Looking to form a board game designers group in Kansas

I'm posting to find out who in the Topeka - Lawrence - Kansas City area might be interested in forming a board game designers group. If you are, please respond to this post or send me a message.

By way of background, this is not the first time I've done this. I just moved here to Kansas from Salt Lake City at the end of August to work at KU. Back in Utah, in addition to managing a game store for a number of years, I helped co-found the Board Game Designers Guild of Utah.

When we started that group, we didn't know if it would ever amount to anything. However, over time, the synergy that came from having focused playtesting and socializing of aspiring game designers, artists, and even publishers resulted in tremendous success.

Here are some games that were designed by members of that Utah group - by publisher:

Rio Grande Games
-The Heavens of Olympus (I designed this one)

Eagle-Gryphon Games
-Pastiche
-Fantastique
-The Road to Canterbury

Z-Man Games
-Bridge Troll
-Trollhalla

Mayday Games
-Eaten By Zombies
-Kings Vineyard
-White Elephant
-Hagoth: Builder of Ships
-Lemonade Stand

5th Street Games
-Jungle Ascent
-The Crow and the Pitcher

Ginger Ale Games / Upper Deck
-Bring Out Yer Dead

Touch Paper Press
-Super Showdown

I could go on with other published games as well as talk about successes in board game artwork from the group but I think the point is made. I'm hoping to duplicate the same kind of success the group in Utah had by starting a similar group here in Kansas.

As far as when we would meet, where, and how frequently, much of that will depend on who responds to me and how much interest there is. I know from years of experience with the Utah group that there are effective and less effective ways to go about organizing such meetings. We learned the hard way that it's not as simple as just getting together somewhere and playtesting. There need to be specific ground rules in place for how the activities are organized, which games get playtested, how often, in what order, etc.. so people can get the most out of the group.

Once I get some understanding of the level of interest and geographically where people would be coming from, I will set up a preliminary meeting. At that meeting, we can discuss the direction of the group and how we want to organize any future activities.

If you are in the Topeka - Lawrence - Kansas City area and this sounds like something you would be interested in, please respond to this post with any questions you may have. My hope is that we can collectively create something amazing for aspiring board game designers here in Kansas.