Some of us have been kicking around the idea of doing a GT here in Indianapolis for the last year or more. Mostly since the only GT within driving distance for us is Adepticon. I think people in the midwest need more options for event to go to.
I'd like to do an event similar to NOVA open. Separate competitions for gaming, painting, and perhaps sportsmanship. With awards going to people who got the best combined placing (Renaissance man).
We'll probably have to do some Missions with primary, secondary, and tertiary objectives, so we can have definite Win / Loose outcomes, and hopefully not have ties. I don't think W/L and scenarios are going to be the hard part. Not using the INAT won't be hard either. I think we can come up with a decent FAQ that's not bigger than the rulebook.
Dollars and Sense
The hard parts will be backing and sponsors for the event. I know I can't pay to put on an event. It's also what MVBrandt stressed when I chatted with him about putting on a GT. You need money to grease the wheels. Locations want downpayments to reserve the space. prize support needs money. Some stuff can be covered by entry fees, but there's money that needs to come in well before the event.
Location, location, location
I think we've got enough people around here to get a lot of people to show up, but I'd like to be able to have at least a 64 person event. I'd also like it to be fairly easy for travelers to attend, if they want.
I've been looking for locations near the Indianapolis Airport, or near hotels that have shuttles to the Airport.
I also would like to get a place that doesn't break the bank to pay for.
When?
I think we'll have to look at calendars and decide when, and look at when other events are taking place, and schedule around. I'd like to stay a few weeks away from Adepticon, Nova Open, WargamesCon, and of course GenCon. I'm not worried about most a lot of cons on the west coast. We should have enough people coming from Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, and Kentucky. Since I know there aren't too many other events within a 5-6hr drive, we shouldn't have too many conflicts.
I'll flesh out some more ideas. More people can be included. I think it's time to start hammering more stuff down, and get our sponsors lined up. Also, if you'd like to help us out planning, let me know. Down the road we'll need a lot of help.
I guess question one is are you running this as for or not-for profit?
ReplyDeleteNext - consider a microsponsor situation. If you're doing it as NFP then just a small website with a "donate" via PayPal feature would be cool. If you're doing it as for profit, getting the money for that would be a bit harder.
You could still do a micro-investment thing that way. A $20 minimum payment will get your name listed as a "founding" member of the con. Set up different membership levels ($100 to give you input into design consideration, $200 to make you a share holder, $500 will give you a X number of passes (lifetime?) to the tournament.
Maybe even a cafe press site or something to drum up sales. Know anyone artistic who can design something ;-)
You could try fundraiser tournaments, where most of the entry fees go towards the open. You could give free entry to the open for people who place in the tournaments instead of the normal prize support.
ReplyDeleteThese tournaments would also give you a venue to test out rules for the open.
I was thinking of perhaps some fundraiser types of tourneys, to get funds ahead of time.
ReplyDeleteThe OPEN will probably be not for profit. Most of the money should go to facilities or to prize support. Perhaps put some away to pay for the next year's OPEN.
I also figure between the several Gamestores here in town, we can get some Vendor support. like, trading sponsorship and some backing for boothspace at the OPEN.
I also figure between the guys in the area we can use tourneys to playtest scenarios, plus see what NOVA did. Their scenarios looked pretty good.
Well, some of us guys in Evansville are willing to help out. I am willing to help in whatever way possible. We have plenty of terrain to lend and I'm sure I might be able to secure some funds to help with some of those problems. Just let me know and I will shoot you an email and figure out what I can do.
ReplyDeleteI think at this point we need to get together a list of interested people in the Indy area and have a face-to-face meeting to set up some leadership and discuss both short and long term goals.
ReplyDeleteit is time to get a more solid core of people who want to put this together. Then meet to discuss.
ReplyDeleteI've been busy as of late, but I'm eager to help how I can. Though most of this stuff seems out of my league.
ReplyDeleteRecommend strongly that you have a sole leader; democracy in small organizations is super fail.
ReplyDelete