TOPIC: True Dungeon Auction

Does anyone else miss the True Dungeon auctions? Not the auctions that individuals do on the forums or Ebay, but the annual auction that True Dungeon used to hold at the Riddle Reveal at GENCON. I've never been a big participant, but they were fun to have.

I wonder if they could be restarted at some point. I know they wouldn't be able to be held on Sunday as before since there are now Sunday runs, but I wonder if they could be held through the weekend via a bid process, kind of like what was done with the Artisan Tokens. Maybe the list of items up for auction (or even a display of them) could be shown, with some process to allow people to place bids, and have the highest bids shown. Or, have it be a sealed bid process, where you can bid the amount of GP you'd be willing to pay, and at some predetermined point True Dungeon looks at them and determines the winner.

Auctions wouldn't have to be strictly GP either. Maybe one would be quantity of Rare tokens, for instance. Or maybe one could be quantity of monster ingredient tokens.

There must be some fun stuff like props, prototypes, signed items, etc. that would be fun to have up for auction. Or even a new run of Artisan Tokens (maybe in woodie form). No more Artifact Tokens though!

This was discussed at WYC My only issue is that we are pulling tons of GP out of the economy with transmuting and auctions would be limited to a small group of players. I am not against rewarding long time players or big buyers though, so maybe they could run an auction as well as having tokens in the treasure boxes that give you a chance to get something neat/unique. They could be as simple as new artisan tokens, which would have to be on chips to avoid 'feeling around' for them. If these were done like the last batch, they could offer one of each through an auction, one of each in the treasure boxes, and one of each kept by TD. You could even go so far as to offer a 4th of each at WYC.

The auctions were over just as I started to understand what I was missing. Oh well, like Joni said.

I do agree that if you limit it to GP auctions, that has the buying power in relatively few hands. Which may or may not be a bad thing, as those hands are putting a lot of money into token purchases to support True Dungeon.

But, like I said, why not be really inventive with the auctions. Have one that only monster ingredient tokens can be spent. One that only participation tokens can be spent. Maybe one that only 2015 tokens (Rares worth 6, Uncommons worth 3, commons worth 1) can be spent. Maybe randomly sort "auction currency" tokens in treasure boxes, and only those could be spent on one auction.

You could do like the Artisan Token auctions also, and limit them to one bid per person total, to spread things out. True, that requires an honor system to prevent proxy bidding, but so much of True Dungeon is honor system.

Lots of possible ways to revive the auctions in a fun way.

I'd be excited to see a return of auctions of stuff, left over props, etc.

I think a big challenge to overcome would be Gen Con's severe restrictions around commerce at the convention and/or venue selection. Monetary transactions outside a dealer hall / approved booth with Gen Con approved cash register/register operator is a huge no-no that will get you booted from the con, from the exhibitor rules:

"Absolutely no selling, soliciting, or handbill distribution is allowed outside of rented booth spaces, unless such a distribution has been secured through official Gen Con Event Marketing Program or Sponsorship. Violators will be removed from the convention. In the case of violating exhibitors, the exhibitor and all employees will be removed from the convention."

I suspect GenCon might cast a fat eye towards a large scale, organized auction which transacted not money, but instead bartered goods which are more or less easily converted into cash.

At the very least whoever would organize such an auction would probably need to get, in writing, from Gen Con a statement that their proposed activity was in compliance with Gen Con's rules, lest they risk being ejected from the con.

An easier way might be to try to rent out a section or an entirety of a nearby restaurant off GenCon premesis and perform the auction there - one would have to check the particulars of Indiana state and Indianapolis local laws to know if such an event needs permitting, might accrue tax liability, etc.

Matt, I don't think any of those concerns would apply to auctions conducted by TA Ltd, which were what the old auctions were. TA Ltd already does thousands of dollars in cash transactions each con, so could easily do them again, this time for dollars if they wanted to.

If someone else wanted to run them, that's another story... But GenCon and TD already have an understanding that tokens aren't cash and may be traded freely without repercussion. We have traded and "sold" for GP all weekend long for years.

Mike Steele wrote: I wonder if they could be held through the weekend via a bid process, kind of like what was done with the Artisan Tokens. Maybe the list of items up for auction (or even a display of them) could be shown, with some process to allow people to place bids, and have the highest bids shown.

I think this would be a lot of fun!

I understand why the auctions don't happen anymore (Sundays being full, and the fact that transmutes now act as a very effective GP sink instead of the auctions) but they really added something to the event - a unique piece of TD which you could take home with you.

Or even a new run of Artisan Tokens (maybe in woodie form). No more Artifact Tokens though!

I agree - no more Artifacts!
Something like a chippie version of Artisan tokens would be really neat, though.

Brad Mortensen wrote: Matt, I don't think any of those concerns would apply to auctions conducted by TA Ltd, which were what the old auctions were. TA Ltd already does thousands of dollars in cash transactions each con, so could easily do them again, this time for dollars if they wanted to.

If someone else wanted to run them, that's another story... But GenCon and TD already have an understanding that tokens aren't cash and may be traded freely without repercussion. We have traded and "sold" for GP all weekend long for years.

That is true - but it's still not a bad idea to be cautious about individuals setting up "token shops" at GENCON, even if no cash changes hands. One of the reasons Jeff has said in the past that he didn't want to set up any sort of official Token Traders area was he wanted to avoid having it draw the eye of GENCON. But, like you said, this would be done by True Dungeon, who is already authorized to make cash sales, so an auction for tokens or cash should be fine if held by True Dungeon. Which these would be.