GenCon Indy Reports
- Thread starter Swiftbrook
- Start date
Ramien Meltides
First Post
Ramien Meltides' Gen Con report
Wednesday I drove up from Frederick with Mike Surbrook, HERO games author. The trip went pretty well, despite some obnoxiously atrocious construction in Pennsylvania. I hope to never have to drive through that state again.
Wednesday night, Mike and I had dinner with Dave Mattingly (an old friend and HERO games guy). The first day, overall, was very pleasant - although the policies at the Cantebury Hotel (where I was staying) are a bit confusing. We were told by the valet that 20 bucks would cover parking for the weekend, but it turned out (when we checked out on Sunday) that's 20 bucks per day.
Thursday was a lot of fun. Mike and I participated in a "Intro to Shadowrun" game, where we proceeded to Feng-Shui-it-up with some cinematic touches for our own PC's interactions. Afterwards, we played in a 4-hour Feng Shui game run by Will Hindmarch (one of the Iron & Silk sourcebook authors). Will is a fantastic Feng Shui DM - this guy should be giving lessons. My big bruiser, Max Cheng, and I had an absolute blast playing around in his adventure. Major kudos to Atlas and to Mr. Hindmarch are due.
In the dealer's room, I picked up Destan's Ippizicus adventure and spoke with Destan, grodog, and Tadashi Ehara at the Different Worlds booth. These guys are extremely friendly and have some seriously cool products. We ended up going out to dinner at Jillian's - good hamburgers, nice bbq sauce. Another great day. Today we also picked up a roommate - Ed Bourelle of SkeletonKey games. Ed is a very well spoken individual and probably the best map-maker in the gaming industry today. It was a real pleasure to hear about how maps are made, both in the real world and for gaming products. Ed's a true professional and I hope we run into each other again next year.
Late Thursday night, I played in a demo of Injurious Games' miniatures battle system. What was truly amazing was the amount of detail these guys went into to make the Dealer's Room in miniature for us to fight over! My power-armored space warriors were hidding in and around the Valar Project booth while trying to move around Crazy Igor's stacks of books! Each booth was extremely detailed down to the tiny dice at the Chessex booth! What a map! The game was also a lot of fun - I turned out to be the winner from the four players.
Friday dawned with another visit to the Dealer's room, where I availed myself of Titan Games' "buy one, get three free" sale. How do you pass something like that up? I also managed to grab the Artesia graphic novels from Archaia Press' booth where Mark Smylie himself was holding court. He's a very courteous and easy-to-talk-to gentleman and I look forward to seeing how the Fuzion game version of his fantasy world turns out.
I played a demo of Guardians of Order's "A Game of Thrones" d20 game as well. I got to play a noble's bastard son, which was very entertaining, but even more amazing was how well GOO's modifications to the standard d20 rules capture the feel of George R.R. Martin's books. I certainly plan on picking this one up when it becomes available - however, that may be a while, since Martin has to approve the game first, and he's in the middle of writing his next book.
Friday I also played in the preliminary round of Rod Currie's excellent Supersquad America game. For those who don't know, Supersquad America is a HERO system superhero game that develops the story of the characters from year to year. Events from past Gen Cons and Origins affect how the characters change and grow for this year. Best of all, if you're advanced to the final round, you end up getting eight hours of excellent gaming out of the deal. I was lucky enough to be advanced to the next round - Hoody Hoo!
Lastly, I played in a great "Cereal Killers" game run by Dave Mattingly alongside Des Kirkpatrick (BengalTiger on these boards), Derrick Thomas (HERO Artist), Mike Satran (HERO Author), Mike Surbrook, and the very talented and funny Justin Dunnuck. The gist of the game was that we were playing Cereal box mascots (everyone from Tony the Tiger to Count Chocula to Toucan Sam) trying to find out why the evil Qwisp was trying to steal the world's cereal supply! A ton of fun in every spoonful, although I had to leave a bit early to attend the ENnies ceremony.
The ENnies ceremony was all I could have hoped it would be. Short, sweet, to the point, and very entertaining. I was astounded to see how many ENnies HERO games won! They completely swept one entire category! As I was sitting with Steve Long, Ben Seeman, and Darren Watts, it was really a great experience to see the surprise and happiness the awards generated. The HERO guys were very funny all night, and I really enjoyed their company. Congrats, dudes, all around.
I had my own chance to be pleasantly surprised when Dawnforge, a book I am proud to say I worked on, received a gold ENnie for "best campaign setting". I was blown away, to say the least, and I still can feel the glow of that moment.
Saturday was my "free day" where I had nothing scheduled (besides the Supersquad finals at 9 p.m.) so I wandered. The Art Show was spectacular as usual, but I believe it was a little bit better organized this year than previously. I got to meet my good friend Tom Denmark and gaze longingly at the jaw-dropping scenes he's able to create for the Midnight book covers and Dungeoneer cards. I also caught a little Anime in the Anime room and saw a very entertaining fan film in the fan video room called "Saving Star Wars". Anyone who's a former or current Star Wars fan should enjoy this story of a man's crusade to get a letter from his dying son to George Lucas. More time in the Dealer's room was spent testing out games like Blokus and Warmachine and talking at great length with Destan about his campaign setting, the Valus.
The Supersquad final was, as it usually is, a very intense roleplaying experience. Rod never pulls punches, and the Supersquad ended up dealing with some incredibly complex situations and moral dilemmas. True to the Supersquad spirit, we managed to find a solution and ended the game feeling as if we'd really accomplished something. Supersquad shall remain one of my all-time-favorite games!
Sunday, Mike Surbrook and I needed to head out early in order to make it home at a decent hour, so we packed up and headed to the Dealer's room for some goodbyes. I'd like to single out grodog and Destan particularly for making me feel welcome at the Different Worlds booth whenever I stopped by - these guys make me feel lucky that I know them.
The HERO crew were in high spirits and I have some rather amusing pictures that will probably eventually go up on the HERO web site at some point in the future. The trip home was uneventful - just glad we got back in one piece and look forward to next year!
Wednesday I drove up from Frederick with Mike Surbrook, HERO games author. The trip went pretty well, despite some obnoxiously atrocious construction in Pennsylvania. I hope to never have to drive through that state again.
Wednesday night, Mike and I had dinner with Dave Mattingly (an old friend and HERO games guy). The first day, overall, was very pleasant - although the policies at the Cantebury Hotel (where I was staying) are a bit confusing. We were told by the valet that 20 bucks would cover parking for the weekend, but it turned out (when we checked out on Sunday) that's 20 bucks per day.
Thursday was a lot of fun. Mike and I participated in a "Intro to Shadowrun" game, where we proceeded to Feng-Shui-it-up with some cinematic touches for our own PC's interactions. Afterwards, we played in a 4-hour Feng Shui game run by Will Hindmarch (one of the Iron & Silk sourcebook authors). Will is a fantastic Feng Shui DM - this guy should be giving lessons. My big bruiser, Max Cheng, and I had an absolute blast playing around in his adventure. Major kudos to Atlas and to Mr. Hindmarch are due.
In the dealer's room, I picked up Destan's Ippizicus adventure and spoke with Destan, grodog, and Tadashi Ehara at the Different Worlds booth. These guys are extremely friendly and have some seriously cool products. We ended up going out to dinner at Jillian's - good hamburgers, nice bbq sauce. Another great day. Today we also picked up a roommate - Ed Bourelle of SkeletonKey games. Ed is a very well spoken individual and probably the best map-maker in the gaming industry today. It was a real pleasure to hear about how maps are made, both in the real world and for gaming products. Ed's a true professional and I hope we run into each other again next year.
Late Thursday night, I played in a demo of Injurious Games' miniatures battle system. What was truly amazing was the amount of detail these guys went into to make the Dealer's Room in miniature for us to fight over! My power-armored space warriors were hidding in and around the Valar Project booth while trying to move around Crazy Igor's stacks of books! Each booth was extremely detailed down to the tiny dice at the Chessex booth! What a map! The game was also a lot of fun - I turned out to be the winner from the four players.
Friday dawned with another visit to the Dealer's room, where I availed myself of Titan Games' "buy one, get three free" sale. How do you pass something like that up? I also managed to grab the Artesia graphic novels from Archaia Press' booth where Mark Smylie himself was holding court. He's a very courteous and easy-to-talk-to gentleman and I look forward to seeing how the Fuzion game version of his fantasy world turns out.
I played a demo of Guardians of Order's "A Game of Thrones" d20 game as well. I got to play a noble's bastard son, which was very entertaining, but even more amazing was how well GOO's modifications to the standard d20 rules capture the feel of George R.R. Martin's books. I certainly plan on picking this one up when it becomes available - however, that may be a while, since Martin has to approve the game first, and he's in the middle of writing his next book.
Friday I also played in the preliminary round of Rod Currie's excellent Supersquad America game. For those who don't know, Supersquad America is a HERO system superhero game that develops the story of the characters from year to year. Events from past Gen Cons and Origins affect how the characters change and grow for this year. Best of all, if you're advanced to the final round, you end up getting eight hours of excellent gaming out of the deal. I was lucky enough to be advanced to the next round - Hoody Hoo!
Lastly, I played in a great "Cereal Killers" game run by Dave Mattingly alongside Des Kirkpatrick (BengalTiger on these boards), Derrick Thomas (HERO Artist), Mike Satran (HERO Author), Mike Surbrook, and the very talented and funny Justin Dunnuck. The gist of the game was that we were playing Cereal box mascots (everyone from Tony the Tiger to Count Chocula to Toucan Sam) trying to find out why the evil Qwisp was trying to steal the world's cereal supply! A ton of fun in every spoonful, although I had to leave a bit early to attend the ENnies ceremony.
The ENnies ceremony was all I could have hoped it would be. Short, sweet, to the point, and very entertaining. I was astounded to see how many ENnies HERO games won! They completely swept one entire category! As I was sitting with Steve Long, Ben Seeman, and Darren Watts, it was really a great experience to see the surprise and happiness the awards generated. The HERO guys were very funny all night, and I really enjoyed their company. Congrats, dudes, all around.
I had my own chance to be pleasantly surprised when Dawnforge, a book I am proud to say I worked on, received a gold ENnie for "best campaign setting". I was blown away, to say the least, and I still can feel the glow of that moment.
Saturday was my "free day" where I had nothing scheduled (besides the Supersquad finals at 9 p.m.) so I wandered. The Art Show was spectacular as usual, but I believe it was a little bit better organized this year than previously. I got to meet my good friend Tom Denmark and gaze longingly at the jaw-dropping scenes he's able to create for the Midnight book covers and Dungeoneer cards. I also caught a little Anime in the Anime room and saw a very entertaining fan film in the fan video room called "Saving Star Wars". Anyone who's a former or current Star Wars fan should enjoy this story of a man's crusade to get a letter from his dying son to George Lucas. More time in the Dealer's room was spent testing out games like Blokus and Warmachine and talking at great length with Destan about his campaign setting, the Valus.
The Supersquad final was, as it usually is, a very intense roleplaying experience. Rod never pulls punches, and the Supersquad ended up dealing with some incredibly complex situations and moral dilemmas. True to the Supersquad spirit, we managed to find a solution and ended the game feeling as if we'd really accomplished something. Supersquad shall remain one of my all-time-favorite games!
Sunday, Mike Surbrook and I needed to head out early in order to make it home at a decent hour, so we packed up and headed to the Dealer's room for some goodbyes. I'd like to single out grodog and Destan particularly for making me feel welcome at the Different Worlds booth whenever I stopped by - these guys make me feel lucky that I know them.
The HERO crew were in high spirits and I have some rather amusing pictures that will probably eventually go up on the HERO web site at some point in the future. The trip home was uneventful - just glad we got back in one piece and look forward to next year!
Similar Threads
