Twice today I’ve played very, very enjoyable subsets (meaning demo games calibrated to different levels of complexity) of John Harper’s combatty RPG Agon. This is the last kind of RPG I thought I would be having a blast playing at the show. Don’t get me wrong, it’s certainly an indie
Author: admin
Live from Gen Con 06: let the wild rumpus stop
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
Live from Gen Con 06: Diana Jones likes Irish charity
The Diana Jones Award has gone to Irish gamer charity auctions. I am posting from my phone, which sucks. More later. [EDIT: Official press release below]
Next year’s Gen Con to try to be E3, kind of
So, to recap: the Electronic Entertainment Exposition, another one of those trade shows that can’t seem to remember they’re trade shows and not cons, recently got smacked down by all of its largest exhibitors. As a result, it is ceasing to exist in recognizable form. Along comes Gen Con, which
A long-awaited new example of the genericization of Magic
Mana Burn, a roleplaying game for your old Magic collection. (It’s also a wonderful example of the most economical, attractive, and audience-maximizing way to print a roleplaying game.)
Bleat helplessly in the presence of your masters!
By which I mean that comments should be working again (the phrasing is adapted from one of my favorite cards in The Shab-al-Hiri Roach – it’s inexact, I don’t have it in front of me right now BAA BAAA oh god make it stop BAAAA). I was going to solve
Spiel des Jahres 06: Thurn und Taxis
Spelled Thurn and Taxis in Rio Grande’s new stateside edition. Reserve your copy now, I guess, because with their luck of late, they’ve printed about five of them.
Origins Awards ceremony isn’t one
Instead, the posters (presumably posters, anyway) with all the winners will go out in the morning on the very first day of the show, and then a gala event of hobnobbing on Friday. The party costs $30, but I’ll take a paid party with food over a free, boring show
Mediocre news comes in threes: White Wolf kills World of Darkness, sort of
Even bigger than the rumored announcement of a product with no colon in its title (Anthony at the store came up with that joke, although he seems to have forgotten about Exalted), White Wolf announces the Time of Judgement. When I saw they were casting this as a “Year of
Live from Origins 2003: Samurai Communist Assault!
When I saw the Kanji and the black and red motif, I thought Tenjo had a booth again and got all excited, but instead, it’s another intriguing board game with a samurai theme. Senjutsu, from a startup publisher called Salvador Games, puts your samurai guys on little octagonal bases that
Live from Origins 2003: we can make a game out of anything, even pickles
Couple of quick D20 bits: OtherWorld Creations has Mercenaries: Born of Blood (I think that’s the title) new at the show; it includes rules for making a mercenary out of virtually any creature in the Monster Manual. I’m thinking shambling mound. Mystic Eye has a new Foul Locales book, Behind
Live from Origins 2003: the rock precedes the roll
Played Creepy Freaks. Some folks don’t know that John Kovalic did some of the better character designs for this game, as well as Bazooka Joe-like comics for the boosters. I was surprised – this game has real meat to it, while still being totally approachable for its target market. Wiseman
Live from Origins 2003: a spy in the house of Wa
Yes, I actually did go to the WotC booth and look at the D&D3.5 books. I’m not intimate enough with D&D to be able to say what’s changed – I can verify they still have lots of rules in them – but the new covers are nice. Also for sale
OgreCave changes publishing system; world quakes with fear
So Blogger finally pissed us off enough to get us to throw the switch and move to Movable Type. The only really visible signs of the change so far: the nifty new search widget up there on the left, and whatever errors you find in the archives (bring them to