That's right, boys and girls, as thousands upon thousands of gamers descend upon Indianapolis to snag their convention badges, I am again bringing you the latest and greatest from the floor at Gen Con Indy!

I will also be doing some updates on my blog and Twitter (@rpgblog2).  

If you haven't seen the sort of coverage that's been done in years past, check out our 2008 thread!

People have already covered my internet fees for the convention, but if you do end up finding this a useful service, please consider putting a coin in the hat (you can paypal to o_clever_odysseus(at)yahoo.com).  It will defray the cost of meals and parking each day (although living on beef jerk and dried fruit for 4 days helps!).

Again, I know not everyone can go to Gen Con.  Until I figure out a way to get everyone who wants to go plane tickets and a badge (working theory: the Lotto), I'll be doing my best to cover the convention.

Gen Con is huge.  Like, really huge.  Double my time, and I still wouldn't see everything out there.  But I'll do my best to hit the highlights, as well as the stuff off the beaten path for you!

All set?  Great!  The Exhibit Hall doors open tomorrow at 10, but I plan to be there super-early, get in before the rush, and give you all the scoop.

Let's do this!

The Night Before

Tonight is the quietest night Gen Con will see for the rest of this week. But that doesn’t mean it’s silent by any means. At the convention center, thousands of gamers have already arrived. Some will sleep in hallways tomorrow, near the exhibit hall. This is the beginning of the gamer stink that will haunt us all soon enough. Most nearby restaurants are still filled, and there’s long registration lines winding around the hallways. Traffic in the skyways and corridors between the convention center and the hotels is brisk.

Inside the center's exhibit hall, companies still work to get their booths ready for the thousands of fans that will swarm it at 10 am tomorrow morning. Outside, hundreds of card, board, and tabletop games are going on, wherever people can find a space. Here and there, groups flip through their programs, planning out their activities or planning swag runs. Old friends run into each other, greet one another warmly. A general feeling of happiness is in the air; we’ve done it, we’ve survived another year, and we’re safely at Gen Con.

Tomorrow the real coverage will start, but the electricity is already in the air.

Nothing, nothing, nothing like it in the world.

Hey Zach, I'm stoked you're doing this again

If you get the chance, will you:

1. Check out the back of the Geist book and see what the next WoD game is going to be

2. Check out the new WHFRP. I'd like to hear your thoughts on it.

Will see what I can do, friend.

Ooh, first news from our friends at Paizo--Reaper Minis will be producing a line of minis for Pathfinder!  We're starting early this year!

Let me know if you see anything about Points of Light II

Thanks

Definitely check out what FFG is up to with Warhammer 3e and that new Chaos boardgame.  

Also, if Rackham is there, check out their new Rush & Crush game.

Poke the dudes at WW and ask about Exalted 3rd.  If they refuse, poke harder.

If they are doing the Tower of Gygax tribute dungeons, I'd love to hear about that one too!

Good suggestions, guys!

Enroute now (yes, we decided it couldn't wait).

At the Con!  Going to the press room--they are only giving away a select amount of badges to get in the exhibit hall early.  More later!

We're here!:

8:36 I'll be trying to get into the dealer hall soon,  but for now, we are checking out the Battletech Pods!  There's already a crowd for the puppies, and I have to admit, they look awesome:

Man, those pods are sweet!!!

Getting in the convention hall early, we passed WotC on our way to the Paizo booth.  WotC had a pretty good line going, but the Paizo booth was insane:



Mind you, this is a full hour before regular attendees get into the hall.


Jason Buhlman informed me that the display area the Pathfinder books were on is comprised of more Pathfinder books.  Cubits, he said.  He started to measure in cubits.  He said they brought thousands.  Talked to Erik Mona briefly, but he was slammed with requests:



I couldn't get a look at the back of the Geist book, as they had it under pretty heavy guard (not out with the other books--too precious, I suppose!):

Here's the WotC line:



I also stopped by Cubicle 7/Adamant Entertainment.  Savage Worlds Mars is out--GM Skarka wasn't there yet, so I'll be stopping back by later.

Same with Fantasy Flight.  I can tell you that it looks like they'll be playing up the 3e of Warhammer Fantasy!



Fat Dragon's Ultimate GM Screen looks great:



Lines, lines all over the place.  When things calm down I'll get some more shots.

Say hi to Tom from Fat Dragon from me.  :-)

Thanks for doing this Zack!

When you get a chance, could you stop by the Green Ronin booth? I'd love to see how True20, Warriors and Warlocks, and Song of Ice and Fire are doing. I'd also be curious to see if the Dragon Age box set is out.

Hey, Zach, if you get the chance, could you ask the guys at Adamant Entertainment how Tales of Bas-Lag / the China Mieville game is coming along?

Hey, Zach, if you get a chance, will you eat a cheeseburger for lunch?

Seanchai