Gen Con is always an amazing experience and for Catalyst Game Labs this was the best year yet. To hold arguably the finest spot in the hall…it was intimidating. Especially combined with the 25th and 20th anniversaries for BattleTech and Shadowrun. Yet we shouldered forward knowing these properties deserve everything we could give them.
Beyond some great new releases for BattleTech, Shadowrun, and CthulhuTech, without a doubt our most exciting release was the Eclipse Phase core rulebook, our new post-apocalyptic, conspiracy and horror RPG. We were only able to bring in limited numbers but every day saw a flurry of activity to sell out each day’s allotment in minutes.
We also unveiled a host of casual games that will release this fall. From the classic German-style Reiner Knizia-designed Merchants, to the much anticipated Balance of Power boardgame of subtle influence and warfare in 1815 Europe, to Poo where players take the role of monkeys doing what monkeys do best, and more: thanks to everyone that swung by the booth and tried their hand at one of our new games. More details on all our coming casual games can be found at www.catalystgamelabs.com
Catalyst Game Labs also demoed, for the first time, our next epic, dynamic universe, Leviathans: a miniatures game of air titans fighting in an alternate history 1910. A mix of Edwardian Science Fiction with hints of Victorian Science Fiction and even some Steampunk, it’s scheduled for release in early 2010. A host of details (including fiction, blogs of game design and art development, and more) can be found at www.monstersinthesky.com.
Outside of our new booth and new products, attendance for our current games was stunning.
BattleTech ran a host of events from the Grinder to the Solaris Arena Fights, the Open to the extremely well attended canon events, and more. All told, BattleTech had 600 player hours on Thursday, 700 player hours on Friday and over 900 player hours on Saturday! Camo Specs Online brought their usual fantastic diorama (a triptych of eras from 3025 to 3050 to 3075) and this year painted in the gaming hall, allowing players in between games to grab some hints from these masters at work. We’d like to congratulate all the BattleTech winners!
This year our RPG presence took a huge spike upwards as we ran four different games.
Shadowrun had almost 500 runners across four different events in the dark sprawls of the future. Once again we’d like to congratulate all the winners!
CthulhuTech—only added to our line-up of games last year—had an impressive showing of 62 players.
With Eclipse Phase only premiering at the show we still ran events involving 45 players.
Finally we ran quick-start games for A Time of War: The BattleTech RPG (not due out until Winter) and still put 36 players through the grinder of this much anticipated fifth core rulebook for BattleTech.
Such a fantastic showing for our new games, along with the strongest showing in years for BattleTech and Shadowrun, is a testament to the strength of these communities…communities we hope to continue to grow.
Catalyst would like to thank all those who voted for our books for the ENnies, providing us with three great awards: CthulhuTech Core Rulebook: Best Cover; CthulhuTech Vade Mechum: Best Supplement; The Corps BattleCorps Anthology: Best Regalia. Congratulations to all of the winners!
Gen Con would not be possible without a superlative team of volunteers. These men and women dedicate a huge amount of time and effort well before Gen Con ever starts and then on through the grind that can be 18-hour days at the show. All of this is done to make us (and the games they love) look good and to ensure that anyone playing our games (from a quick demo in the booth to an 8-hour gaming slot) walks away with a great experience and memories to last a lifetime. Thanks to all of you!