TravCon UK - June 12-14

[MongooseMatt]

Book your ticket for TravCon UK, June 12-14!

Travcon UK 2026 - Booking by Bookwhen

bookwhen.com

Mongoose will be there, running events of our own:

* Traveller and general Mongoose Q&A
* Chris Griffen, Traveller writer, will be running games of both Traveller and the new Pioneer RPG
* Nat will be running Death Station in her first convention appearance!
* We will be unveiling the new Dark Conspiracy RPG, getting you to create your own Operatives and then launching you into your first mission
* We will also be running a Dark Conspiracy Q&A, with the latest secret intel on the game

And there is plenty more going on from the organisers of TravCon UK, with loads of games taking place, across all editions of Traveller (and some 2300AD)!

 

[Tom B]

Booked and Buzzing for it!

 

[laughdad]

You'll certainly have more sessions running than the world's biggest gaming convention... ;-) This is the GENCON SFRPG offerings...

 

[ResslynHalvik]

What happens at this event? Is it a load of stands for suppliers and then some gaming sessions? How does one get into a gaming session?

 

[Lurking Grue]

Wow, so Traveller has only TWO games being run at GENCON - equal to Starship Troopers, which I didn't even remember had an RPG for it?! It is a sad world we live in for sure. Even more so, IMHO, as the top spot is held (by a wide margin) by a space fantasy game.

It is also quite interesting that Traveller is the only non-fantasy themed* sci-fi game on the list, that is not based on a movie or tv franchise. Yes, I know The Expanse and Starship Troopers were originally literary ones, but I'm sure their movie/tv versions of them are much more known by the "normies" (notice, I didn't say "unwashed masses" ).
*) Shadowrun and Warhammer 40k are very much fantasy themed, IMO. As is the aforementioned Starfinder.

 

[MongooseBella]

What happens at this event? Is it a load of stands for suppliers and then some gaming sessions? How does one get into a gaming session?

99.9% gaming, us and BITS will be selling stuff there

 

[ResslynHalvik]

Thanks. How do the gaming sessions work? Do you just rock up at the start and join in, and the session runs across the full length of the event?

 

[MongooseBella]

You can find all the information on here: https://bitsuk.net

 

[ResslynHalvik]

I can't, but I see it is now fully booked, so it doesn't matter

 

[laughdad]

Wow, so Traveller has only TWO games being run at GENCON - equal to Starship Troopers, which I didn't even remember had an RPG for it?! It is a sad world we live in for sure. Even more so, IMHO, as the top spot is held (by a wide margin) by a space fantasy game.

It is also quite interesting that Traveller is the only non-fantasy themed* sci-fi game on the list, that is not based on a movie or tv franchise. Yes, I know The Expanse and Starship Troopers were originally literary ones, but I'm sure their movie/tv versions of them are much more known by the "normies" (notice, I didn't say "unwashed masses" ).
*) Shadowrun and Warhammer 40k are very much fantasy themed, IMO. As is the aforementioned Starfinder.

I think there's a lot of marketing space quite literally left on the table at GENCON. Mongoose has a section of another vendor's shelf-space for selling Traveller and other Mongoose game books, but there's not separate listing or ad in the event catalog and vendor hall map to help you find them. Obviously the low number of Traveller game sessions compared cedes the "hard(ish)" SFRPG space to Free League's offerings (Alien, Blade Runner) and Modiphius (Star Trek Adventures). Both Free League (based in Sweden) and Modiphius (based in the UK) rent their own booth space (expensive at GENCON). Some of the Free League staff came over for the convention and I think were augmented by U.S. personnel. I don't know if any of the Modiphius folks made the trip across the pond.

 

[ross]

I think there's a lot of marketing space quite literally left on the table at GENCON. Mongoose has a section of another vendor's shelf-space for selling Traveller and other Mongoose game books, but there's not separate listing or ad in the event catalog and vendor hall map to help you find them. Obviously the low number of Traveller game sessions compared cedes the "hard(ish)" SFRPG space to Free League's offerings (Alien, Blade Runner) and Modiphius (Star Trek Adventures). Both Free League (based in Sweden) and Modiphius (based in the UK) rent their own booth space (expensive at GENCON). Some of the Free League staff came over for the convention and I think were augmented by U.S. personnel. I don't know if any of the Modiphius folks made the trip across the pond.

Because Mongoose’s Team has made the decision to not even attempt US travel in the current environment this discussion is somewhat premature. However, the corporate expense of international travel is a huge obstacle. As a company it is probably $20k or more just to get 5 people here for 5 days. Shipping products and booth space is probably another $5-8k. So let’s call it $30k all in minimum. So even if they sold $50k in product it would still be a huge hurdle. If the company was there, maybe had Marc or a few other named developers, and offered support for GMs there would probably be significant support. I do think that looking at all of this for 2027 and the 50th anniversary would be a huge win for the company overall, depending on the political climate after November.

 

[laughdad]

Because Mongoose’s Team has made the decision to not even attempt US travel in the current environment this discussion is somewhat premature. However, the corporate expense of international travel is a huge obstacle. As a company it is probably $20k or more just to get 5 people here for 5 days. Shipping products and booth space is probably another $5-8k. So let’s call it $30k all in minimum. So even if they sold $50k in product it would still be a huge hurdle. If the company was there, maybe had Marc or a few other named developers, and offered support for GMs there would probably be significant support. I do think that looking at all of this for 2027 and the 50th anniversary would be a huge win for the company overall, depending on the political climate after November.

I completely understand the expenses in getting across the pond and acknowledge the desire to avoid the hassles we currently have to travelling to this side of the pond, but the low numbers predate the current administration and economic conditions. I don't sense that either Free League or Modiphius are much larger organizations than Mongoose, but their footprint in terms of game sessions supported/offered and in the vendor hall are dramatically different, and that's a business estimate on what the pay-off is of having a physical presence (personnel from the home office and a booth/vendor area) versus not doing it.

But just an advertisement in the convention catalog that points a consumer to the right booth would be an improvement. I don't know if the vendor that displays Mongoose's wares can modify their entry for the vendor hall map, but that would be another improvement.

Getting more sessions offered appears to be a mix of a couple of things. First, there are professional/semi-professional GM groups that contract with game companies to put on sessions. My impression is that Mongoose was doing that with the Lurking Fears (LF) group. I tried to hook-up with LF last year as a free volunteer GM (I've been playing and running the game since 1977) but the information flow with LF wasn't good so I backed out.

I do note that there are 21 sessions offered at this Origins '26. But Origins attendance is roughly 1/3 that of GENCON and all seem to be run by LF and "The Gathering" (another semi-pro GM group). It wouldn't surprise me if both groups charge more for running a session at GENCON than at Origins and Matt's opting for the lower price tag. But you get what you pay for in terms of market saturation...

 

[Condottiere]

Ship a robot.

 

[MongooseBella]

Having more convention games being run is something we are looking to, but there are, as you all have guessed, a number of caveats.


Matt, Cass and I went to GenCon in... 2023? and it cost us an extortionate of money just to *get* there, and get hotels for us and Marc, around £30k. Renting a booth (of the size that we would need), getting all the stock over, and, perhaps most importantly, sorting out advertising materials, promotional stuff, stand decor, etc, could easily be another 10-15k. And that's at the low end of stuff we would want to have for a stand. Then, you have all the ephemera that comes with it; travel, food, other random costs, business lunches/dinners, meetings, so another 1-2k max. Adding onto that, the cost of actual labour. When we did GenCon in 2023, we lost Matt, Cass and I for a week in the office, which is about £750/week each. With GenCon being 5 days, we'd want probably 5 of us there, which is a smidge under 4k for the week, just in labour costs. Then you've got people running games; say £200/4 hour slot, running 5 a day would be 1k, over 5 days that's 5k.

So...

Hotels/Flights: 30,000
Stand: 15,000
Misc: 2,000
Labour: 4,000
Convention Games: 5,000

Total before selling anything is £56,000 ish, $75,000 USD. Add in more convention games, make the stand better, have more 'Geese with us... it all goes up, basically exponentially.

That's more than our basic salary. We could hire another person for a year on that. We made the decision to do so in 2023 (though it was around 30k) to meet people, say hi to our American business partners, talk to Marc, etc.

It's not that we don't want to, it's just that prioritising a week long event and hoping that we make that money back is a big risk, especially with *hand wave* the current global political climate.

In comparison, here are the figures for going to Dragonmeet in the UK:
Stand: 1500
Promotional Materials: 1000
Travel: 100
Hotels: 400
Misc: 100
Labour: 300

So, £3400, or $4500. It's a BIG jump to go from our end of the pond to yours. Not that we don't want to, it just requires a lot more thought on our end. Plus, we know that we always make a profit at Dragonmeet.

 

[Anstett]

Thank you for always being so transparent about all of the background parts of making the things we enjoy.

 

[Spenser TR]

there were 2 games listed under "Mongoose traveller" but a few more under just "Traveller."

And obviously games run by Mongoose's own people is one option... but maybe not the only option. Another might be developing a base of folks to run at GenCon (or whatever convention) and supporting them in ways that come out to be much less spendy than putting Mongoose boots on the ground.

Also, wth... not sure a $200 is a real option for most GenCon goers. Funny how the hobby is evolving

 

[MongooseBella]

there were 2 games listed under "Mongoose traveller" but a few more under just "Traveller."

And obviously games run by Mongoose's own people is one option... but maybe not the only option. Another might be developing a base of folks to run at GenCon (or whatever convention) and supporting them in ways that come out to be much less spendy than putting Mongoose boots on the ground.

Also, wth... not sure a $200 is a real option for most GenCon goers. Funny how the hobby is evolving


View attachment 8226

My $200 was what it costs us, that's the cost for a pro GM. I'll leave my feelings about that to the side

 

[Spenser TR]

My $200 was what it costs us, that's the cost for a pro GM. I'll leave my feelings about that to the side

Ha! In truth I missed the £200 detail in your post, and was just commenting airily about the $200 cost per person in this GenCon listing I posted... not throwing shade on anyone, but I'm pretty curious about what I'd get in a 1hr Traveller session that cost me $200 as a player. Maybe it'd be the best hour of my time at that GenCon? Hmmmm

 

[laughdad]

there were 2 games listed under "Mongoose traveller" but a few more under just "Traveller."

And obviously games run by Mongoose's own people is one option... but maybe not the only option. Another might be developing a base of folks to run at GenCon (or whatever convention) and supporting them in ways that come out to be much less spendy than putting Mongoose boots on the ground.

Also, wth... not sure a $200 is a real option for most GenCon goers. Funny how the hobby is evolving

Having more convention games being run is something we are looking to, but there are, as you all have guessed, a number of caveats.


Matt, Cass and I went to GenCon in... 2023? and it cost us an extortionate of money just to *get* there, and get hotels for us and Marc, around £30k. Renting a booth (of the size that we would need), getting all the stock over, and, perhaps most importantly, sorting out advertising materials, promotional stuff, stand decor, etc, could easily be another 10-15k. And that's at the low end of stuff we would want to have for a stand. Then, you have all the ephemera that comes with it; travel, food, other random costs, business lunches/dinners, meetings, so another 1-2k max. Adding onto that, the cost of actual labour. When we did GenCon in 2023, we lost Matt, Cass and I for a week in the office, which is about £750/week each. With GenCon being 5 days, we'd want probably 5 of us there, which is a smidge under 4k for the week, just in labour costs. Then you've got people running games; say £200/4 hour slot, running 5 a day would be 1k, over 5 days that's 5k.

So...

Hotels/Flights: 30,000
Stand: 15,000
Misc: 2,000
Labour: 4,000
Convention Games: 5,000

Total before selling anything is £56,000 ish, $75,000 USD. Add in more convention games, make the stand better, have more 'Geese with us... it all goes up, basically exponentially.

That's more than our basic salary. We could hire another person for a year on that. We made the decision to do so in 2023 (though it was around 30k) to meet people, say hi to our American business partners, talk to Marc, etc.

It's not that we don't want to, it's just that prioritising a week long event and hoping that we make that money back is a big risk, especially with *hand wave* the current global political climate.

In comparison, here are the figures for going to Dragonmeet in the UK:
Stand: 1500
Promotional Materials: 1000
Travel: 100
Hotels: 400
Misc: 100
Labour: 300

So, £3400, or $4500. It's a BIG jump to go from our end of the pond to yours. Not that we don't want to, it just requires a lot more thought on our end. Plus, we know that we always make a profit at Dragonmeet.

Thanks for the information! I think there are options far short of making the trip across the pond that would improve your position at GENCON, and there might be some alternatives to paying $66/£50 for a GM per hour--which is what professions requiring a specialized master's or doctoral degree, substantial experience, or rigorous licensure here. Let me think a bit and see if I can come up with some "economy of force" options.

But up front I'd say an advertisement for Mongoose wares in the convention catalog that might tell attendees what's new and which booth number the third party vendor is located in would probably help your sales. I couldn't attend one year and my wife and two grown children each tried separately to find the vendor and none of them saw Mongoose's books up, yet we know they were marketed there.

 

[laughdad]

there were 2 games listed under "Mongoose traveller" but a few more under just "Traveller."

And obviously games run by Mongoose's own people is one option... but maybe not the only option. Another might be developing a base of folks to run at GenCon (or whatever convention) and supporting them in ways that come out to be much less spendy than putting Mongoose boots on the ground.

Also, wth... not sure a $200 is a real option for most GenCon goers. Funny how the hobby is evolving


View attachment 8226

Yeah, a couple of those non-GCN sessions appeared after the initial event schedule dropped. If you do a search under RPG games with "Mongoose" as the keyword you get just two events other than the GCN sessions. One of the sessions (A Broken Ship) says, "Create a character, if you survive character creation send them on a mission." I hope they're not trying to do character gen and play a session in four hours!