know who wears the pants."
Psion: ******* pokerfaced **********!!!! Nice to meet you even if you're utterly inscrutable.
Crothian: Gregarious and polite. Then again, I didn't have to share a suite with him.... Nice to meet you face to face after so much correspondance via post.
alsih20: beautiful work on the awards. They're resting on our desk right now until we can figure out where to prominately display them. Sorry we couldn't make it to your house, I'd love to have a beer or two with you and learn about Kilns.
Hal and Doug: Peanut butter and Jelly. "The butter and jam of my toast" (from suzi)
Teflon Billy: Is one handsome man. Looks like Mike Madson in Resiviour Dogs. However, TB didn't cut off Hal's ear so that's where the comparason ends. Nice to drink and exchange big easy stories.
James: Nice to meet the guy who runs rpgnow.com. Even if you did mess up the ennie awards... Hope everything worked out for you at the booth this con.

We're sorry we didn't have more time for this GenCon, but it was our first and we were working a lot of hours at the booth. in 2004, we'll be better prepared and should have more time for socializing than we did this time around. I didn't get to speak as much as I would have like to with a lot of you out there, but just breifly meeting you all is helpful. Always like faces to go with names.

General con notes:
Big, busy, concrete. The floor killed my feet, and may have actually damaged my achillies heel. Going to give it a few days to see if it works itself out or of to the doctor. I'm having to limp heavily and can barely walk.
Long lines. Hopefully this will get fixed next year. Cost us in sales on Saturday.

Business related stuff:
Hellhound, we get to be GenCon VIPS in 2004! Whoot, glad you mentioned it, I would have missed it completely.
TeflonBilly, there's no NDA at all about our next product so talk about it all you want. (please... )

We sold pretty good, and a lot of people were excited to finally get the book, but we could have done better had we our name on the list of exhibitors (as opposed to just being part of the GPA) and had saturday not been so bad. That aside, it was very nice of Ann to let us share her booth and at the end of the day we pretty much broke even. That made us very happy and we came home with a bag of traded swag.

Distribution: Everybody seemed to want to help us get distribution and introduced us to several distributors. It looks like we have a pretty good chance of signing on with 3 or 4 large(er) distributors. This is probably to prelimanary to be saying, but it looks like MMS:WE will finally be hitting the bookshelves of FLGS across the US (and maybe elsewhere)!

Well that's our GenCon experience. I want to thank everyone who's reviewed MMS:WE. We also want to again thank Monte for his surprise review. You probably aren't aware of the effect that had for us, but it was an amazing benefit to get Expeditious Retreat Press and MMS:WE out in the open. I also want to thank Morrus and the guys who run ENworld. Without you all, none of this would have been possible.

Next year, if we're nominated and manage to win, Suzi's promised to let me speak.


joe b.

 

[Ashy]

Nah--it's just that this dancin' gamer can't ever seem to get herself to GenCon.

Sigh.

But I would, you know, I would.

Bring the shoes and save a dance for me next year . . there's always hope.

DONE!

Ok gang - we sent Morrus and PCat last year - 04 is the year to send Sialia! WOO HOO!!!

 

[Hand of Evil]

Pic from Gencon

 

[Hand of Evil]

skyline from the river

 

[Hand of Evil]

arrrrrr

 

[Hand of Evil]

try again

 

[Hand of Evil]

The river walk area by the IMAX

 

[Hand of Evil]

From the seat of one of those strange bikes Bike trail near the river.

 

[alsih2o]

the people review(my apologies if i miss you)

p-kitty- cha 18, maxed diplo ranks. i was actually quite nervous to meet the cat. we have gone at it so long and so well that i was afraid an in person meeting might spoil it. but no. this man rocks even on low sleep.

teflon billy- what a man, what man, what a man, what a mighty good man. tb is so fun i wanted to take him home. a near perfect combination of friendly openness and smart ass cynicism. one of my new favorite people.

hellhound and dextra- 2 smiles that can knock you back from 10 yards. not only are they great and easy to get along with, their concern for their children and focus on the gelflings welfare reassures me that some people should indeed be allowed to breed. great great great folks!

maldur- i picked on this guy for 10 days straight and he just smiles and smiles. harmless meets friendly in a body made for wearing a rubber suit in a japanese monster film.

spider and pielorhino- great times at the spycraft game, and genuinely nice guys. almost so quiet one could forget they were there if they weren't so groovy and open t discussing whatever comes next. i was genuinely impresssed and hope i get the chance to chat and game with them again. they made me feel very old, but i will forgive them

zarathustran- bud, you can throw grenades off the back of my motorcycle any day

dinkledog- i met dink for maybe 3 minutes, but he was glowing type happy. i try not to judge people physically, but i gotta say dinkledog reminds me of a russian soccer superstar. i wish i could explain this. he has a very rough edge and a great smile. very sculptable

rjmc64 and queenie122- these folks seem like great dinner companions. rj was patient in explaining rules (and good at it) and queenie has a smile and laugh that make you enjoy whatever she is enjoying. raw quality.

nakia(emergent?)- smart as a tack and in no hirry to prove it. easy conversationalist and a genuine personality.

meg hal- der hall was freidnly and generous in our too short meeting, seems like quality humanity all around

jgbrowning and suzi yee- i showed up after months of singing their praises, and after meeting them i am singing louder. funny, fun and inspired.

russ- i had met russ before, but he remains high in my eyes for hs solid personality, seemingly unflappable demeanor (misdemeanor?) and patience. i woulda been smacking people a long time ago in his shoes, we are all in very good hands with the russman.

eric noah- again, i didn't get to spend a lot of time with eric, but his popularity is warranted, very genuine and with a greta smile.

ashy- so many phone calls and emails tryign to get together and it finally happened, good man, great spirit and loves his kids enough to leave the con early for his sons 4th b-day, god for oyu ash

fractalwave- what a great lady!!! wonderful laugh and a biting sense of humor. smart and capable, easy to talk to and rational as the day is long. i hope i get to spend time with her again.

henry- 2nd place to eric noah for "most resembles his avatar" great human being, we hung out at the bar and he brought a nonenworld friend (hi mark). good man, i would proudly save him a seat at my gaming table.

trschris- brought swag swag and more swag, and tipped so well it made the barwenches blush. saw him flirting with some girl who was not a gamer and i snuck in close- he was walking her through character creation without books! that is what i call dedication. if i wasn't already a fan of CS i would buy it because the company reps are so sweet and friendly.

sam witt- i unfortunately didn't realize how col and social he was till the end of the sunday party, i look forward to our next meeting, and to seeing his wife again, good, good folks.

will upchurch- stayed here precon in my filthy studio and remained friendly even when my cats were choking the life out of him wiht their fur. turned me on to a new game (kingdoms) and i loved it. he then made a point to stop me at the con and ntroduce me to the designer. an excellent housegeust if it ever comes up, come back anytime old man.

sniktch- what a pain! i had to go on a nightmare run to get hoim gaming materials left in my truck very late, he was fortunately worth it.

rugger- dude, right up my alley. i only regret we do not live closer. i think rugger and i are on our way to a beautiful relationship

kugar- nice, nice and game ready. good folks with a good attitude.

monte cook- wow, can oyu be that talented and friendly? multiple "my close personal friend monte cook" jokes and he rolled with them all. i understand now why he is so popular(besides the genius writer part) and sue too, it can be difficult runnig around with a big personality, but you would never knwo it to see her operate. what a genuine lady. i tip my hat that direction, humbly.

cthulus librarian- easily as cool as his supercool avatar. easy to talk to and easy to lauch with. a sea of calm in the maelstrom that was gencon.

barrend nobeard- i have been waiting since last con to emet this gentleman and the wait was worht it, after missing him for 3 days ont he floor i caught him at the bar party, quality fun folk, no two ways.

i know i am forgetting so many, but this is whatcrept into my head this time, amybe more later

p.s.- did i mention that piratecat is a cool butterlucker? what a guy