Gen Con Day 1
By Aaron T. Huss
Today was a busy day and included a handful of interviews, a meeting with Ed Healy of Gamerati, the D&D Press event, and dinner with the boys from Crafty Games. To keep things fresh, I’m only interviewing people I didn’t interview last year. So far I’ve spoken with:
- Ivan Van Norman from Hunters Books about Outbreak: Undead.
- Colen McAlister from Lone Wolf Development about Realm Works.
- Eric Moreau from Day Dreamer Interactive about Infinem.
- Chris Birch from Modiphius Entertainment about the upcoming Mutant Chronicles and DUST Adventures.
As always, these interviews will be transcribed and posted on Roleplayers Chronicle throughout the year, unless I find a way to get them on my computer and load them through our Podcast channel that The Warden is working on establishing.
So far, Gen Con this year is a mixture of interesting and amazing things. Cubicle 7 Entertainment has brought their inventory, but only their inventory and not that of the many publishers they support through their print program. This is in contrast to previous years when they’ve brought their inventory and many others along. Chronicle City, however, has brought quite an impressive inventory of publications from a wide range of publishers including the entire line of Corporation from Brutal Games, War of the Dead from Daring Entertainment, and a whole lot more! They’re partnered with Modiphius Entertainment, so their booth has no shortage of awesome things to pick-up. A few regular publishers are absent this year including Triple Ace Games and Mongoose Publishing. However, some new faces have shown up including Day Dreamer Interactive and Outrider Studios.
The Exhibitor Hall was not nearly as packed as I’m used to. I chalk this up to the spreading of events throughout the convention grounds and beyond, spreading the crowd to various areas of downtown. This meant that walking through the Exhibit Hall was easy and I didn’t feel like I was weaving through a non-moving crowd everywhere I went.
The most exciting thing I’ve seen today was a new kids card-based RPG from Eden Studios called Adventure Maximus. This very simple, easy-to-learn and easy-to-understand was so much fun and so graphical that you can easily get your children into role-playing. As a father with 4 children at home all under the age of 10, this is something I’m extremely interested in. The best part? It’s going to carry a cover price of only $25!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s due for a release in September, comes in a box set with 160 cards, core rulebook, and beautiful characters, and has a load of excellent expansion potential. I will be at the forefront of buying this game when it comes out. I’m also going to be breaking my rules about reviewing it, but this will be an interactive review. Then I’m going to contact Eden Studios (maybe even this weekend) to see if they’re interested in participating in a giveaway.
The biggest let down so far has to be the White Wolf “display” in the DriveThruRPG booth. I understand their new publication methodology of going 100% DriveThruRPG / RPGNow, but the display was a complete let down and I didn’t see anyone from either White Wolf or Onyx Path Publishing there. (Not that they weren’t there, I just didn’t see them. Either their team was away, they don’t have many there, or they weren’t easily identified.) For a game system with so much history and such a huge following, I really expected a lot more.
The D&D Press event was interesting. Mike Mearls was the only one to speak, but he discussed D&D Next and the new outlets where D&D will be found. The latest playtest packet just recently came out and the LAST playtest packet is slated for release in October. I sat with Jeff from The Tome Show who recorded the event. I will be linking to that recording once it’s released. One thing’s for certain, D&D is about to explode into numerous avenues and really grow as a brand name. Video games, KRE-O (which they previewed for us), miniatures, fiction, and even iOS. It will be quite interesting to see how the brand grows once the new edition comes out.
On a couple other notes, printed editions of both Better Angels and 13th Age were spotted, ready for your purchasing pleasure. In fact, I think Pelgrane Press is even running demos of 13th Age. The Pathfinder Adventure Card Game completely sold out. The Pathfinder Munchkin card game apparently sold out across the entire country. And Bruce Cordell was hired by Monte Cook Games.
On a final note, check out these beautiful Acthung! Cthulhu miniatures.
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