Anyone attend?

Anything interesting occur?

Any announcements worth repeating?

Bueller? Bueller?

Bunch of lame streams, I'd say it was a total bust. Not interesting for such a "big" event.

If there was anything interesting, I'd love have links.

Quote from: HappyDaze;1143711If there was anything interesting, I'd love have links.

Well, the online aspect was nice as I never would have been able to attend otherwise.
There were stinkers but a few I saw and enjoyed:


Design Mechanism Seminar, GenCon Online 2020:
The Design Mechanism Team (Lawrence, Pete, Rod, Brian, Sophia, and Carol)
https://youtu.be/euArSoDgmfg


Why TSR Failed:
(Ben Riggs)
https://youtu.be/CyM_3dn2pqk

The Sale of TSR to Wizards of the Coast:
(Ben Riggs)
https://youtu.be/-MQQn4SUriU

Note:  Peter Adkison showed up in the chat for both of Riggs's seminars and provided some thoughts, which was interesting.


Horror Roleplaying Masterclass:
Pelgrane Press
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/697699260


Game Designer Breakdown 5e:
(Geoffrey Zatkin)
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/697385803

The slideshow on this one was really well done.


There was also one on Hârn, but unfortunately it was a live zoom and I can't find a link.
If I source an upload, I'll post the link.

I attended solely because it was online and I wanted to try out some new systems I hadn't played before. It was nice that it was basically just $2 to hop into a game. Down side is they sold out real quick and it was hard to find slots.

I think it was a success in terms of participation. Games were pretty well booked, a lot of different game systems being played, the talk event I went to opened up more slots since it was virtual and wasn't limited by room size. The bad was that it was pretty obviously a last minute rush. They still had a ticket system for attending games and you had to manually turn those in(never explained well) for the GM to get paid. If you wanted to find a game at an 'open' table where someone didn't attend, that was fairly unorganized. The tools being used where also all over the map. Zoom for one event(why not Twitch??), roll20, fantasy grounds, discord, roll20 chat, google hangout chat, tabletop simulator(couldn't play those games because I was on Linux). Even under one game system one GM might be using roll20, another one might be purely using discord and no VTT at all. I think GMs using roll20 for the VTT and then discord purely for voice seemed to have the most success.

I'm sure they'll be doing online again even if they do an in location con next year. If anything I think it proves the hobby is ready for a really big, well organized virtual con.

I was wondering if R Talsorian would get round to releasing Cyberpunk Red (after the quickstart was released at GenCon last year), but seems not.

Anyone else find it a bit depressing that some of the "highlights" are seminars about stuff that happened in the industry 20+ years ago?

The group of us that were going to go to Indy this year got together at my place for the week instead.  We had a good time.  Played a bunch of stuff for the first time, went out to eat (despite the scamdemic scare running wild here) and even found a local game shop I didn't know was in the area.

Games Played:
Dungeon Crawl Classic – Last session of our Tuesday night game.  Pretty fun, except for the level zero BS they call a funnel when it's just throwing PCs against a challenge too hard for them and seeing if any live.

L5R 5e (the Fantasy Flight version with the funny dice) – first session of our new Tuesday night game.  Went well, not convinced the social mechanic is something I like.  We're all Lion in service to a new lord given his land after a battle on the border of Phoenix lands.

Over the Edge 3rd – I had fun running it.  2 out of 3 players said they enjoyed it.  The other didn't comment one way or the other.  One of the guys who liked it wasn't sold on the setting though as internet conspiracy theory isn't his thing.

Escape From Dino Island– rules light and a great way to just pass a couple of hours one night. There were dinosaurs, bad plans, fires and some comical must go faster homages.

The Sprawl – it went well and we pulled off the job but I think we (the PCs) got taken for a ride.  Character creation is easy but flexible.  Like any Apocalypse World System based game it took a bit for some people to just do things without looking at the moves and trying to figure what they can do.

Never Going Home (WWI with monsters) – kinda grim and not at all heroic.  We even played it wrong (in our favor) by accident and still almost nearly all died.  Pretty good game though.  I'd play it again.

Judge Dredd & The Worlds of 2000 AD - We were The Law – pretty much we did one big fight in a large "The Raid" style compound.  I made Judge Voorhees, a nearly unstoppable machine of a man who liked to beat criminals with his daystick.

Outbreak Undead - This was more of a "help me make sure I get the rules" than a play session.  We made characters and then tried to do a few things.  It was interesting.  It's not bad, but the book is definitely for people who already get the system.  It could benefit from a YouTube series explaining things. Real heavy on the simulationist side of gaming. We might give it a go again.

Games I Purchased:
The Dark of Hot Springs Island + Field Guide to Hot Springs Island (GM and Player books) – old school hexcrawl playground.

Veins of the Earth – game/setting/guide to running fantasy underground campaigns. Deep, deep underground where light is a precious commodity and you are not safe.

Band of Blades – you belong to The Legion, which just lost the war against the undead. You must now flee the war front and are on the run trying to get back to your keep.

Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells - rules lightish old school in feel Stars and Sorcery game where you play heroes going against the Galactic Overlord.  Made so you can mimic things like Dune, Heavy Metal, Thundarr, Pirates of Dark Water, Krull, etc.

Stuff My Friends Bought:
Mork Borg
bunch of DCC modules
Best Left Buried
Red Markets

I miss Gencon when it was cheaper and you could just register at the door. Now, it seems quite expensive and I'm annoyed by the hotels selling out months in advance.
My favorite part back in the day was the shopping. It was just so easy to find a plethora of hard to find things. Now the Internet does a lot of that aspect.

Now that i live in Indy maybe I will try to get there next time. Assuming civilization doesn't end in the interim.

Quote from: rgalex;1143783Games I Purchased:
The Dark of Hot Springs Island + Field Guide to Hot Springs Island (GM and Player books) - old school hexcrawl playground.

Veins of the Earth - game/setting/guide to running fantasy underground campaigns. Deep, deep underground where light is a precious commodity and you are not safe.

Band of Blades - you belong to The Legion, which just lost the war against the undead. You must now flee the war front and are on the run trying to get back to your keep.

Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells - rules lightish old school in feel Stars and Sorcery game where you play heroes going against the Galactic Overlord.  Made so you can mimic things like Dune, Heavy Metal, Thundarr, Pirates of Dark Water, Krull, etc.

Stuff My Friends Bought:
Mork Borg
bunch of DCC modules
Best Left Buried
Red Markets

Hot Springs Island, Veins of the Earth, Mork Borg, Best Left Buried - you folks got taste.  That's some damned good stuff right there.

Quote from: Spinachcat;1143702Anyone attend?

Anything interesting occur?

Any announcements worth repeating?

Bueller? Bueller?

YouTube streams of pierced-faced danger-hair chicks is all. And the occasional soy neck-beard.

A friend of mine played 8 games and said it was excellent.

Quote from: rgalex;1143783Games I Purchased:
The Dark of Hot Springs Island + Field Guide to Hot Springs Island (GM and Player books) – old school hexcrawl playground.
]

So far, HSI is a blast. don't forget to check the encounter tables in chartopia. Makes your life easy.
https://chartopia.d12dev.com/collection/14/

Just beware that there are a few things incomplete in the adventure/setting.