Gen Con Indy '05 Report

JD Wiker and Marc Schmalz represented The Game Mechanics at Gen Con Indy '05. Situated in the Green Ronin Publishing booth (right across from the Wizards of the Coast Axis & Allies Miniatures display of real WWII-era vehicles), we spent the majority of the weekend talking to conventioneers about old, new, and future projects. Fortunately, we also had help at the booth from some TGM friends and freelancers: founding Mechanic Rich Redman, Eric Cagle, Gary Astleford, Pete Schlough, Neil Spicer, Rodney Thompson, and Christopher West. Tops on our table: The print copy of Future Player's Companion: Tomorrows' Foundation, written by Gary, Rodney, and JD, and our copies of Temple Quarter and Thieves' Quarter, which sold out on Saturday and had to be re-stocked from personal supplies.

In addition to the Green Ronin and Human Head staff, we also had the pleasure of sharing the booth with Lynn Abbey, who was there to help Green Ronin promote the Thieves' World RPG. Famous guests at shows can run from troublesome and demanding to friendly and helpful, and Lynn was definitely one of the best guests we have worked with to date.

As usual, The Game Mechanics ran several seminars at Gen Con. This year, they included Playtesting 101, Start Your Own d20 E-Publishing Company, d20 Design Tips (all of which we've done at other shows), and Life as a Freelancer (a new offering). We were happy with the turn-out at each seminar, and grateful to the people listed above who helped out on the panels. If you attended a panel and want to give us some additional feedback on how to improve it, please post a note on our message boards!

While we had a pair of ENnie nominations for Temple Quarter, we didn't take home any awards this year. Considering our competition in the public voting, we're overjoyed that the judging panel placed us in such prestigious company. While we've been around a couple years now, we're still a very small company, and it's always nice to see your work honored side-by-side with larger game publishers. We did get our contributor's copy and certificates for our contribution from Modern Magic to Monte Cook Presents: The Year's Best d20, which we appreciate. Congratulations to Mat Smith for recognition of his excellent work on that project!

Thanks once again to Green Ronin for letting us share booth space once again, and to the Gen Con staff for putting together a great show. Next up: Gen Con SoCal '05. We hope to see you there!