There are many people like me in the world that enjoy playing games and then there are people in the world considered “Gamers”.  I can honestly say that I don’t attend many conventions that focus solely on games and gameplay, but it seems that Indianapolis is the game capital of the US, so I’ve made it my goal to attend more.  


Today was the first day of Who’s Yer Con, a free convention at the Wyndham West in Indianapolis.  This convention promotes all types of gameplay with areas focused on board games, role playing games, game events like True Dungeon, and so much more.  I enjoyed watching folks as they sat around tables, playing a game for the first time or for the 100th.  I liked the fact that each table promoted the game it was playing by making sure the box was visibly propped up so folks walking through could quickly make it out.  I especially liked the signs on some tables stating they were “Looking for Players”.


I’m not sure if the “Looking for players” sign is exclusive to the gaming community, but I have to say that I love it.  People want to play a game, but they don’t have enough folks to start, so they grab the sign and place it on their table and wait for a few minutes.  After a short time, people come over and sit down to play and they are all on their way to adventure.  I realized that there wasn’t any judgment, exclusion, or folks changing their mind and taking down the sign.  It was just a welcoming experience to anyone who wanted to fill the slot needed, no matter the experience, gender, race, etc.   After watching some games get the players they needed, I wondered if the world would be a better place if we all had “Looking for players” signs.  No preconceived notions or bias about others, no snap judgments about someone’s character, no discrimination.  Just a chance to welcome others to the game we want to play and find like minded people who enjoy the things we want to accomplish.


That would be a pretty cool world to live in.

This year at Indiana Comic Con I was lucky enough to watch the Endless Dungeon event in the Game Cave on Saturday.  The Endless Dungeon is a game that mixed traditional Pathfinder with all sorts of crazy items, situations, and audience participation.  The event was performed in front of a live audience and all proceeds went to the Extra Life, a charity that helps sick children across the United States.

I will be honest with you that I haven’t been into role playing games since I was a teenager, but my 15-year old son wanted to participate so I decided to sit back and watch for a while.  I’m certainly glad that I took the time to listen and watch the group as they explored a huge dungeon full of twists and turns.  The four participants on stage had made a donation to Extra Life for the privilege of being up on stage first.  Each had a microphone so the crowd could hear their banter and actions they wanted to take through the campaign.  Bubbernaut of Crit Confirm was the Dungeon Master and his unique use of voices while story telling made listening even more fun.  I was greatly impressed by the sound system, which allowed the audience to stay engaged as the band of warriors braved through the dungeon.

I had underestimated the ability of an event such as this to generate a continuous flow of donations for the charity when I first sat down.  As the story progressed, audience members were donating money to create a unique monster for the group to battle, or to hurt / help a player on stage.  At one point, a player was incredibly lucky and just wouldn’t die in any situation, so the crowd helped out and pledged for a variety of misfortunate events eventually causing his demise.  It was all in good spirits though and the player gained notoriety for his ability to stay alive against all odds.

So many funny situations occurred that I don’t know if I could pick my favorite moment out, but I think those that involved the audience were always a hit.  In one instance, a player decided to use a Pokeball to try and catch a monster the group was battling, but he hadn’t thought about if a Pokemon was already in the ball.  After a roll to determine that there was a current Pokemon in his ball, the audience then got to pick which Pokemon would come out.  This moment quickly turned into an auction and twenty dollars was the high bid for determining the final outcome.  I sat in amazement as people reached in their pockets to donate to charity, just to add their flavor to the current story.

I would encourage you to keep a close eye on the Crit Confirm team as 2015 progresses.  They have shown the ability to present outstanding material and events over the past year and it keeps getting better.  If you have a chance to watch a live Endless Dungeon event, then mark your calendar and give yourself some time to soak it in.  Check out their website at www.CritConfirm.com for a chance to listen to their first Endless Dungeon event at Indiana Comic Con along with some cool D20 Debut segments were they transform you favorite pop culture icons into Pathfinder characters. 

I was impressed by the event and even more impressed that over 1800.00 was raised for the Extra Life Charity in around twelve hours of gameplay.  I appreciate Crit’s drive to create unique events that raise awareness about gaming and charities.  Bravo, Crit team, Bravo! 

I like creative people.

Actually, I like getting creative people together in one place and have them encourage people who also want to be creative.  In my mind, anyone that wants to create something should have the chance, but they just need to get started off the right way.  This was my thinking when I decided to create the INDYpendent Show in Indianapolis this year. 

Well, the second show wrapped up on November 16th and I realized that the formula is a success.  Imagine a place where you can go and interact with creators of all types who want to share their experience with you.  A place with panels and workshops all geared toward you finally chasing that dream of finishing that book, comic, or other project that has been at the tip of your brain for the past year or so.  This is what the INDYpendent Show is, and will continue to be into the future.

When I first sat down to write something about the show, I wondered if I could be as eloquent as my favorite geek blogger, Tony Troxell of Geeking in Indiana.  He wrote about the show in his blog here: http://geekinginindiana.com/geek-thoughts-indypendent-self-publisher-show/ and described it better than I ever could.  So instead, I wanted to share some quick moments of the show that were special to me.

The first great moment had to be my time on the Creating Children’s Books panel with Phil Velikan and Quentin Dodd.  Lots of great discussion came out of the panel and I enjoyed answering many questions at the end from one particular lady about a story she had created.  While that moment felt great, it was later in the day that her husband came up to me and thanked me for putting on the show and the panel.  He let me know that she had written her story years ago, and like so many of us, put it aside to “eventually” do something with it.  He tried to encourage her over the years, but life kept getting in the way and her story continued to gather dust.  He let me know that after the panel discussion, she was charged up and ready to move forward with her story, talking about finally getting it out to the public.  After I spoke with him, I stood speechless and reflected again that this is why I created the show.

Another moment involved this show and the previous one in March.  At the first show I had briefly met a young local creator named Matthew Skillern who was an aspiring comic book creator.  He attended the first show with his initial pages to get feedback and share his work with others.  During the coming months, I crossed paths with him again, now with a published book and amassing a cool collection of prints.  Matt got a table at the November show and I was happy to put his creator page together on the website.  His story of attending the first show, getting feedback, creating his work, and then being behind the table at the next show to help others is why I do what I do.

At the first show, we had two creators bring their young sons to help them at their tables and just hang around a room full of creative types.  Well, it was great to see Mitchell and Elliot make their return with their fathers, but this time have their own artwork to sell.  I had a chance to purchase art from both the boys and I’m proud to add their pieces to my collection.  I think it’s great to see the next generation of creators getting their feet wet and also inspiring others to finally chase their dreams.

With the second show came a new group of creators, along with the many alumni from the first.  I enjoyed speaking with many new people from the area, but also introducing them to creators I had met at the previous show in March.  I almost felt like a matchmaker at times, finding people with similar interests and recommending them to connect with each other and share their knowledge.  This is another reason I do what I do.

Creating the INDYpendent Show has taught me so much this year, but I know I couldn’t have done it alone.  With any event like this, there are always so many people to thank and I apologize if I will leave someone out.  I couldn’t have been successful without the support of my family, who all played a part in the show.  I greatly appreciated Ellie Akers for volunteering to run the panel and workshop rooms so I could interact with the creators and guests.  Speaking of panels and workshops, I know they couldn’t have happened without local creators who volunteered their time and knowledge to host them, so I am indebted to all of you.  Tony Troxell deserves my heartfelt thanks for his promotion and encouragement of this show and all of my projects.  Lastly, I must thank Chris and Ginger Ludden for their support and belief that a show like this has a place in our Indianapolis creative community.

With any new show, the biggest challenge is getting the community to know it exists and how it can benefit them.  I know we can continue to spread the word about this great show to all creators who want to experience it.  I look forward to hearing about your “moments” and ideas to keep things moving forward.

Keep Creating!

John Graham

www.FIGIDPress.com

I had never met and really spoken with anyone who was an independent game creator until I moved to Indianapolis.  Honestly, I had never given game creation much thought in general because it was too intimidating for me and I felt like it was a completely different world than the comic book creation I was used to.  Sometimes though, it takes moving to a new place to really open your eyes to the possibilities.

In early 2014 I attended one of the first INDY POPCON community events to begin meeting creative people in the area.  The event had lots of folks, but also contained a side room where they were doing game demos from local creators.  I will admit that I kept my distance at first, primarily because it seems to take me twice as long to comprehend game play mechanics then a normal person.  I stood against the wall and watched folks enjoy themselves playing Heroes Wanted, and struck up a conversation with comic publisher Brian Wyrick about the game.  Through our conversation, he explained that some of the characters in the game were also part of the HENCHMEN universe, a comic that he had published.

This conversation was the first moment that Independent Comics and Independent Gaming came crashing together in my brain, and the wheels started to turn.  After a few minutes, I got up the courage and sat down to play the game, which was a good decision on my part.  I also ended up picking up a copy of Henchmen, which was another great decision.

I left that night with the desire to figure out how I could compliment some of my published works with games that would further strengthen my brand and help me gain a wider audience.  My first idea was to complete a children’s card game based on my book, No Sweets For Santa, that families could enjoy after eating pizza on Christmas Eve.  Using the amazing artwork of Mark Mariano, artist of the book, I had circular cards created and started working on the rules.  Things are coming along nicely and the game will be released this Fall.

You would think that’s the end of the story - Creator gets motivated, creates game, and lives happily ever after.  Honestly, that would have been it, if I didn’t live in Indianapolis and cross paths with the Crit Confirm Podcasting group.  The Crit Crew was part of the first INDYpendent Show in March and set up their table with microphones and various pieces of sophisticated equipment.  I was curious how they would fill their time since there weren’t a ton of creators at the first show to interview and I thought most attendees would be too intimidated to sit down at the table and just chat.

As the show began, I noticed Moxie, (a member of the Crit Team), had broken out a small box containing dice and began interacting with folks who walked by to get them to have a seat.  After an hour of running around, I finally made it over to see what was going on and I was introduced to the world of Rory’s Story Cubes.  These simple dice contained pictures of items and actions and you rolled them, picked a set number, and then crafted a story that was then continued by the next person in the group that did the same thing.  I had never seen a game so quickly become a tool to help encourage quick, creative encounters with strangers.  Needless to say I was impressed.

Over the following months and constant meet ups with the Crit Confirm Crew, I realized how great story dice were as a way to inspire creativity in all ages of gamers.  The wheels in my brain started turning again and the idea of using my Holiday Hooligans characters as “expansion dice” to compliment current story cube players dice sets, seemed like a logical decision.  Unfortunately, intimidation and uncertainty set in again, especially since I had never dealt with any dice components and had no idea where to start.

Once again, living in Indianapolis and having a desire to support those in the creative community, allowed me to cross paths with another set of game creators and get me started on the right track.  I had visited the grand opening of a gaming store on the North side of town called Hero’s Emporium and met Tyler Logan who was one of the creators of the new game, Super Turbo Bit Crawl.  I looked at the game, put out by LM Studios and was impressed by how professional it looked, even more so after Tyler mentioned they had put these test editions together by hand. 

Quickly my conversation turned to dice and how to solve my dilemma and Tyler was quick to give me some advice, websites, and tips on how to get started in the most economical fashion.  This exchange of information exemplified what I like most about the independent creative culture.  People who enjoy helping others find answers to their creative questions, instead of trying to guard their secrets like a giant monopoly.  Through that conversation I was able to create test editions of my story cube expansion packs and have come to realize how popular that market is.

As I dip my toe in the waters of game creation and promotion for the rest of the year, my eyes have been opened to the possibilities of cross-promotion between the game community and independent comic scene.  If you are the type that considers yourself strictly a “comic book” creator and don’t see the need for interacting with the amazingly creative folks in the gaming field, I think you owe it to yourself to find some events where you can ask questions, play some new games, and begin to see the potential.

All the Best!
John Graham

***If you enjoy reading blogs about creative things around town, I highly recommend you visit Tony Troxell's page at:  Geeking In Indiana.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

A place that will help potential children’s book and comic creators of all ages Discover, Meet, and Learn from current self-publishers and artists in the local area.

Date:  Sunday, November 16th, 2014  Hours:  10A – 5:00P
Location: Radisson Hotel and Convention Center – West Side
Admission:  4.00 for adults / 2.00 for students
Contact:  John Graham
Tel:  317-691-0484


Email:  John@FIGIDPress.com
Website:  www.INDYpendentshow.com
Facebook Page:  INDYpendent Show
Twitter: @INDYpendentshow

Indianapolis, IN.  After hosting a successful show in March of this year, John Graham of FIGID Press renews his passion for helping the creative curious in the area get the forum they need to learn and interact with established creators in Indianapolis.  John Graham, CEO of FIGID Press, had this to say about the first show:

 “Looking around the last show, almost everyone was engaged in conversations about comic creation or other interests.  The atmosphere of the INDYpendent Show was completely different than some larger conventions where countless people just shuffle by tables and barely make eye contact with creators.”

“The INDYpendent Show in March was a celebration of educational moments that helped those interested realize they can create something.  Many creators at the show went above and beyond with sharing their experience with attendees.”

The next one-day show will be on Sunday, November 16th at the Radisson Hotel and Convention Center on the West Side of town.  (2500 S. High School Road).  Taking place in the year after many large Comic Conventions have come to town, this smaller convention will provide those who have become interested in creating comics a chance to talk with local creators one-on-one and also attend educational panels.  The INDYpendent Show also provides some unique ways to encourage the exchange of ideas between attendees and creators.

“As you enter the show, you have the chance to write your area of interest on your admission badge that hangs around your neck.  Walking through the event, you will notice that each creator has a sign on their table listing strengths they enjoy speaking about.  You can easily match your interest with their strengths, allowing for an easy exchange of ideas.  This signage method is completely unique to our show.”

“We know how intimidating it can be to create a comic book, but recent advances in technology have opened the door to people of all skill levels and ages.  If you have an idea and a desire to create, there is a cost effective way to get your book into the world.  The creators at this show can share their journey and advice for those intent on taking the first steps.”

The goal of the INDYpendent Show is to create a location where artists, writers, and self-publishers can network with each other while interacting and educating the public about the creative process.

Here’s what local creators had to say about their INDYpendent Show experience:

 “What I really loved was the interaction.  You meet great people at every show but this one was special because we were growing while helping others.  I loved to see so many locals, dedicated to the craft, as well as the many that were anxious to get involved.”

Gio Marko
www.facebook.com/hiddenmarketstudios

“This is the kind of show a lot of us have been hoping for.”

Chris Ludden
chrisandgin.com

”I think that this is a great resource for artists in their careers and just starting out.”

Katie Silver
www.kathrynsilver.com

“The INDYpendent Show was/is a one-of-a-kind experience in the world of Comic Cons! Great conversations with other creators and attendees, talking about the self-publishing and creative process.”

Rick McGee
www.ramonecologne.com

“I had a great time at the show. Really enjoyed talking with everybody about making comics.”

G. Pike
www.titleunrelated.com

“I met some flat out amazingly talented people at the show, both attending and exhibiting, and got to share the comic creative and business process with my son, who was able to sell some of his original artwork and in turn buy artwork from some of the most patient, passionate, and caring folks I’d met in a long time. He learned a lot, and I learned a lot.”

Brian Wyrick
henchmencomic.com

“Suffice to say the inaugural INDYpendent show helped prove to me that there is a great community being built around the self-publishing industry.”

Marc Fishman
www.unshavencomicsonline.com

“A great concept, executed very well.  If you’re interested in networking and education as well as promoting yourself in the Indie Comics Community, I highly recommend this convention.”

Crystal Ash
www.indieladiescomic.com

“It was just very fulfilling to be able to help guide and advise artists and writers (especially the younger ones) that are thinking of going into this field.”

Ron Braun
toon-it-up.com

If you’d like more information about the INDYpendent Show, having a table at the show, or hosting a panel, then please use the contact information at the top of this release.

Some would argue that Indianapolis has always catered to geek culture with long standing events like Gen Con and ASH Comic Shows, but in the last year we've seen a spike in large-scale geekiness.  I can only say, "Bravo" to the brave souls out there with the guts to bring more shows and events to town that cater to the geek in all of us.  While I'm sure people could stand back and pick apart the inaugural events because of some planning point missed or vendor offended, we should at least respect what the promoters are trying to do by working to establish a geek foundation in this Midwestern Mecca.

 As the foundation solidifies over the coming year, I ask myself as a local creator, "What role will I play in this culture being built?".  I can either sit back and patiently wait for each show to arrive, maybe set up my table, and hope for folks to visit me with a few dollars for my wares, or I can take a more active role.  As Indianapolis becomes a destination for those who are in to all geek things, those of us here in town have an obligation to show visitors our talents and ability to create amazing things.  But sometimes I will admit to feeling like I'm all alone in this city filled with tons of creative people, wondering what impact my books or ideas could have.  This is where the importance of creating a network in Indianapolis comes into play.  Find others who create in any fashion and connect with them.  Look for opportunities to meet up with folks in the area and share your work, whether it be at a comic shop, game store, or meet up event.  Ask others if there are cross promotional opportunities that they can think of, so you are sending new customers to each other at shows instead of being just one Indianapolis creator in a room of vendors.

I have always felt more creative after connecting with others and talking about their projects, so our goal should be to maximize that feeling all year long, not just show season.  If you haven't already, join the INDYpendent Network and say to the world proudly that you are a creative person in Indianapolis!

All the best!
John Graham