Gen Con 2019 Recap – Part Two

To read Part One, click here.

***

When we last heard from our heroes, they’d gone from the highest highs to back to back not-so-much-fun games. We had a couple of hours to kill after the last game, which of course meant another visit to the Dealer’s Room… which really meant trying to remember where we’d left off the day before so that we could ensure seeing all that we could. Personally, I wasn’t really looking for anything, in particular, this year. The last two times I’d ended up buying a game the last day we were there (and haven’t played either), so while there were a ton of games I might have liked to scoop up, I managed a bit of self-discipline (at least for now). After dinner and a stop by the room, we ventured into the realms of Space and Horror.

Alien

Alien was the best game I played at the convention. Hands down. It is still in the final stages of the playtest, and the adventure was a part of that (I’m pretty sure that’s right). When we showed up, the two Game Masters ended up taking 5 players each and running the session for us. In an odd twist, Egg and Lee played under one GM and I played under another… which, I wasn’t sure how that was going to work out since part of the reason we go to these things is the “shared” experience. Still, we pressed on.

One of the cool things is this is another of the games from Free League Publishing and uses the Year Zero Engine (a d6 system). Having played Tales from the Loop at my first Gen Con as well as playing in a few sessions of Mutant Year Zero, it was pretty comfortable. This was supposed to go from 10 to midnight, though the GM warned us it could go a little over. It went until about 1:30 (the other GM finished up maybe 10 minutes before my group).

The slow burn of the game was very apparent. The players knew that they were in for it, but our characters were clueless. One interesting thing we had on our character sheets were “secret” motivations. It could be that you are really a Synth or you are a spy or you are out for revenge. Mine was to ensure that word of what was happening on the planet (you know, with the aliens running around killing all the humans they can) never get out. After a long adventure, I was forced to leave my commander behind and escaped the planet as the only survivor.

After the game, we stayed up waaaay too late and talked about the Alien movies and Lee started laying out his idea for an actual campaign (which I’m very much looking forward to playing).

Day 3

Geist 2E

Last year we signed up for a Geist game, got confused, and then ended up playing a 2-hour demo rather than the actual full session. Not falling for that again, we made it to our real session at 10 AM. If Alien was my favorite game, Geist has me as my favorite setting from the convention. Playing someone who nearly died, you end up making a deal to fuse with a Ghost. This provides you with some supernatural abilities, a way to observe the Underworld, and a voice in your head from time to time. Now your job is to help those ghosts who cannot move on.

The setting reminds me of Angel, Dresden Files, and The Frighteners (especially the Frighteners). As we were playing the session (where an acquaintance of our characters had been falsely executed for a series of murders he did not commit), I couldn’t help but write down ideas for a potential game. Later that night, I pulled out my notebook and filled 3 pages with various bits and pieces and questions for myself. I’d love to build a campaign for the world (heck, I’d love to write books in the world!).

Dragon Age

I’m a big fan of the video games, and while we’d played one session with the rules, I was interested in seeing how things played out when you were with others who really knew the system. This was a session with level 16 characters (I believe that is correct), which was cool since I don’t normally play in campaigns that last until those power levels (normally the story is over around level 10ish). The one hiccup is that when you have the more powerful folk, it means you have more options… so there is a little bit of a learning curve.

Regardless, the GM was full of energy (even if she did occasionally lose her train of thought – then again, it was Saturday evening at Gen Con, we were all losing our trains of thought). She ran a great session, did a great job of laying out the scenes. And was obviously a big fan of the video games (and the written material of the world). To top it off, the other player running around with us was a writer for the “Faces of Thedas” supplement – Jamie Wood.

 

We had another gaming session scheduled for 8 to midnight, but we made an executive decision to bail on the game. It isn’t something we like doing, but we were completely worn out from the late-night sessions going over… and we had the handy excuse that Dedren Snead (who is a comic book writer/creator of Sorghum and Spear as well as about 50 other projects – he makes me feel very lazy) had found us and was experiencing his first GenCon, so we grabbed dinner and walked around for a bit, soaking up that last night.

Day 4

A final trip to the Dealer’s Room had us run into Danny O’Neill (of Hammerdog Games). Danny had run a Call of Cthulu game for us at my first Gen Con and we’d been friends ever since. He was on a mission to secure artists for his next project, so we followed him around for a bit, gleaning what we could, and seeing the world through his eyes for a bit.

The last trip through the room is always a bit sad. You know it is only a small amount of time before you’ll be back on the road and then back to your normal lives. And so, in keeping with tradition, I did end up buying a game on Sunday: Shipwreck Arcana. It is a cooperative logic and math-based card game that I bought mostly on a whim after watching about 2 minutes of a demo. The artwork is very cool, and, in the days since the convention, I can actually say I’ve played about 5 or 6 games with Courtney and we really like the game!

***

Another year of way too much laughter and fun (well, you can never have too much). I’m still glad that Egg and Lee convinced me to start going to this convention. Makes me wonder what possibilities we missed all those other years!

***

John McGuire is the creator/author of the steampunk comic The Gilded Age. The Trade paperback collecting the first 4 issues is finally back from the printers! If you would like to purchase a copy, go here!

Want to read the first issue for free? Click here! Already read it and eager for more?

Click here to join John’s mailing list.

His other prose appears in The Dark That Follows, Hollow EmpireBeyond the Gate, and Machina Obscurum – A Collection of Small Shadows.

He can also be found at www.johnrmcguire.com

RPG News, Sneak Peeks, and Deals – DriveThruStockArt?, Geist 1e Deals, and More

I receive, or uncover, a number of tabletop RPG news bites, sneak peaks, and deals (and rumors) through social media, message boards, IMs, and my in-box that are worth reporting on. What follows is a collection of these rumors (take them all with a grain of salt) as well as short hype pieces (sneak peek it and I’ll leak it). From time-to-time I’ll run these notes as a column.

 

* * * * * *

Stock Art from Fat Goblin Games

Rick Hershey of Fat Goblin Games (DriveThruRPG link / Open Gaming Store link) provides tabletop gaming companies with a boatload of the stock art that’s used in their publications. On Facebook, he discussed his desire for OneBookShelf (DriveThruRPG/RPGNow, etc) to create a stock art specific website. Based on his comments, prior to his FB post, Rick “sent the suggestion several times over the last few years. Not sure if it received anyone’s attention or not [at OBS].” As well, Rick noted “the percentages OBS takes on stock art is too high – just saying.”

During the discussion, John Reyst of the Open Gaming Store, a competitor of OBS, expressed interest in discussing this with Rick as did Chris Perrin who is developing a stock art and photography sales site. Alan Bahr of Tiny d6 offered the publisher perspective – “A different site would add extra steps for me and make me less likely to use it.”

Meredith Gerber – “DriveThruRPG Pub Relations” – posted that “I am reaching out to [Rick] right now about it, actually :)” Will Rick’s posting lead to a change for the tabletop stock art industry?

STATUS: Monitoring.

 

Disclosures: I freelance for Open Gaming Network, a subsidiary of John Reyst’s Open Gaming, LLC as is the Open Gaming Store. I use affiliate links to DriveThruRPG. I’ve bought and plan to use stock art from Fat Goblin Games.

 

Below is an abridged collection of screenshots of the discussion.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

 

* * * 

Bryce Whitacre of Baker Street fame is actively developing a new game, Gnomes and Gnazis. He sent me an early draft of it and he announced it publicly on his Facebook (reprinted below).

STATUS: Developing.

Egg’s Note: This goes without saying, but I unabashedly condemn the original Nazi movement and it’s Neo-Nazi rebirth.

 

* * * * * * 

 

This week, I had several RPG articles go live across the interwebs on:

  • Open Gaming Network: An interview with Grimtooth of Trapsylvania about his trap… er, Kickstarter, Grimtooth’s Trapsylvania. This is easily one of my favorite interviews and can be read here.
  • EN World: A review of the 7th Sea RPG Explorer’s Society PDF, Thomas G. Harrison’s Bloody Misadventures: Dramatic Battles on the High Seas, a 27-page manual detailing ship-related action sequences. Read it here.
  • Tessera Guild: A look at the OSR Kickstarters for Secrets of the Nethercity, Grimtooth’s Trapsylvania (second article this week), City of Brass, and SURVIVE THIS!! Vigilante City. Read it here.
  • Tessera Guild: Our second sneak peek for Wrath & Glory, Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay Core Rules See the art here.

 

* * * * * *

 

On Kickstarter, there are DEALS to be had!

 

* * * 

PATHFINDER RPG DARK FANTASY ADVENTURES COLLECTED – LVLS 1-14 – Back this campaign for a $1 (the $1-THE GHOUL WELL-PDF backer level) to get a PDF adventure:

THE GHOUL WELL-PDF
15 page Pathfinder adventure for beginning characters. Specially created for 1st level players. Not too easy, not too hard. It is made as a low-risk, short adventure that is designed to get new players hooked onto the Pathfinder RPG system. (this adventure is a complete, standalone adventure with no attachments to the core 7 adventure product)

Ends on . Find the campaign here.

* * * 

Neoclassical Geek Revival – Back it for a CA $1 (the NPC backer level) to get an art free PDF of the game, or back it for CA $5 (the Starting adventurer backer level) to get the PDF of the game with art.

Ends on . Find the campaign here.

A trio of books for the Neoclassical Geek Revival Roleplaying Game

* * * 

Once Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition Kickstarter reaches $87k, the $10 level (the Lemure backer’s level) will nab you 10 Geist: The Sin-Eaters 1st Edition PDFs. For $5 more, you can add the Chronicles of Darkness core rulebook PDF. $15 gets 11 PDFs!

  • Geist: The Sin-Eaters 1st Edition PDF
  • Ready-Made Characters 1E PDF
  • Quickstart – Return of Mr. Monster 1E PDF
  • Through the Ebon Gate 1E PDF
  • World of Darkness: Book of the Dead PDF
  • Nightmare on Hill Manor 1E PDF
  • Dem Bones 1E PDF
  • House Always Wins 1E PDF

At $87,000 in funding – Underworld Reflections Historic Addition – Dark Eras: God’s Own Country PDF (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 1E set in post-WWII New Zealand) and Dark Eras: Three Kingdoms of Darkness PDF (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 1E set in China following the collapse of the Han dynasty) will be added to the Underworld Reflections 1E PDF Bundle.”

Ends on . Find the campaign here.

 

UPDATED [2018-07-14] – They passed the funding stretch goal and have made it official in this update (read it here).

 

 

* * * * * *

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links.

Egg Embry, Wanna-lancer™
Freelancer for EN World, Knights of the Dinner Table, Open Gaming Network, and the Tessera Guild.
Want to share news? Rumors? Sneak peeks? Deals? Want your RPG Kickstarter reviewed? Have some RPG wanna-lancer thoughts to share? Contact me here or on Facebook (Egg Embry) or on Google Plus (+Egg Embry).