I went on holiday to Gen Con! It was Awesome! Here is an incomplete list of all the cool things I did when I was out there:
Getting out there - Due to a misunderstanding about how time worked I ended up running for the plane with 2 kg of chocolate. Meanwhile as I outdistanced the girls they got a lift on a cart.
We stayed in the awesome looking JW Marriott Hotel which had been built two years previously for the Superbowl.
Tuesday -
We went to Indianapolis Zoo, stopping on the way to look inside their museum. At the zoo there was shark petting, a dolphin show and lots of other animals.
Wednesday - spot the industry insider, K8 and Nats went on the stadium tour, We also picked up our badges and tickets from the reception and that went extremely smoothly.
Thursday - The show officially opened, the queues to get into the trade hall were massive and there was lots to see in the trade hall and the games hall.
We went to a seminar called Why Shadowrun is Awesome.
We went for dinner with Charles Ryan whom I used work with at Esdevium (and more importantly who ran one of the best campaigns I have ever played in Magica, a D20 Ars Magica hack that Charles wrote. There is a blog that had session summaries in somewhere on the internet.) He is now working as the COO of Monte Cook Games who have released an awesome looking Game called Numenera at the show. While we were arranging dinner we bought several copies of Numenera and met Monte and Shanna who were lovely and got invited to the Numenera launch event.
At about 16:00 We went to the Numenera Launch where we discovered that I had a “Trustworthy Accent”, and it was revealed that Bruce Cordell was joining the team at Monte Cook Games. We also got a special limited edition bonus Cypher Deck with a bunch of extra cards in it.
Later in the evening we went to see a Nerdlesque performance which was extremely funny and entertaining. It was hosted by The Glitter Guild.
Friday - I went to a work meeting with the guys from Cool Mini or Not, who were awesome and have some excellent games. Their new miniatures game is extremely pretty and is called Wrath of Kings. It is kick starting now. One of the faction commanders is a guy riding a Squid:
That night I went to the Ennies with Charles, where we interview bombed the EN world livestream of the event, while the girls took part in a world record attempt and they made a new record for the number of people playing Settlers of Catan at once. The girls joined us in time to see the final few awards being given out. You can see a list of the Ennies winners here.
Saturday - Nats, K8 and I went to try the Foam Fighting Arena. It is a really interesting way of fighting, They don’t allow head hits but also don’t pull their blows. The weapons are made to stand up to hitting people at full force and are slightly softer than the UK equivalents as a result. We each went roughly even with our opponents which was pretty good considering they were much more familiar with the style. I also smashed one of the guys across the head because I had forgotten the no head hits rule and he was not guarding his head.
Nats stopped for a massage and K8 and I went on to have a quick look around the trade hall again, there we chatted to the guys that make US style foam weapons and then got interviewed by The Dungeon Bastard, our bit is about 1 min 30 sec in.
That afternoon we went to the 13th Age launch seminar. Which was very cool. Saw the Doubleclicks live, and they were hilarious. This song reduced K8 to speechless tears of laughter.
Went to the Numenera Launch party, where Charles introduced us to the lovely Cindi Rice (who is the producer for Dungeon Bastard) and loads of other interesting industry people.
Sunday - The show closed at 16:00 on the Sunday so while Nats spent the day getting demos of various Mayfair Games and became a Knight of Catan I ran a 13th Age Demo on the Pelgrane Press stand. K8 and I looked at the Shadowrun 5th ed books and ended up getting one. We chatted to Dave Gross again and spent most of the last of our dollars.
Coming home was very smooth.
Next time - Phones that work in America, taking more people and playing more games.
Here are a load of my photos form the holiday: https://plus.google.com/photos/100343142332087709654/albums/5914868812643633985?authkey=CJOay-eL5ai5cQ
Other places you can look for info on Gen Con:
Short list of the cool stuff i saw there that you should go look at:
13th Age
Numenera
Shadowrun 5th ed
The Duke boardgame from Cryptozoic (they had a giant version Natalie bought the game off the back of the Demo)
Star Trek Attack Wing - DS9 promo
Cool mini or not Wrath of Kings kickstarter (dude riding a squid!)
New Star Wars X-Wing ships
Shadowrun Crossfire Deck building game (not out yet - due in september)
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