On announcment i thought Indiecon was a fantastic idea, an event dedicated to independant RPG publishers, as it got closer i started to worry people it seemed were just not prepaired to commit for varying reasons, info was slow to appear and the forums were quiet, but hey i was excited so here are my thoughts on the event.
Thursday - Prior to arrival we had been told that although the con didnt start proper until friday morning we could collect our keys at lunchtime and for those arriving early thursday was billed as 'Playtestageddon', this was a cool idea the playtesting of games in development!! the Pompey crew arrived about half eleven and were the first to arrive (apart from one person), no sign of the con organisers, i went to the park reception and yep they had my name on a list and gave me my keys...cool! I asked what time the bar was open and was told 7 o'clock!!!! WTF! This blew the idea of 'open gaming' out of the water and should have been checked first by the con organisers, however the con didnt start till friday so thursday was a bonus anyway, quick trip to tesco's to by two crates of lager and a bottle of rum soon whiled away the afternoon. At seven we hit the bar, the con desk was set up and Chris was there to meet the attendees, a nice touch, con passes were given out and game sheets were up on the board, not many maybe four or five but games none the less, the remainder of the evening was spent in the bar catching up with friends
Friday - Arrived nice and early, breakfasted from the food counter then went to muster for my game, i'd signed up for a game of 'Omnifrey' a fantasy system written by a nice guy called Matt West which i was very much looking forward to, at the muster there was a crisis!! Half a dozen people had showed up and alas had nothing to play, and although i was running a game of HEX in the afternoon i said i would forgo playing this slot to run a new HEX scenario written by a nice american called John Aynge this scenario was written specificly for Indiecon, it was awesome the players had a blast and there was some great moments, game finished hadfood then ran HEX again in the afternoon (this was my advertised game) and went swimmingly i probably enjoyed running this particular game more than any game i have ever run. As soon as the game finished five of the players asked if i would re-run the exclusive scenario the following day so i put the sheet up, it filled in under 20 seconds. At this point i was feeling some gaming burn so decided to spend the evening chilling in the bar. The thing that struck me about this con was the laid back feeling going around, ok the numbers were not great about 90-100 paying attendees, people i normally see at Conception working hard were far more relaxed and seemed to be enjoying the whole vibe (alot of the conception team also spent time helping at Indiecon running the con desk and such and for they they should be thanked and applauded). Without the horde of living players and LARPers im used to at Conception it had a far more friendly and relaxed feel to it.
Saturday - Managed to con Andrew Kendrick into running a game of Dead of Night for us, it was awesome, i love the game and cover the style and genre well very enjoyable
. The afternoon slot saw me running the HEX again for fridays group plus a few extra and yet again it went well, it was nice that 15 people got to play a scenario knocked up by a respected published writer that will never get played anywhere else again!!!! Saturday night saw some awesome bug slaying with the amazing 3:16 run by its author Mr G Hutton, a truly nice bloke as well as a great designer and GM. There were 13 games available and filled saturday afternoon.....cool!!!Sunday - Oh no!!!!! Im having such a good time i dont want it to be sunday
Played a great game of Duty and Honour run by Andy Kendrick again and was bloody great although i played the lowly private and got shouted at alot. Alas for me it was time to go home, the trains were all buggered up and it was gonna be a long journy home plus i had to pick the kids up.All in all i had an awesome time, in fact i enjoyed Indiecon far more than i had expected it was like a cooler Conception without all the jossling for space/time/drinks/games and we were all there for the same thing Indie gaming goodness so there was no animosity towards one group or another.To those who went thanks for a great time, to those who didnt you missed a great con with plenty of wall to wall gaming.
Personal Thanks - Chris and Karen you did a great job and pulled it off, Stokemon and Claire you guys are great friends, To the Conception team (for helping make a great con run smoothly), To all my players and GM's, Max John and Whit for some great company, Grant for running some excellent games for the guys at my club and last but not least Jez for the early morning snuggle
Roll on Indiecon 2009!!!!
