GenCon Report Part II
I spent more time in the exhibit hall than anywhere else. There were a few reasons for this. First, Angela’s booth was in the art show and, you know, I wanted to spend some time with her. Second, the place was huge and filled with cool stuff. I easily get entranced by books as it is. Add in swords, cool minis, computer game demos, and a giant Gleemax brain? Yeah. I had no chance. Third, the demo games were fun – little snippets of games being run by people who really wanted you to have a good time. I had some trouble getting into actual RPGs due to a combination of not pre-registering, being a bit on the socially tentative side, and being annoyed at the fact that playing stuff cost money even after you paid for your badge – so I mostly stuck with demo games.
Some random things about the exhibition hall:
The Godsend Agenda guy (Jerry) tried to sell me on his game as I walked by – I told him that I had a copy in my house, because my roommate Grace had done some art for it. When he found out Grace was in the art show, he got really excited and got me to take him over there so he could meet her in person. He seemed like a really nice guy, and he bought one of Angela’s boxes.
I felt like Gary Gygax was stalking me. I kept turning corners to be confronted by him. It was a bit unnerving.
Starcraft II is very pretty, but I wasn’t really a Starcraft I fan.
Greg Stolze ran a quick demo of Reign for me, but I still don’t really have a feel for it as a game (it felt more like a toolkit for running organizations/countries/factions).
Fin Fang Foom.
I got cheap and free books. I’ll post a list of the stuff later. Angela picked me up a copy of the new Sidereals book for Exalted.
I bought some practical dice. Angela bought me some pretty dice. I bought her some D&D minis. This seemed to make her happy.
There was some really pretty mini terrain out there.
I didn’t see a single copy of Ptolus other than the one in the Ennies booth (which wasn’t for sale).
Wizards didn’t actually have much merchandise for sale. A few of their newer books, and that was about it. Mostly, they seemed to be trying to sign people up for the D&D Insider stuff.
I sort of expected big, panicky sales on 3.5 stuff after the 4e announcement. If there were any, I missed them.
My wife and I went out to the Chicago comic con this year (Wizardworld to be precise). I couldn’t resist the call of Fin Fang Foom, he just looks awesome. I just hope he fairs better then the Cthulhu we got last year; he’s slowly bent over to one side to the point that he just falls over at the slightest vibration.
I’ve never seen Gygax in person, though a friend of mine almost talked to him in an elevator once. The story goes that my friend Jeff was pushing around another friend who had broken both of his legs in a motorcross accident. They were riding the elevator at Gencon when Gary Gygax steps on. Just as Jeff is about to chat him up, his wheelchair bound buddy lets loose the loudest and rankest fart imaginable. All parties left the elevator in silent shame and disgust. Well, except for the guy in the wheelchair. Knowing him, he was probably wearing a mile-wide grin the whole time.