NOTE: One signing has moved to Friday, and a Paizo booth appearance has been added to the schedule since the original posting.
We’re sending the Chief out to Indianapolis to share the joys of our recent releases and discuss PDF publishing, great games, patronage, and other topics. We have a sneaking sense he may loot, pillage, and trapsmith his way across the convention as well, but hey, kobold’s gonna be a kobold.
Some highlights: there’s a patron meetup on Wednesday with host Ben McFarland, a book signing at the RPGNow Booth Friday at 3 PM and two Paizo signings, plus the new releases of Open Design titles and Kobold Quarterly #18 will be available at the Paizo booth and the Troll & Toad booth, plus panels you won’t believe.
Ok, Open Design has a lot going on at Gen Con. Complete event list after the jump.
Open Design Meet and Greet
Say hello to Open Designers, KQ contributors, and fellow patrons of past and current projects with your host, Streets of Zobeck designer Ben McFarland. This is a casual hour and hangout at Jillian’s. You need not be 21 to be admitted. (Read a summary about what happened.)
Time/Date: Wednesday at 6:30 PM
Location: Jillian’s, 141 South Meridian Street, Indianapolis
SEM1128827 Patronage & Kickstarter: How to Get Paid Up Front
Insights from Industry Insider Guests of Honor Wolfgang Baur, Gary M. Sarli, Daniel Solis and Greg Stolze on how they funded projects by convincing patrons to donate early in exchange for exclusive access, rewards, and even input into the project. (Read a summary about this seminar.)
Time & Place: Friday at 9 AM in ICC room 212
Panelists: Gary M. Sarli, Wolfgang Baur, Daniel Solis, Greg Stolze
SEM1128737 The Best Games EVER!
The titles the same, the guests are different! This popular panel is back for another lighthearted discussion as our Industry Insider guests talk about their top best game products EVER … and defend their choices. Guaranteed to be a spirited debate. Audience participation is welcome! (Read a summary about this seminar.)
Time & Place: Friday at 11 AM in ICC room 212
Panelists: Greg Stolze, Wolfgang Baur, Ryan Dancey, Stan!, Daniel Solis, Will Hindmarch, James Ernest, Jeff Neil Bellinger
Dealer Room Paizo Booth: Wolfgang Baur Chat and Signing (#1 of 2)
Wolfgang Baur will hang out at the Paizo booth hoping to score a copy of Ultimate Combat signing issues of Kobold Quarterly #18, issues of Dragon magazine, Open Design releases, what have you. Bring your books or buy one from the Paizonians, either way he’ll spill some ink on it! (See the gallery of photos.)
Time & Place: Friday at 12:30 PM at the Paizo booth
SEM1128752 Shared Worlds: Crowdsourcing RPG Design
Game designers used to be individuals with a vision, but more and more you see groups and teams working on a shared world. What does it mean to get your first design credits this way? Where do you start? What makes it different from design by committee? And how do you keep a collaborative project from imploding? Our Industry Insiders guests will address these questions and more!
Time & Place: Friday 2 PM in ICC room 212
Panelists: Wolfgang Baur, Jonathan Tweet, Ryan Dancey
Dealer Room Booth #767: Wolfgang Baur Chat and Signing
The chief breaks out the dragon’s blood quill and signs some books! Bring your favorites or pick up one of the new titles for sale at the OBS/DriveThru/RPGNow booth, such as Courts of the Shadow Fey or Northlands. Yes, yes, Wolfgang didn’t write Northlands. He will sign it anyway!
Time & Place: Friday 3 to 4 PM, One Book Shelf, Booth #767
This Just In From Gen Con: Special Podcast
A special live podcast directly from the show, with guest Wolfgang Baur from Open Design speaking with This Just In hosts Daniel M. Perez (The Gamer Traveler Blogcast) and Rich Rogers (Canon Puncture Show) discussing news and events of the day at Gen Con.
Time & Place: Friday 5 PM in the Westin hotel, Caucus room
SEM1118789 How to Publish with KQ
Learn what it takes to submit quality material for publishing in RPG periodicals like Kobold Quarterly. A more periodicals-focused panel, talk with the editors of KQ.
Time & Place: Saturday at 9:00 AM, Marriott : Indiana Bllrm C
SEM1118790 Midgard: The Crowdsourced Campaign
Come talk about Open Design, but also about collaboration, how a shared world really works, egos, deadlines, compromises, benevolent dictatorship. Oh, and we mention why it’s a cool setting.
Time & Place: Saturday at 10:00 AM, Marriott: Indiana Bllrm C
Panelists: Wolfgang Baur, Brandon Hodge
SEM1118788 RPG Freelancing 101
Come talk with established and emerging RPG freelancers about what it takes to break into print, in venues like Kobold Quarterly, Open Design and other markets.
Time & Place: Saturday at 11:00 AM, Marriott : Indiana Bllrm C
Panelists: Wolfgang Baur, Ben McFarland, Brandon Hodge
SEM1128762 PDF Publishing 101: How to Found a Publishing Empire
PDF publishing has been here for 10 years, and has made it easier than ever to become a publisher of work you admire, or your own work. How do you get started? What are the risks and rewards? Is PDF publishing as easy as it seems? Learn from Industry Insider Guest Wolfgang Baur who has some insight to share.
Time & Place: Saturday at noon in ICC room 212
Panelist: Wolfgang Baur
Dealer Room Paizo Booth: Wolfgang Baur Chat and Signing (#2 of 2)
The Kobold in Chief round things off with a signing of Kobold Quarterly #18, issues of Dragon magazine, Dark*Matter, checks, lawn furniture, what have you. It’s Saturday afternoon in the dealer hall, it’s going to be a little crazy. Bring your Open Design books, KQ magazines, or Al-Qadim boxed sets, he’ll have stories to tell.
Time & Place: Saturday at 1 PM at the Paizo booth
So there it is, the Open Design tour of the Indy show of shows. Looking forward to seeing you there!
I was already sad that I couldn’t make it to GenCon. This info release makes me sadder! :(
Actually, we’re ok to have those under 21 at Jillian’s– or we were before. That’s part of why we’ve been going there for the last two years, ever since one patron and his son couldn’t get into the Claddagh.
-Ben.
Sounds awesome – man, I wish I was going to GenCon this year !
I hate to be that way, but I really wish GenCon would go with a different logo/banner/etc. Every time it pops up somewhere in emails or what have you I keep overlooking it because it looks like an ad for a pizza place.
There are also a couple of seminars on Saturday morning:
SEM1118789
Title: How to Publish with KQ
Description: Learn what it takes to submit quality material for publishing in RPG periodicals like Kobold Quarterly. A more periodicals-focused panel, talk with the editors of KQ.
Date & Time: Saturday at 9:00 AM
Duration: 1 hours
Location: Marriott : Indiana Bllrm C
SEM1118790
Title: Midgard: The Crowdsourced Campaign.
Description: Come talk about Open Design, but also about collaboration, how a shared world really works, egos, deadlines, compromises, benevolent dictatorship. Oh, and we mention why it’s a cool setting.
Date & Time: Saturday at 10:00 AM
Duration: 1 hours
Location: Marriott : Indiana Bllrm C
SEM1118788
Title: RPG Freelancing 101
Description: Come talk with established and emerging RPG freelancers about what it takes to break into print, in venues like Kobold Quarterly, Open Design and other markets.
Date & Time: Saturday at 11:00 AM
Duration: 1 hours
Location: Marriott : Indiana Bllrm C
Er, one of those panels conflicts with the signing. Something’s gotta give!
I hope someone records the seminars like they did the Paizo ones–even if some of them will be repeating information, it’s good stuff to know!
Also, will there be an GenCon-only Open Design products at the show?
We’re also hoping someone records the seminars, but there’s no guarantee.
There’s no convention-only special products at the show, though of course KQ#18 is out for Gen Con, and there may be some special announcements for 2012 as well.
So, what are the announcements? Anything I need to start drooling over? Or do I need to wait for the dwarvish ale hangovers to clear up first? (I hear “Bloody Gnomy” cocktails are good for that…. >:)