Hey there people!
In this thread I'll post some thoughts and what not on GenCon as it goes on, and I welcome anyone else to do the same. Day 0 went just fine, and I really love how Battletech and Shadowrun's presence have stepped up at the con. From being tucked away in a small booth a few years ago to having huge banners right in front of the main entrances is a very welcome change. I'll be eager to see how the crowds react to the new booth.
I was also thrilled to see print copies of Battlerun at the booth, with the special print-only short story--the one where I finally put in enough description to satisfy Loren.
There's other cool things at the booth that I'll have to inspect, but one of the coolest I saw today was the Eclipse Phase rulebook. I could have stared at it for a while, but then I would have drooled, and it wasn't my copy that I was holding, and I didn't want to make the owner mad.
So I got to see a number of people (and if you're someone from the boards, be sure to remind me of your online handle if you run into me!), play a round of Formula D that was won by Bryn Bills, and feel a little harried in the setup phase even though nothing has actually started yet. We're off to a good start!
Jason H.
Добавлено спустя 22 секунды:
Okay, first the bad news—due to the fact that I didn’t bring a cable for my camera, I won’t have pictures until I can get some place where I can download pictures from my SIM card. But I will do my best to describe and hope you can hold out for pictures.
Okay, the definite highlight of the day came at 10 AM. The Catalyst booth is in a prime location, right in front of the main entrance where the opening ceremonies were held, so when the doors opened there was a throng of con-goers looking eagerly ahead (some rhythmically clapping) and waiting for permission to launch themselves at what they saw. They gaped for a few moments, then they charged, and it was beautiful. Many of them jumped in line to snag the stuff that was there in very limited quantities, and at some points the line made a complete circle all the way around the tables at the center of the booth space. After attempting to help a little with the Balance of Power demos (which were held on a large, beautiful wooden table from Geek Chic), I was privileged to do line management. (At one point I was standing at the end of the line talking to Kevin Killiany and someone in line said “Look! Writers have been reduced to line management!” and I responded that we were honored to have the chance to do line management.)
So anyway, I got to spend a fair amount of time with Balance of Power and Leviathans. I still need some time to get my head around BoP’s subtleties, but I generally take that as a good challenge. Leviathans is beautiful, and listening in on the demos wasn’t always easy due to the crowds around the table. I’ll keep watching when I can over the weekend—with the relatively slow, lumbering speed of the boats, it will be interesting to see if people try to maneuver around each other or if they just say “What the hell” and plunge in for a slugfest.
Besides Catalyst games, I played a game called Arcane Legions that promised simple and easy large-scale combat. It largely delivered on that, but that didn’t make it entirely successful. It many ways it was too Risk-like—the hot hand with the dice has an enormous advantage. Additionally, the armies have very different capabilities—the one my son was playing had great archers, and I had very little ranged weaponry. And I loved ranged weapons! Give me range and speed and I’m a happy man. So while the dice gave me an early lead, the fact that my son could drop arrows on my while I was getting into position helped him finish me off. He enjoyed it, but I don’t think it’ll be a pickup for me this year. And not just because he beat me.
Other than that, there was lots of chat with friends and such, some time in the art show, and a fair amount of standing up. Tomorrow there will be the Battletech seminar, the ENnies and all sorts of other fun.
Jason H.