GenCon 2005 - Joe's Report

Well, I made it back safe and sound, and at a reasonable time from GenCon. I have to say that the drive from Lansing, Michigan to Indy is MUCH better than the drive to Milwaukee. About 2 hours shorter.

First off, what did I buy? Here's a list:

The Chronicles of Talislanta
Talislanta Menagerie
Usagi Yojimbo (new version)
Dogs in the Vineyard
Primetime Adventurers
My Life With Master
Mountain Witch
Breaking the Ice

I already have Dogs, but had to buy the new version with the Vincent and Ed art. I'm a tool. I have the old PtA, but the new one is so shiny. Looks great Matt! But you know, I think the best purchase I made is Breaking the Ice. Ed played a demo of the game, I think with Ron Edwards -- I'm sure he'll be posting his report soon. I met up with Ed right afterwards and he was geeked about it. I thumbed through his copy, and ended up buying my own. I LOVE the game. It's brilliant and I can't wait to try it out.

Ed and I got a chance to play in a game of Tunnels and Trolls run by Ken St. Andre, the designer of the game. It was a trip, a fun-as-hell little dungeon crawl. We kicked ass, well, except that Ed's character almost died. One very lucky roll saved his butt. Ken's a really nice guy.

Over the course of a couple of evenings, I ran a little playtesting of John Harper's Stranger Things. That was a lot of fun, and I need to get an Actual Play post together for it.

And haggis! We went to this little Scottish pub, and they had haggis. Ed and I were brave and tried a sample of it, and damn it was good. I ended up going again the next night with some of my suite-mates and had some more. If you are in Indy, I highly suggest McNiven's.

I'm sure that there's more that I'm forgetting, but I'll assume Ed will fill in the gaps. He was the king of the Forge demos. If I wasn't sure where he was, I just went to the Forge booth, and imagine that, there he was playing a demo. Ed, I'll give you the floor.