Gencon in Review

I was treated to a short adventure of my own on my way home from Gencon: my return flight was evidently booked for September 16, instead of August 16.  Of course, with a hundred thousand gamers leaving Indianapolis on Sunday, all of the flights out were fully booked.  Fortunately, a ticketing agent for Continental went beyond the call of duty and managed to get me on a flight out on standby.  I regret to say that I didn’t get his name.  I can only say that I was a bit stressed at the time.  Still, I’m very grateful and will definitely keep Continental in mind for next year.  I’ll also keep a certain ticket-brokering website in mind, in a less favorable light.

Enough about me, though.  I’ve got a couple of impressions about the convention to report about.  Some of them might merit further discussion later on, but best to get the bullet points down now, while it’s fresh.

This post is part of August’s RPG Blog Carnival, hosted by Chgowiz.

Continue reading »

Off to Gencon

As of this afternoon, I’m on my way to Indianapolis for Gencon.  I’m traveling light again this year and won’t have a computer along, so there most likely won’t be any posts until I return next week.  (Build up a post buffer?  That’s crazy talk!)

If you’re going too, you can recognize me by the red Looney Labs flower on my black backpack.  Speaking of Looney Labs, let me give them my usual plug:  If they’re at the convention, drop by and ask for a demo or two.  They make some great games, like Fluxx and Zendo.  (There’s often a late-night game of Are You a Werewolf? going on in the convention hallway, too.)  They’ve had a room at the con in the past, although last year they didn’t make it, and I’m not sure about this year.  Worth taking a look, though!

And if you want a preview, you can play some of their games, including Fluxx, online.

One other thing of possible interest:  It seems that Wizards of the Coast is offering a special on the 4e Player’s Handbook at Gencon.  Buy another book, and you get the PHB for $5.  This is a loss-leader, sure, but it’s a pretty good deal if you haven’t got a book yet and you’re at all interested in trying 4e.  Hell, I’m thinking about maybe picking up a spare, if the deal’s good with Star Wars Saga Edition.

Anyway, see you next week.

Of Possible Interest… (PDFs)

…EN World is offering a whole bunch of assorted PDFs for $1 each.  The sale runs until Gencon.  I know, I’m a little late with this one, but it slipped my mind.  My free time has mostly been occupied with writing a piece for Nevermet Press.  They’re a bunch of cool fellows.  Have you checked them out yet?  No?  Click the link, then.  Click it!  I’m watching you!

…Ahem.  Anyway.  You’ll see that piece toward the end of August, if all goes well.  More about that later, though.

The sale’s on 3.5e-era stuff, so it’s likely primarily useful to those who are sticking with that edition or Pathfinder.  A quick look shows at least a couple of options that would have utility in almost any game, though.  Need some inspiration for a thieves’ guild or two?  A city council to drop into your new city?  Ideas for some tournament or festival games?  Want to add some steampunk flavor to your game?

Maybe even try a new game?

There’s a lot of material on offer.  It’s worth a look through.

If I were still playing 3.5, I’d go for Everyone Else: A Book of Innkeepers, Farmers & More.  Almost 70 pages of ready-made statblocks for villagers, mooks, and other random NPCs in case that tavern brawl breaks out?  I’d buy that for $1 and save myself a whole chunk of work.

Gygax

Gary Gygax at Gencon 2007. Photograph by Alan De Smet.

One year ago today, E. Gary Gygax passed on.

He was a lot of things.  Not all of them good, of course; he was as human as everybody, and on occasion, he could come off as a self-important blowhard, a man who at times fervently claimed that there was only one correct way of playing his game.

But then, haven’t we all?

More importantly, there’s the other side of him.  The man who was an inspiration to us all, who co-created (along with Arneson) Dungeons & Dragons, and who prized creativity and improvisation.  The impact he had is, frankly, awe-inspiring:

• Gencon.  He started it, in 1968.  (Or 1967, if you count the small gathering in the basement of his home as “Gencon 0.”)  There are other gaming conventions, perhaps even bigger gaming conventions, but 40 years later, Gencon is still a showcase for gaming.
• D&D.  35 years, numerous editions, various spinoffs (of various quality), and still going strong.  Still the most popular RPG, and it’s achieved pretty broad pop-culture recognition too.
• Tabletop RPGs.  D&D is pretty much the first modern RPG.  The explosion of games that have come out since all owe something to D&D, in a sense.  Some are similar, some define themselves by their differences, some try to ignore the existence of D&D altogether, but the impact is still there.  Might another of these games have emerged without D&D, and become the de facto standard itself?  Sure, it’s possible.  But D&D did it.
• Computer and console gaming.  Dnd, Moria, Rogue, Hack, and the many roguelike variants.  Western RPG series such as Ultima, Bard’s Tale, Might & Magic, and Wizardry.  Japanese RPG series such as Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy.  All of them started out as attempts to electronically capture some of the essence of tabletop roleplaying, and so all of them owe a debt to D&D.  Later games like MMOs, which based themselves on these earlier games, do too.  It’s not that much of a stretch to lay some of the credit for cRPGs in general at Gygax’s feet.  The games would probably have developed regardless, but they wouldn’t look and act the way they do if not for the template of D&D.

And that’s just the directly-related stuff.  And not even mentioning the articles he wrote, the novels, the books.  The way he expanded my youthful vocabulary with words like dweomer and milieu.

He was no great writer, and, according to my tastes at least, not a terribly good gamemaster at times.  But he was definitely an inspiration, and I’m grateful for what he achieved.

Rest in peace, Gary.

Things About 4e I Learned from the RPGA

As I touched on in an earlier post, I had the opportunity to play in three RPGA games at Gencon.  Three different groups of players, three different GMs, three sessions in a style completely different from my norm.

These are some of the observations I took away from those sessions.

Continue reading »