Conventions, Comics, and Speculative Fiction RPGs

9/26/2019
By Alex Ness

INVITES AND CELEBRATIONS

A reader sent me a very long detailed email, asking among other things if I would be interested in participating in a fan convention as a journalist.  I don't want to fly to a convention to give it press coverage and make no money, working, and not promote my creative work.  I still wish the organizers well in their potential event.  I've written in the blog world and for sites covering comics, games and more, since 2002.  I have absolutely no desire to spend what little money I have to give labor to someone to help their event.  It isn't fair to ask, but, I get the point that not everyone thinks similarly. A bit longer than 10 years ago I did help two different conventions for comics, primarily, gather talent to appear.  In the case I had numerous contacts, and I had invites that were backed up with creator guest offers. They received travel, lodging, food, and two day creator passes and tables at the convention in question.  I loved being able to help. I was frustrated occasionally, but getting people to show up or getting the convention to follow through, were not my job.  I made the original contact, gave the info and worked to get the talent interested.  This situation where I helped out was not entirely compensated, but I did get some valuable rewards for what I did. Since I was able to benefit in more than one way, it was well worth my time.  When certain people hear that I was able to connect talent to convention, they think I should work for them, but the situation is not the same. I am not complaining about ANYONE, or any organization.  I am simply saying the situation was not the same, and being asked to give 50 or so hours of labor, for free is, in my view, rather cheeky to ask.

THE CONVENTION THAT NEVER HAPPENED

Very recently I was invited to help a group of fellows with money of their own to spend, in creating a popular culture fan event.  They wanted to focus on three areas, comics, rpgs and science fiction novels.  They wanted to feature a retail core of sellers of these types of products, thus avoiding the sort of people who wanted to sell off their collection.  They wanted, expressly, to avoid the buy in bulk and sell cheap at conventions casual sellers that some conventions attract.  It was a sort of starting concept that I am not a fan of.  The group wanted only retailers with retail sites to be able to sell product.  I suggest, beginning with stark limits of who might participate is not the way I'd utilize.  It is anti community, in my opinion.

They did want dozens of creative talents invited and thoroughly involved. They had a concept of the type of creative talents they'd invite, particularly, those with long lists of published works.  They wanted to avoid the sort of talents who would attend wanting to sell sketches or to do commissions.  To me this was more reasonable than the limits upon who might rent tables and sell product, but isn't to say I think it would work.  Some conventions focus on talents, some on sales, but whatever that focus, it is important to realize that most conventions that were to become popular and successful, don't start off by saying "no" to talented people. It might well be that talents that are worth supporting or inviting might already be well known and local. An idea I have for a convention would include a great deal of new talent, because, these creative people tend to be the sort of people who work hard to get a fans to turn out and buy their product.  I do definitely think having a concept of who "qualifies" as a talent to be invited, is important.  The group wanted my input for a single reason.  Having interviewed more than 300 comic book talents over the last two decades they thought I might be able to find, recruit and invite the sort of big names they thought they wanted. When I told these people that inviting big names is fine, but you have to have hotel lodging, travel fees, and various costs covered for more than just the basics.  Some big names would absolutely require speaking fees.  That isn't out of the realm of likelihood.  Well the people wanting to create this event were mind blown.  "No way, we are not paying for people to come and sell their shitty little books".  They were thinking that by creating an event people who just gather and throw themselves into the event.   I said you need understand that this isn't my idea, it is what goes on.  They didn't believe me. I said, you need to be aware of the way things are done, and just finding a venue isn't enough.  They kept trying to convince me that I was wrong.  So finally, I said thanks but no.  I am not the reason the convention didn't happen, but watching their reluctance to pay for the talent they felt had to be a part of their event, I had no confidence that they'd succeed, especially at their levels of effort and their perceived financing.
 
TO BE OR NOT TO BE A RETAIL SITE

A reader of my column and a reader of a bajillion comics and books asked me, recently, (and he has also asked in the past, similarly) if I'd be interested in creating a retail site selling comics, rpg games, books, and related products from the fandom of various areas of interest.  I don't think the world needs more of that in the present.  I am not saying we don't need comics, games or books, or the sort.  I am saying, a retail site has to have a particular aim, and an ability to offer more than the internet, in an area that is not served by a retailer as of the moment. I am not interested in laboring to somehow fight Amazon's prices, because it is almost impossible to offer better prices.  The physical site has to offer more than a simple store.  But what does that mean?  Offering a lounge to play?  That requires a site that is bigger than the retail area.  If you are wanting offerings greater than online sites offer you are almost certainly unable to do so.  Also, I make so little money in life, asking me for my business consultation is rather like asking a moron to inspire you with his brilliance.

Now, I DO have valid ideas about the industry of comics, but only somewhat about books, and frankly, I know almost nothing about worthwhile to offer about gaming.  Whatever I have in mind, it is as a fan, a journalist, or someone who has knowledge after years of dealing with the industry.  I absolutely love comics, books, and RPGs. Loving it, having knowledge of it, does not translate into being a good businessman, being an innovator in business, or being a visionary for selling product outside of sharing a passion for the product.  I mention all of this because it is interesting, not because I haven't explained all of my response to the person who started the conversation.  I hope the potential store happens.  But honestly, I know better minds for business and better visionaries for sales of this sort of product than I could ever approach.  I did write a column for four different retail sites who wanted a new work to appear when new comics came out.  That much I could easily and affordably do for any retail site with a website.  But this was a request for me to create a business plan, to become the manager, and to do almost all aspects of planning.  I love comics, and, if I had a perfect situation I might in fact do it.  But the desired location was 3 hours from my home, the potential financial reward was tiny tiny tiny, and the likely success of such a project was so finite and small, I could not uproot my existence, live apart from my family, to get less money than it would take to even rent a studio apartment, and eat... I am sorry, the days of the entrepreneur having money and idea succeeding, especially in an industry like comics and games in a retail setting are long over.  Perhaps I am full of crap.  I hope I am, but I don't think so.

SPEC FICTION RPGs

I received an email asking me to describe the many RPG's I've played.  When I explained that would take a long ass time, they then responded by asking me to write about RPGs I haven't spoken much about, as they were only familiar with D&D, and while they liked it, they wanted to know about everything.  Well I haven't played everything.  And I haven't even played a number of them that others have played.  This edition will briefly mention 12 Science fiction and Science fantasy games that I was exposed to or played or recommended to consider.  (Presented in no specific order)

Star Frontiers: TSR released Star Frontiers to expand their role playing games beyond fantasy as found in Dungeons and Dragons.  It featured alien races and a sort of gaming that featured less science than adventure.  My experience with it was that it was fun, but light on details.  Since I am not a scientist I could deal with that.  But it was limited, compared to other games attempting to explore similar concepts.

Gamma World:  Gamma World was also from TSR and it was mostly earth bound, dealing with a horrible disaster that destroyed our present human world and technology, and mutated much of it.  It was far less scientific than fantasy in a future apocalyptic world.  It had a great deal to recommend it.  But, my major issue with it was that it lost momentum with every needless new edition.  It was fun.  And fooking hard to find gaming groups to play with.

Heavy Gear: Mech battles, robotics, and heavy tanks and armored vehicles fight.  This was a game that looked good, worked ok, and had qualities that made it very interesting.  But, it suffered a great deal from the sort of players who love minutia versus overall game play.  And the game catered to those sorts of players.  Fun? Yes.  But, the better experiences were limited by the sort of people who loved it.

Blue Planet:  The game Blue Planet had a solid concept about it, water worlds, and the sort of human lives that would intertwine with places like it would support. Frankly, I love the book Cachalot by Alan Dean Foster, and this game takes place in a similar setting, and the lives lived there are alien, despite our familiarity with the oceans.  I love this one.  Again though, I had almost no one to play it with me.

Starship Troopers:  The idea of earth and her colonies fighting a bug invasion is worth the time to fight as members of the defense.  The RPG has some limits and the game has flaws, but, it can be fun for what it is.  Before the haters add their views, the franchise is better than snide assholes who hate the first movie and following works might think.  The lack of adherence to the source material leads some to hate the franchise, but, the framework for the world is still good, and it offers a great deal of fun to explore.

Shadowrun:  I am not able to report about the game play, as I've not played.  I did however own the system, and did read dozens of the game novels.  I started from a place of great interest in the world and the system, but, I can say, most of the people I know who played it couldn't really explain why they liked it, or why, even, that they played it to begin with.  A combination of cyberpunk, fantasy races, and computer hacking, the world is interesting, but, didn't make sense compared to any of the systems so far discussed.

Star Trek: From the original series, through the many later series, you could find an enormous roster of types of members of service in the fleet, with races and ethnic groups from a vast array of DNA options, and a history and universe that is known from the start.  It has advantages over many new systems and unknown universes found in science fiction.  But, despite being a fan of DS9 and various cast members, the idea of playing in that world didn't appeal to me.  It seems to me, living or dying in that world just seems less interesting than if watching the epic events that we can watch in the franchise.

Metamorphosis Alpha: I didn't get a chance to play Metamorphosis Alpha as I had never met people who played it, nor did I ever own it.  But, the idea of being stranded on a starship that held various environs and life from each alien world within it, has a brilliance about it.  I cannot tell you if it is accurate, as I don't even know if those who played loved it.

Space 1889:  This was a concept that I think could explode in the present.  With steampunk still growing, and fascination with Victorian era ideas, the worlds explored are new, even if they come from history. Steampunk Victorian UK characters and culture meets star system technology and worlds, using some modicum of magic to make it all work, I loved what I explored, and experienced.

Traveller:  Unlike Star Frontiers, the simple idea of space travel and exploration in Traveller worked.  It had a thorough and detailed system of flight in space, a great concept, and depth of experience that made it worth exploring.  However, my experience was always less than most others, as the gaming group I played with who played Traveller tried to make it war in space, which was not the better aspects of Traveller, and they didn't care to experience new worlds. They wanted to kill the new species, and could only seem to desire to want to destroy whatever they experienced.  The game itself was great.  My experience is not the fault of that game.

Rifts:  I was told by gamer friend James that I should include Rifts in any spec fiction RPGs.  His experience was doctored by house rules, but he said that the point of playing this system was less about the rules of it, but the opportunities to explore different worlds and different settings, with a sense of interest, more than pure battle, discovery, or intrigue.

Star Wars: Just as with Star Trek, my interest in exploring SW was limited, since, frankly, I could watch the films, I could read the books, or play pod racing on my own, without needing other people to referee the event.  However, I was told by various people that they loved the systems that came out.