Category: Games on Demand

For news and updates about Games on Demand convention events

Gen Con 2012 – IGE Games on Demand

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Games on Demand is back for Gen Con 2012, and this year we’ve made some modest improvements to the format that are going to make it even more fun for everyone.

The event will be held in the Convention Center on the upper floor overlooking the Exhibitor hall. We’ll have our own 12 table room, giving us twice the space we had last year, in a more central location. To make best use of the space, we’ll be splitting the tables into both standard Games on Demand open gaming and scheduled games, taking tickets for both as we did last year (1 specific or generic ticket / 2 hour slot).

If you’re interested in running scheduled games or volunteering to GM open games or help facilitate GoD, let us know. Volunteers and GMs who put in enough hours will get comped badges (and maybe a place to sleep). In addition, Indie Press Revolution and possibly other vendors will be offering discounts for GMs and players.

PAX East 2012 – Games on Demand

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Are you coming to PAX East? Do you like fun? come play some tabletop games!

Games on Demand is coming to PAX East this year (April 6-8), and we’d like you to join us. The event will be happening in the tabletop gaming area near the exhibitor booths, and we’ll be running games from 10am to 10pm or later on Friday and Saturday, and 10am to 6pm on Sunday.

We’ll have a great selection of indie and small press games running in 2 to 4 hour blocks, with GMs offering up a selection of their favorites for you to choose from. And if you’re interested in running games yourself, we’re always looking for more GMs. All you need to do is contact us and let us know when you’ll be available.

In addition, we have a limited number of special badges for GMs who commit to running games on the schedule. If you don’t already have a badge and would like one, let us know as soon as possible and we’ll get you set up!

Do you need GMs to volunteer ahead of time?

It’s always helpful to know when GMs are going to be there so we can make sure the tables are covered. If you want to commit to some 2-hour slots, that would be great! Just drop us a line and we’ll add your name to our schedule.

I should be clear that we prefer it if GMs come prepared with a couple of game options in hand. It just makes it easier to meet the demand for a game everyone wants to play.

How much notice do you need for people playing?

Players don’t need to give notice- just drop by (ideally around even-numbered hours, starting at 10am) and ask the host what games are starting. We’ll pitch the games and do our best to find you an open spot in a game that sounds good to you.

And how will people find you in the tabletop area?

The Games on Demand tables should be located next to the Compleat Strategist booth in areas D1 and D2, just past the WOTC block and behind the Tabletop HQ booth and lending library. We’re very close to the Pandemonium Books and Games booth as well, who will be carrying many of the games. We’ll try to have signs up as well, but if you can’t find us, ask the Tabletop information booth or HQ for directions. In a pinch, you should be able to get updates on Twitter from @games_on_demand

Indie Games On Demand at Origins 2012!

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Hey! You! Gamers! Are you coming to Origins Game Fair in Columbus, Ohio this year? The convention runs May 30-June 3, 2012 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center located right downtown. We would love to see your game faces at our Indie Games on Demand event!

Last year we hosted a room full of small press games and the gamers who love them. There’s still plenty of time to be a part of the event this year, if you’re interested in playing games or running them.

Join the discussion on Facebook at Indie Games On Demand – Origins

Indie Games on Demand at PAX Prime 2011

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Are you coming to PAX Prime? Interested in some awesome table-top games? Come check out the Indie Games on Demand area! We’ll have six tables running a variety of great indie games with experienced players and designers to run them. This all happens in Room 306 in a special corner of the open gaming space. The event is sponsored by Gamma Ray Games who will have a booth (#6112) in the exhibit space nearby.

Here are just a few of the games you can expect to find at Games on Demand this year:
Fiasco, Dungeon World, Burning Wheel, Lady Blackbird, shock:, Microscope, Apocalypse World, Mouse Guard, InSpectres, Blowback, Dogs in the Vineyard, and whatever else we can fit in!

For many of those games we’ll also have the designers hanging out from time to time, so if you want to play with them, pick their brain, or tell them what they did wrong, this is the place.

If you’re interested in running games yourself, drop us a line or sign up here!

For more information, follow @pax_indie_rpgs and @GammaRayGames on Twitter.

Come out and play some games with us!

2011 Games on Demand: After-Action Report

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Games on Demand Entry WayGen Con 2011 has come and gone, and all we have left of Games on Demand is exhaustion, good memories… and data! This thread is about reporting how the event went this year and gathering feedback from everyone that volunteered and played.

A few Words of Thanks
Before I get to the numbers, I’d like to say thanks to everyone who came out to join us for games, and to all the volunteers who stepped up to help organize or run games (especially in the evening slots when we had more players than games!). Special thanks to Scott Acker for early planning and negotiations, as well as arranging for the banner (and thanks to Alex Mayo for designing it!).

Big Thanks to Indie Press Revolution for sponsoring half a dozen people to be there to organize the event and run games, as well as providing us with extra tables and the white board, which was really essential this year. Thanks to the Gen Con staff for getting us extra tables when we exceeded the bounds of our room.

Thanks to all the publishers who provided gaming materials and volunteers to run their games, or who were there themselves hour after hour bringing the fun.

Finally thanks to all of you who contributed extra tickets and went out of your way to make sure Games on Demand succeeded this year! Your efforts will make a big difference as we start planning for next year.

The Numbers
We made a special effort to track what games got played, who ran them, and how many players we had. The following Google spreadsheet shows that information, but there are holes in the data. If you played in a game and remember who ran it or how many players there were, or if your game is missing from this list altogether, please leave a comment or send an email and let me know.

Games on Demand – Gen Con 2011 Report

Feedback
We’d love to hear what Games on Demand meant to you this year. Feel free to leave your comments, suggestions, and anecdotes here in the comments. Thanks again for making Gen Con fun!

Games on Demand – Gen Con 2011

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Games on Demand is back at Gen Con for 2011!

The event will be taking place throughout the convention. Look for us here:

  • Thursday, Friday and Saturday (8/4 – 8/6) from 10am-10pm
  • Sunday (8/7) from 10am-2pm
  • Pennsylvania Station C Meeting Room in the Crowne Plaza Hotel

Games on Demand Printable Map (PDF)

For more information, see the GoD page.

We still need more volunteers to run games and help organize the event! If you’re interested, contact Steve Segedy today!

Indie Games Explosion at Dreamation 2011

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It’s that time of year again. Snow in the air, Christmas music on the radio, and the aroma of great gaming just over the horizon! Dreamation 2011 will be held at the Morristown Hyatt in Morristown, NJ from Thursday, February 24 to Sunday, February 27, 2011. Will you be there? Do you dare to have that much fun?

There will be an Indie Games Explosion at Dreamation. Dozens and dozens of the most blisteringly awesome independent games will be run at the con. Plus, all attendees have a shot at a coveted starring role in the sure-to-be Internet smash “One Cool Thing I Saw At Dreamation 2011.”

However, the Explosion needs your help! We need you to come to the con and play games. We need you to come to the con and RUN games! Here’s how:

Come and play
If you just want to come to Morristown and have a blast, here’s how you can help make the Explosion great:

1) Go to the registration page and pre-register for the con.
2) Watch this thread for announcements of what events people are planning to run.
3) When the official schedule is up, around February 14-16, register for the games you want to play.
4) Come to Morristown and bring your A-game!

Come and run
The nitroglycerin at the heart of every Indie Games Explosion are all the great folks who come out with a game in hand, ready to rock the house. If you’ve got a game session in your soul, burning to get out, here’s how you can help:

1) Post your event description here, or on your blog, or wherever the kids are chattering these days. Get people excited about your game.
2) Send an e-mail to the IGE gmail account: indiegamesexplosion At that point, Kat will send you a Google document that contains all the information we need from you in order to officially register the event. Fill it out and return it BEFORE January 14, 2011.
3) If you run at least three events, you will receive a GM badge to the convention. At some point in January, we will send you a code you can use on the registration page.
4) When the official schedule is up, around February 14-16, register for the games you want to play.
5) Come to Morristown and revel!

A Note on Small Events
Games sessions for 4 players are a bit of a sticky situation. On the one hand, they take up an entire table for an entire gaming slot while only entertaining a few people. On the other hand, some of the best indie games are only built for 4 and create less fun for everybody if expanded. It’s a pickle.

Here’s my proposal for this year. I’m going to ask you to consider running sessions for 5 or 6 players. By “consider,” I don’t mean “you must” or “you should” or “you will be shunned unless.” I simply mean “think about it.” Step away from the Internet for a moment, look at your game shelf, and ask yourself if you have a 5 or 6 player game you’ve been wanting to run. Can you stretch your abilities in that direction? Do you want to? Can you run Game A for 6 players in addition to running Game B for 4 players?

I can’t answer those questions. I’d just like you to answer them for yourself and your own situation. If the answer is “I want to run a bunch of 4 player games,” then that’s fine and we want you on-board for the Explosion.

Playtests
Dreamation is a great place for games-in-development to get put through their paces. Not only is it easy to get people you don’t know to sign up for the game you’re working on, but some of the sharpest game designers will be there looking for new games to test.

We’ve tried a number of different things in the past. We’re going back to the 2009 rules. If your game isn’t done, but you think it is at a point where it can probably entertain people for 3 to 4 hours, then register it as a regular event. Just please include the word “Playtest” in your event description.

If your game isn’t done, and you don’t know whether it works at all, it’s probably not ready to run as a regular event. However, don’t lose hope! Post about it here and see if people are interested. It’s easy to arrange an informal playtest session at Dreamation, where a bunch of people meet in the lobby or a hotel room and give your game a workout.

Assorted Other Stuff
We usually hold an Indie Games Roundtable on Sunday to discuss games in development and other matters. Attendance at the Roundtable seemed down last year. Is it still worthwhile? Would a different time work better? How can it be better? Is there anyone willing to facilitate it?

In years past, we used to hold an Indie Games Party on Saturday night. It was a lot of fun, but as the community has grown, so has the workload of running the party. If anyone is up to the job, let me know and we’ll do what we can to help out.

I’m posting this on Story Games, but there’s probably other places on the Internet that might want to get involved. If you know of such a place, please invite them to participate. The more, the merrier.

None of the above is set in stone. If you’ve got suggestions, I want to hear them. Kat and I will be doing our best to monitor these threads for questions and the like. However, if we haven’t responded in timely fashion, please e-mail the indiegamesexplosion address with a link to the question. Thanks for your help.

See you in February!

Games on Demand at Gen Con 2010

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Games on Demand is back at Gen Con for 2010! The event will take place on Friday and Saturday (August 6-7) from 10am – 6pm in Grand Central Ballroom B of the Crown Plaza Hotel.

Once you’re there, look for the groups of excited gamers at tables 1-6. Find the event hosts, tell them what you’re interested in playing and let them guide you to the fun.

While you do not need to register for games, generic tickets are required to play at GoD. The best time to find open games is at the start of a session (10am or 2pm). You can also show up with a game ready and volunteer to run it at an open table!

If you’re interested in signing up as a host or GM, contact Scott Acker or talk with one of the hosts at the event for more information.

For additional updates online, watch this site and the @Games_On_Demand account on Twitter.