I have many things to write about, and many experiences to share.
But right now I am emotionally and physically exhausted, so here’s a picture of a Beholder:
Did you go to GenCon? What did you play/buy/playtest/demo that you loved? Any huge hits or misses you want to share with the rest of us?
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If beauty is in the eye of the Beholder, which eye is it?
i was so worried something happened to you. I was actually going to comment on a post to say .. Hey are u ok .. GOOD TO see you back .. Hope all is well and good ..
That is a gorgeous Beholder. I has a envy.
http://darn-yarn.com/list.php?search=BEHOLDER
The Sentinels of the Multiverse RPG is going to make the people who liked the recent Marvel Heroic very, very happy. It was a blast!
Codenames is awesome.
It was my first GenCon and it was awesome! Still in a bit of sensory overload though. 🙂 The Concert Against Humanity was Amaze-balls! Kumail Nanjiani’s set had me dying! Anyone who missed it should be very sad. That poor ASL interpreter!!! Loved my first True Dungeon experience, even though we all died in the last room. 🙁
Also, Bezier games are some of my favorites! Can’t wait to get the Secrets expansion for Castles of Mad King Ludwig and Favor of the Pharaoh. Loved getting to see sneak peeks of some of the other games I backed on Kickstarter. I picked up a copy of Letter Tycoon, and am eager to get to play it (I didn’t get time to play it at Mind Games but heard great things about it.)
Oh man. Yes. I am feeling the physical and emotional draining of GenCon today, and I cannot imagine adding the stress I saw on your Twitter feed this weekend. Definitely wishing I had taken today off work.
Things I bought with excitement and glee: Mage Wars at the auction, PowerGrid plus expansions at the consignment store, Cthulu Realms, Boss Monster 2, Mice and Mystics expansion and Firefly Shiny Dice!
I saw you on the show floor- correction, I saw Anne, then looked around and realised you were standing next to her. You’ve become quite the scruffy-looking nerf herder!
The coolest thing I did was a playtest of Scythe, the next game from the guys that made Viticulture and Euphoria. Super complex Euros normally aren’t my thing, but the ones Stonemeier makes I just love. The theme just oozes right off the table it’s so thick.
Still traveling, almost home. Looking forward to learning and playing the games we brought home. Like Firefly Shiny Dice, and Tall Card.
Good friends, good food, good drinks. But it’ll be good to see my kids, pets, & mom again!
I got GenConned, too! That sleepy… “wow, did I really walk that flippin’ much in 4 days?” feeling.
I did pick up some six sided dice that have rude comments of gestures instead of the “1” on them. Those’ll be funny at the next table top session. Then I got hustled into Privateer Press “Hordes” by my son. I mean, who can pass up on werewolves who are terrorist druids? And of course, I had to go by and test our Slugfest Games stuff and wound up with an expansion for the Red Dragon Inn set… I love that game. Nothing but fun!
Got a great game called Nevermore, very exciting, and best of all I sat in on the Titansgrave panel! It was fantastic!
I kick myself for never taking a day off post-GenCon. It’s such an amazing experience, but also incredibly exhausting. One of these days, I’ll learn!
So favorite things, let’s see, definitely the FFG Star Wars Force & Destiny set. It was a blast. Second favorite thing was getting to play a prototype funded K/S game called Valeria: Card Kingdoms. It’s such a blast. You should check it out.
Oh and third, was seeing my buddy’s booth be jam packed each day!
We also just arrived home. Glad to see your GenCon this year was much better for you. 🙂
Games we fell in love with from GenCon (so far):
~ Mission Red Planet (Fantasy Flight) was great and gorgeous!
~ Mysterium was an amazing twist to the DixIt mechanic. Use Dixit cards to help mediums solve crimes. I’m sure you heard about it there.
~ Elysium (Asmodee)
~ Fallen (A 2 player only game, but really awesome.)
~ The Grizzled (Gorgeous and one of the more interesting co-ops).
~ Graveyards, Ghosts, and Haunted Houses (Rather Dashing) This series has been really great for gamers of all ages and the mechanic is familiar, yet unique.
Got the expansions to Takenoko and Five Tribes! Super eager to try them out!
We got so many more, but those are ones we fell in love with AND played that we purchased before we got home. Demoed Deus by Asmodee and that was pretty cool. Others were also neat. We also demoed/playtested the new Pathfinder ACG, Sangoku, Shadows over Westminster, Kingdom Death: Monster, Ryu, Posthuman, Artifacts, and Above and Below.
Bunches of games for my middle school tabletop club that we are so extremely excited to play and have already planned to meet up again before school starts.
And… of course… we bought Titansgrave and I’m avidly reading the core and Titansgrave. Making great progress with great notes. It is so well done!
I was cashier/ sales person for that booth all of the con, I’m super excited 🙂
Gencon was so much fun, and I got to see so many great things and try fun games (when I wasn’t booth monkey).
I was able to get the four games that I had to have Blood rage, Code Names, Spyfall, and Ashes Rise of the Phoenix born. I also picked up the expansion for Cash N’ Guns. All in all, what an amazing Gen Con!
I played my 1st Gencon rpg, She-Ra and the Secret of the Horde, using the Cartoon Action Hour system. I’m a big card and board game player, but I wanted to get back into rpgs (been since college many years ago). My son also did Pathfinder Kid’s track and loved it. I hope next year includes some FATE and more storytelling games. Your Titansgrave panel was also epic. I mean, compared to the crowd last year, you can tell you are doing it right. You infected my family with the role playing bug, so Thanks! My 6 year old is asking to watch Titansgrave before bed most nights. Huzzah!
I made that Beholder and would love to make one for you Wil if you want one! Glad you enjoyed seeing it!
Tiffany, check out my comment! I always love to see work from another yarn artist. (I crochet, and your beholder looked amazing!)
We got screwed by the configuration of the exhibit hall. The flow of foot traffic went completely around us. I did get to see a tattooed, bearded man talking to some Australians selling coins at the booth next to us.
Also, I was able to sell my 1st ed Paranoia Box Set for a decent price.
GenCon was a blast. First time I’ve been there since it left Milwaukee. Start Trek Catan: Federation Space was fun. Shear Panic by Mayfair was not worth the time. Homeland by Gale Force 9 was a solid game that would be a lot of fun for people into that TV series. Played Puerto Rico, Dominion, and 7 Wonders for the first time- they were all fun too. I didn’t realize how big of a deal Pathfinder has become.
It was my first time back to Gen Con after a 4-5 year absence. Best experience was getting to play Phoenix: Dawn Command being run by Keith Baker, it’s awesome. Best purchases: Force and Destiny by Fantasy Flight Games, Legendary Encounters: Predator by Upper Deck.
Was a bummer getting back late to CA due to a delayed plane. So glad I remembered to take today off to recuperate. Gen Con is definitely the best.
Lots of competing goodness. Loved the Titansgrave panel — I cheered for Harry & Izzy’s. — and my hug from Laura! Btw, hope you enjoyed the wine. We went to the Pinnacle panel and got excited by the Flash announcement. And at the Licensee panel, it was amazing to have the setting that I am working on with my husband — The King is Dead — get announced and get a lot of cheers. And the best things I got were one of the Titansgrave signed posters & 5 Gold & a party shirt, as well as my Savage World’s messenger bag. Oh, and all the hugs from all of my RPG friends that I don’t get to see ROCKED. Outside of the con, I drank great local cider and got to order some Bourbon from the distillery in the town I call my second home. Not bad for a first time.
Love, love, LOVE the pic of an amigurumi beholder! Definitely a very creative crochet artist.
Third year in a row I had to miss it. Really not fun. 🙁
I, sadly, could not be at GenCon, since I was at OzCon in San Diego, the biggest and longest-running Wizard of Oz convention in the world. But I had a taste of the GonCon experience, as Steve Jackson Games was kind enough to send us a few sets of Munchkin Oz (a version that I have been encouraging them to make for some time). We co-debuted it alongside GenCon. It was a lot of fun, and gave Oz fans a little insight into gaming culture. There were a couple of Munchkin players there who were able to show us what to do, and the game developers sure know their Oz books.
Eric, I’m really glad you enjoyed the game! I confess that I did not know my Oz books as well as I should have before I started the project, but I did a whirlwind read of Baum’s canon as the first step in the writing process. (Ah, research…) The Oz wiki was also immensely helpful in giving me context for the vague notes I’d made during my reading.
Andrew, I’d love to talk to you more about Munchkin Oz and your research and development, possibly for an article for “The Baum Bugle”, the journal of the International Wizard of Oz Club. How can I reach you in private (without all these other nosy commenters finding out)?
Email me at my super-hard-to-guess work address: andrew AT sjgames DOT com. It may be a few days before I can get back to you; we came home from Indianapolis to a flooded office.
Literally flooded? Like with water?
I was lucky enough to get a copy of Champions of Midgard. It’s like Lords of Waterdeep, but you use dice to fight monsters and complete quests. Can’t wait to get a group together for it.
First GenCon ever, had a blast. Sentinel Tactics, Savage Worlds, 5th Edition, lots of talks. Had dinner with folks from Rite Publishing which ws cool, lots of RPG lore from really creative people. Got a signed Larry Elmore print (of a fabulous green dragon). Managed to say howdy to the host of Tabletop, whose name eludes me at the moment, while he was enjoying a fruit smoothie.
Oh, also caught a pretty ornery case of upper-respiratory con crud. A souvenir, as it were.
My daughter and I played a kickstarter game called Dragoon. Probably my favorite new game of the con. Looking forward to the release.
Best new games I played were Flick Em Up and Codenames. Both hit the sweet spot of easy to learn and incredibly fun.
Somewhat of miss was Rattle, Battle, Grab the Loot. I like the ideas in it, but it has too many bells and whistles attached that draw away from the overall “I’M A PIRATE, WEEEEE!!!” I was hoping for.
Also, my group solved all the True Dungeon puzzles. Not with my help in any way, but I felt that this was important to mention.
Even that bullshit lave tunnel one?! Wow, that’s seriously impressive. We solved everything except that one.
Yup! We were only the fourth group that day (Friday) to solve it. There was some serious puzzle solving wizardry going on. We actually struggled the most with the mushroom room. Mostly because OMG creepy mushroom voices.
That’s so weird. The mushROOM (ha! ha! see what I did) was very straight forward for us to solve.
But that lava room was insane. There was almost no way to solve it, or get anything useful for deduction, if you missed the thing the DM said right at the beginning. And the rogue’s hint was useless to us.
Congratulations on getting all the treasures!!
Oh dear, that was very punny. And thanks!!!
This was my first Gen Con. It was an amazing experience and I got to share it with a group of amazing young people that are part of a Boy Scout Venturing Crew that is dedicated to table top gaming. I got to try new games, see incredibly artistic costumes, And I got to meet Wil. Bucket list trifecta!
My one big miss was not getting to hang out with or even so much as say hello to you, Wil, although I did see Ryan and Anne several times. I know you were hella busy* and the one time I saw you, your cometary tail of people trying to get your attention nearly filled the aisle, so no worries on that front. We’ll see each other some other time.
The biggest Gen Con problem wasn’t actually at Gen Con; it was coming back to a flooded office in Austin. Gonna be cosplaying as a hazmat worker tomorrow!
Hella. Hella.
Since I saw exactly none of you, I convinced myself that you weren’t at GenCon for some reason, so I wasn’t as sad as I would have been.
I saw you at GenCon but decided to give you your space despite my urges to just go up to you and say hi.
I played Above and Below, which looks super promising and a lot of fun. I also got to demo Mysterium, which looks even more incredible and seems to be a very good fit for a Tabletop episode. It’s like Dixit meets Betrayal. Super fun.
I think I only managed to demo Evolution, which was fun. I thought the Titansgrave panel was great. Concert Against Humanity was hilarious – Kumail Nanjiani nearly killed me from laughing so hard that I couldn’t breathe. Brought the kids on Sunday and demoed lots of kids games, and one of the companies gave my girls their demo game for free because they saw how much they enjoyed it. I thought that was so nice!
GenCon hungover as well! Got to meet Wil on the floor without drawing a crowd, midnight screening of Peter’s web pilot Caldea, Alphabet Tycoon and Dragon Farkle, helped run some Burning Wheel, played an official 13th Age game where a Druid shape changed into a wolverine and got one-hit by a stone golem (ouch)…oh and Drinking Dice. By the fifth day I’m thinking I should kickstart “Gamer Chafe Powder” for next year.
Evolution, by North Star Games! It’s fun, pretty quick, and in that sweet spot where simplicity and complexity meet. I have lost both times I’ve played, but that really only makes me want to keep playing until I win.
Also Temporum, made by the same guy who makes Dominion, is a good one.
FireFly has a new vinyl mat with all the expansion space printed on it! Much easier to use. Grabbed that up quick!
Patrick Rothfuss signed books for free. Such a good guy.
Penny Press surprised me. Each player is running a newspaper in the early 1900s and vie to claim and publish the top stories. A lot more fun than I thought it would be.
Ran across someone with a Beholder hat that I now must have:
https://twitter.com/EpicSkeletonz/status/628524293849247745
I was there and had a great time. I didn’t spot Wil and crew but did get to see Marina Sirtis as she was signing stuff at Mayfair. Played some old school Illuminati and Plaid Hat’s Specter Ops, which was pretty good and I hope can find some space with Fury of Dracula 3rd edition coming out. Also got to watch some games of Heroscape and Summoner Wars. Picked up some Malifaux 2nd edition stuff and Goodman Games Metamorphisis Alpha and DCC products. Went to the “What’s in the Future for Goodman Games” seminar. Steven Crompton talked about his experience with Grimtooth’s Traps and Lou Zocchi talked about dice. The Goodman crew talked about Spanish and Portuguese editions, changes to their player/gm program, Lankhmar, more Metamorphisis Alpha, Mutant Crawl Classics, and more Xcrawl crossovers.
I am unreasonably excited for this game to come out. I played the hell out of it back in the 80s.
I forgot I also picked up the Flight expansion for Evolution that I kickstarted.
Alas, I couldn’t attend… some drivel about “priorities.”
But next time… oh yes… next time…
I’m catching up on Tabletop eps. & still have to see Titansgrave. Have never been to GenCon, but I would hope they have a special area to give aid & comfort to non-gaming spouses. Ha! Hope all who went enjoyed & did not contract ConSARS.
Very first event at GenCon for me was a Titans Grave RPG session. It was lots of fun and I didn’t manage to get the books, but I can’t wait to pick them up.
I spent every evening playing WitchHunt and making lots of new friends. It is an amazing Mafia/Werewolf type game and so much fun. Looking forward to their Kickstarter which should be happening any day now.
Suburbia was a good find for me. However, most of my days were spent playing the Pathfinder Society adventures. Three whole days of Pathfinder was amaze-balls.
The hits for me were Titansgrave, Fantasy AGE, the Cypher System core book, Smash Up Munchkin, Fairy Tale Gloom, Munchkin Steampunk, and Dead Panic. Also grabbed some games that have been on my list since seeing them on Tabletop: Dead of Winter, Coup, and Sheriff of Nottingham. And I finally got a set of metal dice.
I saw Wil a few times, but didn’t want to bug him. The Titansgrave panel was excellent. Thanks for announcing the new seasons.
It was a good Gen Con. Aside from succeeding in all of the D&D Adventurer’s League play events I participated in, I really enjoyed Dice City from AEG, Elder Sign: Streets of Arkham (an expansion that really polishes the game, talked to the designer afterward, great guy), Takenoko with the Chibi expansion (baby pandas), and Nefarious. I spotted you having your impromptu meeting at the booth. Nice beard. Since you’ve laid down the “I’m a gamer at Gen Con” I didn’t bug you.
Was a little bit confused that Wizards of the Coast didn’t show up at all, but researching online says that they’re just doing the Adventurer’s League stuff at Gen Con and confining their announcements and recruitment to PAX conventions. Considering that they’ll probably get more exposure to people new to RPGs there, I can see their reasoning, but I did miss seeing a large statue and at least a small store offering Wizards D&D merch.
I brought back a lovely case of con crud! Also, Fantasy AGE and Titansgrave, which beat the hell out of congested eustachian tubes.
I actually didn’t wind up playing that much – it was my first GenCon, and it was just amazing to be there and soak in the sights, sounds, and smells (which were not as bad as some reddit posts made it seem). I ran a Dungeon World game with some truly fantastic players, which was the highlight for me.
This was our family’s second GenCon (8yo, 11yo) and my son’s first cosplay!
https://twitter.com/MerelyRachel/status/628739022173663232
We’re really excited for Tail Feathers (Mice & Mystics). It isn’t out yet but we learned about the tilt mechanic and the rider mice are swappable! Beautiful sculpts too.
We had fun with Ninja Camp, simple but strategic. Survive: Space Attack is a solid update to Escape from Atlantis. Zombie 15′ was fun and tense. We came home with Shiny Dice and Darkmoon.
Oh, and we were excited to discover that Gulo Gulo is back in print as the re-themed Pharaoh’s Gulo Gulo by HABA. The original was one of our first hobby game purchases when our daughter was 4 and now my niece can get her own copy! We still play and enjoy ours.
I saw a bunch of games I enjoyed, but my group of friends ended up playing a game called “Meow” while I was at your Q&A.
It was THE WORST game any of us have ever played, mainly because it is really not even “a game”. We would just say “Meow” “Not Meow” back and forth the rest of the convention as a running joke.
The best part about it was that it made us forget how awful “Top Gun: The Card Game” was…
I very briefly met you on the show floor when you were looking at Sentinals stuff. Thank you for humoring me for a moment while I was star struck. You made my first GenCon a memorable one.
I went to GenCon (which is easier for me, as I live in Indianapolis). I ran four sessions of D&D in the main D&D room, including Epics Thursday and Saturday nights until midnight. My players seemed to have a good time, and I’ve heard a lot of good feedback about the Epics, and 5th Edition in general. I enjoy it very much myself.
The only games i played were the Big Catan game, a session of Godlike, which is about super-powered soldiers in WWII, and half a demo of Legend of the Five Rings. I’ve seen you at previous GenCons but this year our paths never crossed, though I’d heard from friends you were there. I hope you had a great time!
Unfortunately my toe decided to nope out on me in a big way halfway through the con so I spent that stuck in the hotel room, but before that I got to play a very silly game with the QAGS system which I loved, got to a couple of seminars (including the Titansgrave one!) which I also loved, picked up some games and added to my Dwarven Stones dice collection. So while it had some drawbacks there were some definite bright spots too!
I hope you had some luck in finding the items you’d mentioned you were looking for in the panel. It’s always an adventure trying to find older and out of print games there but very very satisfying when you can manage it. And because I didn’t get to the chance to do it at the con, this is me waving and saying ‘Hey Wil’ from across the room. Complete with a goofy text illustration. o/
Legendary Encounters Predator is awesome! Love2Hate is another great game!
Best.
Con.
Ever!!
Not sure if Beholder…
[Futurama Fry]
…or Mike and Celia Wazowski’s first child.
First GenCon and had a great time. Got to try out Spirit Island, a game being developed by Greater than Games. The Kickstarter should be launching soon according to the guy running it and I highly recommend getting in on it. Plaited Code of Nine at the Zman booth and just had to pick it up. Bought Dead of Winter so I could get the Felicia Day card. Also played Elder Sign: Gates of Arkham and met the developer (as stated above cool guy). My fiancé and I both loved it and we’ll be getting it soon too. Watched some XCOM being played at FFG booth but it was always too busy to get in a game. It still looked cool enough to buy so I did. Unfortunately missed the Titansgrave talk cause I was in the middle of a D&D game but my fiancé shared some of the best parts later.