ORIGINS, GENCON, GAMING CONVENTIONS?

[njak]

Is there any interest in organizating meetups, tables, rallies, etc. at gaming conventions? I live in Columbus, Ohio and I will be attending all four days of Origins (which is in Columbus, Ohio, June 26-29). The web site is at http://www.originsgames.com/.

My thought is, this is "our type" of people who might be interested in Farscape, but never got a chance to watch it. They are used to using their imagination!! Maybe we could set up a booth or table and play Farscape tapes or DVD's for people to watch. Whether we can get or can even afford an official booth, I don't know. But maybe we just set up in an unofficial corner or hallway, plug in and offer people a place to chill, rest and watch Farscape. Pass out flyers, maybe pass out buttons or print personalized "I Am Farscape" name tags or something.

Anyone think this is a good idea?

At the very least, I am willing to pass out any materials anyone sees fit to get to me. There are always tables that anyone can put out flyers on that might be of interest to gamers. I know many of the show sponsors and/or advertisers put something in the goodie bag everyone gets. Maybe we can get a bookmark or something in?????

It's between $40 and $50 to sign up for all 4 days to play. It's less if you just want a visitor's pass. Each gaming session costs something, usually not much.

There are Roleplaying Games, Live Action Roleplaying, Collectible Card Games, Tradeable Card Games, Seminars, Miniatures, Miniature Games, War Games, Board and Tabletop Games and an Artists Colony. I know there will be at least half a dozen or so Farscape RPG sessions, so there should be some Scapers there. **3 of the 7 sessions are sold out already!**

We are also planning to attend GenCon in Indianapolis, which is sometime in August.

Origins and GenCon are two of the biggest gaming conventions!! Lots and lots of gamers. Lots of potential Scapers! :aok:

[Jul]

I don't see why not? Farscape has a role playing game that is d22, so I could see it being a great place to get new people :D

[jadeshand]

good idea, but avoid the PC Gaming magazine table - they hate us

[njak]

About the only type of gaming that is NOT there is PC/video gaming. There is some network gaming in the lobby area, but for the most part the only connection the computer has to these games are either web sites, computer programs to keep track of your collections of miniatures, cards, etc., or character builder / dungeon / world builder programs.

Otherwise it is paper, board, card, miniature, in your head gaming!!

[Shipscat]

My kind of gaming. :) Maybe you could try to get a hold of the guys with the Farscape RPG and see if they're going to be there?

[njak]

AEG makes the RPG and they will have a booth there.

They have two other RPG's they will have a lot of sessions going for:

Spycraft
Rokugan/Oriental Adventures

And a few sessions for:

7th Sea/Swashbuckling Adventures

They also have two big CCG's:

Warlord
Legend of the Five Rings (L5R)

There are 3 intro sessions for Farscape and 3 "Run for the Money" scenarios. One intro and one Run for the Money are sold out already.

AEG's web site is http://www.alderac.com/

The Farscape RPG is at http://www.alderac.com/farscape/

I have not played it yet, but I have signed up for one of each session and look forward to it eagerly.

[njak]

bump

[Jaina]

I'll be at both Comicon in San Diego and Gencon in Indianapolis, and more than willing to meet up/help out with Save Farscape type of stuff.

Caitlin

[njak]

Cool, we'll have to meet! I looked at AEG web site further, and they don't have a lot of contact information except for email:

Contact AEG

Customer Service & Sales
Information, sales, and support, it's all here!

Customer Service: customerservice@alderac.com
Product Information: productinformation@alderac.com
Product Replacement: productreplacement@alderac.com
Product Point Redemption: kokuredemption@alderac.com plunderredemption@alderac.com
Sales: sales@alderac.com
Retail Support: retailsupport@alderac.com
Fan Club Support: imperialassembly@alderac.com secretsocieties@alderac.com
Bounty Hunter Headquarters: bountyhunterhq@alderac.com

So I am wondering what would be the best way to go about contacting them to see if maybe we can share a small corner of their booth or a part of a table, or get some info in their RPG sessions?????

Any ideas from the experienced contact people, phone people? I'm terrible at this sort of stuff - much better at email and dealing with computers.

And coming up with crazy ideas that force other people to do impossible, humiliating things that I can't possibly do. :)

[vf-xx]

Man I wish i could afford to go to Origins. Mainly I stick to Texas cons, and recently I had the opportunity to meet Virginia Hey and Lani Tupu at the con. The cast is great!!! My local store got Lani to sign a copy of the RPG.

As for setting up something you need to email whoever's in charge of con events. You should find an email link on their page.

[njak]

There is nothing but coming soon on their conventions page. I found the name and email address of the person who works on the additional material for the RPG and I emailed him. I asked if he thought AEG would be interested in working with us and who I would contact about working together at conventions.

[Jaina]

Originally posted by vf-xx
Man I wish i could afford to go to Origins. Mainly I stick to Texas cons, and recently I had the opportunity to meet Virginia Hey and Lani Tupu at the con. The cast is great!!! My local store got Lani to sign a copy of the RPG.

As for setting up something you need to email whoever's in charge of con events. You should find an email link on their page.

Oh, did you go to the Q&A session with the two of them at AggieCon? How was that?

Caitlin

[vf-xx]

It was really cool. I think the neatest thing was hearing Lani do both the voice for Pilot and the voice of Crais back to back. That was just strange.

[VBKatLou]

Bumping this cos I definitely think it would be a good idea to have flyers there. You might want to check out the graphic forum here to see what's available.

I'll leave it to you to decide if you want to "man tables". If it were me, I'd rather be playing the games :P

[Faeren]

I think it is an excellent idea. Many of the Farscape viewers I know personally, either are, or have been gamers, (myself included). Gamers are not just imaginative teenagers these days. They are Mortgage Bankers, Engineers, Psycologists, Police Officers, Electricians and Bartenders...at least that is the demographic of the group I currently game with.
The typical role player is anywhere from age 13 to 40+, (I am 39) and there are far more female gamers than most realize...I am one of three in my current group...this is a strong demographic base. I also agree, that as a whole, gamers do appreciate the type of imaginative, quality entertainment that Farscape offers.
I absolutely agree that this is an avenue we should also be pursuing.
Also may be a good idea to post flyers on BB in various hobby stores and gaming websites...

I will be willing to help @ anything up coming in my area, (Las Vegas).

[njak]

I emailed Rob Vaux, who is the developer of the Farscape RPG for AEG and he email me back today. It's a very positive response!!!! I need to know if anyone was at the Burbank convention and meet any of the AEG people, who had the remote control DRD, anyone who will be at Origins, GenCon, and any of the other big gaming conventions AEG might be at.

I will contact their conventions person and take this to the next level, but I need to know what I can offer them. I will find out what conventions they will be at, when and where they are, etc.

His comments are in color, mine are in white:

I was at the Farscape convention in Burbank this past fall. We had the booth next to the Save Farscape folks, so I met a number of your cohorts, regardless.

I am writing to ask your opinion on several questions I have.

First, do you think AEG is interested in working with the Save Farscape campaign?

Certainly, AEG is interested in helping to get the show back on the air. I can start right now by asking our website manager to post a link to savefarscape.com. Did you have anything specific in mind beyond your suggestion below? I would have to speak with the folks in charge, but I'm sure things like free copies of the book for you to raffle off and the like could be arranged.

Second, I specifically want to know who I can contact at AEG about working together at conventions?

We are interested in having a table at Origins, GenCon and other gaming conventions where we could hand out Save Farscape flyers, buttons, etc. However, Save Farscape is entirely fan funded through voluntary contributions, and we probably could not afford a booth on our own. We just need a small table and would be willing to work carefully and quietly with AEG in this regards.

The person to contact about this is Boyd Kleen at bkleen@alderac.com. He runs all of our conventions. I'm not sure we can provide active booth space, but we may be able to distribute leaflets and buttons for you, if you could provide them for us. I can't speak for certain on anything; those are questions for Boyd and obviously we have our own concerns. (I know you guys had a little remote controlled DRD at the Farscape con; if you're able to bring something like that to a con, you might want to mention it.)

Save Farscape just wants the Farscape series to finish as intended. It is a critically acclaimed drama, action, adventure, romance, science fiction series that ended before it had a chance to finish it's story naturally. The fans are intelligent, of highly desirable demographics and certainly committed to the show. Anything AEG could do to help would be rewarded with great loyalty and a willingness to try all AEG's products.

:) That's very kind of you. Again, I can't speak for certain on specifics, but everyone here is a big fan of the show and fully supports your efforts to get it back on the air. I'll forward your request to the higher-ups, and if there's anything I personally can do to assist you, please don't hesitate to let me know.

Kind regards,
Rob Vaux
Line Developer, Farscape RPG


Can we get a hell, yeah?!?!

[Jul]

njak, I was there as were many of the SaveFarscape.com team, including Red, waltersgirl, buggaboo, maayan, makiko, fialka, cofax, mickie, themaxfactor and deneba. Themaxfactor made the remote control drd. :D

and, if you give us a listing of the large gaming cons, we can always set aside money for tables representing savefarscape.com, as we already have invested for Comic Con later this year :D

[njak]

Here are the really big ones I found for the rest of the year:

Wizard World East May 30 - June 1 Philadelphia, PA
http://www.wizarduniverse.com/conventions/philly.cfm

Origins June 26 - 29 Columbus, OH
http://www.originsgames.com/
Standard Booth (10x10): $565 / $680
Payment Due: 4-5-03 / 6-1-03
Attendance: ~11,000

San Diego ComicCon July 17 - 20 San Diego, CA
http://www.comic-con.org/
(Booth already reserved)

GenCon July 24 - 27 Indianapolis, IN
http://www.gencon.com/
Standard Booth (10x10): $995
Payment Due: 5-30-03
Attendance: ~22,000

Wizard World Chicago August 8 - 10 Chicago, IL
http://www.wizarduniverse.com/conventions/chicago.cfm

DragonCon August 29 - Sept 1 Atlanta, GA
http://www.dragoncon.org/

Wizard World Texas November 21 - 23 Arlington, TX
http://www.wizarduniverse.com/conventions/texas.cfm

Since I am going to Origins and plan to go to GenCon, I went ahead and looked at the fees for the smallest booth. I would have to suggest that someone either going to or living near the other ones might want to volunteer to look into those.

[waltersgirl]

we already have an exhibitor table at ComicCon. ;)

[Faeren]

Other than just hitting conventions, here are a couple other ideas..
Many of the "hobby" or gaming stores have online bulletin boards, we could be posting flyers or links for this site on these, (I also have links for most of the Farscape petitions which could also be posted).

Also has anybody checked with the publication "Knights Of The Dinner Table", (a gamers publication), to see about posting there?

[Jaina]

Do you need any help manning the table at Comicon, or are you all set?

Caitlin

[njak]

I've been very busy, with work, end of school year for the kids, and now my sister has moved back from California and is living here temporarily while waiting for her closings to take place and she can move into her condo. It's been a crazy time, and I have not been able to follow through with AEG on Origins. I intend to email their conventions organizer and see if we can still get materials to them that they will put out at their booth.

If so, I just need to figure out what materials are best to get to them, how I am going to get or make/copy those materials, and how to pay for them.

I am not sure how the funding of projects work, if anyone can inform me, it would be appreciated.

If there are people who will be attending Origins, and would like to help schmooze at the AEG booth, coordinate passing out flyers, wear Farscape t-shirts, maybe get some savefarscape.com t-shirts made, or anything else we could think of to spread the word to over 10,000 gamers, please post here or PM me.

Anyone who just wants to meet there, please, I am desperate to meet some Scapers (and Origins should be an excellent place to meet if you are already going to be there), PM me.

:colors::colors::colors::colors::colors::colors:

(my own version of Tirielitis - gotta do something?!?!)

[charmedmeat]

Well my business partner happens to know quite a few people than run Origins and is going to be running an event this year. Depending on what you're looking for I can talk to or get you in touch with a few of them. And as far as the network gaming goes, I used to work for the company that is going to be doing that at Origins this year and can definitely get them involved! I can probably get them to have the Farscape PC game there as well! I also know a local print shop that I work with that I might be able to get some free flyers and what not out of. Lemme know what you're looking for and what you need (BTW this goes out to ANYONE looking to do ANYTHING in Columbus Ohio, not just origins)

[njak]

I wrote to see if there is even booth space left at Origins, and if so how cheap we can get it. The smallest one is $680 and there is an "entrepreneurial discount" of $225 for small manufacturers with one product, so maybe we would qualify for that discount? Would make it $455. The booth would be 10' by 10' and includes a skirted table, two chairs, trash can, and an eight foot back drop (if it's not an island booth). It also included passes for two people. (I already have a 4 day pass.) I don't know about electricity. I can't see it mentioned anywhere, so either it is included in every booth, or it is extra and you have to get it from the convention services.

****************************************

To: marketing@GAMA.org
Subject: Origins Booth Space

Attn: Jonathan Alban

Hello! I am with the Save Farscape campaign (www.savefarscape.com). I live in Columbus, Ohio and will be attending Origins as a gamer. I am also trying to organize a table of some sorts at Origins in order to continue raising awareness of the Farscape TV series in order to get it back on TV.

So my first question is, are there any tables/booths still available, and if so, what is the cost at this point? We would like to be able to hand out flyers advertising the series reruns and the Save Farscape web site, and possible have VHS tapes or DVD's of the episodes playing on a small TV in order to expose more people to this wonderful science fiction series that was cancelled by the SciFi Channel in its prime.

We would not be selling anything for profit, as we only raise funds in order to continue our campaign. We might raffle off merchandise, as the AEG company may give us several Farscape RPG books to do so. We also are publishing our second Farscape cookbook, and have reprinted our first one, which we could sell to raise funds for the Save Farscape Fund. Sometimes individuals make various Farscape related art and have that available for sale, also.

That being said, if there is any way we can save on the full price of a table/booth, as we are not a company, but a non-profit fan group, it would be greatly appreciated. If not selling anything would keep our booth/table cost down, we could commit to that. We do have funds available that we can apply for, but we will have printing costs for flyers, etc., and we try as hard as possible to keep our costs down. It doesn't have to be a in great spot. We can even wait until the last minute to know where we are supposed to be. We can even be out in a hallway if it has good traffic - we are not picky if it is cheap!! :)

If you have any questions about our group, please visit the web site above, or see the online press kit:

http://www.scaperoute.com/savefarscape/onlinekit/campaign/sfmain.html

Thanks in advance for your time and consideration of this matter.

*********************************************

I'll let you know as soon as I have a response.

The other option is to ask AEG to hand out materials for us.

And there are "free for all tables" in the hallways as well as bulletin boards where you can lay out flyers and post flyers all you want. So I am sure we will find a way to get the word out.

[charmedmeat]

njak: you've got pm!