GURPS at GenCon - Any visibility?

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by Andrew Hackard

I have no idea. When I wasn't in meetings, I was hanging out at the Munchkin tables.

I played the demo scenario, usually helmed by the (as Christopher notes) quite-capable Jimmy, three times. I ONLY stepped in when there were other folks there, and ALWAYS chose my character last.

Of the three games I was in, two had total newbies, the last of which was a father and a daughter. Most options were off the table. You could move, or you could attack. No maneuver complexity. No rapid strikes. No deceptive attacks, even, on the quick-reference cards.

You could block once, parry once, dodge as much as you like. Retreat was not given as an option.

This made it play VERY fast and simple. The eye opener to most was when the zombies dodged their blows ("Hey! They're FAST zombies!") and other instances of defense rolls. That reach mattered (there were a few Reach 1,2) weapons.

And when things came up like "why is my skill so high?" Jimmie was able to say "well, in the full game, you can take a penalty to skill to make it harder for the zombies to defend." I chimed in about Rapid Strike and targeting locations. And Retreating to add to defenses.

The message of "as many options as you choose to add, but not one more" came through loud and clear. As noted, one guy got on the internet or the phone to his FLGS and pre-ordered one on the spot.

The game demo was playable by newcomers without ever looking at the rules. So critics can take "GURPS is too complicated" and stick it in their All-Out Attack. It was a nicely calibrated demonstration that gave folks perhaps a 10-minute taste of the game, with tactics, lots of hits, enough dodges and damage and hit points to make the game interesting and encourage "what if" questions.

[Joseph Paul]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

I'd guess at least 100-200 from just when I was there.



Something simple with pregens. I HIGHLY suggest DF or MH for this. As for metrics and tracking? You can't. We'd need to get a large group of GURPS GMs together who are willing to write up reports and keep notes. I doubt folks will have the time for that.

With out 'metrics and tracking' there is no way to tell if the demos and public play are having any impact. And that means that SJG can't tie anything that happens to public play and build on it.

I am thinking a three digit clicker counter and increment it every time a new face walks up to the demo space. After Action Reports should be mostly about "any snags with the demo?", did any one show interest in where to get the game? When the demonstrators total 100,000 people that have seen any demos look for any impact.

If someone does a youtube play session just report the number of views over time and more detailed numbers if available. Pass on the comments if any.

The question to answer is - for every 100,000 people that saw a demo/public play was there anything positive happening for SJG and GURPS?

[Ulairi]

I'm going to be running 4 DFRPG games at GameHoleCon here in Wisconsin and I'll run some DFRPG at next year's GaryCon and Nexus Milwaukee.

The best way, especially with a fantastic introduction box set, is like Christopher said: run the games in public. I'm going to talk to my FLGS about demoing the game a few Saturdays once it fully releases.

Something I've learned is that DFRPG having the physical pawns in the box goes over real well with people new to GURPS. I never realized how much having the physical paws and dungeon titles helps folks get into games like PathFinder. Our local FLGS had a table with that stuff for the new StarFinder and just talking to folks they really like having the tactile pieces.

[Aleph]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

So I've never been to an out of state con before so I don't know what the "normal"" amount is, but in my opinion, yes. There were lots of folks running games, playing demos, asking questions.

One of the SJGames demo guys (Jimmie) did a wonderful job of running the combat demo. I'm very proud of how he handled questions, ran the scenario, and in general presented the game we so love.

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

I played the demo scenario, usually helmed by the (as Christopher notes) quite-capable Jimmy, three times. I ONLY stepped in when there were other folks there, and ALWAYS chose my character last.

I was able to field a lot of those questions, in part, because of one of the earlier demos I ran where Doug, Chris, and another long-time GURPS hand (whose name I have forgotten in the haze of 5 days of convention) provided insights into some of the next steps up from the basic combat demo we were doing. I appreciated your feedback, and it helped make a good experience for everyone throughout the weekend. Thank you, guys.

The Dungeon Fantasy demo table at the booth was pretty consistently busy throughout the convention. I don't have any specific numbers, but my feeling from when I was manning that table was that I showed it off to at least as many people unfamiliar with GURPS as those who were familiar and wanted to see the new game, possibly more.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Joseph Paul

With out 'metrics and tracking' there is no way to tell if the demos and public play are having any impact. And that means that SJG can't tie anything that happens to public play and build on it.

I am thinking a three digit clicker counter and increment it every time a new face walks up to the demo space. After Action Reports should be mostly about "any snags with the demo?", did any one show interest in where to get the game? When the demonstrators total 100,000 people that have seen any demos look for any impact.

If someone does a youtube play session just report the number of views over time and more detailed numbers if available. Pass on the comments if any.

The question to answer is - for every 100,000 people that saw a demo/public play was there anything positive happening for SJG and GURPS?

There is no way we can know this information and I highly doubt that SJGames is going to give it to us. Still, the idea of a mailing list or forums where those who demo GURPS (not necessarily MIB) can post snags and info and such has some merit.

Originally Posted by Aleph

I was able to field a lot of those questions, in part, because of one of the earlier demos I ran where Doug, Chris, and another long-time GURPS hand (whose name I have forgotten in the haze of 5 days of convention) provided insights into some of the next steps up from the basic combat demo we were doing. I appreciated your feedback, and it helped make a good experience for everyone throughout the weekend. Thank you, guys.

The Dungeon Fantasy demo table at the booth was pretty consistently busy throughout the convention. I don't have any specific numbers, but my feeling from when I was manning that table was that I showed it off to at least as many people unfamiliar with GURPS as those who were familiar and wanted to see the new game, possibly more.

Again, I was very proud with the way you handled things. You presented GURPS/DFRPG in a positive light, made things fun, and in general showed folks what could be done. :-)

[Joseph Paul]

Ghostdancer -

You are correct that SJG is probably not going to share sales info with us, I didn't think they would. But from SJGs perspective if there is an effort being made to raise awareness of GURPS and they have no information on how many people are being exposed to the increased effort then they are missing information that allows them to make better decisions. If they took out an ad in a magazine they would at least have circulation info to go on to judge the effective reach of their ad. Further if they have no information on what genre/setting is being used for different efforts they can't tell if any change in sales/interest is driven by any particular effort or if the effort has no effect on sales. If I am going to do demos I would certainly want to know that if my efforts aren't producing any results for SJG that SJG would be able to say so and let me decide if I want to continue to flog the game for my own purposes.

When it is mentioned that the demo area at GenCon was always full/attended/ etc what does that mean? How many people could participate directly and how many could spectate for any particular running of the demo spiel?

And yes by all means people that want to do demos should be talking to one another and trading tips on how to make things go as smooth as possible for potential new players/buyers. I would like to hear from Jimmie his thoughts on how and why he structured the demo as he did.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Joseph Paul

You are correct that SJG is probably not going to share sales info with us, I didn't think they would. But from SJGs perspective if there is an effort being made to raise awareness of GURPS and they have no information on how many people are being exposed to the increased effort then they are missing information that allows them to make better decisions. If they took out an ad in a magazine they would at least have circulation info to go on to judge the effective reach of their ad. Further if they have no information on what genre/setting is being used for different efforts they can't tell if any change in sales/interest is driven by any particular effort or if the effort has no effect on sales. If I am going to do demos I would certainly want to know that if my efforts aren't producing any results for SJG that SJG would be able to say so and let me decide if I want to continue to flog the game for my own purposes.

Again, I don't think we're going to get that sort of information from them. From other GURPS GMs we may get the barebones, but that's about it. This isn't going to go anywhere fruitful so I'm going to cease commenting on this aspect of the conversation.

Originally Posted by Joseph Paul

When it is mentioned that the demo area at GenCon was always full/attended/ etc what does that mean? How many people could participate directly and how many could spectate for any particular running of the demo spiel?

1-4 players and 2-3 spectators physically around the table and many more just kind of watching.

Originally Posted by Joseph Paul

And yes by all means people that want to do demos should be talking to one another and trading tips on how to make things go as smooth as possible for potential new players/buyers. I would like to hear from Jimmie his thoughts on how and why he structured the demo as he did.

Kromm wrote the demo so you'd have to ask him. In my opinion it was short, sweet, and showed GURPS for what it is and what it could be.