MongooseMatt said:
Hey everyone,
2027 marks Traveller's 50th birthday, and we have been knocking around some possible ideas on how to celebrate the event.
So... what would you all like to see?
Matt,
I'll echo what others have said here: support Traveller (and other Mongoose games) at GENCON and Origins (and maybe DRAGONCON). But don't wait for the 50th anniversary year. Up the visibility at the conventions starting in 2025 and that'll help set the stage for a 50th anniversary tournament(s) at the various cons.
71000 people attended GENCON 24. There were 7 Traveller events handling with 42 total seats available. As a comparison, there were 49 game sessions for Free League's Alien RPG, and Free League ran/sponsored 36 of those sessions. They ran a further 24 events to support their Blade Runner RPG. Polyhedral Knights, a two-person (husband & wife) game company, ran eight game sessions to support their games. Now, none of this is to say you aren't working your tail off. I've played Traveller since shortly after GDW published it and am very grateful for Mongoose keeping the game alive and improving it. What I am saying is that I'd like to see the game grow and getting to the big U.S. conventions is a way to do that--and expand your market. Ok, now relating this back to the 50th anniversary:
-- First, would any of the previous developers of Traveller (Marc M., Steve J, Frank C.) want to do a panel, or series of panels con with you about the origins, evolution, and future of Traveller and SciFi gaming generally? All of the people I listed in parens are multiple Charles Roberts and Origins award winning designers. They're gaming royalty for lack of a better term. You'd draw attendees beyond the existing Traveller player base.
-- Run a special set of 50th anniversary adventure sessions. This could be a single special adventure developed for the 50th run a single session or a set of linked gaming sessions 9e.g. chapters) run over a convention "weekend." Off the top of my head, I'd recommend rerunning some Hammer's Slammers events--that title series has a ton of name recognition, as you know.
-- See what other anniversary activities other game systems have done. Running a special anniversary adventure at the con is something I've seen done before.
Backing out a bit to greater participation at the conventions :
-- FASA does a good job supporting your products. Traveller products are prominently displayed and they had a salesperson pretty serving in a fairly dedicated role for the Traveller section. BTW, FASA ran 42 events to promote their games at GENCON. I think you're fairly solid there as long as the salesperson knows the system, universe, etc. I saw them have a little difficulty with one gentleman's questions and I offered some information--I think he ended up purchasing the Core rules, CSC, and he had Drinax on his scope.
-- In addition to running adventures, seminar sessions to help interested people develop characters are another idea. I know Catalyst does this for Shadowrun. Similarly, seminars/sessions on ship design, world-building, etc. are all potential event options.
-- The key to events is that event blocks are typically four hours (minimum), so whatever is running needs to finish the whole adventure or chapter in 4-6 hours. Consider sessions designed for players unfamiliar with the game and those that have experience.
-- Consider offering some "show specials" for some products (knock some percentage off products. It incentivizes purchases on-the-spot rather than look through the book and perhaps purchasing it from another source once you arrive home (and are reviewing the bill for lodging, food, and travel for the convention). Another marketing option is to provide "discount" coupons to players who attend Traveller sessions. That entices new players who enjoyed the game to purchase products at the Con (and hopefully keep purchasing at home for use with their local group).
Alright, that's enough. 
I am more than willing to run sessions at GENCON to help the cause--and simply for the enjoyment (in fact, as I right this, I think I'll start working on offering Slammers scenarios at GENCON 25). The convention handles GM compensation--if any--separately. So that's not something you have to necessarily concern yourself with.
R, JCL
