_www.FantasyLibrary.com [Visit Who Is Joseph Teller?] Synthesis & Synchronicity 055

Synthesis & Synchronicity #55

By the time this is finished and posted, Vericon 2004 will be over. Turnout for the convention appeared to be down from some previous years, but a bit better than last year, probably because of the guest list for the convention. The Western Ave Irregulars provided a cartload of convention munchies on Friday (which were gone by mid-Saturday morning) and our household provided 100 used paperback books (mostly SF/Fantasy) that we had finished with and wanted to pass along to others for free. The books were all snatched up in an hour or less of being made available, so hopefully many people will have reading material to enjoy from all this.

Disappointment came in the form of the Indy Game Designers Panel at the convention on Saturday. There were 4 guests for the panel, one of which I had banged heads with before, who proved to be a pain in my opinion at the panel. How does one deal with someone who says that he's not really a game designer (it just says that on his passport) but that he is an artist who creates his art in the form of roleplaying games rather than sculpture or drawing; who says that he doesn't like roleplaying games, doesn't play roleplaying games, doesn't want to run roleplaying games, doesn't want people to play his games, but simply wants them to buy his game books and to 'get his message' for the specific book?

I mean, why was this guy here? Well, he did spend some time making some verbal bashes at White Wolf, whom he evidently feels he is in some sort of strange 'more exclusive and artsy than thou' competition in his mind. And he spent a lot of time monopolizing what should have been an interesting and provocative discussion by tearing apart the rudiments of game design. Oh yes, and plugging the possible sales of his books (which are outrageously expensive for stuff that is shorter than your average comic book in length and content).

I know, he's not intentionally a bad guy, and he can have interesting ideas, but I find the 'artist attitude' a direct turn-off. Maybe its justa show he puts on when on spotlight in front of a crowd, maybe he was having a bad day, or maybe it was just the audience rubbing him the wrong way.

The Frustrating Stuff : The Sunday Game Designer's 'coffee clatch' was more productive than the Indy Game Designers Panel, although it did include the same people. The problem is that I could not help feel my hopes drop to ever really produce a quality project for retail sale. The cost of printing has been getting worse as time has gone on, the distribution channel has gotten greedier in percentages, the expectations in product layout and print quality has increased and the D20 spectre has swallowed so much that it leaves little for anyone who wants to do things to make a better RPG rather than one that is commercially viable. Note that the person who was such an annoyance on the panel Sat was much nicer and more helpful in the atmosphere of the smaller coffee clatch.

Generally, as far as I can see, I need a spare 10k to create, prepare, print, distribute and market a new game to begin to have a chance at conventional success. With my life that pretty much means never. So I guess I continue on as I have, doing what I do, and pleasing a smaller audience with a less-than-professional product. It does make me frustrated and have a desire to toss my hands up, give up, and like give away my gaming library and surrender to depression.

The Good Stuff : I got to play in some fun pickup games in the open gaming room, including Apples To Apples, Fluxx, Skippy's Revenge , Kiralee did manage to get into the Con for Friday Night anway, so she could sit with me for the talk about Plato and the Lord of The Rings (really neat) and so she could play in a one-shot My Life With Master game that Dev ran that she enjoyed immensely. I also got to see and play games with a few friends I don't get to see too often, and meet a few new interesting people. I got an art print and an original piece of art for a combination of $20 at the art show (the sort of bargain shopping I like to do at this convention).

The Unpleasant Stuff : My IBS was in full swing, which meant frequent bathroom trips, painful seating when not in one of the few padded seats. I was popping Ibuprofen far more often than I like for back pain, and couldn't carry much in the way of personal gear for the entire convention. The weather on Friday Night and all of Saturday was fridgid and bitter, leaving me short of breathe and aggrivating my sinuses. Timing on the Anime's that I most wanted to see were such that I couldn't, because of other plans (sigh). Despite the best efforts of folks, the Con Suite/Green Room just kept running out of stuff. Too many hungry college students in search of quick free munchies, and not enough solid useful stuff.

Computer Hassels : I've been wrestling with power cord problems on my notebook pc the last week or so. Its either a damaged wire, or the socket has become too worn, as I have trouble keeping it running on AC and charging up the battery. I may have to try ordering a new cord from HP (if they have them) and failing that may have to consider a non-warranty repair (if its the socket) or the dreadful concept of eventually a new machine (very annoying, this one is only recently out of its manufacturer warranty after 17 months from purchase, and the store warranty extension won't cover wear stuff, especially if they can' t get the part). And I really like this machine otherwise, having finally gotten it to do exactly what I need and layed out in a manner that I enjoy. And of course, I don't have the money to do this, and won't for more than a year. (Sigh).

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