Random starting notes:
- True Dungeon seems to be less of a big deal in the con culture this time out. Maybe due to the poor position of the Tavern. Or maybe just because I am hopped up on goofballs. I will probably start hearing more about it when Chris has his run.
- People are coming away from the IPR/Forge/Wicked Dead booth with big, big handfuls of books. At one point the line was exactly half as long as the line to buy stuff at the WotC booth – I counted. (The only really impressive lines were at Privateer for Superiority, FanPro for I assume CBT Total Warfare, and – this one shocked me – the Order of the Stick guy for his new board game.)
- People seem to be buying and playing Dreamblade at an impressive clip. Some booths are even selling singles already.
- I still haven’t gotten to play Mechaton. DAMMIT
- Also haven’t seen the Viktory II guy. I don’t remember if we linked to this fellow’s exhaustive documentation, floated on the net a few weeks ago, about what-all went into the garage production of his combat game. [Edit: we have now.] Will have to look for him more carefully tomorrow.
- Already a much stronger presence of video game companies. Pirates of the Burning Seas, yay.
- “Preorder the Deluxe Edition of Kill Doctor Lucky from Titanic Games and get a limited edition Dr. Lucky miniature!” !!!???
More soon, naturally.
I got a chance to play Dreamblade tonight, at Endgame (not being at GenCon and all). We enjoyed it – interesting game play, bizarre and cool minis, and odd strategy. A very entertaining minis … er, boardgame … er, CCG-esque … uh, game. I can see where it might get some attention at the Con.
Plus, the minis are just wild – very good for pre-painted quality. Some players are in for a fright as DMs start getting their grubby little mits on them.
Keep up the reporting and enjoy the Con!
The viktory II guy won’t be at the con according to this post on his forum:
http://www.morrisongames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=47
Don’t know if he found anyone to demo his game.
Reports are coming in that the Dreamblade tournament at GenCon is pulling in 436 – not a bad number for a game two days old! Picked some up myself today and I can definitely see the attraction…
Yes, I managed to say 463 on the audio we taped. I am brilliant. I wandered around and did some very informal focus group testing, and I would say there was an even split between people just playing to try and win cash, and people playing to enjoy the game. I think WoTC has something here. I really hope they do…
Dreamblade was indeed doing well… starters and boosters started out at $22 and $11 respectively at most retail booths ($7 less than WotC), and went up $3-4 each by the end of the weekend. One piece (Scarab Warcharm) was selling for over $40 if you could find one.