Is it really only 2 days until GenCon? Yes. Yes it is.

On Wednesday, I'm heading to GenCon in Indianapolis. I had a great time when I was there before, and I'm looking forward to attending this year.

Here's what you need to know, from GenCon:

Wil will be signing autographs in the Autograph Area of the Exhibit Hall, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday morning. Check local signage for exact times.

I hope that I'll have some time to do a True Dungeon run (since I killed a dragon the last time I was there), and I also hope that I'll return with lots of new games to consider for Tabletop. If you feel like tipping me off to something new and awesome, feel free to do it in the comments.

If you are coming to meet me, and want to give me some dice to add to my growing collection (it's for science!), I'd love to receive them.

Finally, this is an important thing I have to restate at least once a year:

I got the Swine Flu at PAX Prime, and it was the worst two weeks of my life. When we went to PAX East, all of us (Jerry, Mike, Kurtz, Straub, Paul and Storm, The Professor and Mary Ann) all agreed that we wouldn't shake hands, give hugs, or engage in human contact with people, to limit the introduction of infection vectors. Most people understood, and we gave each other the old Iron Guard Salute (not the fascist thing, the gaming thing that looks like like "love" in ASL). The result: a few people were cheesed off, but none of us were too upset about that, because none of us got sick. It was the first con I've gone to in my whole life where I didn't get some form of Con Crud, and I'd like to repeat that until we turn out the lights on Planet Earth. So, tl;dr: I'm not going to touch people at the con. I know it seems weird, but I hope you understand why. I'm not trying to be a dick, I'm trying not to get sick. 

 A non-zero number of readers seem to have a real problem with this, and people on the rest of the Internets are already giving me a hard time about it in very unkind terms. This makes me really sad; I hoped for a little more empathy and understanding. Not that it should matter, but I have Epstein-Barr, so my immune system isn't as robust as a normal person's; it is very easy for me to catch viruses and other nasty things. I'm not going to apologize for not wanting to get sick, especially after two weeks of Swine Flu. If you can't understand that, it's your problem, not mine.

Back to happier things: I'm going to bring some Tabletop posters, and a few of those silly 3 Wheaton Moon posters. I'll also have the usual collection of 8x10s. 

The best part of GenCon last time I attended — other than slaying the dragon, of course — was the time I spent talking with people and geeking out about the games we love. That's actually what I love about nerd cons in general, that we can let our geek flags fly without feeling even a little self conscious about it. I'm really looking forward to doing that again.

In addition to True Dungeon, I hope to have a Fiasco with some friends, find a Parsley RPG to play (or at least watch), get a new Utilikilt, and — of course — come home with lots and lots of dice.

 

 

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111 thoughts on “Is it really only 2 days until GenCon? Yes. Yes it is.”

  1. If you’ve never had a chance to play Ascending Empires (z-man games) you should do that as quickly as you can. It’s a brilliant space game that would work brilliantly on Tabletop.

  3. YES UTILIKILT. You need to score a leather one. Srsly. You will have ALL THE LADIES.
    Sorry I’m not going to GenCon this year, Wil. I’ll have to have one of my minions go say hi.

  4. Edition Wars is launching at GenCon (gamer nation studios). I backed it on kickstarter, and it’s really fun!

  6. I wish I could go to Conventions in the States… At the Calgary Next Gen reunion you shook my friend Kate’s hand. But that was a backstage thing me thinks, and she’s got a robust immune system and doesn’t pass on viruses much.
    Some sort of mutant Canadian from the west coast.

  7. I've played that a few times, and I really want to like it, but it just doesn't do it for me.
    Every time we played, one side had effectively won the game in the first few turns, but we still had two hours of game left to play.
    My group decided that, if we were going to spend 3 hours on a dungeoncrawling game, we'd just play D&D instead.
    Arkahm Horror, on the other hand, is THE BEST EVER. I love that game. It won't work for Tabletop at the moment, but I am considering one or two Tabletop specials (if we get another season) that feature longer, more in-depth, big box games like Arkham Horror, Eclipse, 40K, etc.

  8. I hope you get a chance to try a game of Dragon Dice with the great folks at SFR Inc. Great game! Great people! Have a great time at Gen Con Wil! (See you at PAX)

  9. Just learned I’ll be going to GenCon! I’m pretty excited, since, as a Chicago boy who transplanted to Chattanooga, it’s been nearly ten years since I went! I’ll be covering the convention for my podcast, Lights Camera Cleveland (which is a film and pop culture podcast). Is there any way at all that a fellow geek might bribe you with some dice to do a short interview for our show?

  10. I don't do interviews when I'm at cons, because my time is so limited.
    Please come say hello, though, and if you have a recorder, I'd be delighted to record an ID for you.

  12. I'll do it after this con, so I can include whatever new dice I get.
    It's so much dice, now, I'm measuring it in pounds. Currently, it's close to 20.

  13. I think King of Tokyo would be a great game for Tabletop. Rattus and Thurn and Taxis would probably be pretty good as well. I love all three of them!

  14. Can’t wait to go to GenCon! I hope to be able to give you a die for the collection and hopefully get your signature on an old PAX East badge. Good luck in the Cards Against Humanity tournament (but not too much luck, like a second place amount of luck). Wooooo, GenCon!!

  15. Oh, so that’s why? I met you back at the Melbourne Supanova, and I was a little curious about why you seemed to be the only one avoiding contact with photos. I didn’t mind before anyway, but that’s a damn good reason. Here’s to running the hell away from swine flu.

  16. I recommend Sentinels of the Multiverse and Cutthroat Caverns. Both are fun games that would be great viewing for Tabletop.
    Best wishes on getting a True Dungeon run. You may have killed Smoak once, but this year, you get to finally finish her off. Hopefully, Jeff can fit you in something.

  19. Hi Will, Arkham Horror is an amazing coop game. Have you tried Elder Sign? It’s a toned down dice rolling version with all the same characters and flavor?
    Have you tried the Blood Bowl Team manager game, its so much fun! We did a review of it early on in our review series ( http://youtu.be/9oIi1EoqQsc ), I’m hoping to grab a copy at GenCOn

  22. I would also recomment Sentinels. Getting Felicia to play Young Legacy’s deck would be awesome, after all, the creators kind of based her on Felicia.
    I have a question. You say its cool to bring you dice. Would it be alright to bring a miniature of a horse drawn cart that I put together, to give to you, Will?

  23. I’ve not played it yet, but I’ve heard many reviews say that the 2nd edition of Descent that just released goes a long way to fix the problems you listed. I’m certainly gonna check it out 🙂
    Can’t wait to see you at GenCon this year.

  25. Hi Wil! I’d recommend Infiltration as a game that’s both a ton of fun to play and a great fit for Tabletop.
    Here’s the Dice Tower review for the game. Tom Vassal does the game more justice than I could in a simple blog comment.


  26. 1. Props on the Phineas and Ferb reference.
    2. My aunt has Epstein Barr, so I know what you’re experiencing and commend you for protecting your health. (HIV+ 22 years myself, so I’m also careful.)
    3. Are you going to Strategicon @ LAX this month? If so, I’d love to donate a die to your collection.

  27. Have you tried “Betrayal At House On The Hill” or “Robo Rally”? Robo Rally is great, I also have BAHOTH, but haven’t gotten the chance to play it yet, but it looks like it could be fun. Or maybe “Ninja Burger” or “Aye, Dark Overlord!” could possibly make for good eps of Tabletop. (Really enjoying the show, BTW.)

  29. From one Wil to another Wil, I am glad you are making it to Gen Con again. If you had the chance and wanted to come check out Cardhalla and its destruction Saturday Night that would be great!

  30. Wil,
    Don’t forget to use hand sanitizer after every game you demo! That’s half the battle.
    FYI be careful with the dice you get.I’ve been seeing some posts where some DICKS are saying they are going to lick them before giving them to you or even worse….

  31. I’m also wondering if Aquire or Dominion would make for good episodes of TableTop. (Dominion is super fun, but there is little in-game interaction among the players with just the base set, so I’m not so sure it would make an entertaining episode.)
    Carcassone is also fun. Fluxx (any variant) as well as the Back to the Future card games by Looney Labs would be hilarious. (They usually are when played.)

  32. You garnered a lot of fans in the indie game community with Fiasco being shown on Tabletop. If you’re interested in other light sub-3-hour pick-up-zero-prep games that might fit in that format you should check out Indie Games Explosion (aka: Indie Games on Demand – Room 238) even if it’s just to browse. There’s usually many game creators running their latest/fan-favorites there too.
    Games I recomend you Demand off the top of my head: ‘Dungeon World’, ‘Our Last Best Hope’ and ‘DANGER PATROL’.

  33. Check out Terraside for Savage Worlds. Grady Elliott is the author…at least say hi to him and to the Armored Gopher Game Store Dude who is my son-in-law Dave. I promise they won’t hug you.

  35. Not really a game, but my friends, the Dead Gentlemen (the guys behind “The Gamers” and “The Gamers: Dorkness Rising”) will be at Gen Con this year, mostly promoting their Kickstarter for the third Gamers movie they want to make–“The Gamers: Hands of Fate”. (Yes, that’s a MST3K reference.) They have a booth in the Exhibit Hall, and on Friday night, they’re going to have a huge “Gamers Live” improv event and will be shooting a scene for the movie there. They’ll be shooting throughout the con, as well, since part of the story exists at Gen Con. 🙂 Anyway, if you have some time on Friday or any time during the con, you might want to check the Dead Gentlemen/Zombie Orpheus Entertainment out.
    Also, besides you being there, Brandon Sanderson will be there. I’m all amounts of squee here right now.
    And, 7 Wonders is the best game to try, if you haven’t already…although I think I read somewhere that you played it at one of your game nights.

  36. Really?
    That's… really disappointing. Why would someone go to all the trouble to do something so cruel? What's the point?

  38. Hi Wil! I can’t wait to see you again. And I don’t blame you about not wanting to touch anyone or anything! Stay healthy!!
    I’ll bring you a Deadfellas game to play. Time to whack some mooks!

  39. I figured as much. Also, you mentioned the possiblity of “specials” if picked up for another season. (Don’t meant to steal one of your lines, but “C’mon internet, make it happen.”), and listed larger games like Warhammer 40K. Battletech seems to be going through a good resurgence, Catalyst has released a boxed set, and is reprinting a lot of the classic tech readouts and such.

  42. Sorry to hear some folks don’t get the “please no gimme your germs” thing. I am constantly amazed by this attitude. I am even more amazed when I am toddling about in public with the lingering effects of some virus or other and decline to shake hands after warning people I may be a spewing germ factory, and yet they insist…like when I recently came from the doc after being told I had viral pneumonia and ran into a mere acquaintance who insisted on a hug and wouldn’t let it drop…..and then got sick a few days later…..

  43. I won’t be at GenCon, living as I do quite some distance from Indianapolis, but I hope you will appear at a similar event in the PacNW someday. I’ll be sure to attend.
    Two games I highly recommend: Small World and 7 Wonders. Both have a degree of complexity but are learned fairly quickly. Game time is reasonable, too (about 90 minutes).
    Stay well.

  44. We have 3 games we will be playtesting in the First Exposure Playtest Hall, and we made an extra copy of 2 of our games that we would like to give to you(somewhat selfish in motivation, because honestly a single tweet from you, could breathe life into our kickstarter) TL;DR: Will you be accepting gifts?
    As far as game recommendations go. I would suggest Infernal Contraption I have a blast playing it every time.

  46. I also have to recommend Sentinels of the Multiverse. Really an awesome game. I was and am an Arkham Horror junkie and this game replaced AH as my favorite in the world – plays in less time than it can take to set Arkham up.

  49. Here are the games I’m checking out at Gen Con this year:
    Liberatalia – Pirate Card game that looks like lots of fun
    Sanitarium – Card driven horror escape game – looks good
    Alcatraz – a Co-op game where you escape Alcatraz but somebody gets left behind
    Battle Beyond Space – Fast playing ship to ship combat game

  50. Sentinels of the Multiverse – seriously, you should check it out. The joy of defeating a nefarious villain with your fellow heroes is impressive, as the game pulls you right into a story out of a comic book. It’s (thankfully) not collectible, but each hero has a completely different feel and flavor.
    It’s become the go-to casual game for our gatherings since we picked it up at GenCon last year.
    (And now I need to go look for more dice to contribute to your collection. Gave you all the good ones with stories behind them last time… 😉

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