It was an incredibly low-key GenCon for me, and that was fine with me. I didn't actually do all that much of anything, but it was a break from normal life, I got to meet some new people, learn new things about games, buy some stuff.
I didn't get to actually play any full length roleplaying games. I didn't sign up for any. I never happened to come by Games On Demand at a point where games were beginning rather than in full swing or ending, and the couple nights I dropped by Embassy Suites I got there too late to get into any of the games there.
I did play a full-on Engle Matrix Game (the Jack the Ripper beginner's game) with Greg and Pat, usually dragging FiL in as referee. It was fun, and I can foresee some future matrix games.
My take on Matrix Games: awesome for simulation, crap for RPGs. I have bubbling in my head the idea of doing simulations of things like presidential elections (including the upcoming one?...) with Matrix Games.
I demo'ed a lot of things: a horror game Ron Edwards was pimping hard called Dead of Night, Seth Ben-Ezra's crime game, Dirty Secrets, Emily Care Boss's alien contact game Sign In Stranger,Tony Lower-Basch's Capes, Tim C. Koppang's Hero's Banner, Atarashi Games' Panty Explosion, demoed by one of the creators, Matt Schlotte, Vincent Baker's Poison'd! and Matt Snyder's 44. I also got a nice Burning Wheel combat demo at the BW booth. Virtually all of these games had very good demos.
I didn't buy a ton of games, but I was pretty happy with what I did get. Two items I really wish I had picked up but didn't (I'll have to order 'em) are Capes and Poison'd!. One thing I got that I really wasn't expecting was Judd Karlman's Dictionary of Mu. It's a kick ass setting for Sorcerer & Sword.
I met Ken St. Andre again and bought a couple new Tunnels & Trolls adventures, and the old Circle of Ice Pocket Adventure.
I got to say hello and chat briefly with a number of Forgefolk, met John Harper in person for the first time, saw Clyde Roher but never got to buy him that root beer... saw Lxndr but every time I saw him he was very busy GMing one thing or other... But on Thursday night I did catch Paul in the Embassy Suites and got to talk with him for a while; catch up on where he's at and get the skinny on the state of the indie world from his point of view. That was a lot of fun.
Oh, I almost forgot. My prize purchase was from the auction store: a copy of the original, three-book Arduin Grimoire ruleset: The Arduin Grimoire, Welcome to Skull Tower, and The Runes of Doom.
And I challenge anyone to come up with a cooler trio of titles for fantasy game books, ever.
So it was a good con. Incredibly low-key for me, but good.
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5 comments:
It was so good to finally meet you, Ed! I wish we could have hung out more. The moment when you walked up was probably the lowest energy point for me at the con. I was just too drained to do much more than shake hands and smile.
Hey, it's all good, John! Saying hi was all I got to do with a lot of good people, and that's cool. Some cons are social whirlwinds, others are just chill time. It all works out. :)
Hey, I own all three editions of the NightLife rulebook. Does that count?
Joe, it's a deal.
Hi Dale!
Glad you liked the Matrix Game! We play PBEM Matrix Games on the MatrixGame2 yahoo group. We've done lots of politcal games over the years. Hope you can drop by.
Chris Engle
Hamster Press
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