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Gen Con 2000 Report
zuluwarrior writes "That Beatdown Reporter braved the sea of smelly geeks and visited this year's Gen Con in Milwaukee WI. for the latest computer game news, RPG and board game info and to see if he rolls a natural 20. Top stuff."
Fox is running it Saturday mornings around 10.
My blog: http://www.seebs.net/log/ --- My iPhone/iPad app: http://www.seebs.net/seebsfrac/
Things I liked
I have a lot of negative things to say about the way Wizards of the Coast (WotC) ran parts of the con this year, so I wanted to start on a positive note. And I did, in fact, have a good time. Here are some things I liked, in no particular order.
All the Gamers
According to the news report I saw, there were twenty thousand of us in town for the con. Let me repeat that - twenty thousand! There's just something great about having that many like-minded folk around. Very cool.
The new Badges
Badges this year were of the hang-around-your-neck instead of the pin-to-your-shirt variety. They were sturdier, unlikely to lose the paper insert, and easy to put on and remove. They must have been especially nice for people in costume, who wouldn't have to worry about sticking a pin through their art (or, for the very scantily costumed, finding a place to pin it in the first place).
The Anime Room
As with last year, the Anime Room was in the Hilton, across the street and caddy-corner to the convention center. While directions could have been a bit clearer, that is more a flaw with the onsite booklet than with the Anime Room Itself. I only made it there once, and rather late, but they were playing something I wanted to see and the staff (even for the late hour) was enthusiastic. I can't speak for crowding, as I was there late, but the room seemed spacious enough, and the video/sound quality was good, even from the back of the room.
Game Locations Listed in the Onsite Book
Last year, the onsite book did not have locations listed, causing all manner of confusion. Kudos to WotC for listening to attendees' complaints and acting on them.
The Safe House
I love this place. Everybody loves this place. It's the one think I really will miss about Milwaukee when the convention moves to Indianapolis in 2003. And the password is... [DELETED].
Now... the problems...
Running as a Tabletop GM
Last year, I left the con with the distinct impression that they were *trying* to make pencil-and-paper GMing so unpleasant that the tabletop players would just go away.
This year removed all doubt.
I arrived bright and early Thursday morning and was able to pick up my pre-reg packet smoothly. At least, I thought so until I opened it. There were my player tickets, the onsite booklet, my Pez(tm), my 4-Day player badge... Hey! I quickly checked the rest of my materials. Nothing anywhere indicated that they had any idea that I had registered as a GM, nor was there anything about the games I was running. I was a bit worried - I knew I hadn't made the pre-reg book deadline, but I had specifically telephoned two weeks earlier to make sure they got my events (they never sent me a confirmation).
I found the Information booth and asked what was going on. I was told to go to "GM HQ" on the third floor. Now, having been through this runaround last year, I knew that there was no such thing as GM HQ. I went to the third floor and found the booth marked "Tournament Registration" (which was not then, nor at any time during the con, labeled "GM HQ").
I stood in line behind three or four other disgruntled folk and was handed a sealed manila envelope from a pile of similar envelopes. This, apparently, was my GMs packet. I asked about my events. The man behind the counter told me that if I told him my event numbers, he could look up whether I had sold any tickets. How, I asked, was I supposed to know what my events number were? They're listed in the on-site book.
I obtained a GMs badge at the point by sounding like I was about to lose my last shreds of patience and make a scene.
I wandered off and looked through my packet. It was so generic, the introductory letter inside welcomed me to Origins (another convention entirely). Notably lacking were GMs instructions or any other useful information. There were event proposal forms for Origins 2001 and Gencon 2001, and a time sheet.
It was at this point that I remembered why I did not bother to get a reimbursement last year.
The time sheet, I should add, needed to be initialed by a "manager". Out of the four games I ran over a cumulative sixteen hours, I was checked in on by a manager exactly once (five minutes before game time, and so could not initial my sheet) and was able track one down once (and it took some doing). Fortunately, the second one was kind enough to initial all of my events for me, without checking.
By Friday midnight, I had run all of my games, so on Saturday, I checked in on Tournament Registration. The person there couldn't help me, but we eventually found someone who initialed my form and told me to come back Sunday. All reimbursements would be done Sunday, regardless of when the events were finished.
Sunday I showed up to a very slow line and watched two GMs in front of me give up in disgust. I made it to the front of the line and got my reimbursement. I felt like I'd GMed for free and earned the money for putting up with WotC.
I'm going back next year, and I'll even GM again, but if you're wondering why the number of games run keeps dropping, even as the people who want to play keeps increasing, here's your answer.
-- I'm not evil, I'm
You follow the PHB's rules all day at work, then you go play D&D and end up following another PHB's rules.
At least you didn't put a write-in vote for the half-orc! (Shudder)
Stay up hacking each weekend. Sleep is for the week.
And, then, on the ride home any female seems to be a hottie. The "GenCon Goggles" (if I may coin a term) are certainly a phenomenon.
Ah...If only it were the old days before Wizards of the Coast...
Send your friends messages of love at fuck-you.org
I do as well. Unfortionatly (Or fortunenatly), most of the players I used to play with don;t like to play any more. Mostly becouse they *KNOW* if we start playing again, the fact that we call it Crack; the Addiction will come to bear once again.. ;-P
*OOhh, FOILIES!! GOTTA get the FOILIES!!*
-- I'm the root of all that's evil, but you can call me cookie..
Feminism. For crying out loud, a female "warrior" is not going to be as effective as a male warrior in combat!
... she'll be a more effective warrior because of her greater discipline. Historical examples of female warrior castes prove this every time; the reason there aren't more examples to draw from is that historically most cultures were not on a constant war footing and thus women could be relegated to babymaking and surplus male population to warmaking. In cultures where everyone had to fight, women were vital components of the order of battle in some position where their average lack of upper body strength wasn't particularly relevant.
... but they are very effective. And female ninjas were actually more prevalent and dreaded than male ninjas, contrary to current movie mythology; there are several recorded instances of ninja geishas with their koshigatanas taking out multiple samurai. Ninja geishas. Mmmmmm. Mmmmm. :)
No
The overwhelmingly female Samartian horse archer corps are a striking example of this; another is the Viking shieldmaidens. Stabbing spears poking out from shieldwalls aren't particularly valiant or odeworthy
(It's a troll, I know, but enough people are ignorant enough to agree that I thought it was worth correcting anyway...)
Maybe I'm just a crotchety old man (at 20), but I remember when the gaming world wasn't summed up by the dark empire of the west. Magic:the Gathering, and Wizards of the Coast buying TSR ruined the gaming world. It used to be the case where TSR(D&D), FASA(Shadowrun/Battletech), White Wolf(Vampire/Werewolf/Mage/Wraith/Changling), Palladium(Rifts/Heroes Unlimited), Steve Jackson(GURPS/In Nomine), and West End(Star Wars) slowly revolved around each other in stately pace, releasing games that most people bought. Smaller companies hung around too, like Atlas and CheapAss. They released quality games that could compete on equal terms released by the big boys. Then Wizards of the Coast(WotC) came along with Magic. Gaming became the domain of creepy little kids whose parents could afford really expensive cards. Then, so they could keep the kids addicted to their products, WotC "saved" TSR by buying them out. D&D was now part of the WotC domain. Geek kids could now be hooked from about 6 or 7 until they died, to WotC products. Then Pokemon came out, adding even more people to their consumer base. Awful management on the part of West End Games resulted in them dying a slow, painful death. Lucas recently releaved the spasming corpse that was West End of the lucrative Star Wars license, and rewarded it to (guess who?) WotC. Now WotC owns two of the five major lines that used to drive the gaming world. The same company that now produces wrestling and baseball Collectable Card Games is making design decisions on one of the oldest gaming lines and on the RPG set in a place a long time ago and far far away. (sigh) And that's not all! An even greater evil has recently befallen the gaming world. WotC was bought out by Hasbro, Inc. As Wizards has done with TSR (those of you who bought 3rd Ed., check your books for a TSR logo or mention. You won't find one.), so Hasbro is planning to do with WotC, or so I'm told. Yes, that's right. D&D will soon by produced by Hasbro. Yuck.
For the sake of honesty, I must confess that I'm part of a small gaming company, so I take these things kind of personal. But Jeez! This years Con was HALF the size of the 98' con. The Wizards Castle was HUGE! You know why? To cover up the fact that there were *very* few small companies there. Those who came rocked, natch, but still. Part of that might have had something to do with the now outrageous prices charged by Andon Unlimited (Guess who owns them?), the company that organizes Gen Con and Origins. Atlas Games and Steve Jackson Games now share a booth because of the outrageous prices. These companies are middle sized fish in this particular pond! If they have to share a booth, what are small businesses supposed to do? So yeah, that's my opinion.
Martin
Nothing back from GenCon regarding the new D&D movie coming out in the next few months? I'd say *THAT* was one of the best things to come out of there.. For those interested, check out www.dndmovie.com.
-- I'm the root of all that's evil, but you can call me cookie..
You want to be http://www.sharkyextr eme.com/games/columns/beatdown_gencon2k/ - there.
Well that's in my Top 10 Things I Hope I Never See.
One can only imagine.
*shudder*
They must be running IIS! {grin}
The game itself has gotten quite predictable. I mean, every few months, they release a new set. 6th was the latest big announcement. Not much more to it then that..
-- I'm the root of all that's evil, but you can call me cookie..
Did anyone else here glue themselves to the old D&D cartoon when they where kids? I would -love- to get that movie collection on DVD.
I wonder if any TV networks still cary it... oh well.
Memories......
--------------------
Not a very accurate description of GenCon. Gaming Outpost (www.gamingoutpost.com/) and WoTC's Virtual Gencon (www.wizards.com) have much better highlights of the con.
,SF, or comicbook con this year.
I only saw 2 women in chainmail bikinis and both of them were real good looking.
Gencon also smelled better than the average Anime
It's just as interesting to some as reports on LinuxWorld or any other major convention. It's news for *NERDS*, not computer geeks.. ;-P Granted, it's usually hand and hand, so.. ;-P
-- I'm the root of all that's evil, but you can call me cookie..
Begin rambling:
My wife and I have a booth in the art show every year. this year, there seemed to be a proliferation of kids (>20 yrs)wearing camoflauge with parts of motherboards and modems taped all over them. Don't know if it was shadowrun or what... looked stupid. the smell was better this year. New games looked pretty cool... Scooby Doo meets Magic:the gathering. sold a lot of stuff.
End Rambling
Dirty Pirate Hooker
Yeah, that site sucks. It just so happens I've been sort of surveying the (non-corp) RPG pages around the web, and this one sucks less. Deals with both kinds of RPGs (electronic and tabletop), news/rumors from all over, pretty nice. It hosts the best site around for specific information on the new D&D3E books, Eric Noah's.
If you're into White Wolf's products (Mage, Vampire, Werewolf), their own site's pretty good, and Ex Libris Nocturnis isn't bad, either.
RPGnet is sort of the USA Today of the industry. You know, slick and dumb. They do have a rather nice habit of posting more than one review per book, though, so you get to see multiple perspectives, even if their writers are high schoolers.
-jpowers
-jpowers
But if he rolls a natural 20, to whom does he do double damage???
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
That report wasn't really news. It was more of a slam on Gamers everywhere. I went to Gencon and had a blast. Not only is there every time of gaming going on 24 hours a day, but it's also where you can preview the newest projects coming out or just released. Several highlights not referenced in the article: the D&D movie preview: I got to see the preview and it seriously rocked. Several of the actors were there and also very psyched about the movie. Dune RPG: This RPG system is not available anywhere but Gencon, and rumor has it that it's not going to be available anywhere else. I believe they are going to be updating it with a new mechanics for later in the year. So, if you wanted to play Dune and you weren't at Gencon, tough luck. The Star Trek FPS was awesome! I kept getting fragged but I didn't care. Come on, admit it, you've always wanted to shoot aliens with your phaser... and that Mr. Spock needs a good smackdown! As for the smelly gamers and fat women in chain mail -- forget it. I didn't see anything remotely like that. I did see a very large portion of Gen Y's dressed in black and skulking around the Hyatt, pretending to be vampires. That was amusing to watch. Rani
?Er. Pardon my ignorance, but what is a koshigatana?
:)
:)
Koshigatana are Japanese twin swords. Generally a little shorter and rather wider than a wakizashi, they are used for trapping parries, redirections, and blocks as well as the typical kenjutsu slashing attacks.
There's no way a koshigatana wielder can trade blows straight up with someone with a full size weapon, or go for a single crippling stroke -- the key to their use is extreme speed and dexterity to deflect blows while giving the opponent the death of a thousand cuts. In other words, upper body strength is not that relevant, which is why this a weapon a geisha girl ("kunoichi", as "kunoichijutsu" is the technical term for female ninjutsu) can take out armored samurai with.
At this point, I'm sure, all the EverQuest fanboys are getting ready to claim I don't know what I'm talking about and that a koshigatana is a one-handed piercing weapon because their databases say so. Well, yes, anything small and pointy can be used as that, but that is historically inaccurate and stupid besides. It is a two-handed weapon, one in each hand, and to model combat with it properly in an RPG you should give the wielder a full parry defensive bonus plus a gladius/cutlass caliber slashing attack each round, or no defensive bonus and two separate attacks, with none of whatever penalties usually apply for using a weapon in each hand. However, since speed and dexterity are so important, if the wielder has any armor heavier than a leather vest, none of this applies -- then they just have a rather light shortsword in each hand
In European terms I suppose koshigatana style would be closest to the swordbreaker/rapier combo used by Renaissance-era thiefcatchers, but with the intent to leave the target looking like they were worked over with straight razors, not just disarmed, and swordbreakers are dependent on the wielder having comparable arm strength to their attacker to work well. As koshigatanas are meant to parry and deflect rather than trap or block, raw strength is much less important. A chick weapon, in other words. Which brings us back to where we started
As for my (perhaps sexist) opinion, I think female warriors could be effective in combat, but their weapon of choice probably wouldn't be any of the heavier hand-to-hand weapons.
:)
:) The Amazons were foot archers, as much as what Amazons actually were can be pulled out of the myths; many of the Central Asian steppe tribes used women (and children) as horse archers; Chinese had women crossbow regiments; it seems the Incans had women sling corps, but we don't really know enough about them to be sure of that. Et cetera.
You should go through the Norse sagas to find some striking counterexamples. However, Teutonic women are a special case, as any of you who have visited Nordic countries probably know already
Valkryies aside, effective women warriors have historically been archers, as any reasonably strong woman can pull a bow of the rather pathetic draws that historical bows were capable of handling. Also, being a good archer requires a lot more training and discipline than a footsoldier while being less individually glorious, which traits are more often to be found acceptable by women than macho male warriors, oddly enough
Renfaire, shmenfaire. For viewing women in chainmail and bunny-fur bikinis, go to Pennsic and check out the Tuchux encampment and/or the "classic" swimming hole. They may not be playing the same game as the rest of the SCA, but you've got to admit that the occasional gal running around in a bunny-fur bikini is an essential part of the Pennsic experience. Remember, it's not too early to pre-register for Pennsic XXX :-)
"The axiom 'An honest man has nothing to fear from the police'
Why is it that the proponents of "one nation under God" are so eager to get rid of "liberty and justice for all"?
Damn. I gotta start going to these conventions.
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