SFR, Inc.

[Quickbeam]

Hello all --

Sorry for the delay but time off from work has been rare (lucky me).

First let me say that everything we do for Dragon Dice in Los Angeles is distinctly a group effort between me and my most excellent friend, Nicholas Manelick (you can contact him on the boards here as evylution). He has the car to drive us to locations for games & events.... and his efforts to support this fan-driven renaissance cannot be overlooked. I knew he was a highly-skilled Magic the Gathering tournament player, and I taught him Dragon Dice knowing he would LOVE it as much as I do. We couldn't do it without you, Nick!

The PAX event is MUCH MUCH larger than our little Strategicon. This Labor Day weekend I looked carefully through the Con and estimated about 1,500 - 2,000 attendees. Unfortunately, we could only attend one day, Saturday.

We brought all our Dragon Dice boxes and trays into the Open Gaming area at the Radisson LAX. There was no room for us in the "Collectible Card Games" rooms that were already running MtG tournaments.

I figured since we are only here for a few hours on Saturday - we want the MOST VISIBILITY FOR OUR GAME WE CAN CREATE.



We gathered in the very center of this room, surrounded by traffic and many dozens of people going by. The boardgame assistant gave us a seven-foot broom pole and I attached my old Dragon Dice kicker boxes to make a visual "flag."



People starting coming over as soon as I created this display:



Most of the comments were SURPRISE (just like the S.A.I.) and often SHOCK and PLEASANT FAMILIARITY.

"Wow, I remember that game! I used to play that in college!"
"Wow, are they still making that game!"
"Wow, I think I still have a bag of dice stuffed in my closet back home!"

..... and all kinds of comments like that. If only we could have been there at the Con for all three days, we could have cemented further the impact that Dragon Dice is alive and well. Many people were watching from other tables and smiling, soon to come over and watch more closely.

I wanted the kicker and starter boxes to be seen in all their variety. Everyone who passed by was given a super-succinct "quick history" of Dragon Dice since 1996 and many raised eyebrows encouraged me in telling how grass-roots fans saved this game from extinction.

[side note: I went onto BoardGameGeek and revised the synopsis of Dragon Dice before we went out that Saturday.]

We ran as many demos as we could, given that we only had 5 hours there. People loved it..... and went off to the Dealer Room looking to buy Starters!

Here is Nicholas (in baseball cap, far right) busy teaching a father-son team:


They came back later and complimented us on how great the demo was for them. A fair dozen people wanted to exchange information on our "Smaug's SoCal Shakers" group that meets biweekly in Hollywood.... several people indicated they would try to come to these gatherings, now that they were SIMPLY AWARE THAT THEY EXIST.

The Dealer Room had nothing Dragon Dice related to sell. We wrote down the SFR website on many post-its and told people they could buy the dice at their local retailers or online retailers. We handed out many copies of the Dragon Dice original rulebook (that was inside the Magestorm box, and yes we warned them it was outdated but it was a nice visual) and a couple of the rulebooks from the new 2-player Starters.

While we were representing the game "unofficially" we felt confident that word-of-mouth will be strong just with the people we personally engaged.

This was a very last-minute decision to attend Strategicon, literally we flew down there without any preparation, or printing out signage/ banners, or even having a dedicated space for us. I am a veteran of Comic-Con and other Lord of the Rings related fan-events, and I really prefer to be prepared. But I did NOT want to miss out on what visibility we could muster just on that heavy-trafficked Saturday.

But the Con Boardgame Runners were kind and accommodating, we made the best with what little time and space we had.

The nicest surprise that day was bumping into our "old crew" of Dragon Dice players with whom I have played for a decade at these events.... they were all thrilled to see me again (and the dice) after years. Chris Taylor and Scotti Evans (I think that's his last name) were software designers who made the ORIGINAL INTERPLAY DRAGON DICE COMPUTER GAME back in the day..... not only are they the original hard-core group that supported Dragon Dice from the beginning, but they also represent the block of players that will help get the word out about our favorite game being furthered by SFR.

The BATTLEFIELDS were particularly exciting for everyone -- proof of great things to look forward to and proof this game has a lot of support.

I have just discovered a Yahoo Group for SoCal Gamers that I hope to use for further announcements about our Dice events. I suspect there is a lot of crossover between people at Strategicon and their group.

I would love to share more thoughts. But to wrap up: with the right amount of planning and a rigorous approach to marketing materials (signage, dedicated table space, banners, etc) this type of Con showing would yield fascinating results.

Mr. Roman -- I will scan the Demo Record Sheet and email to you later. I must run.

Thanks all!


Cheers!
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Much too hasty,
Cliff

"Quickbeam" from TheOneRing.net

[cliffwiggs]

Cliff, thanks for doing this and taking the time to post about it. If everyone could take one afternoon to go this in their local area I would quickly run out of starters

And not every convention can be the largest in the world. Any convention which gets the word out (after 10 years) that we are still around is a good convention.

Also (I notice from your pictures), Any convention that the Looney clan attends is big enough to generate interest in our game.

Cliff
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Multiplayer Champion Gencon11/Battlefest Champion(tied) GenCon10/World Champion GenCon07/National Champion Origins05/Intermediate Champion GenCon02/Novice Champion Origins99