Chatty’s post-Gen Con Prologue: The Power of Fun
Don't be offended, there really was a lot of that this year... Too much even, and I'm French!
I’m back from Gen Con.
I didn’t live blog, because I decided to sleep more and the Internet connection of the hotel was, at best, as fast as a horny turtle trying to reach a lonely Crocs at the end of a garden. I didn’t Twitter much either because I don’t yet have a phone smart enough to handle it… nor a data plan that allows me to use it in the US without bankrupting the State of California (which, I’m told, is not that exaggerated a claim).
I didn’t GM games for any companies this year. I ran only 2 sessions: Drunken D&D and Mouse Guard.
I skipped all industry parties because I had other things that came up that worked better toward what I was looking for.
What I did have though is have fun. Turns out that fun was exactly what I was looking for.
I hung around with friends. I walked the floor a few times, gave a seminar to a full room (of chairs… with people on all of them!). I had an awesome interview with Chris Perkins (Killer of PCs, maker of TPKs). I ate high calorie comfort food, signed and sold lots of books and gamed gamed gamed!
This translated in very high values of fun. Fun to the Nth power…
(Rimshot)
I attended Gen Con as Press specifically for Musings of the Chatty DM and as such I intend to cover it, but not like Dave and Bartoneus will (they’re the real ‘journalists’ here). I will do it in my own, stream-of-consciousness style.
Here are some of the subjects that come to mind that I could tackle, alone or grouped, in the upcoming weeks.
- Learned lessons from Gen Con 2010
- Forget freelance, band together, rebrand and launch
- Drunken D&D highlights and sneak peek
- Mouse Guard demo and how GM better at cons (self reflection)
- Free Market (Demo game with Luke Crane)
- The games I bought (Savage Worlds, Free Market, Apocalypse World, Last Night to Live expansion)
- The games I played: D&D (Drunken, Dark Sun, Chaos Scar), Mouse Guard, Zombie/Chthulu Dice, Free Market and a real Magic the Gathering draft!
- Gaming Advocacy is a very rewarding job!
- Hawking one’s book at a booth
- Meeting fans and dealing with them
- Re-evaluating our role as bloggers.
- Nico’s new game!
In the mean time, I’m not jumping back in the blogging routine too fast, mostly because today and tomorrow are dedicated to playing with my kids and spending some quality time with my incredibly understanding, supportive (and not to forget, insanely hot) wife.
Have a good one!
See you later!
Critical Bits for the week ending 2010-08-08
- RT @NeoGrognard: Remembering the disorganized play of 80s conventions. http://bit.ly/9GxB3J #
- RT @wilw: bloggy blog blog about #GenCon stuffs, including my signing schedule and chapbook info: http://bit.ly/ds9sUC #
- 10am #dnd New Product Seminar is coming in 10 minutes. Live-tweeting to come, expect MANY updates from us. #
- Last warning- many tweets coming from the #dnd new product seminar. Mute us for 2 hours if you don't want to see them. #
- In the panel: Bill S., Jeremy C., Steve S., John S., and Mike M. #dnd #
- Overview of available now and coming soon. Then new for 2011. #
- Highlights of the year: Underdark, Martial Power 2, Player's Handbook 3, The Plane Above, Monster Manual 3, Player's Strategy Guide… #
- …Demonomicon, Tomb of Horrors, Dark Sun Campaign Setting, Dark Sun Creature Catalog, Marauders of the Dune Sea, Psionic Power, Cstl RavenL #
- Next season of Encounters: Keep on the Borderlands. #
- September: D&D Essentials, using the original Larry Elmore art for Red Box. Includes info about making characters, running starter games etc #
- Essentials line: Bill: "Set the record straight." games stores know what they should have in stock. 10 key products for stores. #
- "Making it a little easier to get into the game." Red Box is the on-ramp, w/ builds for existing characters. #
- "There is no 'conversion' – it's the same game." 6×9 lower price point format. #
- Rules Compendium- all core rules, across player, DM, and monster books. Quick reference. And they lay flat. #
- Master sets of dungeon tiles. 2" thick box, 10 tile sheets, includes 3D tiles. #
- Lords of Madness minis in September. Some on display at the show. #
- October: Dungeon Master's Kit. DM advice, starter adventures, tokens. Very heavy. #
- Gamma World in Oct. Light-hearted look at the apocalypse. Designed with 4e in mind. Char gen is very different and fast. #
- Roll two themes (half plant, half cockroach), random mutation cards, and technology deck with broken robots. #
- Box includes everything you need to play (except dice.) Rules tokens, etc. Very story-driven experience. Crazy mutations, like "you explode" #
- Mutation cards: will have booster packs to add more "wahoo experience." Not meant to be collected as a set. #
- Nov: Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms for Essentials. Monster Vault. 1/4 reprints, 3/4 new versions of classic monsters + tokens for all #
- 10 sheets of tokens, heavy boxed set. Works right along existing monsters. Owlbear on the cover. #
- Nov: City dungeon tiles. Also Beholder Collector's Set including new beholders from Mm3. 4 beholders in a "book-like" box. Limited quantiy #
- Wrath of Ashardalon board game, same engine as Castle Ravenloft, can work together. Dec: Wilderness dungeon tiles. #
- Gamma World: Famine in Far-Go. Adventure that includes even more mutations and hybrid. Includes Giant Chickens. #
- Red Box game day in September, Encounters ties into Essentials, then Gamma World game day in October. #
- Novels: Elminster Must Die, The Mark of Nerath (1st in d&d core world novels), then 5 part prelude novellas within other novels #
- IDW D&D comics, first one set in Fallcrest, then Dark Sun, 2011 will have Drizzt comics. #
- 2011 releases for novels. Abyssal Plague takes place in core world but echos across other worlds like FR and Dark Sun. #
- Gazetter: Nentir Vale. 6×9, with map, includes what's around it. #
- Fortune Cards: Cards in booster packs that include random benefits for characters. Adds extra "fun and power" for characters. #
- Fortune Cards similar to Gamma World mutations, w/out mutations. Not an extra level of powerups, an extra level of chance and randomness #
- Deluxe Dungeon Master's Screen, thicker than DM kit screen with Wayne Reynolds art. Very long. #
- Optional and not meant to be collected. Also 1st quarter: Heroes of Shadow #
- Shadow power source. More flavor and background in the game. New shadow powers for other classes. Feats to add shadow pacts to classes #
- Mordenkanien's Magnificent Emporium. More into he story behind magic item. Not history, but more description to bring items to life. #
- Starting with Essentials, magic items will be grouped into common, uncommon, and rares. Rare more powerful and cannot be created by ritual #
- Common items can be created and bought by characters, the others are given out only by DMs. More part of the campaign story. #
- Almost every magic item already given out will be classified uncommon, new items will be rares. #
- The Shadowfell: Gloomwrought and Beyond. Boxed set that includes poster maps. #
- Shadowfell includes a "despair deck." Cthulhu-esque insanities that the DM gives out that includes rp and rules. #
- Monster Vault: Threats to the Nentir Vale. Box box of monsters. Includes tokens, encounters, poster maps. #
- Conquest of Nerath strategy war game board game. 2-4 players fighting across the map of ruined Nerath. Plastic minis, with heroes and armies #
- Player's Handbook: Champions of the Heroic Tier. Introduces themes for core D&D. New options, feats. Non-combat options like Blacksmith #
- A variety of options for DMs and players to decide to use, across all character classes. #
- Neverwinter Campaign Guide for Forgotten Realms. #
- 1-30 Bladesinger class, plot options, and more. #
- Hero Builder's Handbook. Aimed at players who want to tinker and build something detailed with your character. Not in development yet #
- Madness of Gardmore Abbey super-adventure. Includes card deck- the deck of many things. #
- 4th Quarter: Ravenloft Roleplaying Game. Play vampires, werewolves, as well as other standard classes. #
- New card component for Ravenloft, but won't reveal it until later. #
- Q&A: Working on new minis set for 2011, nothing to announce yet. Ravenloft will be integrated into D&D and be in the Shadowfell #
- DDI updates… Dungeon and Dragon magazines continuing, nothing else to announce yet but updates in the works. #
- Most books will still be hardcover going forward with a few exceptions #
- Assassin will not be in Heroes of Shadow, but there will be new versions of Assassin and Revenant in Heroes of Fallen Lands. #
- In the DM kit and rules compendium, there will be alternatives to treasure parcels, including random treasure finds. Item rarity too #
- Dragonlance continue to release novels, nothing else to announce but there is a plan. #
- Races will be retrofitted to have ability score choice in Essentials, like the PHB3 ones. #
- PDF and e-book question- still working on it, not ready to say yet but will have news soon. #
- .@NewbieDM asked about epic-tier support for a DMG. Not enough people playing epic yet, prob. 2012. #
- Alternatives to stun? Trying to limit its use in the design for stun (and daze to a lesser extent). Solo design takes this into account too #
- Rules Compendium isn't an alternative to the core books. Core books will be reprinted "when the time is right." #
- Dragonborn and Tiefling books were a format that were difficult for stores, looking at new ways to present race books. #
- Atari has an announcement coming about some kind of D&D video game but they can't talk about it here. #
- Fortune cards- not meant to be collected but they are randomized. Meant to be opened up at the table while playing. No deck-building. #
- Sounds like fortune cards are going to be given out at Encounters in some way. #
- Will we see anything for the Feywild? Yes, but it hasn't been shown yet. #
- From @Squach- is Ravenloft more like Gamma World or Dark Sun? "Yes." Can stand alone or be used with D&D. #
- One of @mikemearls's new job duties is reducing the amount of errata on new rules. #
- One of Mike's other goals is to make the new D&D books more appealing to read with more story instead of just rules in Compendium. #
- Seminar over. Appreciate the words of encouragement about the live tweeting as always. #
Gen Con 2010: D&D New Products Seminar
Gen Con is one of two places to get all the big news in D&D for the next year (their own D&D XP convention being the other.) Like last year, we live-tweeted the announcements as they came in, but here’s a basic write-up of the seminar all in one place. We’ll also have photos of the different products later when we have access to a better internet connection.
2010 Highlights
Some products that have already been released were called out as being highlights for the year: Underdark, Martial Power 2, Player’s Handbook 3, The Plane Above, Monster Manual 3, Player’s Strategy Guide, Demonomicon, Tomb of Horrors, Dark Sun Campaign Setting, Dark Sun Creature Catalog, and Marauders of the Dune Sea, with Castle Ravenloft and Psionic Power coming soon. They also launched the successful D&D Encounters program, with the next season being based on Keep on the Borderlands. [Read the rest of this article]
Gen Con 2010: Castle Ravenloft Board Game Unboxing Video
On Wednesday, Day 0 of Gen Con, Trevor Kidd (community manager for Wizards of the Coast) gave us an opportunity to play in the Castle Ravenloft cooperative board game being released in the next few weeks. E of Geek’s Dream Girl, who was also in the game, already gave her impressions of it.
Later, Trevor asked Bartoneus and I to help him do an unboxing video of all the components, so we’re posting the video (in two parts) below. Enjoy and let us know if you have any questions about it. [Read the rest of this article]
Logan Bonner’s Gen Con Schedule
(Such as it is)
I’ve scheduled very few events for Gen Con 2010. I want to play it by ear, and expect I’ll run into plenty of people even without making many plans. If you want to find me, I’ve included a picture of myself and the WB bag I’ll be carrying around. See the schedule below the gallery.
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- Logan Bonner prepares to fry a Locust at Comic-Con. Or maybe just a dude in a Locust suit. Whatever.
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- The bag I’ll be carrying at Gen Con 2010
Wednesday, Aug. 4
11:49 PM: Arrive in Indy, find room, go to bed
Thursday, Aug. 5
1:00 PM–2:00 PM: Veterans’ Advice on Game and Story Design panel (tentative; I have a potential conflict)
Friday, Aug. 6
8:00 AM–10:00 AM: Private seminar
11:00 AM–Noon: Wil Wheaton’s Panel
6:00 PM–10:00 PM: The Ennie Awards (tentative)
Saturday, Aug. 7
9:00 AM–10:00 AM: What’s Coming from Open Design panel (I’ll actually be ON this panel, talking about The Lost City a bit.)
10:00 AM–Noon: WotC Preview Seminar (if I can find a seat)
Noon–2:00 PM: Dark Sun Seminar (but I won’t be on the panel, sadly)
2:00 PM–6:00 PM: Savage Worlds game with Rob Heinsoo and friends.
8:00 PM–9:00 PM: The Guild panel (maybe)
Sunday, Aug. 8
4:40 PM: Leaving the con early, sadly.
Official Guide to Stalking Vanir at Gen Con, 2010 Edition
Hardiness Hardiness Hardiness Hardiness Hardiness Hardiness Hardiness Hardiness Hardiness Hardiness Hardiness Hardiness Hardiness Hardiness Hardiness Hardiness Hardiness Hardiness Hardiness Hardiness
It’s the most wonderful time of the year once again. No, not Christmas. The Four Days of Gaming, aka RPG Chanukah, aka Nerd Kwanzaa, but known to most muggles simply as Gen Con. I’m particularly excited to make my yearly trek to Indianapolis this year, as I’ve made lots of new friends (and am ecstatic to see my fellow CH and Stupid Ranger teammates in the flesh once again). This is the time of year when games get played, mad plans hatch, continuous fun is paid for in units of lost sleep, hygiene gets neglected, hair gets let all the way down, and the freak flags fly high and proud. I personally intend to eat myself into a coma and play D&D and WoW TCG during my brief periods of lucidity.
SCHEDULE OF VANIR’S PLANNED LUCID MOMENTS BETWEEN EPISODES OF FOOD COMA
Wednesday
Arrival:
TBD but probably noonish. Hopefully gathering for lunch with CH crewmates and then retiring to the hotel to refine my WoW TCG deck.
8pm: Drunken D&D with Phil and Dave.
Location: We’re not sure yet, but Phil should have it on his Twitter feed when we know.
An unofficial opening ceremony of sorts, except replace the Olympic flame with beer, and the athletes with inebriated gamers apt to use phrases like “wight supremacist”.
Thursday
1pm: Welcome to Dark Sun, Bitches!
Location: I have no idea. I’m going to turn right every time my gamer sense buzzes and eventually I will find it, I’m sure.
My first experience with the Dark Sun setting in any edition, except for staring at that one chick on the cover of the 2E Dark Sun books with the wings and the brass D-cups when I was 16. You know the one I’m talking about. Gritty, post-apocalyptic battle-lingerie. That’s what Dark Sun is really about. I’m sure our own Chris Sims, who is running this game, agrees completely. I’m told he made 4e’s battle-bras even less comfortable, for that extra-savage feeling.
7pm: Roleplaying Therapy for the Severely Disturbed
Location: Westin Caucus
Join me, Dave, Bartoneus, Chris Sims, Phil, e from Geek’s Dream Girl, Dante and Stupid Ranger from Stupidranger.com, Graham from Critical Ankle Bites, and Micah from Obsidian Portal as we explore the darkest depths of our psyches. You’ve never seen anything like this event. Unless, of course, you’ve seen a shapeshifted druid mating with a displacer beast. How does that even work?
Please note, we do not mean to make fun of any real mental illnesses, and similarity to any ailments any of you have out there is purely coincidental. However, if by some chance you have been diagnosed with Explosive Kleptomania, I am driving to your house and we’re going to a mall. With a video camera. We’re gonna get rich.
After That: Bachelor Party for Graham
Graham doesn’t know it yet, but we managed to find kobold strippers. 20 of them. The dog kind. Yeah, I thought they were illegal, too. Kudos to Phil for smuggling them in from Canada in his luggage.
The Rest Of The Day And Most Of My “Downtime”: Playing WoW TCG Until My Hands Fall Off
Location: Various places in the ICC
It’s the WoW TCG World Championships this year, and I am totally not entering! However, I am entering several smaller tournaments and taking part in the League play that goes on throughout the con. If you want a piece of me and my Spirit Wolves, come find me. My boys are hungry.
Friday
10am-11am: WIL MOTHER F$*KING WHEATON
Location: Westin : Grand Blrm IV
For real. If I went back in time to talk to 13 year old me, and he asked me what I was doing in the year 2010, the last damn thing teenage me would be expecting is for future me to say “oh, nothing much. Just writing a humor column WIL WHEATON READS*.” I never got why anybody ever hated Wesley Crusher, and I fell in love with Wil’s blog from the moment I read it, so to say I’m excited to be here is an understatement. Definitely will be bringing a fresh pair of pants. Just in case.
*I have no idea if Wil actually reads Dire Flailings. But that is what I tell myself every morning to keep my self esteem from imploding. LOVE ME WIL. LOVE MEEEEE
5pm-7pm: WoW TCG Gadgetzan Classic Constructed Qualifiers
Location: ICC Wabash
Me and my spirit wolves eat as many people as we can, WoW TCG style. This technically lasts until 9. However, I am expecting to get utterly murdered by some annoying little ice mage early in the competition, which sets me up nicely to leave before 7 for…..
7pm: The Ennies!
Location: Westin Grand Ballroom
Critical Hits has been nominated for an Ennie again this year, and I can only assume that my coming on staff this year will push us over the top. They may further split the categories next year into “Websites with Vanir” and “Websites without Vanir” just to make things fair. Sorry, everybody else. I am both the immovable object and the unstoppable force. I figure I should show up as a formality, or to correct the situation in case a technical glitch tabulates the votes incorrectly.
Saturday
10am: Hickman’s Killer Breakfast
Location: Westin Grand Ballroom
Tracy Hickman kills an entire room full of people for any reason he chooses, and you have to do something useful, brave, or entertaining to stay alive. It’s a beautiful thing. I got to sit at the same table as Gary Gygax two years ago, and my ego has been hideously swollen ever since. Unsurprisingly, I died and Gary lived. He was a gaming legend and I was making hybrid Transformers/Ravenloft jokes. I’m fortunate to have survived the first four nanoseconds. I guess it’s true what they say: all you need is a little Energon and a lot of luck.
12:30pm – 3pm: Lloyd Kaufman’s Make Your Own Damn Movie Class
Location: Westin
15 year old me would VIBRATE APART at the chance to meet Lloyd Kaufman, co-founder of Troma Entertainment. My weekends in high school consisted of watching Troma movies every Friday and Saturday night on USA Up All Night. I supported the Monster Hero. I loved Sgt. Kabukiman, NYPD. I may not be making any movies in the near future, but I intend to fill my muse so full of high quality WTF from one of my teenage heroes that some may slosh out of its container and get on you. I am sorry.
7pm – 10pm: Video Games Live!
Location: Westin Grand Ballroom
Tracy Hickman kills an entire room full of people for any reason he chooses, and you have to do something useful, brave, or entertaining to stay alive. It’s a beautiful thing. I got to sit at the same table as Gary Gygax two years ago, and my ego has been hideously swollen ever since. Unsurprisingly, I died and Gary lived. He was a gaming legend and I was making hybrid Transformers/Ravenloft jokes. I’m fortunate to have survived the first four nanoseconds. I guess it’s true what they say: all you need is a little Energon and a lot of luck.
After That: Evensbrook Reunion D&D
Location: Dantooine
My old DM and good buddy Dante brings back the first campaign we ever played in together for a reunion adventure. I can’t wait to play my old battle-cleric Lumbar again! I hope we stay awake long enough to play awhile.
Sunday
NOTHING PLANNED
(EXCEPT A SENSE OF IMPENDING SADNESS)
Hope everybody has a safe trip out and a wonderful time. See you there!
Delving into the Lost City
The Lost City is in Oklahoma, apparently.
Wolfgang Baur contacted me back in June to see if I’d be interested in working on a 4e project for Open Design. If you’re not familiar with it, the Open Design process puts a call out for patrons. If it reaches a critical mass of patrons, the project proceeds and the patrons get to evaluate submissions, see early drafts, and give their comments about the direction of the project. In a standard project, the creative process gets handled by a small number of authors, but Open Design expands it to a larger community.
So this post is kind of a pitch, but I think you’ll see why I found the project intriguing. Hopefully you will, too.
The Appeal of the Project
The adventure is tentatively called The Lost City. It offers something people have been asking for: a sandbox adventure for 4th Edition D&D. The lost civilization angle and a sandbox style of play dovetail wonderfully, and the three submissions (which you can see on the product page) all have their own creative, significantly different take on the concept. The early patrons on the forums are already making suggestions, picking their favorites, brainstorming, and twisting the submissions into crazy new ideas.
One of my earliest projects when I became and editor at Wizards of the Coast was Elder Evils, which contains a section based on the old module B4: The Lost City. So while I didn’t play that adventure, I definitely have some nostalgia for it. I especially loved how it evoked the strangeness of a culture cut off from the outside world and made ordinary people monstrous by their behavior and skewed worldview. Lost cities aren’t just about finding buried treasure and subterranean monsters; they’re alien, separated from the passage of time and unmoved by the rise and fall of the kingdoms beyond. Some of my favorite early suggestions involve how that lost city might alter the world around it once it’s found—even reborn. (Sorry, I can’t give you details. The discussions are one of the perks of being a patron, after all.)
The Appeal of the Process
I’d heard about previous Open Design projects, and they intrigued me. The idea of really opening up the design process to outsiders appeals to my collaborative side. Some authors really prefer to sit down alone and put down their ideas, but I tend to bounce ideas off colleagues and develop them through discussion when I can. Open Design sits at a happy medium. You don’t have just pros, who can tend to be set in their ways, but it’s also not just open to everybody, which invites confusion, chaos, and trolling. With a small group of invested patrons (some who comment plenty and others who’d rather lurk and see what the final product ends up being), there’s a big sounding board.
Giving new authors (drawn from the pool of senior patrons) a chance to submit ideas and possibly write parts of the project themselves (paid, of course) can help us find new talent, too. The meritocratic nature of Open Design means the loudest voice or the most senior author doesn’t get to make the decisions. The people paying for the project do. I’m more than willing to submit to the judgment of the masses, though I sure make my opinion heard.
Getting Involved
You can sign up at the product page. There are a few levels of patronage, each with different benefits, and I’ll let that page explain them. You can chat with me in the comments or on Twitter (@loganbonner) if you want a little clearer picture of what the project’s about.
Are you going to Gen Con? I’m planning to sit in on the “What’s Coming from Open Design” panel and talk about The Lost City a little bit. If you’re curious, come check out the panel and talk with me afterward. You might also catch me wandering around. You can see what I look like on my avatar, and I should be carrying a WB bag from Comic-Con.
Review: New Dice from Q-Workshop!
At this point, if you haven’t heard of Q-Workshop, then you’re missing out on some of the best dice that are being produced today! We are lucky enough to have gotten a chance to look at, roll around, and generally admire three of their sets of dice – Celtic Dice (pictured right), Forest Dice, and Elven Dice.
All three of these sets of dice are the same high standard of quality that we’ve come to expect from Q-Workshop, the Celtic and Forest dice are intricately detailed and incredibly fun to play with while the Elven dice are more elegant and simplified in their design. The only issue that we have with the Celtic and Forest dice is that because they are so detailed, some of them can be hard to read which interferes with the basic function of dice. This issue, however, seems to be something that the company is improving on as they continue to produce dice, creating a balance between intricacy and readability that will result in some truly original and highly functional dice.
The Forest dice (below left) seem to be the first step in the direction of higher readability while still retaining much of the detail of sets like the Celtic dice. Very similar to the Dwarven dice set that I reviewed back in December, the Forest dice set is a well themed and beautifully crafted product that can be a great element to bring a bit more of your character or your personality to the table. Simply rolling the Dwarven dice makes me want to play a classic D&D dwarf again, and I can easily see the Forest dice being something fun for someone playing a Druid or any nature based character to have at the table. The same can be said for the Elven dice set (below right), which differs from the other two in that they are semi-opaque dice with red numbers in a very subtle elven script. These dice have the obvious benefit of being as easy to read as any other dice, but still provide a more unique and personalized feel to them. [Read the rest of this article]
Chris Sims’s 2010 Gen Con Schedule
Maybe you'll recognize me . . .
I’m going to Gen Con for the first time as a civilian, and like Chatty DM, for the first time as part of the Critical-Hits team. Here’s my planned schedule. We’ll see if it survives contact.
Wednesday
4:30 PM
I arrive at the convention! I’ll be hungry. I hope to see you. I’ll be hanging out with as many folks as I can.
8 PM: DD&D with Phil
Location: Tbd, so look for it on Twitter.
I’ll be playing Shard in’Nay, shardmind wizard. Audience encouraged!
Thursday
Early in the day, I’ll be in the dealer’s hall and hanging out.
1 PM: 4e Tips Panel
Location: Westin Caucus (sold out, but come anyway)
I’ll be stealing tips and tricks from Dave and Phil, and pretending to give out DMing advice. Shhh! Don’t tell Dave.
Look for the signs of your demise.
2 PM: Welcome to Dark Sun, B!#&@$!
Location: Convention Center Sagamore Ballroom. Look for the sign. You’re welcome to watch.
Players: Critical Hits Crew—including The Game, TheMainEvent, Bartoneus, Vanir, and ChattyDM—and e of Geek’s Dream Girl.
Wherein we learn that life is hard.
7 PM: Roleplaying for the Severely Disturbed
Location: Westin Caucus
Players: The Game, Bartoneus, ChattyDM, Me, Obsidian Portal Micah, ve4grm, E, and Vanir.
Can Doctor Dante cure Kuang (my character) of his Spotlight Hog mania involving climbing to high places, compulsive stripping, and spontaneous public singing? I mean, he’ll be dealing with real wackos, too. It’s really bad when you have this much yang blocking your yin.
11 PM: Mouse Guard – Deliver the Mail
Location: Tbd
I’ll be playing a mouse that apparently guards something, which I can only guess is being mailed. Phil’s running the show.
Friday
Morning shenanigans I can’t talk about, really.
1 PM: Welcome to Dark Sun, Too, B!#&@$!
Location: Convention Center Sagamore Ballroom. Look for the sign. You’re welcome to watch.
Click for Kuang!
Players: Jared Von Hindman, Arthur Wright, Julie!, World Famous Game Designer Robert J. Schwalb, Wes “of RPGA LFR fame” Robinson, Newbie DM
Wherein we learn that life is not fair.
8 PM: ENnies
Location: Westin Grand Ballroom
Critical-Hits is up for an award. I won’t be on stage, seriously.
After-ENnies Fun
We’ll be up late doing something. Join us.
Saturday
Morning shenanigans, again. You might be invited. Invite yourself, in fact.
1 PM: Welcome to Dark Sun, Three, B!#&@$!
Location: Convention Center Sagamore Ballroom. Look for the sign. You’re welcome to watch.
Players: Sarah Darkmagic (Tracy Hurley), Fred Hurley, Daniel “Highmoon” Perez, Matt “Loremaster” James, Craig “That Freelancer” Campbell, Scott “Bad Weather” Sutherland
Wherein we learn that no amount of sunscreen shall do.
8 PM: Media Meet and Greet
Location: Union Station
Where I get to hangout with people who are much cooler than I am.
9 PM: Playtest Vampires
Location: Tbd
Highmoon teaches us about blood types.
12+ AM: Party
Back to Media Meet and Greet or to some other party/gaming.
Sunday
Free until I leave around 2 PM, at which point I’ll be sad.
Critical Bits for the week ending 2010-08-01
- RT @GeekTyrant: Comic-Con 2010: Avengers Assemble! Avengers Cast Announced! http://bit.ly/99XAeW #
- Re-Launched: This Just In… From Gen Con! http://thisjustinfromgencon.com/ #
- Wardrobe of the Warrior article by @JaredVonHindman is up: http://wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4dnd/wardrobe #
- We're mostly taking off from posting this week. and next to prepare for GenCon. Any interest in seeing some classic posts from us? #
- RUMOR: 3 core 4e handbooks to be phased out in favor of Essentials http://bit.ly/9CuIIz #
- RT @Wizards_DnD: Looking for our @Gen_Con announcements? Look no further: http://bit.ly/8ZALgf #dnd #gencon #
- RT @NeoGrognard: The dream of epic levels and the D&D Open Championship, A Hole in the World http://bit.ly/bKrzTN #
- RT @HellcowKeith: I'm running a #DND game for charity at #GenCon – find the details at http://www.mythicparty.com/ #
- RT @Squach: What's this? Andy Collins has the gall to tell me how to role-play my character? How dare he! http://tinyurl.com/25h42d7 #
- Winners announced in the "Never Split the Party" contest for Gen Con 2010 http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4news/20100728 #
- RT @SlyFlourish: Do as I say, not as I do: Protect your Elite Villains: http://bit.ly/dnNsni #
- RT @LorienGreen: Get Lamp, A Documentary About Text Adventure Games – now available! http://bit.ly/aJ212K #
- Alumni: Save or Die! (be sure to click on the images for the full versions) http://bit.ly/9Uiy7o #
- Monster Manual 3 on a business card (monster math changes formatted) http://blogofholding.com/?p=512 #
- RT @RyanMacklin: New blog post: "Emotional Resonance" http://ryanmacklin.com/2010/07/emotional-resonance/ #
- RT @gamefiend: Initiative in RPGs, by way of the venerable game of Go: http://bit.ly/baA51M #
- RT @newbiedm: Posted this late last night: "Using the 3 act structure in D&D" http://wp.me/pkce6-zL #
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