GURPS at GenCon - Any visibility?

[Andrew Hackard]

Originally Posted by lordabdul

What did people say about it? And how many people did you see that either never play GURPS before, or even never heard about it?

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

[mook]

The Event Catalog for GenCon 2017 shows a baker's dozen of games tagged as GURPS (twelve 4th Edition and one 3rd edition), two of which were the SJG "Learn to Play Dungeon Fantasy."

[Refplace]

Sounds like good news all around.

[Joseph Paul]

Well good for SJG to be flogging the DFRPG demo.

Pick-up games we can get some self reporting on.

I would like to see if we can get some idea of how many, if any, GURPS games were in the schedule?

How many of those actually came off?

Were they accessible by the public that wasn't playing the game?

Did anyone's game draw spectators?

ETA - and Mook has answered before I asked - teach me to leave a draft up and then submit hours later without reviewing!

So a few dozens get to play and I suspect that not a lot of people hang around a table kibitzing just to see how it goes.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Joseph Paul

Not just from SJG (which I gather was concentrating on Munchkin) but at the tables? Any one run GURPS, play GURPS, Mention GURPS at panels etc?

Just what was the signature of GURPS at this GenCon?

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.

I also did my part by demoing DFRPG (mostly on Saturday night at the hotel where I ran three demos of the boxed set) and talking to people who were asking questions the booth guys. As Andrew noted - the demo table almost always had someone there. I spent maybe 6-8 hours total at the SJGames booth from Thursday to Saturday and in that time I only recall a handful of instances where no one was there.

I also want to point out that SJGames had no regular GURPS books for sale before anyone asks. I also want to say why I think this was a GOOD decision: You don't fracture your fan base from the start. Also, you don't leave one of your newest products dancing in the wind for one of your older ones. People who play the DFRPG will want to take a peek at GURPS Dungeon Fantasy and then they'll want to peek at regular GURPS.

Like I've said before - we're about to experience a GURPS renaissance. Want to help with that? Go run demos. Talk about it places other than here. Get to your FLGS (if you have one) and get them to order GURPS products. Go blog and share your posts far and wide.



TL;DR

GURPS was present quite a bit. There were players, GMs, and various interested folk.

[Joseph Paul]

So how many souls did the demos touch? What was the throughput on that demo space?

If doing games or demos in public places is what people are suggesting will help what are the metrics on such efforts and how do you track the effectiveness of it?

[Gollum]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

Like I've said before - we're about to experience a GURPS renaissance.

Oh yes! That would be great. I immediately go back to my website in order to improve it.

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by Ghostdancer

we're about to experience a GURPS renaissance.

Way ahead of you.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Joseph Paul

So how many souls did the demos touch? What was the throughput on that demo space?

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

Originally Posted by Joseph Paul

If doing games or demos in public places is what people are suggesting will help what are the metrics on such efforts and how do you track the effectiveness of it?

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.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Gollum

Oh yes! That would be great. I immediately go back to my website in order to improve it.

Good!

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

Way ahead of you.

*sigh* Matt. Come on. >_<