JoeGKushner
Adventurer
The after hours of gen con are still fresh in my mind. We are on the 65 north, heading back into Chicago after having stopped at Burger King for a quick fill up on garbage food.
Now I'll save my rant about the line for another thread. This one is for the very limited time I spent at the Con.
First off, I'd just like to apologize to those companies I didn't get to spend more than a second at if that: White Wolf, WotC, Fast Forward, Paradigm and a few others I'm sure must be in there. Some I probably didn't even get a chance to stop by like Mongoose. And that was one of the reasons I went, to see what the Mongoose was up to! A special apology to Steeve Creech of Bastion Press as I was supposed to see him after the show but was escorted out by security (save the rant, save it...)
One man I'd like to thank right away is Ken from the Elmore booth. This is a man whose willing to experiment with the d20 system in ways that I haven't heard a lot of other companies trying to do yet. The Women of the Woods for example, is a d20 picture book, similar in scope to Talisman's Studios books by Jason Engle in that it's also a table book as well as a d20 book. However, here the d20 is clearly secondary and is more or less a coffee table book. I hope it works. He's got some other stuff in the works but I don't know how mum or active the word on those is so I'll leave off my musings.
One thing I want to say before I forget is that all EN Worlders should know that the designers were really touched by the Ennies this year. Nicole of Green Ronin told me that she was so proud of the fact that her company won the Silver and that it made her feel like the hard work was worth the feedback and support of the fans. I heard similar statements from AEG who was pleased as punch that their Toolbox got a Silver as well. I just wanted you readers to know that the publishers do appreciate the feedback and EN World.
Another thing I wanted to note real quick is that if you've ever wondered what a Print of Demand book looks like, from what I saw at the EN World booth, they are exactly the same quality and style as any other printed produced. To be honest, I was quite surprised at this as it wasn't something I expected. I mean a book coming from some POD process having the same look and feel as a standard book? Believe it readers because I saw the books for myself.
Because of time limitations, I didn't get to see everything I wanted or do the interviews I was looking forward to. Having said that, I was able to see that may releases like the whole Warlords line from AEG, were at full strength there. I also saw the Dragonlance book from Sovereign Stone, something like the Age of Mortals. Bastion Press had their new book about critical and their paperback novel as well. They were others with new stuff but already the flood of product is more than my brain can quickly handle.
For example, Human Head has the academy of magic book. It's a book in landscape format in full color for $30. This book looks fantastic. The notes on the different settings were often indeed great and detailed and if I don't get this one for review, I may have to break down and pick it up. Hardback at that.
A 32 page full color on slick paper book on the sex subject was available as a preview at $9.95. Let me tell you, it's an adult book, no ifs, ands or butts. This goes for violent content too, not just naked pictures. I think that the use of real models may work against it a little as to be honest, what model can compare to the women as done by fantasy illustrations such as Elmore?
Privateer Press didn't have any new d20 products, but I'm a miniature whore so I bought the new set (Magnus the Betrayer I belief) and some warcasters that I haven't been able to get elsewhere as well as some preview minis. To be honest, I didn't spend any money on books, just miniatures and a shirt for my girlfriend. Even with that, I still spend over $200 and that's not counting Mastermaze.
I regret not having more time to look through the books and have more to tell you but the new hall seems larger. There is more room for people to move around and check out the different companies goods. There is room to move about without getting crushed.
Oh, special note, big thanks to the guys at Mystic Eye Games, they made me feel like an old friend stopping by for a visit with a quick update on what's new, what's cool, and what's coming down the pipeline. While I saw Caludios from Fiery Dragon, I didn't have time to stop by the booth or even speak to Claudios as he was involved in some heavy conversations. Let met tell you that gaming Frontiers #5 is looking fantastic. The whole orc thing by Ed of Skeleton Key games is looking very sharp, a full 30 pages, almost a Slayer's or Complete Guide in and of itself.
The WoTC castle had the convesion handout and the mini-flip book for next year as well as plenty of books for Dragonlance, perfect if you wanted to get the Age of Mortal Companion book.
It may just be me, but I swear there were more computer games and areas as well as a greater secondary market this year. All sorts of crazy stuff and other goods there this year.
In short, the people were great, the products were impressive, and Gen Con, at least the people and products, were top notch.
Now I'll save my rant about the line for another thread. This one is for the very limited time I spent at the Con.
First off, I'd just like to apologize to those companies I didn't get to spend more than a second at if that: White Wolf, WotC, Fast Forward, Paradigm and a few others I'm sure must be in there. Some I probably didn't even get a chance to stop by like Mongoose. And that was one of the reasons I went, to see what the Mongoose was up to! A special apology to Steeve Creech of Bastion Press as I was supposed to see him after the show but was escorted out by security (save the rant, save it...)
One man I'd like to thank right away is Ken from the Elmore booth. This is a man whose willing to experiment with the d20 system in ways that I haven't heard a lot of other companies trying to do yet. The Women of the Woods for example, is a d20 picture book, similar in scope to Talisman's Studios books by Jason Engle in that it's also a table book as well as a d20 book. However, here the d20 is clearly secondary and is more or less a coffee table book. I hope it works. He's got some other stuff in the works but I don't know how mum or active the word on those is so I'll leave off my musings.
One thing I want to say before I forget is that all EN Worlders should know that the designers were really touched by the Ennies this year. Nicole of Green Ronin told me that she was so proud of the fact that her company won the Silver and that it made her feel like the hard work was worth the feedback and support of the fans. I heard similar statements from AEG who was pleased as punch that their Toolbox got a Silver as well. I just wanted you readers to know that the publishers do appreciate the feedback and EN World.
Another thing I wanted to note real quick is that if you've ever wondered what a Print of Demand book looks like, from what I saw at the EN World booth, they are exactly the same quality and style as any other printed produced. To be honest, I was quite surprised at this as it wasn't something I expected. I mean a book coming from some POD process having the same look and feel as a standard book? Believe it readers because I saw the books for myself.
Because of time limitations, I didn't get to see everything I wanted or do the interviews I was looking forward to. Having said that, I was able to see that may releases like the whole Warlords line from AEG, were at full strength there. I also saw the Dragonlance book from Sovereign Stone, something like the Age of Mortals. Bastion Press had their new book about critical and their paperback novel as well. They were others with new stuff but already the flood of product is more than my brain can quickly handle.
For example, Human Head has the academy of magic book. It's a book in landscape format in full color for $30. This book looks fantastic. The notes on the different settings were often indeed great and detailed and if I don't get this one for review, I may have to break down and pick it up. Hardback at that.
A 32 page full color on slick paper book on the sex subject was available as a preview at $9.95. Let me tell you, it's an adult book, no ifs, ands or butts. This goes for violent content too, not just naked pictures. I think that the use of real models may work against it a little as to be honest, what model can compare to the women as done by fantasy illustrations such as Elmore?
Privateer Press didn't have any new d20 products, but I'm a miniature whore so I bought the new set (Magnus the Betrayer I belief) and some warcasters that I haven't been able to get elsewhere as well as some preview minis. To be honest, I didn't spend any money on books, just miniatures and a shirt for my girlfriend. Even with that, I still spend over $200 and that's not counting Mastermaze.
I regret not having more time to look through the books and have more to tell you but the new hall seems larger. There is more room for people to move around and check out the different companies goods. There is room to move about without getting crushed.
Oh, special note, big thanks to the guys at Mystic Eye Games, they made me feel like an old friend stopping by for a visit with a quick update on what's new, what's cool, and what's coming down the pipeline. While I saw Caludios from Fiery Dragon, I didn't have time to stop by the booth or even speak to Claudios as he was involved in some heavy conversations. Let met tell you that gaming Frontiers #5 is looking fantastic. The whole orc thing by Ed of Skeleton Key games is looking very sharp, a full 30 pages, almost a Slayer's or Complete Guide in and of itself.
The WoTC castle had the convesion handout and the mini-flip book for next year as well as plenty of books for Dragonlance, perfect if you wanted to get the Age of Mortal Companion book.
It may just be me, but I swear there were more computer games and areas as well as a greater secondary market this year. All sorts of crazy stuff and other goods there this year.
In short, the people were great, the products were impressive, and Gen Con, at least the people and products, were top notch.
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