Gen Con 2018 Post #1

 I am home from Gen Con 2018!

*falls over*
*sleeps*
*writes this post*

Okay, so Gen Con was a thing that happened last week. It was huge, pushing 70k unique attendees in a 4 block radius, roughly. Some weirdness happened, which I'm not really going to touch on since a Google search can reveal it, but suffice it to say that Ms. Sarkeesian's presence touched off a wave of fetid attendees who felt their right to be politically icky was being threatened. Overall, though, the con and its attendees were fantastic, and I am thrilled we were able to be there and join together in fun and imagination.

So, let's talk about what happened on my trip!

First, the swag: The pic above shows the RPGs we bought.

• Cypher System, Unmasked, and Predation: At Origins we got to play Numenera for the first time, which yes, I know, I'm late to the Monte Cook Games party. I really enjoyed it, and as a result, when I found myself in the Monte Cook booth at Gen Con, we walked away with the core rules, Unmasked (an 80s-themed supers game that Matt adored on sight) and Predation, which is Shanna Germain's setting that strikes me a bit like Horizon Zero Dawn (and which I may hack into that setting, depending). 
• The End of the World -- Revolt of the Machines is a game I picked up at Fantasy Flight Games after I stood in line for a stupid amount of time to pick up the thing my son requested (an X-Wing Tie-Fighter). There's a number of these game books, each with a different scenario -- zombies, for example. I went for Revolt of the Machines because it's not a thing I see all the time. I believe it's a translation of a Spanish-language game, but I'm not entirely sure. Looks pretty cool, though. 
• Crossroads Carnival is an ashcan of a PbtA game by Kate Bullock. It looks awesome, and I'm really excited to finally see it in print. 
• Spire -- I don't know anything about it, as Matt picked it up. It looks dead sexy, though. 
• Atlas Animalia from Metal Weave Games is a systemless setting that gives you NPCs, scenarios, and locations to translate into your own games. Like everything Metal Weave does, the art is gorgeous. 
• Beyonder, by Flying Nightmare Games. A fantasy game and system with like 10 races and an original setting and a very pretty book. 

And now, the board/card games.

• Before There Were Stars from Smirk and Dagger-- a lovely little narrative-based game based on dice and storytelling that includes random elements. Gorgeous game. 
• Cat Lady, a very cute game through AEG. You're trying to adopt the most cats, feed them, and have the most stuff for them. Sort of like Sushi Go in game play, without the card passing. I thoroughly enjoyed the demo. 
• Detective, which I can't remember who I got it from. It's a co-op mystery solving game with an online database you can consult for the cases you solve. It had a murder board up as part of the booth. They had me at "murder board." 
• Eschaton, which Matt demo'd. You're all setting up end-of-the-world cults, and then the world ends and you score. :) I'm looking forward to playing it. 
• Vanagard, which is a storytelling game from the Fate of the Norns folks. The cover has a bear wearing a cloak and baldric on it. What's not to love about this? 
• Gulveig, which is also from them. It's a card game based in Norse mythology that uses a Euchre variant as a mechanic. How can you not buy that? 
• Finally, Spirit Island from Greater Than Games. You know how in Catan, you're colonizing an island and building cities and towns and stuff? Here you're a bunch of spirits working to kick the colonizers back into the sea and get them off your island. It looks amazing and I'm excited about it. 

Next time, we'll talk about the games we ran and played and what we learned, including a preview of Daedalus FATE!