Game Day: Dreams of Distant GenCon

Technically, there’s no Game Day for me this week — while the guys are getting together for some Battletech, I’ll be joining some friends from work for a Tivo-fueled Battlestar Galactica marathon. I don’t know if we can get caught up in one night … but we’re going to try.

At some point I want to do a few formal “No Game Day” posts, directly inspired by Berin Kinsman’s posts of the same name, for these weeks when I can’t play. I’ve even got Paranoia XP sitting next to me as I write this, in anticipation of doing exactly that.

But the Clone Wars of Alpha Complex will have to wait for another day. This time around I want to think about a string of future Game Days at GenCon 2007. Registration will be opening soon, and I’ve started compiling a list of the game’s I’d like to play. My focus this time around will be to try as many different games as possible. To be sure, I’ll playing in the D&D Open with my friends, and I’ll sign-up for the multi-day D&D Feature as well, but those will be the only Dungeons & Dragons games I plan on playing. Everything else will be non-D&D or indy games.

The Tentative List

  • Risus: The generic, lightweight, cliché-based role-playing game has been on my “must try” list for years. Serious, silly — I don’t care, I just want to play it.
  • Savage Worlds: I keep hearing great things about this successor to the Deadlands RPG game system. It’s supposed to be great for pulp action, so I’ll be looking for that sort of game.
  • Spirit of the Century: The buzz on this game in the podcasting community has been tremendous, and it sounds like a lot of fun. Pulp heroes and supervillains? I’m there.
  • Godlike/Wild Talents: We ran a play test of the Godlike WWII superhero game a few years back, and I’ve been jonesing to play it again ever since listening to the recent Fist Full of Comics and Games play sessions and review. Wild Talents is the modern era iteration of Godlike that was released this year. I’d like to try one or both games at GenCon.
  • Mutants & Masterminds: While we’re talking superheroes, I can’t get enough of Green Ronin’s d20 take on the genre. I should have started my home campaign by the time I hit GenCon, but this is one game that I’d love to see other people play.
  • Call of Cthulhu: Some of the best CoC events I’ve ever played in were at GenCon, so this game is a given.
  • Dogs in the Vineyard: I’ve never played one of the “story”-style independent games. I’ve heard plenty of good things about Dogs in the Vineyard, and I’ve been to Idaho enough to be intrigued by a game based on Mormon gunslingers.
  • Paranoia XP Paranoia is the quintessential convention game for me — heck, I don’t think I’ve ever played anywhere other than a con. It’s style of play — six clones enter the paranoid, Commie-traitor filled corridors of Alpha Complex, none leave — is perfect for conventions, which rely on one-shot adventures anyway. It’s just that one-shots in Paranoia tend to leave large holes in the surrounding walls and craters where the characters used to be…

Spontaneous Organization

That’s a big list, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to play everything on it. But if possible I’d like to fit in some ad hoc games as well. We’ve done this at previous GenCons, where I’ve run the odd D&D or CoC game for friends at the con. I’m really hoping to get in some sessions with my fellow podcasters, and I’m going to bring along a few prepped adventures specifically for that purpose. I don’t know if it’ll happen … but it can’t hurt to be prepared.

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