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Gen Con Indy 2005 In A Nutshell
The other side of WoTC's coin was a more traditional church, albeit one broken and battered by the ravages of war. The release of the Axis and Allies miniatures game was the rationale for the theming, and the addition of several vintage military issue vehicles (an APC, a jeep, etc) on the show floor added to the atmosphere. The minis game itself received a lot of attention, as the "random pack of pre-painted miniatures" concept that Wizards has used with great success in their D&D and Star Wars lines reached a wider audience. The Axis and Allies line will invite WWII aficionados to recreate battles of the war, and engage in their own skirmishes, using a simple set of battle tactics and their miniatures. The D&D and Star Wars lines have tournament support and an avid collector base, and I imagine this series will garner similar attention.
Wizards also publishes tabletop roleplaying books, though sometimes pavilion visitors seem not to notice. The two campaign settings that the company supports most heavily right now are Ed Greenwood's venerable Forgotten Realms, and the recently minted Keith Baker world known as Eberron. Products for both campaign settings and the core Dungeons and Dragons line seem to be moving beyond some of the tried and true formulae they've used before.
The core line, for example, will see the release of Heroes of Horror, a follow-up to Heroes of Battle that can be used to overlay a traditional D&D game with a horror tone. Races of the Dragon will explore dragons, and half-dragons, and kobolds but it will also contain a transformative race. IE, a race a character can become during the course of play. They're not completely breaking the mold, though, with a new Tome of Magic set to introduce some new styles of spellslinging to the core books.
The Realms will have a title called Powers of Fearun, which will discuss the impact a character can have on the Realms as a whole, given sufficient power. A new adventure entitled Sons of Gruumsh will welcome back published modules to the FR setting, and a semi-monthly column by Ed Greenwood in Dragon magazine will explore the Cities of the Realms. Companions of Valor will explore what it means to be a hero in the Realms, and grew out of the Forgotten Realms seminar from Gen Con 2004. The book will be a series of tools for PCs, ways for them to make their own name as heroes. The next Mini set, Underdark, will feature several prominent Realms personalities and monsters.
Eberron, meanwhile, moves on from the basics as the company continues to widen the world's scope. A Player's Guide to Eberron will act as a sort of gazeteer, with two page spreads on each topic, personality, or location. The guide aims to be a completely player-friendly tome that you can use to get to know the lay of the land. Magic of Eberron will delve more deeply into some of the unique arcana in the setting. Elemental bindings, Artificers, and warforged all get a look. Another adventure will be in the offing; separate from the previous three-book adventure set but with ties to it, entitled The Voyage of the Golden Dragon. Voyage will introduce a ship of war that never got the chance to be used in battle. The Golden Dragon now acts as a vessel of peace, traveling the five nation and usable as a kind of floating base of operations by PCs.
Love them or not, WoTC is a publisher of some great games. A new version of RoboRally!, and the title Monsters Menace America also made their debut this month. They're likely to continue to be one of the top names in the tabletop industry for many years to come.
Wizards of the Coast wasn't the only publisher at Gen Con this year, of course. FanPro, in association with Wizkids, put out the latest version of the magic/cyberpunk RPG Shadowrun. Now in its Fourth Edition, the setting has received its most serious overhaul to date. The basic mechanic has been reworked, major advancements have been made to the state of in-game technology, and the political boundaries of the North American Nations have been redrawn. Though the plot elements are compelling, the new simplicity of the core game mechanic will be the most widely felt change. Previous editions of Shadowrun required a player or GM to roll a number of six-sided dice equal to a skill or attribute, with the intent of hitting a target number determined by the situation. The lowest a target number could get was 2, but the sky was the limit for difficulty. The fluidity of combat often meant there would be high target numbers, which required a participant to roll a six on a die, so that the six could be rerolled and a higher number achieved. Fourth Edition does away with this clumsiness, with all dice rolled in the game now seeking either a five or a six to be determined a hit. All rolls are made with a number of dice equal to the requisite attribute + skill combination. Penalties result in fewer dices being rolled at the outset, and the GM is encouraged to assess penalties on the fly rather than being confined by arcane tables. The simplicity of this mechanic allows for the GM to gain a better grip on the fast and loose nature of combat in the real world, the astral plane, and the virtual reality of the Matrix. Speaking of the Matrix, the most important plot change is probably the advent of a wireless Matrix. The old "decks" have been removed in favour of an Artificial Reality overlay to normal vision. This requires computer criminals to come on-site with the rest of the Shadowrun team in order to participate, and opens up the role of the hacker in the game to a previously unknown degree. I've been playing Shadowrun for 15 years now, and I'm very excited about the changes this latest edition have brought around. Here's hoping FanPro follows up the new edition with some material that allows us to better come to grips with the setting changes.
Recent years at Gen Con have seen video game publishers arriving to show off their work as well. NCSoft has been a presence at the con since the release of City of Heroes (partially because of Jack Emmert's background in the tabletop industry). This year all they really had to show was the City of Villains character creator, and not even all of it. All the action was over at the booths occupied by Blizzard and Atari.
Dungeons and Dragons Online is still something of an enigma. While the closed Beta recently got underway, there are still too few firsthand experiences out there to really get a sense of what the game as a whole will be like. I had a chance this past weekend to get a feel for what the dungeon-crawling experience will be like, though, and I was very surprised by what I saw. Given the nature of online games, I've come to expect a level of abstraction in the mechanics. DDO was incredibly hands on, and in many ways felt like a single-player mission that you really wanted some help on.
Talking to a villager netted my cleric a quest, a trip into the Maw of Xoriat. Immediately I saw that they are aiming for a unique feel, as each mission had a time limit associated with it. If you didn't complete the mission in time, you would be unceremoniously summoned back to the village. Entering the crypt, there were several sarcophagi that could be interacted with. Swinging his heavy mace, my cleric smashed through the rock exteriors to get at the sweet loot within. Looking down a corridor, I was presented with a series of traps. A pair of swinging blades blocked my pack on either side of the hallway. Good timing was required to make it past without taking damage. Further down the hall was a series of large blades which snapped up from the floor in quick succession. When one set of blades was up, another was down, allowing the observant player to pick a path through the blades. If I'd had a rogue in my party, she could have disarmed the traps and allowed us to pass without having to deal with them.
Moving through the dungeon, I encountered various beasts and undead. Combat was realtime, with a clickyness that satisfied. A notification in the corner allowed you to follow along with the dice rolls and Challenge Rating of the creature you faced, if you were so inclined. Besides satisfying thwacks with my mace, I was able to counter the creatures by turning undead and flame striking the creatures with magic. One flame strike near a locked doorway revealed that the doors are as destructible as the crypts. A team without a rogue can bash through an impediment, assuming they have a strong enough fighter or a well equipped spellcaster. The whole experience had interesting little touches, such as a perverted altar that was cleansed by a use of the turn undead class ability. In a nod to gamers of all stripes, one room had me utilizing a simple version of the 'Pipes' game to allow magical energy to flow across the room. The energy stemmed from a source in the floor, and tiles around the room had grooves in them which allowed the mana to flow. By right clicking on the tiles, I could rotate them such that they formed pathways. While my time with DDO was relatively short, I found the entire experience much more interesting than I'd originally thought it would be. The near constant attention at their booth led me to believe others had the same impression.
Blizzard also had no trouble keeping their booth full, with machines allowing play of World of Warcraft (and several 60th level characters to tool around in) and StarCraft: Ghost. I'd yet to have the opportunity to try out Ghost, so I gave the tactical shooter a try, on the XBox. My reactions were, unfortunately, somewhat mixed. While the overall Starcraftyness of the experience was very enjoyable, the actual gameplay left something to be desired. Squishy controls, simple tactics, and a lack of polish on the game made it hard for me to fully understand what the title will look like when it is released. In the demo level I played, Nova stalked her way through a Terran base already overrun by Zerg. The Zerglings where just as fast and ferocious as you'd hope, and actually walking through a Zerg structure was stomach clenching. The scenery was nice, but the gameplay needed help. I'm sure that when the title is released (whenever that will be) there will be little to complain about, but the rough demo I saw this past weekend didn't have enough "there" there to give me an accurate impression.
Anyone familiar with tabletop roleplaying has likely heard of Vampire: The Masquerade and White Wolf. Two years ago at Gen Con they re-launched the World of Darkness and rebooted all of their campaign settings. This year's con saw the relaunch of the magic-bound title Mage. This time appended with the subtitle "The Awakening", the new version of the game takes a serious textual shift away from the old version of the game. While the original Mage was a grand tapestry of gifted individuals making and unmaking the very fabric of reality, the new Mage is a much more accessible storyline. There are now distinct spells used by Mage characters, a backstory involving the continent of Atlantis, mana points as a game mechanic, and an elimination of the inherent conflict between magic and technology. I'm just going to come out and say that, while I like the new World of Darkness game mechanic and think White Wolf is doing interesting things with their old brands, this particular relaunch is a kick in the face to old Mage players. Mage was a fundamentally different game from every other title in their library, and a change a pace from most titles on the market. By reorienting it with the "vision" of the other World of Darkness lines they've essentially gutted everything that was special about the setting. I'm not really a big fan of this decision.
Two board games that have gained a lot of attention recently, and with good reason, were shown off at the convention this year. Shadows Over Camelot and Arkham Horror are examples of some of the new ideas that are entering the boardgame market. Five years ago you had to buy a German title in order to get a great adult boardgame experience, but today Days of Wonder allows the same enjoyment factor with their Arthurian style epic. In Shadows Over Camelot, you take on the role of Knight of the Round, fighting dark knights, dragons, questing for the grail, and holding off the barbarian hordes. The game is cooperative but doesn't allow totally free communication between players, so the title encourages creative collaboration on the numerous quests that knights can go on. For example, in order to obtain Excalibur a knight or knights must travel to the Lady of the Lake's lake and each round expend a card in order to make the sword draw closer to the shore. In the meantime, as each player goes a "bad things" card is pulled. One of these types of bad things makes the sword float away from the shore. While one player can often keep the sword from floating out of sight, in order to actually obtain the relic several knights must collaborate to assure victory. The game also incorporates subterfuge, by allowing for the possibility of a traitor in your midst. The traitor will actively work against the other players, seeking to destroy Camelot for his own victory. A complex title with easy to understand rules, Shadows Over Camelot is a great way to makes sure you stay friendly with your friends.
Indeed, if you are looking for cooperative games this is a good year to do it. Arkham Horror, from Fantasy Flight Games, also allows players to band together against a common foe. In this case, players take on the roles of investigators into the occult. There are many characters to choose from, and each has a special quirk. As your character, you and the other players work together to ensure that the arrival of a Great Old One does not occur. Based loosely on the works of H.P. Lovecraft and the roleplaying title Call of Cthulu, Arkham horror pits you against things from beyond our ken as they enter our world through mystical gates. In order to ensure the survival of the town of Arkham, MA, investigators must slay the creatures as they exit the gates. Once the path is clear they must enter the mystic realms, where they have otherworldly encounters of the horrifying and fantastic. If they are successful there, they can return to the village and seal off the gate. Changing conditions in the village constantly keep the gameplay from getting stale, and after only a short time there will be monsters a-plenty to challenge even the largest group of investigators. This Call of Cthulu in-a-box is a thoroughly enjoyable experience, and another way to make sure you do more than just frag your friends on the weekends.
There are literally hundreds of new products shown at every Gen Con, and I couldn't hope to explore them all. Dice Boxes, card games (including a World of Warcraft CCG), roleplaying games, boardgames, and virtual reality games were all shown off to the general public for the first time this past weekend. Every year is a different experience, and I've always had the opportunity to look back and say that it was worth the trip. This year was especially meaningful, as I was wed to my fiancee Katharine on the 13th. Though Gen Con wasn't our honeymoon (we're not that dorky), we did have the chance to be serenaded by a Klingon and his Vulcan wife in honor of our union. There are few places in the world where such a thing could be experienced, and I'm already looking forward to next year.
to the Bi-Mon SciFi Con?
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Play Scrabble!
/Has no shame.
//Play, its good for you!
Don't know what tfa is about, but it sure must be important when slashdot hosts the images on their own server!
;)
Self-/.-ing
Scully: Should we arrest David Copperfield?
Mulder: Yes we should, but not for this.
OK. Bets on how long it will take for someone to make the required:
unBRIDEld nerd
pun. I'm certainly not going to stoop to that level.
This tagline brought to you by 1500 monkeys in just under 17 years.
I wonder if there will be an entire section of the parking lot devoted entirely to segways.
Someone should probably set off the sprinkler system! I am guessing thats the only way these guys are gonna get a shower! Just hope the A/C dosent break down!
I have mod points and I am not afraid to use them.
Is there a Gen Con at Indy every year? Or does it move around?
No news from the Palladium table?
... (ok a bit of both)
I've recently re-taken up playing Palladiums' 'Rifts' RPG - more for an 'imagination workout' than any pre-pubescent nostalgia
--
Society has traditionally always tried to find scapegoats for its problems. Well, here I am.
We may be somewhat lacking in new releases, but the Traditional Games area at Origins is worth stopping by. The US Chess Federation, American Bridge League, the American Cribbage Congress, and the organization I belong to, the American Go Association, all run events at Origins. Come by our booth in 2006 for a game, or to learn how to play!
"That's nice gramps, but could you take care of those orcs on the right side of the screen?"
"I remember playing D&D when you had to triangulate between the Basic Edition boxed set, Grayhawk, and the AD&D Monster Manual! Good times, good times..."
"Yeah gramps, I'm sure that was the hotness back when Lincoln was President, but could you cast a fire spell at that troll, like, now?"
"I bet you've never even seen a 20-sided die!"
"Gramps, unless you stop pining about the stone age and start kicking some monster butt, I'm never going to let you play co-op on my PS2 ever again!"
Crow T. Trollbot
You know you're a dork when SLASHDOT READERS are mocking you ;-)
Dorks mocking dorks... all hail the uber dork.
you insensitive clod! Seriously, what DOES belong here ? more linux circle-jerks? Perhaps a few MS-bashing submissions? Ooh, ooh, I know, let's talk about Google!
I never spellcheck and I freely admit it. Save your karma for more worthwhile "lol erorrs" replies
No news on Ravnica, the next Magic:TG cycle? I'm sure Wizards leaked some stuff there.
-- 4 8 15 16 23 42
I wonder if there will be an entire section of the parking lot devoted entirely to segways.
Well, I think there's an obstacle course there for segways, where you navigate over dungeon dioramas and avoid road obstacles like caltrops and D4.
The best part is the Midnight Segway Races where you use glow-in-the-dark dice and lead figurines, trying to avoid as many as possible.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
You bastards, you killed Wizards of the Coast!!!
-- 4 8 15 16 23 42
As a gamer, game designer, and game illustrator, I went to this year's GenCon. I think it was probably the smoothest GenCon that has been held at Indy. Past years featured computer foobars which really put a damper on the rest of the show. I didn't hear any complaints about those kind of glitches this year. The lines seemed to move along better, as well.
:-)
:-) Also dismaying... I prefer story to mindless dungeon crawl. I wanted a hint of a story, but we really got none of that.
Dominating the show, naturally, were WotC and WizKids. WizKids were giving away free crack, I mean, HeroClix starter packs. Damn, I fell for the trick, too, picking up some cheap booster packs at another booth.
I participated in TrueDungeon, a "live action" old-skool dungeon crawl, which had each room feature a puzzle and/or combat. If you failed, your character took damage. My group managed to make it through without losing any party members. There was a reported 90% death rate, so maybe we are just really smart, right?
On the other hand, I was a bit dismayed that TD seemed like a money-generating machine, with (stupid and rich?) players allowed to buy treasure with real cash. I saw geeks walking around with vests composed of TD treasure tokens. I saw other geeks with three-ring binders full of treasure tokens. Me? When asked if I wanted to buy their stupid tokens for $10, I said, "No thanks, I'll just use my massive intellect!"
On Saturday night, there was a bit of tension between the gamers and fans of the Indianapolis Colts. That was worth seeing: freaking the mundanes. OK, someone please tell me which is weirder: a guy dressed up as a Stormtrooper, or a guy that paints a blue horseshoe on his face?
Ceci n'est pas une pipe.
Man...
I played this game soooo many times as a young teenager.
I hope that this miniatures version has some chance of not sucking. I really want it to be fun and be something that I could play with my 8-year old son. I'd love some feedback from someone who has actually played the miniatures version and can give some feedback.
Anyone?
Is it just me, or did it just get a little stupider in here?
I spent most of my time in the Boardgame Room this year. Played the classics El Grande and Princes of Florence for the first time. Was thoroughly pleased with both.
New games I tried out were Boomtown, King of the Elves (a card game based on the classic Elfenland), Powergrid (high marks for this one) and Niagra. Niagra had a terrific mechanic that involved clear plastic discs that simulated a moving river as you attempt to keep your kayak from going over the falls.
Was in a Formula De tourney and trashed my suspension on the last lap running over my own piece of debris. (I was in a distant 3rd anyway)
Circus Imperium was fun as usual. It's a chariot racing game from the 80's that involves mayhem and plenty of bloodletting. A group fo friends decided to cause as much pain as possible as fast as possible. I ended up getting slammed into a wall before ever leaving the starting line. I ran 2 chariots into the ground (catching rides as other unmanned chariots came around). At the end of the second lap I sent a player into the wall, we both fell out of our chariots -- I jumped into his faster cab and he was forced to fight it out with others on foot. On the final lap, the victor of the melee climbed on board my chariot and we had to fight to the death for victory -- I won!
My big surprise this year was with Dawn Patrol -- an old TSR game based on WWI dogfighting. Enjoyed ripping up other players planes and causing general mayhem. The mechanics were abstract enough to make it fun but involved enough dice rolling and table checks to please any grognard.
Agreed. Being a dork is not overruled by the observation that there's someone even dorkier somewhere. Refering to the singers as "a Klingon and his Vulcan wife" rather than "some huge dork dressed up as a character from a TV series, and an equally dorky woman dressed up as some other species from the same TV series" pretty well guarantees a level of dorkiness that surpasses the point at which magnitude matters. A huge dork is a huge dork is a huge dork, and board game convention attendees - recently married or not - are bona fide huge dorks. :)
Back in the day, when TSR ruled the D&D community, Gen Con was the true vision of nerdyness. The games were hosted by DMs and GMs who just like to play games. The games were fun because they were created by any Joe out there who could come up with a game. There would be a prize given to the winner of the games to. Usually a $10 to $25 gift certificate for anything on the convention floor. When you played with a table full of strangers, you did your best and had fun. Nowadays, the role playing games that are played at Gen Con are hosted mainly by big organizations that crank out the same 10 games and play those 10 games at 35 different times. Their GMs and DMs are all handed the adventure about an hour before they play the game, so they just dully drone through whatever is written to say to the players. There is no prize given, WOTC killed that idea. So no one tries that hard to role-play, they just listen to the cardboard cutout DM drone on. It makes me sad.
I recall flying from Denver, CO to Indy and over hearing a group of nerds (reminded me of the lone gunmen a bit) talking the entire time about Warhammer and a few other things. I must say, it just doesnt get any nerdier than this. Be proud.
And probably will be indefinitely right now. Apparently Indy is making changes to the Convention Center for upcoming years.
That was probably the best wrap-up of Shadowrun 4 that I've seen in one paragraph. I'd been following that news somewhat closely; my regular group is just starting up an SR3 game, and I had to debate seriously whether to wait a few weeks for SR4. I finally decided against it, as I'm very familiar with the old Shadowrun and like the system, weirdnesses and all. Plus, it'll take a long time before the core sourcebooks are all updated to the new rules. But it is nice to see the game's still alive and in-demand.
ESCAPE POD - The Science Fiction Podcast Magazine
I don't know why, but the idea of cute chicks at these events is such a turn on. Too bad I didn't see any in the pics :(
Why would I break down?
Not pictured: any girls
bad_outlook
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Is this vague enough for you?
Gen Con is the tabletop industry's version of E3,...
Gen Con has run annually since 1968. (40th anniversary in just 2 years, wohoo!) It is the grandfather of gaming cons. E3 started in 1995.
For most of its life, it took place in Wisconsin, but moved to Indy in 2003. Since then, they have begun running additional shows in other locations. Gen Con and its progeny were even spoofed in the movie Galaxy Quest.
"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals." --The American President (20.1.2009)
OK, I was just geeking out reading about the new release of the original A&A game, apparently came it was revised sometime in 2004. It got me all syched up to go and play some more. Then I remembered the trouble with long board games that often get played in several sittings. Now that I have three young children, leaving it setup and unattended for more than 10 minutes seems like lunacy. Also me war gaming friends are all in the same boat and our chances to "geek out" over a game and a beer are fewer and fewer.
I own the Hasbro game that came out about 5 years ago and it was a real disappointment. It did allow you to play over the Internet, but the game play itself was full of bugs and just not very user friendly (no undo for mistaken moves to name one). I would love to be able to play an electronic version with the new rules, board, and units. Something that I could get together with people in person or online and when the parenting duties call we could call it a night and start up where we left off later without writing positions down and picking it all up.
So, have there been any rumblings of a new electronic version coming out? Is Avalon Hill still leary after the last debacle? I know just write one yourself. I'm a programmer, but not a game writer and I just don't have the time (see above about the three kids). If it was out there I would definetly buy it. Love to hear about any projects working toward this.
THIS SPACE FOR RENT
Really! Early "Green Box" D&D sets came with little blocks of wood, a whittlin' knife, and a fountain pen to write the numbers.
It was really satisfying coming up with a perfectly shaped tetrahedron all on your own, and many old-timers rue the day that bastard Zocchi introduced his perfectly formed, gleaming jewel-dice.
True, carving dice had its drawbacks. It was really easy to end up with a d13, or a d20 that came up 19 half the time, so it was a good idea to bring that knife to gaming sessions to settle disputes.
Also, the staples that held the books together were put there by Arneson and Gygax themselves.
These days, GenCon is run by it's own LLC, who does nothing but run the 'Con. And they do a damn good job of making it run smoothly, because the guy in charge really cares. I would mark the WotC days as a low point, and GenCon back on the rise.
I've been doing GenCon regularly since high school, and I loved the old TSR days.
I too lament the few years that WOTC owned and ran the 'Con. Nobody will ever forget the first time they subcontracted it...hordes of gmaers chanting "Andon SUCKS!!!"
But the reality is that to hold a convention of this size is now expensive, and even if TSR were in charge, the game companies might not sign up to discounts. (Though I saw a LOT of free swag and game supplements being handed out at sponsored events and booths, so I don't think you can complain too loudly.) Having a booth is expensive, and it's not GenCon's fault.
GenCon was originally in Lake Geneva (hence the Gen) It was actually held at a Playboy mansion there. I don't know what the official history says, but the real reason it left there was because the Playboy bunnies serving drinks were too distracting and it was too hard to get good gaming done. How's THAT for geeky.
:)
To actually answer your question: As some other posters have said, the main GenCon doesn't move around like a traveling con, but it did permanently move from Milwaukee to Indianapolis a few years.
Lots of oldtimers thought Milwaukee was a much cooler place, but Indy does have much more hotel space. In my opinion GenCon at this time definitely got less COOL, but more ACCESSIBLE. Lots more mainstream families came...
The last few years in Milwaukee, for instance, had seen They Might Be Giants and the Violent Femmes play with pretty serious afterparties. Indy was more water-down and family friendly. But I think it was a ton more profitable for the same reason.
We published Starchildren:Velvet Generation The Roleplaying game where Glam Rock Aliens Save the World from Big Brother. Never heard of it? Not surprising
www.starchildren.co.uk (yay for sucky web design)
I've been an Exhibitor at GenCon, partied with the "Gaming Mogul" a couple times met the founder of TSR and lots of other similar geeky goodness. We also threw a few crazy parties - one at the Safehouse and an afterhours party in the lobby of the Westin attended by about 40 people at 3AM.
There's about 4000 more stories, of course.
Looking for freelance Actionscript (Flash/Flex) or ColdFusion work and/or freelance developers. Email me, put Slashdot
... and you've received a fatal dose! Report to sector 17 for Re-Nedification.
John Maynard Keynes: "When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do?"
Shadowrun has been changed away from a tactical game with rules that work in a broad variety of situations into a game that works best if you don't pay much attention to rules and whose rules behave sensibly for a narrow range of characters.
Some people will love it, some will hate it, some probably will find the new version the same as the old. It's a huge change, though--as big as if SR4 used the d20 mechanic. (It doesn't, but the d20 mechanic is as different from the old mechanic as the new one is from the old mechanic.)
If you love WoD-style mechanics, SR4 is probably for you. If d20 is your thing, it's worth a look. If you're into GURPS and Rolemaster, proceed with caution. If you liked SR3 because of the flexibility of its dice system and the tactical nature of combat, you'll likely be very disappointed.
The setting and feel of the game are too subjective to review--it's still a near-future-with-magic game, and that will appeal to or turn off people depending on their preferences for game setting.
Here is my little writeup and a few pictures. It's not as detailed of a review and it's definitely miniature biased.
http://gencon.displacedminiatures.com/
Wow, at 3000+ words, this must be some sort of huge nut shell. Like a brazil nut.
1)Wizards of the Coast doesn't publish the Pokemon card game anymore. They haven't published it for a while.
2)White Wolf launched the new World of Darkness at last year's gen-con, not two years ago.
Way to go.
Monsters Menace America was released several months ago.
White Wolf is the second biggest publisher and you only mentioned Mage. What about VII and Lore of the Forsaken? They were new at the convention. What about their plans for the next year, like the new edition of Exalted or six books for each of the WoD lines? What is their Sword & Sorcery division up to?
What about Atlas Games? They won a lot of awards this year for Ars Magic 5th edition. What's that line going to be up to during the next year? How was the new Realms of Power: The Divine book for it? How is their board game side looking? They won several awards for those, too.
WotC isn't the only publisher and D&D isn't the only game. Maybe someone with a less biased view towards D&D could post another one of these that actually details some other companies. Half this article was D&D and WotC fanboyism.
I was playing Starfarer's of Catan and made a remark about making the Kesel Run that got a little laugh from everyone but one guy. When he said he didn't understand, I repeated it thinking he hadn't heard me. We explained that it was a Star Wars reference and he said he'd never seen Star Wars.
And we all grew silent as we calculated the odds of meeting someone at GenCon who had never seen Star Wars . . .
A dork among dorks indeed.
i think they failed to mention the best part of the whole weeked....mc chris playing at the patio in broad ripple while he was in town for gen con. \m/
I've been going to Gen Con for 11 years. The sign up this year was FUBARed, some kind of screw up with shopping carts and cookies I heard. If you tried to sign up for a game it was most likely full, then a week later it would be open again if you bothered to check. Lots of complaining about not enough to do except wander the main hall.
The A&A minies are really well done and the game is fun to play. Other than that, Cthulhu Live LARP's and drinking heavily at the Ram are the highlights of the con for me this year. If you've played a White Wolf LARP, try Cthulhu Live. You're in for a treat (like actually being able to complete a story in under 4 hours or combat in under 2).
ushering in the Light Lotus edition for L5R. I was hoping for dark. :(
Yeah, I was little irritated this review only covered the garbage WoTC puts out (minus Roborally... I'm really happy to see that re-released). Their Axis and Allies "collectible" (read: you have to buy lots more minis than you want to get the armor you crave) game irritates me. Anyone interested in little WWII battle games should check out "Flames of War".
:)
And a complete miss on some of the more interesting little companies that I know were there: Privateer Press, Gale Force 9, Games Workshop (not so little I guess!), etc. etc...
This guy's description almost changed my mind about trying to go next year
How small was the MegaTraveller table this year? This is the game that absolutely will not die.
They must sell about 3-4 books per year, and still manage to afford a table in the hall every damned year. How does that work?
Ah, those old Sci-fi RPGs...
Metamorphosis Alpha?
Traveler?
Gamma World?
Frank W. Miller
When you have nothing better to do than spend all you time on a web forum finding people to make fun of so you look cooler in comparison :)
How pathetic is that? So I'm a dork - short of a miraculous touch by his noodly appendage, that's not gonna change. But I might as well enjoy it like these gamers, than waste life pretending to be cool.
Note: this is not necisarrily aimed at the parent.
Note: They're still raw and unprocessed. Hopefully I'll get a chance to work on them this weekend.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
With all the cheap shots you guys take, I wanted to take the time to say you did a great job with this review. Very detailed and very informative.
--DrH, the Sandwich with the Ph.D.
You're pining for a Gen Con that never quite existed and placing the blame on events that didn't quite happen.
TSR killed off the gift certificate prizes. TSR did it because TSR was in deep debt after about a decade of gross mismanagement by a woman who hated gaming. It was an expense to be saved. TSR was in such back shape that if WotC hadn't bought them out, TSR, D&D, and Gen Con all were doomed. You can thank WotC for Gen Con surviving at all.
The death of the gift certificate prizes was good for the industry as a whole. Yes, you could redeem them with anyone in the exhibit hall. Did you know that TSR/Gen Con only reimbursed an exhibitor for a fraction of the value of the gift certificate? (From memory, it was 70% of face value). TSR was giving away other company's money. It drove exhibitors away from Gen Con, especially smaller publishers with very tight margins.
Finally, so you didn't get a gift certificate. So what? Do you really need gift certificates to enjoy yourself? Myself, I'm thankful that Gen Con survived and that event ticket prices have been pretty stable.
Your other primary complaint seems to be that the RPG events are dominated by big organizations. Which organizations are you thinking of? The RPGA? That's about it. After that, perhaps the D&D Open or NASCRAG, but both of those are long standing traditions at Gen Con. Indeed, I suspect that the Open and the NASCRAG (Fez/Zef) events predate you attendance at the convention.
As for the specific reason that often the GM is running the game with little notice, it's often because an event is so popular that the group is scrambling to find someone to run the game. Back the in early 90s I ran events for the RGPA and was frequently asked if I could squeeze another game in. The RPGA hated turning people away (even people with generic tickets). Perhaps a bad idea (because you get GMs who haven't read the module in advance), but not one bourne out of malice.
Even if there are so many big organization run games, again, so what? WotC did not put up any new barriers to running a game at a convention. Signing up to run a game is just as easy today as it was 15 years ago. Perhaps the number of group-run game has increased more quickly, but given the growth of Gen Con that may be the only way to scale up. Perhaps they're popular like McDonald's you get a certain level of consistency; never great, but never awful. Indeed, during the RPGA's hayday of the early 90s the events were generally quite solid and well run. Conversely, while some of the best games I've ever played have been independent (like Todd Furler's games), some of the worst games I've ever played have been independent (Gen Con is not the place to try GMing for the first time).
Ultimately, if you don't like group-run games, don't play them. I had a great Gen Con, playing only independent games. They're there. The existance of the group-run games doesn't force you to play them.
Search 2010 Gen Con events
It's been a long while since I stopped playing tabletop RPGs, and I'm uninpressed with the d20 system and mostly everything new in the scene. A pleasant surprise was The Riddle Of Steel, with a truly innovative combat and evolution system which I'd like to try. Unfortunately the core book is a bit difficult to import around here.
Anyone who has been to GenCon got any news about TROS?
Prescriptive grammar:linguistics
Somehow an icon with a joystick just isn't right.
/. crowd has a critical mass for this.
Hell, they even got one for RTS, so why not RPGs? I'm pretty sure the
Lex
1)
On a similar nerdy note the Canadian National Expo is this weekend in Toronto. Comics, Sci-Fi, Horror, Anime, and Gaming. Be there, and be square. http://www.hobbystar.com/ComicConTorontoV2/CC_Main .asp
Don't blame me, I voted for Cthulhu.
You're saying no-one cares?
Games Workshop has stopped going to gaming conventions (outside of their own events) so they had no booth at Gen Con this year.
Did you even take the time to read before slamming? He went over SR4, Arhham Horror (All Hail Cthulhu!!), Shadows Over Camelot, the Blizzard and NCSoft goodness, and others. True, Privateer was there and made an impressive showing, but GW (for the second year in a row - so no real need to pine for them) wasn't...apparently they feel they don't need to cater to those who already know about them (nice sales strategy). But, it seems by "interesting", you might be meaning "miniatures-based". Don't let your "lead-headedness"/"figmentia" distort your vision that far. WotC does put out some good product. That, coming from a "lead-head". FWIW, there was an amazing set of tabletops set up in the miniatures area for Starship Troopers. The starship wreckage with opening cargo compartments were truly stellar pieces of kitbashing loveliness. And there were some very nice Warmachine tables present as well. The GaleForce booth had some nice stuff, but mostly licensed templates and add-ons for other systems, as well as their Flames of War line. Just because your interests weren't mentioned doesn't mean it's not worth the time to check it out yourself. That way, you can come back next year and write a miniatures/tabletop based perspective on GenCon that will satisfy your (and other "figmentia" sufferers') tastes. PAX
You know, this has happened every year so far that GenCon has been in Indy (3 years running now). I hear so many people whining about "why do the football jocks have to come through our con and ruin it?! I'm tired of them making fun of me in my Legolas outfit and giving my friends wedgies in the hallway! Waaaaahhhh!!!!"
Guess what people, this is what happens when you get all dressed up for the con and then interact with normal folks. Imagine if you were sitting in a business meeting and suddenly some guy burst into the room half naked, painted blue from head to toe with a white horseshoe on his chest and sporting a beer helmet and a giant foam finger. He'd look pretty out of place wouldn't he? Well the RCA Dome is the HOME OF THE COLTS. You are there one weekend a year, Colts fans are there 20+ weeks between preseason, regular season and playoffs. They are going to point, laugh and snicker at your painstakingly crafted authentically detailed Drizztt The Dark Elf Ranger costume because to them it is massively out of place. DO NOT TAKE THIS PERSONALLY.
Seriously, I attend GenCon every year. I love it. I do not dress up, but I go to the costume contest and love to see the people who really try hard (and even the ones that don't). I AM ALSO A FOOTBALL FAN. I have been for a long time. I can "talk jock speak" with the best of them. I know for a fact that there are a lot of sports oriented folks like myself that would really get into gaming if they could ease into it, but let's face it, GenCon is not "easing into gaming", it's an overwhelming, beat you with the gaming stick and ram the core edition rules up you wahzoo Mecca of gaming. This is scary when you're just coming downtown to see Manning connect with Harrison for an amazing TD in the 4th with 0:07 left.
I say to my fellow gamers : Get over yourselves. Indy belongs to the people that live there, not to you, even on GenCon weekend. Don't expect to whole city to embrace you with open arms, it's just not going to happen.
I also say to my fellow gamers: Shower daily please.
Reading this review I would get the impression that GenCon is all about selling stuff and "products". There's that element, and the vendor area is fun. But that's not really the point of going to the convention for me. The point is to get together with gaming geeks and play games. There's a huge catalog of events for role-playing, board games, & card games. It's a blast.
-Dave
I have a long-standing reputation as being generally the weirdest person in the room. (Apologies to Neal Stephenson for the blatant lift.) When you guys came to town this weekend, you completely shot that to hell. I don't think I even broke the halfway mark.
Chess, feh! That game has even worse class balance than D&D. The fighters are horribly weak (which is probably why you get so many of them), and even the mounted units have trouble getting anywhere. The clerics and the wizards (represented by their towers for some reason) really dominate, even though they're weak at the beginning because the fighters are in their way. But it's the cleric/mage character (the "queen") that really rules.
Combat is lame. The encounters basically come down to whichever side wins initiative. No grappling, no disarming, the Small fighters don't even get an AC bonus! They might get a flanking bonus, but it's impossible to move them to the sides!
That game needed a lot more play testing.
Don't blame me, I voted for Durga.
Mock us all you want, but the day you set foot in the Indianapolis convention center is the day you will finally realize that dorkiness scale is actually cyclic--shove tens of thousands of the dorkiest people on the planet together in one place and suddenly it's extremely cool to be a dork.
Witnessing jocks mocked by mobs of people dressed as anime characters or with T-shirts bearing clever jokes (incomprehensible to anyone who hasn't taken several years of physics) is just too priceless to put into words. All the local restaurants and hotels are dominated by us. At least one of the local sports bars (The Ram) has embraced their fate: instead of football games, they show Lord of the Rings marathons and they have an entire page in their menu devoted to RPG-themed entrees. Anywhere within a mile of the convention, if you eavesdrop on random passersby, more often than not you will hear the words "hit points" or "Evangelion" or "jedi" or "Bush sucks donkey balls."
and if that doesn't make you want to turn to the dark side, I invite you to consider these two words:
chainmail
bikinis
There are really quite a lot of girls at Gencon, and a staggeringly large number of them walk around in outfits that outright defy the laws of physics. And anyone who doubts the attractiveness of gamers obviously hasn't seen duct tape girl in all her glory or that female storm trooper (complete with chest-forming, middrift showing stormtrooper armor) from last year.
Chances are their IQs are actually larger than that of a boiled turnip, too...
I have to say that I played White Wolf games for years and years. Was in the Camamrilla for almost 10 years (Yes big time DORK). Having said that, White Wolf lost me when they reset the system changed some of the rules and names, all the mechanics (Not for the better as far as I can tell) and told us to play that. The new Vampire and Werewolf are just ok games now, but what they did to Mage is just horriable. I've gone back to just playing CP2020.
Indeed. It seems to be quite easy. I wasn't able to go this year, but last year I ran a Forgotten Realms adventure, my first ever adventure at Gen Con. It was pretty easy to get going, though there was a bit of confusion as I inadvertantly left off AM or PM for my timeslot....
Funny how relevant the sleep deprivation and Gencon articles are to one another.
Oh come on. There are literally thousands upon thousands of games that you can join. Want prizes? I can think of at least a dozen events offhand that offered some form of prize. Want a completely unique, personal, completely-devoid-of-any-trace-of-commericialism game? Make some new friends and strike up a game in the hotel room or on the floor of one of the less-crowded hallways.
I don't exactly like all of the commericalism either. The ticket policies are downright Nazi-ish (no refunds, no replacements, period. Does not matter if it's lost in the mail, like mine was. Even though they have computer record that you paid for that ticket, even if you show them the credit card you used to buy it and your driver's license, they will still force you to spend another $70.) The D&D Open modules are riddled with errors and it takes place in a setting that few gamers use, all because WotC wants to use it as a marketing vehicle. Depending on your tastes, it's also not too difficult to spend a small fortune on event tickets, too. Don't get me wrong, True Dungeon is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but do they really need to charge $19 a head? That's on top of whatever they made off of their True Dungeon tavern (brilliant idea) this year. They've even got this slave-labor thing going on where you can volunteer for 8 hours and get in free, even if the tickets are already sold out. Volunteering to help put together a cool game that everyone can enjoy is one thing, but volunteering just to make someone else obscenely rich... hell, Gencon LLC does that on an even bigger scale, conning DMs to come work for them by paying for their hotel rooms, plane tickets, and/or Gencon badge. It sounds like a good deal until you realize that you're working at least ten hours a day ALL FOUR DAYS and missing all of the events you wanted to actually attend and oh by the way, you still end up losing money on your meals even if they do cover everything else.
So, erm, yeah, I guess my point is that I agree that all the commercialism is bad, but I don't think that Gencon is dead. The community itself is awesome, most of the events are sponsored by small-time companies, and I think a lot of them really pour their heart and soul into their work.
I arrived in Indy Thursday afternoon for some shopping and then dinner with friends. I settled down to serious gaming Friday morning.
Except for one slot of Shadowrun Missions, I played Living Arcanis and Living Force the entire time. These are two of the ongoing campaigns in the RPGA, and two of the best, IMHO.
Living Force had a relatively strong trilogy, though the third part was a little weak. They've been hampered all year by the forces as Lucasfilm, who get to approve everything in the campaign, which generally sucks. It is also going to end at the Winter Fantasy convention next year. Will there be a second campaign? Unfortunately, things point to no - WotC hasn't put out a real supplement for Star Wars in quite a while, preferring to put out minatures "supplements" to meet their contractual obligations. And why build a campaign if there's nothing that it will help sell? (blech)
Living Arcanis was a joy as always. Arcanis is a world designed by Paradigm Concepts, who snagged an Ennie award as the Fan Choice! (more info on the campaign at Onara Online) These people are a joy to deal with (Hi, Henry!), and employ/are some of the best storytellers I've see in gaming. Best of all, of course, was a chance to play an important NPC in the LARP they held Saturday night.... speaking of gamers freaking out the mundanes on their way to the game, since it took place at the Omni instead of the convention center. (I couldn't even tell you what kind of game.)
You win! You win! I didn't read the whole thing only about 80% some skimming and then a full read of last paragraph.
/. and from an AC to boot?
Please don't lump me in with 'lead-heads'!! My personal weakness is boardgames ( hence how thrilled I am with Roborally ). The reason I mention FoW is it seems a better alternative to A&A. Caveat: I've played neither, and probably won't except possibly demos. Caveat 2: I vehemently *HATE* collectible games.
So, I'll apologize to the reviewer, my extreme dislike of anything remotely related to collectible games clouded my judgement. He mentioned TWO one right after the other! Aagh!
How's that, an apology on
Are there any girls there?
(summoner geeks)
3D Printing Tips and Tricks at Zheng3.com
The reason why Traveller is the game that absolutely will not die is that Traveller is so damn good. The original Traveller "Little Black Books" are going for crazy money on eBay and are being sold in brand new virgin reprints for even crazier money.
The reason why people are still literally and figuratively "questing" for these books is simple. It is a damn fun RPG to play and a damn fun RPG to "Referee." (Traveller-speak for DM/GM) You get to create a character that is better than a first-level character before they even set foot in the game, and the process of creating a character is damn fun in and of itself. Game play is not dominated by dice rolls, it's dominated by interactive storytelling.
Traveller v.5 (aka Traveller^5) is being developed even as we speak. Check out the process in action at http://www.traveller5.com/
The reason why paper-and-pencil gaming has lasted this long is because it's a blast to play and you don't have to have the latest-and-greatest l33t b0x with m4d GPU to play it. Hell, I bet people were passing time after the Northridge Earthquake playing these kind of games.
It's not for paupers, because the manuals can get pricey, although there is always d20 system which is free-as-in-beer and free-as-in-freedom, and other systems allow you to download PDF basic rule sets for free-as-in-beer. But it's certainly cheaper than chasing the moving target of PC gaming. And usually your mind is better at creating images of what you are doing out there than even the baddest-ass NVidia or ATI video card.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
I didn't study the history of GenCon as I haven't gone every year. But I went in the 90s, it was fun. Went back in 2002, the first year (for me) since WOTC had bought out TSR. It wasn't as fun. And from most of the people I talked to (GMs and convention goers alike) that year, the fun had been deflated since WOTC took the helm.
Your other primary complaint seems to be that the RPG events are dominated by big organizations. Which organizations are you thinking of? The RPGA? That's about it.
Game Base 7 was my particular bad experiences. After 2 games with thier group, I decided to skip any other games I had already purchased with them.
Conversely, while some of the best games I've ever played have been independent (like Todd Furler's games), some of the worst games I've ever played have been independent (Gen Con is not the place to try GMing for the first time).
I'll agree with you there, the best game I have ever had was an independant game the same year as the disasterous Game Base 7 games. I know the independants are still around, but they were few and far between the year I last attended.
Maybe things have improved since 2002. I'll know in a couple of years when I return to GenCon. But the GenCon's of the 90s were an amazing time that left a cold bitter taste in my mouth after the 2002 Con.
I was talking to a lady named Erica working the Visionary Entertainment Studios booth while at Gencon. The topic was "Con Funk" , I thought there should be an awareness ribbon for it so I made one. I present to you the first prototype of Ribbonthulhu: http://www.irongeek.com/i.php?page=humor/confunk
Irongeek's Hacking Videos / Security Videos and Articles
people who don't bathe and prompt naturally negative physical responses from those around them are defective and should be reminded.
YHBT. YHL. HAND.
Seriously. Thats just all there is to it.
/has been to many cons
//knew of GenCon as "Teh Grandaddy"
///got tired of the lame-ness of the general gaming population
In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
Hey now, we are building a giant new convention center due in '09. GenCon is scheduled for '06 in Indy, but they don't have it listed for '07 yet. Next time everyone comes to town, I'll have to put up a list of places to go. If all you guys saw was the Ram, then you missed the entire Warehouse district right down the street where all the bars and clubs are, not to mention Broad Ripple in midtown where all the college age people are. We enjoy you guys, so keep coming back.
[RIAA] says its concern is artists. That's true, in just the sense that a cattle rancher is concerned about its cattle.
You find much more info, photos and independent reviews of board games by geeks at...um...boardgamegeek.com - Here's Shadows Over Camelot (by 2 french designers) http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/15062 It has an avaerage rating of 7.78 out of 10, pretty good. and here's Arkham Horror (a re-issue) http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/15987 Rated 7.81 so far.
Traveller has a very dedicated following, on the Traveller mailing list, on the Citizens of the Imperium web-forum and other places. With a number of generations (Classic Traveller, still incredibly popular, MegaTraveller, T4, T20, GURPS Traveller, Traveller:The New Era, and soon T5), it is probably one of the longest lived RPGs. The setting is what keeps it alive - the setting spans the rulesets and lives on. MegaTrav itself had a very easy to run yet functionally complete skill system and thus is a popular system with those of us that played it. I myself own all of the generations of Trav, but play MT rules (mostly). My players don't care much about the ruleset, but they know MT lets us tell good stories with minimal overhead.
So part of the passion for Traveller is a universe of 30 million sophonts, 11,000 worlds, several well developed major races, tens or hundreds of minor races, huge mapping projects, vast historical analysis, pirates, etc.
Classic Traveller and its reprints have enjoyed vast popularity because of their simplicity and open-endedness (they were less tied to setting than the subsequent rulesets).
I give you http://www.caddocourt.com/traveller/reasons.html
85 Reasons to Play CT :)
It won't die because there haven't been many good hard sci fi RPGs to come down the pike since, and none that gave the scope of adventure that CT and its successors offered as a setting - Dune, Honor Harrington, Star Wars, Star Trek, Merchanters, all of these sorts are represented in the setting. It also gives you The Great Game of Nations, espionage, diplomacy, real-politik, psionics, jump-space, a vast history, and reaslistic seeming NPCs and major setting characters, flawed and imperfect. And it remembers what makes for a fun game for players.
Yes, it is my second favorite game (after AD&D which is my favorite simply for historical reasons, and some of which may be apocryphal by now).
Visit http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/ Citizens of the Imperium or take a Jaunt over to the Steve Jackson's site for info on GURPS Traveller. :)
-- Mal: "Well they tell you: never hit a man with a closed fist. But it is, on occasion, hilarious."
Growing up in Gulfport, MS, my cousin and I used to drop in periodically on his store/warehouse where he ran Gamescience. Talk about a goldmine for old school wargamers....stacks of old and new games on tons of shelves. I picked up most of my old games from there (still have them too).
I recall fondly how you could snag copies of the original Deities & Demigods (the one with Cthulu and co.) for about 2x the retail price.
About every 3rd or 4th visit, Lou would switch into salesman/magician mode (if he was there) and try to sell you one of his games.
I still have my Zocchihedron somewhere...
WHERE is your laser?!?!?
YOU must be a COMMIE TRAITOR!
Well, of course. Even geeks have a pecking order. Lore Sjoberg's "Geek Hierarchy" sums it up nicely:
http://www.brunching.com/geekhierarchy.html
At the top: "Published Science Fiction Authors"
At the bottom: "People who write erotic versions of Star Trek, Where all the characters are furries, like Kirk is an ocelot or something, and they put in a Furry version of themselves as the star of the story."
Surprised no one mentioned this so far, but there's one development that has grown in influence over the last few years, and that's the Forge Booth. In a nutshell, this is a Gencon booth run by regulars at The Forge, a website devoted to discussion of RPG theory and how to make games that are coherent, instead of a jumbled mishmash of things put in either because they were "cool" or because "that's how RPGs are supposed to be."
It is pointless to make more and more complex games, when computers can do a much better job of tracking complex rule systems than people can. Not to mention that no one wants to play "Physics: The Calculating". Simulating reality is therefore kind of pointless. Instead you have to focus on the non-wargamey parts of RPGs, i.e. the story.
The Forge people get this and design their games accordingly. They have a laser-sharp focus on their subject matter and often produce amazing game sessions.
Two Forge games that are universally critically hailed are Dogs In The Vineyard and My Life With Master.
Dogs is set in a mythical west, where the PCs are a bit like Templars with six-guns. The game addresses the question of "how far are you willing to go to have your vision of righteousness made manifest?"
Master, on the other hand, addresses the premise of "Can you survive through love?" It is set in an anonymous central European town, where all the PCs are minions of an evil Master, a la Dr. Frankenstein/Igor. They have to try and gradually work up the courage (via forming relationships with the townsfolk) to overthrow the Master. Of course we know that eventually the Master will be overthrown (just like we know this in the movie, or we know that in D&D the PCs will slay the dragon); the excitement is in how it happens and what happens to the Minions prior to, and after, this event.
Now of course these games will never achieve the commercial success of D&D, or even one of the 2nd- or 3rd-tier of popularity like Vampire or GURPS. But in 5-10 years (mark my words!) this approach to RPGs will have sneakily infiltrated the mainstream.
My best friend was at GenCon this weekend. (I wasn't, as I'm actually not a gamer, I'm just the chick who goes on Mountain Dew and Cheetos runs, and while I can listen to him read a D&D message board humor thread for hours (and get over 75% of the jokes), I suspect I'd be bored to tears at a pure gaming con.) I have cunning plans to accompany said best friend to other, less gaming-intensive cons.
Does anyone have any recommendations on which cons have the best gaming-to-general-geekage ratios, where the desired ratio is somewhere around 1:1?
I reaffirmed my gamer geekness when my first thought at seeing the convention center staff was, "Wow, WotC has the NPCs wearing their stuff."