Where's the News from Gencon?

[Vicar In A Tutu]

Sorry to hear you're disappointed.

I understand why he is disappointed. Even though the buzz might have been amazing at the convention, people "outside" might feel the lack of news. Most specifically an annoucement regarding a new product for D&D. However, I actually feel this is a good thing. If D&D 5E has a goal to avoid bloat, it can't churn out new books fast. BTW, Morrus, I thought you did a great job at Gencon. The Ennies-ceremony was really good and I'm looking forward to your remaining interviews

 

[Janx]

GenCon happened already?

I didn't hear a peep about it until this thread.

 

[Morrus]

GenCon happened already?

I didn't hear a peep about it until this thread.

If only there were some kind of RPG news website reporting from the convention!

 

[Umbran]

Ordinarily I feel like I miss something by not going to Gen Con (admittedly it's hard to top the one I -did- attend... ), but nope, no jealousy this year. From what I can gather, WotC basically announced that there would be no announcements at this time. No OGL, no FR, no nuthin'. Paizo has a new book. Just a slow Gen Con. It happens.

Well, I think the slow was for a reason. 5e Basic, and early release of the PHB, was just a bit before the con. The street date for the PHB everywhere else was the 19th.

Who, in their right mind (including WotC itself) wants to compete with that? The best way to get your news ignored would be to shout it into the roaring wind of a new D&D edition.

 

[GrahamWills]

The trend has been continuing for some time that announcements are not made as much at big events any more; it's not just RPG cons, it's Apple, Video game cons, everything.

From my perspective, Gen Con was enjoyable, but if you went there looking for new and cool, you would indeed be disappointed. It was a city full of 50,000+ people playing games, shopping, hanging out and having fun. Having been going for over 20 years, my summary thoughts would be:

• Lots of People. Getting close to too many. Do not try and move anywhere in the convention center around 10am Thursday. Do not do Will Call. I enjoyed strolling around Origins, and I met friends randomly. At Gen Con, unless you are 6'6" you will be walking within walls of people and will see very little in the main convention area.
• Diversity. Lots of people, yes, but also more of a representational population. I ran sessions with more women in than before, and it seemed more ethnically diverse.
• No D&D. WOTC were hidden off in a corner of a room I never entered and didn't even have any cool figures on display outside. No-one was running 5e in pick-up or other areas, and there was very little buzz outsides of dedicated D&D players (which I am not). The street party kick-off I did wander near, but it wasn't compelling and didn't seem strongly attended. Anyone who went should comment and correct me ...
• Little Costuming. I did not attend the dedicated cosplay events and there were some excellent exceptions, but overall, the number of people in cool costumes seemed down. I didn't bring my camera this year and don't really regret it. Usually there is a lively thread on FB on cool costumes amongst my friends, this year, not so much
• People Ditched Games. This is always an issue. You prep a game and not everyone turns up. But when marquee events like the Cthulhu Masters would have accepted generics in EVERY SINGLE SLOT, and ran once with 3 players out of a potential seven; and it sold out in 4 minutes; this is new and very worrying. I ran 13th Age and it had sold out in the first few hours, but still had serious drop-outs. Talking with other GMs this seemed way worse than other years. It will seriously discourage people from running events.

So, overall, quite a few negatives. I enjoyed myself and had fun, but honestly, not as much as in previous years. A friend of mine who usually goes posted a FB message saying "what did I miss?" and of the probably 50+ people who could have responded, only two did, and they mentioned games that had already been released. My feeling was that the tone of Gen Con has changed; it's more inclusive and less focused. That's both good and bad.

 

[Nellisir]

I'm just going to point out that I didn't start this thread, nor have I said a single negative thing about EN World or anyone in it. It has been a good reminder why I usually keep my mouth shut and don't offer opinions.

 

[Morrus]

I'm just going to point out that I didn't start this thread, nor have I said a single negative thing about EN World or anyone in it. It has been a good reminder why I usually keep my mouth shut and don't offer opinions.

You sound upset and defensive. I'm not sure I understand why, but if was something I said, I apologize. Just chattin', y'know! Folks disagree sometimes in conversations.

 

[Janx]

If only there were some kind of RPG news website reporting from the convention!

I suspect I am using the EN World site the wrong way nowadays.

Chrome's default tab gives me icons for sites I frequent that jumps right into the RPG discussion forum. In the old days, when I hand-typed enworld.org into the browser (I used to hand enter the URL everytime, every site I frequent). Then auto-complete took over, and then the default tab.

The result is that I don't even see the actual home page anymore. And I barely glance at the headlines thing on the right side (which is a nice addition, I'm just faulty for not using it).

If nothing else, my observation is that the RPG General forum itself is mum on the topic (and much slower paced than past years).

Stuff changes, both my own patterns of usage, and the site itself.

 

[Morrus]

I'm just going to point out that I didn't start this thread, nor have I said a single negative thing about EN World or anyone in it. It has been a good reminder why I usually keep my mouth shut and don't offer opinions.

You sound upset and defensive. I'm not sure I understand why, but if was something I said, I apologize. Just chattin', y'know! Folks disagree sometimes in conversations.

 

[Nellisir]

You sound upset and defensive. I'm not sure I understand why, but if was something I said, I apologize. Just chattin', y'know! Folks disagree sometimes in conversations.

You sounded exactly the same way (upset and defensive) to me. Now you sound like you've had a proper night's sleep and don't have to eat American "food" any more, for which I envy you.

I'm not disappointed in Gen Con. I mean, I wish it had tons of exciting announcements and joy and was an Event for those of us not there, but it wasn't, ce la vie, gotta feed the dog. I understand why it was quiet. It was quiet enough that I actually noticed how quiet it was. It was simply...peculiar.

And yeah, I felt like I was getting some snark back for not sharing in the joy and wonderment, but that's under the bridge. Apology accepted, and my apologies if I was thin-skinned. Today's front page is exactly what I like.

Edit: Insufficient emoticons. Added more.