It took a while, but I finally got around to whipping together a short Gen Con report.
This year was my fifth Gen Con (I don't get to go often - it's a long way!) and each time it gets better. That's mainly due to the fact that each time I go, I know a few more people, and this year we weren't short of cool folks to hang out with!
Our party of three made its way across the Atlantic ocean, battled flight delays and missed connections, for a journey time of 24 hours almost to the minute. We rolled into Indy at about 1am on the Thursday morning. This has happened every time we've done this - so in future we'll be aiming for a Tuesday arrival in the knowledge that it will actually be a Wednesday arrival. That way we won't miss the cool pre-Gen Con dinners and parties that we manage to miss every time. One year I missed not only WotC's 4E announcement dinner on the Wednesday night, but also a private EN World moderator game of D&D with Gary Gygax (something I'll always regret). Curse you, Dulles immigration lines!
This year, though, I had the pleasure of chatting to Gail Gygax for a while when I bought my copy of Cheers Gary - the fundraiser book for the Gygax statue. She's a delightful, charming individual, and very friendly - more than happy to talk at length about her plans for the Gygax Memorial Fund, and more. It was a real pleasure talking to her.
The ENnies went perfectly (even though I was at the bar at the time I supposed to be on stage - oops. Sorry guys!) You can see a full list of winners here. The ENnies are always one of my favourite parts of Gen Con; though many cynics profess their disapproval of awards ceremonies, I find it to be a happy, charming couple of hours crammed with the best game designers and publishers in the industry all in one room, gathered to celebrate the work of the writers, artists, and more who make all those products we love to read, listen to, and play with. It's just nice to say "thank you - and well done!", and sometimes I feel we could use more of that. The ENnies were organised to perfection by the new business manager, Tony Law, and hosted by the ever-charming Kevin "Piratecat" Kulp. I wish I had a tenth of that man's charisma!
Gen Con is always four days crammed full of stuff. You don't get a moment's rest - but then again, you don't want one. From wandering the exhibit hall and marvelling at thousands upon thousands of products, to chatting with game designers and publishers, to playing in games of all kinds with friends old and new (and that's not even starting on the drinking and eating that goes on continually - you're never short of a few folks to have dinner with), the whole time is a whirlwind of activity. The only down side is that it ends rather abruptly on the Sunday evening, leaving you to acclimatize yourself to normal life again. Fortunately for us, real life was still a week away because we had a trip to NYC planned.
I'm told there was a record number of attendees at Gen Con this year - over 36,000 of them! It didn't feel bigger to me, but my memory of past events may be hazy. It's been a while!
So, what caught my eye? What was the best thing I saw? I think it was d20Pro. The d20Pro virtual game table booth was cool as heck. A touchscreen flat battlemap! The helpful chap running the booth at the time was happy to show us the features and answer questions - including the price tag, which was $7,500 for the full setup. A bit beyond my budget! It does work on laptops and the like also, but that's just nowhere near as freaking cool. The software was a bit buggy in demonstration, but it showed where this is going, and I can't wait until the hardware falls into a manageable price range.
I was a little bemused by the WotC booth. It was more a booth for the new Neverwinter Facebook game, I think. I didn't see any product on display or any WotC staff (other than event organisers); though there was a big area sectioned off with a man dressed as a zombie wandering around. Talking of WotC staff, it was great to run into Rodney Thompson briefly at Scotty's bar/restaurant, and WotC freelancer and Eberron creator Keith Baker in the hotel lobby.
This year was definitely more "hanging out with friends" than "industry-centric" for me. Probably the first year I've gone with no commitments other than the ENnies, and it was a pleasant change - I got to have fun, instead of working! It was great to catch up with people I hadn't seen in years, and it's great how it seems like no time has passed. A couple of people I hadn't seen in, like, nine years - but it seemed like just yesterday.
All in all, a good year! I don't know when I'll get to go back - probably a good few years, but I'll be looking forward to it!
This year was my fifth Gen Con (I don't get to go often - it's a long way!) and each time it gets better. That's mainly due to the fact that each time I go, I know a few more people, and this year we weren't short of cool folks to hang out with!
Our party of three made its way across the Atlantic ocean, battled flight delays and missed connections, for a journey time of 24 hours almost to the minute. We rolled into Indy at about 1am on the Thursday morning. This has happened every time we've done this - so in future we'll be aiming for a Tuesday arrival in the knowledge that it will actually be a Wednesday arrival. That way we won't miss the cool pre-Gen Con dinners and parties that we manage to miss every time. One year I missed not only WotC's 4E announcement dinner on the Wednesday night, but also a private EN World moderator game of D&D with Gary Gygax (something I'll always regret). Curse you, Dulles immigration lines!
This year, though, I had the pleasure of chatting to Gail Gygax for a while when I bought my copy of Cheers Gary - the fundraiser book for the Gygax statue. She's a delightful, charming individual, and very friendly - more than happy to talk at length about her plans for the Gygax Memorial Fund, and more. It was a real pleasure talking to her.
The ENnies went perfectly (even though I was at the bar at the time I supposed to be on stage - oops. Sorry guys!) You can see a full list of winners here. The ENnies are always one of my favourite parts of Gen Con; though many cynics profess their disapproval of awards ceremonies, I find it to be a happy, charming couple of hours crammed with the best game designers and publishers in the industry all in one room, gathered to celebrate the work of the writers, artists, and more who make all those products we love to read, listen to, and play with. It's just nice to say "thank you - and well done!", and sometimes I feel we could use more of that. The ENnies were organised to perfection by the new business manager, Tony Law, and hosted by the ever-charming Kevin "Piratecat" Kulp. I wish I had a tenth of that man's charisma!
Gen Con is always four days crammed full of stuff. You don't get a moment's rest - but then again, you don't want one. From wandering the exhibit hall and marvelling at thousands upon thousands of products, to chatting with game designers and publishers, to playing in games of all kinds with friends old and new (and that's not even starting on the drinking and eating that goes on continually - you're never short of a few folks to have dinner with), the whole time is a whirlwind of activity. The only down side is that it ends rather abruptly on the Sunday evening, leaving you to acclimatize yourself to normal life again. Fortunately for us, real life was still a week away because we had a trip to NYC planned.
I'm told there was a record number of attendees at Gen Con this year - over 36,000 of them! It didn't feel bigger to me, but my memory of past events may be hazy. It's been a while!
So, what caught my eye? What was the best thing I saw? I think it was d20Pro. The d20Pro virtual game table booth was cool as heck. A touchscreen flat battlemap! The helpful chap running the booth at the time was happy to show us the features and answer questions - including the price tag, which was $7,500 for the full setup. A bit beyond my budget! It does work on laptops and the like also, but that's just nowhere near as freaking cool. The software was a bit buggy in demonstration, but it showed where this is going, and I can't wait until the hardware falls into a manageable price range.
I was a little bemused by the WotC booth. It was more a booth for the new Neverwinter Facebook game, I think. I didn't see any product on display or any WotC staff (other than event organisers); though there was a big area sectioned off with a man dressed as a zombie wandering around. Talking of WotC staff, it was great to run into Rodney Thompson briefly at Scotty's bar/restaurant, and WotC freelancer and Eberron creator Keith Baker in the hotel lobby.
This year was definitely more "hanging out with friends" than "industry-centric" for me. Probably the first year I've gone with no commitments other than the ENnies, and it was a pleasant change - I got to have fun, instead of working! It was great to catch up with people I hadn't seen in years, and it's great how it seems like no time has passed. A couple of people I hadn't seen in, like, nine years - but it seemed like just yesterday.
All in all, a good year! I don't know when I'll get to go back - probably a good few years, but I'll be looking forward to it!
