MARIETTA THE GATHERING

March 2nd, 2024 marked the very first convention for When Suddenly! Games. While a single day festival, it was a huge success.

I arrived at 9:40am with a backpack on my back and chest, a banner case slung over my shoulder, and a box of WYRD Dungeon books and art books in my arms. I’m sure I look ridiculous but when you’re an indie-dev it’s just part of the game.

While it was a misty morning, I was thankfully in the Boxwood Social Hall. This gave me plenty of space to spread out, choose a good table with some chairs, and get my banner up and highly visible. We were ready to demo “The Crypt Has Opened” and make a load of new fans.

This spot looked great, but ended up not being great. I setup at a far corner so that as people walked into the venue they’d see my banner from across the room and hopefully draw their eye. While a decent idea, the main issue with that idea became very apparent. Folks would walk in, stop by the tables by the main windows, turn around, and leave!

Not good.

Only a few people even looked up to see the banner, but they were so far away I couldn’t get their attention to walk across the venue to check out what I was offering. So I needed to change.

Thankfully there were plenty of play spaces around. So I moved my setup to a round table nearer the entrance and the other gaming tables and that’s when things popped off. People would stop to look at my banner which gave me an in to ask if they’d like to know more or play in the demo.

After all said and done I ran three demos that day, sold a copy of WYRD Dungeon, and met some great folks. I plan to do a full video recap of the three demos as each one was wildly different and I owe it in large part to how the game is designed to facilitate that kind of environment.

Final thoughts, I had a blast and this was the perfect type of convention/festival to get my feet wet as a vendor. I can’t wait until next year when I hope we can make an even bigger splash.