I’m going to GenCon! For the first time since 2014, I’ll be in Indianapolis, Indiana playing games and geeking out with gamers, fans, and publishers. I’ll be tag-teaming the event with David Moore, my co-host at the Lair of Secrets podcast. In previous years, I focused on playing as many games as possible. This year, it’s … Read more
A big part of the tabletop gaming experience is food. Back in the early days of the Blackrazor campaign, we prided ourselves on trying as many sodas as possible, eventually compiling The Great List of Soda. That list included the expected flavors like “Coca-Cola” and “Diet Mountain Dew” (which those long ago geeks scorned as … Read more
I played the best convention game of my life at GenCon 2000. It was a multi-round RPGA event called “Barbarian Lives”. It used the newly-released Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition rules to tell a soap opera-inspired tale of romance, heartbreak, and monster hunting. At the time, the Role-playing Gamers Association (RPGA) was still a notable … Read more
As the morning sun shone on the final day of GenCon I arrived at my last game of the convention, a Savage Worlds game taking place in a post-apocalyptic fantasy setting called Sundered Skies. After liberating a dragon from the deathly bonds of necromancer, I returned to the exhibition hall to complete one final quest: … Read more
It’s been five years since I’ve been to GenCon. A lot has happened since then — the convention’s moved from Milwaukee to Indianapolis. I’ve had two kids. I’ve changed jobs. And I’ve found myself wanting to play games that aren’t Dungeons & Dragons. I’ll end up carrying about as many books as I did for … Read more
There’s no game day for me today, as I’d had alternative plans that fell through when I came down with Pink Eye. Which isn’t to say there’s not some great gaming news to talk about — after much debate, scrambling and a little bit of arm twisting (or perhaps just enthusiastic encouragement — I wasn’t … Read more
GenCon, that gaming mecca held once a year in Indianapolis, is drawing to a close. And despite having gamed until unconsciousness at our home-grown NukemCon convention, I really wished I’d been there. The immensity of GenCon — the thousands of gamers gather together to play countless games, the cathedral-like exhibition hall, the electric buzz of … Read more
I went to GenCon with a list, and came back with about half of my desires fulfilled. The stuff I bought is excellent, but its tainted by the disappointment of three important no-shows at the con. The best games I picked up at GenCon were Alderac Entertainment Group’s Spycraft and Wizards of the Coast’s Call … Read more
Every year at GenCon I go on a massive RPG buying spree, easily laying out a few hundred dollars for games, T-shirts, miniatures, and dice ((drool)). Now, as the Mecca of American gamers (and some international gamers as well) draws nigh, I have undertaken my annual quest to assemble my GenCon shopping list.
I don’t know if it’s a question of overconfidence in computers, a dumbass move by Hasbro to save money, a decision by WotC to skimp on an event that they’re washing their hands of next year, or simply bald-faced incompetence, but preregistration for this year’s GenCon sucks. I’ve been to GenCon three times, and I’m … Read more