Zachary's Gen Con Report Thread

[Seanchai]

Rogue Games has put out Colonial Gothic, a Revolutionary-War era supernatural/horror game.  Looks really, really interesting.  It frickin' screams Young Goodman Brown.

I have this folder of Favorites called Games to Get. This link just went in that folder...

Seanchai

[Kyle Aaron]

Someone should be selling gym memberships at that con.

[flyingmice]

I have this folder of Favorites called Games to Get. This link just went in that folder...

Seanchai

I picked it up, along with Qin and ATB. Looks excellent so far!

-clash

[Zachary The First]

Saturday morning is here, and obviously, I didn't post right after the ENnies.  It was nearly 12:30 by the time I got out of there, and there was no easy access to my wi-fi hotspot.
 

I'm wearing a Rifts shirt today!  In many situations, my Ramon Perez dragon shirt might not be socially acceptacle, but here's I'm totally Puttin On The Ritz.

 
Before I go into all that, here's a bit of something I wrote while waiting for Bill Corrie to meet me last night:


 

I  feel like I have yet to impress upon you the absolute HUGENESS of Gen Con.  How absolutely frickin’ huge is this?  I have been on my feet two straight days for at least 10 hours each now, and I am just over halfway through my checklist of Stuff To See.  Its like the geek equivalent of asking a tourist to see everything in NYC in just a few days.
   
   Its very easy to get overwhelmed; many first-time attendees and fans tell me that they just “had no idea until they actually went”.  But the non-stop gaming, the non-stop fun, the non-stop people watching, it all adds up to an amazing time.  Origins is dwarfed by it.  If you are a gamer, you owe it to yourself to make Gen Con a pilgrimage you make at least once, but annually if you can.  I can’t even relay half of the craziness I’ve seen.  
   I will say that it is the only place on earth where I feel like I might reliably defeat 90% of the populace in a footrace.
   
   I’m waiting to meet Bill Corrie, who is going to accompany me to the ENnies.  In my mind, I have but one fear for these awards:
   
   -Green Ronin will win everything, and play that goddamned “Pump It” song another 80 times.
   
   It is not right, it is not fitting, for a judge nominee to wish ill to any candidate.  And I have no issues with them winning.  But sweet mother of mercy, please, please, please do not make me embarrassed for my race by seeing a roomful of sweaty gamers attempt to clap in unison with a Black-Eyed Peas song.  It was quite possibly the most White activity I have seen since the 1988 GOP convention, when the entirety of the Republican Party attempted to clap to “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown”.
   
   I know I have likely mentioned this issue way too many times, but I cannot help it; it wounded me to my very marrow.  Best of luck, Green Ronin.  Play Enya, if you must.  Play Chakras of the Divine Earth Goddess—A New Age Revelation if you feel it necessary.  But  please, do not play that thrice-accursed song—my constitution would not stand for it.
   
   I wonder if Bill is going to punk out on me here?  Nah, he’s got my back.
     
 
 

Long story short, Bill didn't (punk), and Green Ronin didn't (play that damned song).  If you want a detailed breakdown of the ENnies, you can go here.  Green Ronin (surprise!), Privateer Press, Black Industries (see Green Ronin), and Malhavoc were the big winners this year, with Qin bringing home some awards.

And yes, I got a judgeship!  Color me surprised!  When they started reading that list and they had got through 3 names without calling mine, Jeff Ranger's (TelfonBilly), or Kevin Kulp's (PirateCat), I thought that had me sunk right there.  As it turns out, looks like I'll be a'judging next year.  All I ask is:  guys, please don't fail me.  I want to hear opinions, what you see that maybe I need to look at again, and just generally need to keep my head in good gaming discussion while retaining independent judgement.  And thank you so much for electing me to this.  I'll do my best, as far as I'm able, to have your nominees be representative of what's quality in our hobby, regardless of author, company, fad, or label.

Enough of that stuff.

A few more random thoughts on the ENnies:

-It's an interesting mix of garb at the ENnies.  Some folks are dressed to the nines, others (like me) are in t-shirts, shorts, or worse.  

-The Roof Ballroom was beautiful this year, wonderfully air-conditioned, and folks were nicely spaced.  I have to take off my hat the organizers for that.  In fact, the ENnies folks had a beautiful event all the way this year.  They really outdid themselves, all the way.

-We got a thumb drive with the new D&D logo on it.  Mine was not formatted properly, according to my comp, but they have the new D&D logo on there, a pic of a troll, and one of tiefling.  That's all I saw

-They also gave out a D&D mini of Raistlin Majere.  Neat!

-I met a guy from jrients' gaming group--he sat at our table!  HE basically confirmed Jeff brought the awesome.  I gave him a d8 to give Jeff.

-Dammit, check out Kayuda Maps!  (OK, that's not an ENnie-related topic, but I want it in there).

-There was definite highlighting from the ceremony on indie games particpation, both during the opening comments and at several points during the show.  The crowd also contained many indie gamers, judging from who I saw and their reaction.

-Pundit, Fred Hicks said to tell you "oink".

- - -

Anyhow, the Mrs. is meeting me today, and this willl really be my last full day at the Con.  I'll probably check this once more today, and will be on for a few minutes more here, so  if you have stuff for me to check out or questions, time's running out, but I'll do my best to get whatever coverage you guys want.

Oh, and I'm doing a GM seminar at 2 today with Martin Ralya from Treasure Tables, Vicki Potter from TableTop Adventures, and Phil Vecchione, GM Magnus!  It's a very informal, give & take session, and it was one of my favorite things to do at Gen Con this year.  For those of you going who might check this, please, introduce yourselves!  It's SEM00052, in Embassy, Chancellor 3.

By the way, anyone sold on trying to make it here next year yet?

A few more pics in just a sec!

[Zachary The First]

The terrible thing is I couldn't get my camera out in time when Yu-Gi-Oh player walked behind him who looked eerily like Short Round.



My friend Dennis participates one of the oldest of all Gen Con traditions:  geeks buying swords.



The Expeditious Retreat Press booth is always busy.  And every year, they take home an ENnie.



In terms of mannerisms, that's the best Cap'n Jack impersonator I've ever seen.

[Settembrini]

Is it just me, or are Stormtrooper Uniforms automatically a different order of magnitude cooler than any other LARP outfit?


I mean, not even the Brasky-Bunch mocks Stormie-LARPies.

[Zachary The First]

Is it just me, or are Stormtrooper Uniforms automatically a different order of magnitude cooler than any other LARP outfit?


I mean, not even the Brasky-Bunch mocks Stormie-LARPies.

The awesome thing is, Sett, you can interact with them with lines from the movies.  Go up to one and either say "TK-421, why aren't you at your post?" or "These aren't the droids you're looking for" and see what they do. And yeah, they've heard it all a million times, but they get into it.

Off to the hall!  Get any requests you have left in, guys!

[Settembrini]

There´s some interest in how many german votes (% or total) were around this time. Can you share such information regarding the voting process?
Or shall we better ask pooka?

[Zachary The First]

There´s some interest in how many german votes (% or total) were around this time. Can you share such information regarding the voting process?
Or shall we better ask pooka?

Man, I just don't know!  But I'm sure the Prussian bloc was instrumental.

[Serious Paul]

I mean, not even the Brasky-Bunch mocks Stormie-LARPies.

HA! It's true, we've been found out! :haw: Congrats to Zach, and thanks for the updates.

[Zachary The First]

Another fine day, except for the fact that my phone died and I had tried to find clash but couldn't, and Theresa and I finally had to leave.  The only real disappointment this year at Gen Con is that I haven't gotten in half, or even a quarter of the gaming I've wanted to.  This sucks. :mad:

But what doesn't suck is the rest of this show!  Aside from my seminar today, I had time to check out a few

And now, before the natives revolt:

Booth Babes & Hawt Chicks

(taken by Theresa, Zachary's Very Pregnant and Kick-Ass Wife):













Theresa also said some of you guys would want one from the back.





Actually, this one is of one of the GM Syndicate booth folks.  More on their stuff soon:







Now then, onto a few more points:

-I ran into Malcom Craig, creator of A/State, and while there's no set date, it looks like there might be life in the A/State line yet.

-The GM Syndicate really had their act together this year, with an awesome booth and a nice display of mapping products and 2-D characters.  I ended up with some review product, which I need to get to one of our fine staff reviewers somehow.  They also had a rep from Gamer-Printshop, which is a service for gamers helping to print.  Here's a shot of their booth:



-The hall seemed kind of dead in the afternoon, which is strange for a Saturday.  But to be fair, there were a LOT of events going on as well.  I've been going to Gen Con Indy for a goodly number of years now, and there are still parts I have never made it to.  You just can't do it all, even over multiple years.

-If I were a vendor at Gen Con, I would be extremely wary of some press coverage.  I went past several pretty prominent "press"/industry guys whoring/pleading/debasing themsevles/flattering in attempts for review copies, including at least one well-known "press" guy we've mentioned on this site before.  There's polite inquiry, and then there's embarassing beggary.

-Our own Koltar in his Klingon garb:




Not everything at Gen Con is ducky.  We had (or would have had, had it been edible) the world's worst pizza today from Papa John's.  Blech:




And, for my favorite phot of the whole Con.  My Castles & Crusades GM Screen, along with my Gen Con program, has a very special signature on it.  Yours truly, with the man himself, St. Gygax:



Note the crazed fanboy gleam in my eye.  I was not alone in this.  That made my year.

I'll be at the show just very, very briefly tomorrow--let me know if there's any last-minute stuff I need to cover!

[Blackleaf]

Getting a chance to talk with Gary in person would be awesome.  That rocks. :cool:

[beeber]

dude, kudos on the gary moment.  very excellent!  you lucky bastard  :keke:

[James J Skach]

Your title on the last post seems to imply that some of those females were not booth babes, but general gaming public.

Hopes springs...ahem...eternal.

[Zachary The First]

Your title on the last post seems to imply that some of those females were not booth babes, but general gaming public.

Hopes springs...ahem...eternal.

I believe at least 2 were not.

There are hotties, but I'm not real comfortable being one of the mouth-breathers who goes up to them in front of their husband/boyfriend and says "can you just pose/reveal/sit on my lap like this for me"?  Yeah, that's not an exaggeration.  Gen Con is many wonderful things, but it's also often a conclave of social retardation.

But nothing, gentlemen, is as bad as the Celullite Chun-Li of last year.  I know the picture I took is still floating out there on the net somewhere...

BTW, back to Gygax for a minute, the Troll Lord guys (where he was signing) were super-nice in person.  It's like a bastion for grognards at Gen Con, too!  Saw a lot of older gamers happily buying up LA and C&C supplements greedily, as well as more than a couple of the folks I saw complaining about 4e the loudest earlier as well...

EDIT:

I dunno, smebody tell Jeff Combos at Exile my wife and I are sorry we couldn't come, wouldja?

Done, btw.

-Almost forgot!  Yes, I did hit up an Aces & Eights demo!  The combat system is a bit off the beaten path, but the flavor of the book, presentation, and framing of the rules for a western gamed seemed really, really good.  I feel I'd have to get a second look for a denfintive call, but 1 time was enough for most gamers, as the last few copies available dwindled away...