GENCON Begins! Plus 10 Most Anticipated RPG Releases!

Technically, Gen Con doesn't begin until Thursday, but many publishers and fans are already in Indianapolis or en-route. Gen Con, as you may well know, is North America's largest tabletop gaming convention. Over the next week I'll be sure to share any scoops I hear of regarding your favourite roleplaying games, so keep an eye on this news page. Plus, of course, on Friday night the ENnies take place! I'll be posting the list of winners as soon as the award ceremony finishes.

Here's the floor sign awaiting airport arrivals - you can see this as you come down the escalator. Indianapolis always makes gamers feel welcome for Gen Con!

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RPG Geek posted a great list of the ten most anticipated RPG releases at this year's Gen Con. In alphabetical order, they are:

• Chill Third Edition from Growling Door Games, Inc.
• Cthulhu Britannica: London and related releases from Cubicle 7 Entertainment
• The Cypher System Rulebook from Monte Cook Games
• Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls from Flying Buffalo, Inc. (FBI)
• Fantasy AGE releases (Titansgrave: The Ashes of Valkana and Fantasy AGE Basic Rulebook) from Green Ronin Publishing
• Feng Shui 2 from Atlas Games
• HeroQuest Glorantha from Moon Design Publications
• Lankhmar / Nehwon from Pinnacle Entertainment Group (Savage Worlds) and Goodman Games (Dungeon Crawl Classics Role Playing Game)
• Pathfinder Roleplaying Game releases (especially Occult Adventures) from Paizo Publishing
• Star Wars: Force and Destiny Core Rulebook from Fantasy Flight Games

 

[Jester David]

Do you guys think WotC will have a big announcement to make? I ask because it seems a little strange that they wouldn't wait to announce the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide at Gen Con without anything else up their sleeves.

Monster Manual II maybe?

WotC doesn't have any panels scheduled. There'a no place to announce, unless they start revealing stuff during the Adventurer's League games,

I thought that too but I don't think they'll announce anything. It's just odd that SCAG was announced the week before....

I imagine that was so people knew Green Ronin was doing the, so they could go sign-up for Green Ronin panels.

 

[graves3141]

I'm cool with WotC not doing a big announcement... the SCAG book is enough to look forward to for me and keeps me excited about the game. I still can't get over the fact that they're actually going to do some setting books, I can't wait to check it out. When do you think preorders will start? Possibly next month in August?

 

[Hand of Evil]

maybe WotC is outsourcing the Big Announcement...

 

[JediSoth]

Doesn't WotC use Winter Fantasy for their big announcements these days?

 

[Umbran]

I wonder if they feel any need to use a convention as a venue for announcements. Back in the day, when gaming news was by magazine and word-of-mouth, conventions were an excellent venue for making announcements. Today, with social media, is the convention really relevant to communications?

This is not to say that the convention isn't valuable - just that its value may not lie in marketing announcements any more.

 

[Morrus]

Nah, I don't think they've announced anything at a convention since the D&D 4E launch. There are much better ways to announce stuff these days.

 

[JeffB]

maybe WotC is outsourcing the Big Announcement...

Mearls had to sign off on it, so technically it is NOT outsourcing.

 

[delericho]

maybe WotC is outsourcing the Big Announcement...

I think they only outsource their non-announcements.

 

[Henry]

Nah, I don't think they've announced anything at a convention since the D&D 4E launch. There are much better ways to announce stuff these days.

True, but I miss big convention announcements all the same. As Bethesda proved this year, and Paizo still does with Paizocon, there is still a place for big door buster announcements at trade shows and cons.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

WotC doesn't have any panels scheduled. There'a no place to announce, unless they start revealing stuff during the Adventurer's League games,


I imagine that was so people knew Green Ronin was doing the, so they could go sign-up for Green Ronin panels.

Is it unusual for WotC not to have any panels at Gen Con?