Friday, September 12, 2014

GenCon 2014

My first GenCon.

Not my last though.

It was my first gaming con, and my first con in some years (I had been to San Diego Comic Con a decade ago when some college friends were living out there). Needless to say I learned a few things, and remembered others.

1) Time is finite but you can over commit.
  • I totally overbooked myself at certain points.  Running from one end of the con to the other to get from one event to the next without any real buffer time was not fun. Consecutive events in the same place are hard to plan early, too.  Leaving a little time isn't always a bad thing. Generics work well for jumping into a panel, and from what I saw panels don't fill up as often as I figured they might.
2) Water is good, and so is food.
  • Leaving time to move around also leaves you time to grab a snack or a meal or a beverage.  Especially a beverage.  It's easy to get yourself dehydrated, which only makes you feel crappier in the long term.  Bring a water bottle and fill it often.  Bring some snacks just in case.  I found a big breakfast went a long way but by 5 pm I still wished I had had a bite earlier in the afternoon.
3) Demos are fun, but they aren't always easy to get. 
  • I wanted to try the new Deadlands: Reloaded LCG but I never got the chance, part of that was the time problem, and part of it was availability of demos.  I think I was looking in the wrong place, but I don't know.  Maybe next year I'll figure out the demo thing better.
4) The Exhibitor/Dealer Hall opens later than I expected and closes earlier than I expected. 
  • My only other prior big con was SD ComicCon and the dealer hall was open dawn to dusk and beyond. At GenCon the hours were 10 am to 6 pm.  I had booked so much stuff in the middle of the day that I only really got time in the hall in fits and spurts until Sunday.  Since there is so much going on, and the people to space ratio is the most dense here, I didn't see nearly everything.  Next year I'll make a point to give myself floor time so visit the vendors and get some demos. 
5) The people are pretty awesome. 
  • Yup. Seriously. I didn't have a people related negative experience for four whole days.  That's some kind of crazy record or something. 
6) Con games are a mixed bag, but there is some awesome in that bag.  
  • I played 5 RPG sessions totally almost 14 hours over the four days of the Con.  My worst was "just" fun (not in a bad way, just not as epic as the others) and the best was the stuff of legend. I also made a point to try new games, which was well worth it.
7) You are never safe from the awesome impulse purchase bait.
  • Seriously, the only way to not buy something is to avoid the dealer room or not bring any form of cash or electronic payment. Not that I regret my purchases, but I'm not entirely sure I have a use for a couple of them in hindsight.

So yeah, in the final analysis I'm going to make every effort to go again next year, and hopefully it'll be even better than this year's.

Inspiration Strikes Back

So ... a blog.

I'm not sure what this will be, or become, but for starters it will be a place for my bits of Inspiration for RPGs.  It'm my intent to try and revive a series of articles I wrote a few years back in a new spot.  We'll see if it works.

First a little bit about myself.

I've been playing RPGs for nearly 25 years.  A not entirely comprehensive list:

  • Numenera
  • The Strange
  • Dragon AGE
  • Shadowrun (2nd & 3rd Editions)
  • Nightbane/Nightspawn
  • Palladium Fantasy RPG
  • TMNT & Other Strangeness
  • Ninjas and Superspies
  • Heroes Unlimited
  • The Aeon Trinity - Trinity, Aberrant, & Adventure!
  • Scion
  • Mutants & Masterminds
  • Rifts
  • FATE
  • AD&D 2nd Ed
I'm missing or leaving out plenty, especially games I played only once or twice, and a handful I read but never played for various reasons.  Games like Deadlands & Star Wars, or Fiasco & Durance. Lots of games over the years. 

Most recent on that list that get a lot of play are Dragon AGE, which has some of the most fun and dynamic combat play I have ever played due to the stunt system it uses, and Numenera, which I can honestly say is my hands down favorite RPG to run thanks to the Cypher System which just makes it easy to be GM.

I have played and run games with friends and strangers; in person, by video chat, by text chat, play by post and play by email. While playing in person with friends is certainly the gold standard there is something to be said for the immersive level of play one can get out of a good play by post with people who write well. 

I've dabbled in reviews in the past (and may write some more here), and even put together a series of articles (which this blog shares its name with) for some time on a small site call ed rpgpost.com. Ultimately I intend to use this blog for fiction, ideas, and other musings. We'll see how successfully I maintain it.