As expected, the ENnies Award winners were announced Friday night at Gen Con. Among those taking away the prize were Green Ronin Publishing (Best Game, Best d20/OGL Product – Mutants & Masterminds 2e; Fan’s Choice Best Publisher; multiple others), Paizo Publishing (Best Campaign Setting/Setting Supplement, Best Adventure – The Shackled
Live from Gen Con 06: yes, I can write about things besides story games
Pieces of Eight rocks. It’s simple and plays fast, but it still has a lot of depth and even some bluff. No, it isn’t collectible – fixed sets. Above all, it has figured out how to take one of those much-vaunted things that tabletop games can do and digital games
OgreCave review: Grand Tribunal
We’ve got a new review to squeeze in between all the Gen Con reports. Today Brian gives us his take on Grand Tribunal, the Ars Magica themed boardgame from Atlas Games. If you couldn’t make it to the Best Four Days in Gaming… well, console yourself by reading some of
Tenacious preview of The Spoils at Gen Con Indy
Another game is preparing to enter the collectible card game market: Tenacious Games’ The Spoils. The game setting strikes me as a blend of steampunk and fantasy, with some sci-fi anime influences as well. The early art from beta samples we’ve received are high quality, and occasional hardcore combat scenes
WizKids brings in Mike Elliott as Senior Designer
Stage one of WizKids’ regrouping after its recent layoffs and product cancellations appears to be bringing in new talent. In a press release today (see below), WizKids announced that Mike Elliott, formerly of Wizards of the Coast, has been brought aboard as the new Senior Designer of R&D. Elliott, who
WizKids announces Pirates Online
WizKids has announced a partnership with MMO-sters Worlds Apart (now apparently known as Sony Online Entertainment Denver) to release an online version of the Pirates of the (Insert Thing That’s Not The Carribbean) CMG in the fall. Coincidentally, the fall is also around when the bulk of retailers will be
Live from Gen Con 06: home of Elvis and the ancient Greeks
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
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 new age of RuneQuest
Plenty of gamers are excited that the new RuneQuest arrives in stores (and at Gen Con) this week, and Mongoose Publishing is making sure players hit the ground running. Aside from the main rulebook being a mere $24.95, multiple support products are in the wings (three supplements in August alone),
Audio Report: the big con big pre-show
In which we call out a mess of Gen Con releases to which we look forward, and include a review from the 2d6 Feet crew of our Ogre’s Choice honoree True 20. And as always, a whole mess of other crap. Talk about it below.
World of Warcraft TCG will be along shortly
Originally announced as a Spring ’06 release, Upper Deck’s World of Warcraft TCG will be shown off at Gen Con Indy next week (according to the official site, titled WoW TCG Online as if to entice existing MMORPG players). Will this be the next Yu-Gi-Oh!-sized sensation? Not if the depressed
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.)
Guardians of Order's last words
has posted its own announcement of closure, the timing partly due to George R.R. Martin’s posting a summary of the situation last Friday on his website. GoO President Mark MacKinnon mentions continued efforts to rectify the remaining problems caused by the company “going dark” weeks ago, which many (correctly) saw