Because of several reasons whose roots coincide with my health issues of last spring, this year’s Gen Con trip lacked a clear mission. Part Networking, part press, part gaming with my friends and part work as a tournament DM, I ended up with a an overfull schedule that robbed me, in part, of the magic of the whole place.
Still, I ended up enjoying myself immensely and I want to share some of the highlights of the con.
Drunken D&D
From the moment that we all sat down to play, I knew that I was in for quite a ride. Surrounded by bloggers and friends, we shared a few hours that were funny as hell. I hope that someone will come up with the juiciest quotes from the game. I found it particularly interesting that most players were more interested in the roleplaying than the physical encounters.
We ended the adventure in the wee hours of the morning, with the PCs fighting it out against the Monster team in the science lab of the PC’s high School, without any formal battlemaps.
That’s the way to play! By the end of the night, everyone had a slight booze buzz and we all enjoyed the game.
I got everyone to sign one of Jared Hindman’s many sketches he prepared for the game so I could send it to the adventure’s co-author: Johnesius.
The Goodman Games Dungeon Crawl Classic Tournament
This is what ended up frustrating me the most. It wasn’t the organization (it was top notch), nor the players (more on that later), it was just that by running from 10-14 and 14-18, I ended up seeing most of my con days disappear (the exhibits hall, Gen Con’s high point, closed at 18h).
Now I know I was under no obligation to volunteer for it, the reasons I did are my own and I accepted the consequences, but suffice it to say that I got frustrated on Friday afternoon, when my friends were invited to a D&D press game DMed by Jeremy Crawford and I had to run the same adventure for the 3rd time.
Except… at that point I told myself that I was at Gen Con, I had promised to DM for four, 4-hour sessions and that I should enjoy every minute of it.
And I did.
Okay, now that the bitching is done, I have to tell you about this tournament. It was a D&D 4e adventure for 5 14th level PCs. The adventure, an Egyptian-themed tomb raid aimed at reverting an apocalyptic ritual, was focused on encounters and puzzles aimed at stalling the players, eating away at their precious time.
Out of the 3 teams I judged for during round one, the first one was the most focused, competitive.
Lead by Brian, a RPGA GM (and apparently a fan of mine), the players had already chosen their PCs (they were available online), had decided to trade equipment, had poker chips to track action points, Healing surges, Second Wind, you name it. I was impressed.
But the funniest part of this story was this situation that occurred during the game. At a certain point, one players, caught in the somewhat rich environment that adventure was staged in, started to interact with the adventure’s fluff. To which, his team mates responded:
No Roleplaying!
This, coming from a D&D 4e game, was just too delicious not to recount.
That team ended up failing the final round by 2 rounds. Better luck to them next year!
The other round 1 teams were more Casual, and I focused on giving a good challenge/show to the players. I also Judged a round 2 game, but the team had lost 2 players and ended up facing monsters with only 3 PCs. We played for 3 hours and they quit when a Dire Bulette they woke up, chased them out of the room they were in.
All in all, a good experience, but next year, I’m going to DM my own events and not more than one per day!
RPGBloggers Panels
On Thursday afternoon and Saturday morning, I participated on RPG Bloggers network panels. On the Thursday one, I got to meet many bloggers like Newbie DM, Scott from a Butterfly Dreaming, Jeff from Bonescroll, Zach from rpgblog2 and Milambus for the first time.
However, I was disappointed that very few people showed up for our ‘So you want to be a RPGBlogger’ panel. This reminds me that we should either publicized these things more, or maybe I should just stick to the main Network one and focus on gaming.
Playing or Partying
I came to Gen Con with a very full social agenda. I had an invite to go to the Slippery noodle with the Goodman Games/Troll Lord and RPG Now crowd. However, by Thursday night, I started getting frustrated that I wasn’t playing many games with my friends. Thus, after a late dinner, I ditched the party plans and decided to play a game of Dominion!
A lot has been said about this game, so a full review of it I won’t do. Suffice it to say that within 5 minutes of playing this deck-building it, all 4 players were entranced, looking to transform smithies into mines and score big points.
If you like rapid, clever games and like the concept of making snap decisions that have repercussions throughout the game, you have GOT to buy it!
True Dungeon
At 10h30 PM on Thursday night, I followed my friends to try the True Dungeon for the first time. A very cunning mix of live action roleplaying with collectible game elements (you win objects that you can re-use in future games, plus you can buy more item ‘tokens’ in booster bags… a very dangerous mix).
The adventure consisted of 4 rooms featuring agility puzzles like walking a plank, unlocking trick locks, shooting Nerf x-bows and dodging trap lines. It lasted for about an hour and it was a lot of fun. Although we failed to resolve the last puzzle in time.
Fun… yes, but I’m not sure I’d do it again. This is one expensive activity!
The Ennies
I attended the Ennies, sitting between Brannon of the Wandering Men and some guy named Bruce working at Wizards, apparently he likes to add tentacles to adventure. I must confess that I’m a noisy audience, always sending witty comments left and right while everyone else is on their best behaviors.
Like many industry big weights mentioned during the night, the number of ruleset has exploded with the end of d20, and that can only be good for the industry. Forget about feuds and conflicts, everyone at the Ennies was happy that Paizo, White Wolf, Fantasy Flight, Catalyst, Open Design and Wizards of the Coast (and Mouseguard) won awards.
My highlights of the evening? I got invited for dinner by Chris Sims, of D&D Insider! My low point? I forgot to go introduce myself to Monte Cook. After all the correspondence we shared, I should have made the effort to seek him out and strike a chat. I guess I was too stunned by the dinner invite.
Up next: Partying with your idols, hitting the exhibits hall, late night O D&D, interviews with Andy Collins and last minute spendings.
The true dungeon sounds like something I’d like to try despite my lacking in athletic ability of any sort. It really sounds like the kind of weird, cool meta thing that I like seeing in cons. Despite generally not being super fond of cons.
.-= Wyatt´s last blog ..Might of Eden: Destinies of Eden =-.
It was great to meet you, Phil, and I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to talk to you more. Next year!
.-= Mike Shea´s last blog ..Four Tips for Character Development =-.
Glad we had a chance to chat, eh, Chatty!
Hopefully next year we’ll have a chance to game together!
.-= newbiedm´s last blog ..Updating DDI Compendium stat blocks the easy way =-.
I wouldn’t give up on doing panels, I’d just do a different topic next year. As best as I can tell, it isn’t particularly hard to be an RPG Blogger – the only thing you need to do is open a blogger account and write about gaming, commenting on other blogs to generate cross traffic.
While I have no doubt several panelists had interesting things to say, it’s not a panel I would seek out – unlike many of the other panels at GenCon that would have taught me something I couldn’t figure out with a google search.
-neal
Thanks for the info. I’m bummed we missed it.
The tourneys sound like they were really fun. I’ve never done a competitive game before at such a crucial venue, but I bet it’d be really fun. I imagine it with dramatic camera angles, sound effects, and people cheering all around. Maybe like World Series Poker, where each player has some gimmick and an entourage. Any blowing on dice?
@Mike: Gah! I missed you! I knew I’d forgotten someone. Of course I was happy to see you Mike! I could finally put a face on my co-podcaster! I’m also really glad that you dropped by the Drunken D&D, along with Nick and Milambus.
@newbieDM: Glad to have met you too. I’d love to see a game with all you Miami boys. It’s guaranteed to be a lively event!
@lessthanpleased: Good point. I think I may do do a seminar on one aspect of DMing I feel are needed. Like developing soft people skills, catering to player motivations, etc.
@Calvino: Well, I don’t know about the finals, but the preliminary rounds were a lot less glamourous. Mostly a group of geeks stuck in large hotel conference rooms, surrounded by very noisy gamers.
Well I for one would have considered it a diminished experience had I not had the opportunity to meet and speak with you and the gents from Critical Hits. I thought it was an excellent chance to pick your brains on the state of RPG blogging.
Certainly one could just google the information, to some extent, but to be successful at RPG blogging I think one must have a true passion for the hobby. I could see that in you all as we talked and I certainly share it. It also helps to have blogging experience before you get involved as well, I think.
I had a blog for a couple of years over at blogspot, but I’m trying wordpress out with the new RPG blog and it really does have a better feature set than blogspot ever did. Plus, blogspot’s tainted by google now and harder to deal with, in my most miniscule opinion.
So thanks to you sir for the kind words at the Con, the elaboration on certain points I needed clarified and the chance to talk with you all about my favorite hobby. I’m actually a little ashamed I monopolized you guys’ time over the couple of people who showed up late, but I didn’t try to shut them out either.
I’m expecting an adjoining podcast to come out of this, but the logistics with my hosting site may prove “intriguing”. If you’re interested, I’ll drop you a note when that’s squared away. Be talking to you.
.-= Rob Beck´s last blog ..Who the Hell Am I? =-.
It was great meeting you Phil, I’m looking forward to seeing you again next year. The OD&D was a blast, even if you made all my treasure disappear =)
.-= Milambus´s last blog ..Forget the Kindle, here is the future of RPG =-.
Despite having been a gamer since 1979, I have never gone to GenCon. While there was no chance of me being able to make it this year, I really will have to make an effort to attend next year.
After all, I figure I should go at least once.
.-= Rob´s last blog ..The Son of Gleemax! =-.
You know, every year I wonder more and more whether GenCon is just a way for all you Americans (and a Canadian) to rub the noses of all us Australians in the dirt about how far away from the real D&D action we are… 😀
Glad to hear that everyone had (mostly) fun.
@Rob Beck: You, along with our 2 other guests, saved the panel for us. I guess that Saturday morning at 9 is a tad too early. Still, I’d rather do some GMing panel/seminar in the future. We’ll see how it pans out.
@Milambus: I’m sorry man, I didn’t know beforehand that this whole thing would degenerate into a ‘all man for himself, grab the money and run’ fest… although I may be largely responsible for that… 🙂 It was great playing with you!
@Rob: Last year’s was my first time… and I’m never looking back 🙂
@Colmarr: It was more fun than I let on… the good stuff comes in part 2.
You mentioned the first group you ran through Round 1 of the Goodman Tournament – were they called The Bastard Sons of Lee Van Cleef, by any chance? I ran a party through Round 2, that had also traded equipment, had poker chips, etc. They were very well prepared, and did an excellent job in Round 2. I figured they would win the whole thing!
I, too, was put off by missing an entire day of the Con to run 2 tournament sessions, but I volunteered and I was gonna see it through. Luckily, I only had 1 scheduled session on Friday, and my second Saturday session was given to another DM who didn’t have a group, due to my first session starting a bit late.
All in all, a very fun experience, and I believe I will be a Judge next year – with the caveat that I would prefer 1 session per day!
I enjoy your blog, and I hope to meet you next year! 🙂
@Nowak: Those were the ones I had. They are actually known by Joe Goodman as I think they won the tournament 3 years ago. Yes, seeing them play was a show of excellent team work and hyper focus.
I think their battlecry should now be: No Roleplaying!
🙂
I hope we get to meet next year. Whatever happens, I’ll surely walk the tournament floor next year.
Do you mean Bruce Cordell? Man I would have loved to sit next to him and talk about Lovecraft and the far realm. He practically invented the far realm.
Yes, the Bruce Cordell. He was at the Ennies and then he came and sat with us at the BAr we were having drinks after the Ennies. he’s a super cool guy (almost all Wizards people are) and we did talk about the Far realm while having beers. He’s a huge Lovecraft fan and it shows in his work.