GenCon!

Aug 19, 2009 10:56

This year's GenCon was possibly the best one I've had so far. Three solid days of gaming events (nearly all of which were very fun), some good acquisitions and previews of games in the dealer's room, hanging out with some old friends and possibly making some new ones. I was able to spend some time showing off the robot, although not as much as I've have liked to. Even the drive out and back wasn't bad - the weather was mostly nice, the traffic was unusually light, and music and good company made the trip easy.

This year I originally intended to take it easier than last year, signing up for fewer events and leaving more time to relax. In that goal I failed, but at least the events I spend way to much time going to were higher-priority, things I really wanted to do. Mostly.

I heard about True Dungeon last year from some of Laurie's friends and decided to try it out, first with the True Dungeon 101 seminar and the "Getting In" miniquest, then with the main "Five Aspects'" event. Wow. Not what I expected, but a lot of fun. I can see why some people end up spending hundreds of dollars on gear and item tokens, although it seems to me the best way to do well is to be good at solving puzzles and the shufflepuck-like combat resolution system. I seem to have a knack for scoring critical hits, although I never got the hang of two-handed combat. Going back next year for at least one session, possibly two. Yet to be seen if Laurie will join me.

I managed to get into all three RoboRalley events run by a fellow who brings his own hand-made custom maps each year. Quite surprised at getting into all three as his events typically fill up in minutes after registration opens, but I wasn't passing up the opportunity to try them all. "Tomb of Twonkahamnen", "Factory Freeze", and "Paint by Register" were all great fun. I didn't do well in any of them, but that really wasn't the point. It was just fun to try out the new game mechanics and maps he introduced, as well as meeting again some of the people I've been seeing at RoboRalley games at previous GenCons. Getting into whatever events this guy runs next year will be a high priority.

I also tried the entry event for the "RoboRalley 3D" tournament. This was not so fun. It was overbooked (10 people signed up for a game which supports 8 max), run on the smallest and most difficult and annoying map that came with the game, by a GM who set everything up and then basically said "This game doesn't need a GM to run, so you're on your own now". The "RoboRalley in 3D" gimmick consisted of custom 3D tiles for all the conveyors and walls and such making up the map, which actually made the game harder to play as the robots and other game pieces didn't fit properly on the map anymore, and we kept having to look at the original game map to check which way the conveyors ran and such things. With 10 robots on the "Malestrom" map at once it was impossibly for anyone to make any progress with making it to the first flag essentially a matter of luck. This one I'll be skipping next year.

I also signed up for a "Run for your life Candyman" event at the end of the con, but bailed on that. Overbooked and crowded with annoying people.

I had the robot out and about several times during the event, but couldn't show it nearly as well or as long as I'd have liked. The $9 import wonder servos had a lot of reliability problems - not with gear failures like I'd expected, but with dead motors and cracked servo mounts. Worse than that was control problems from the terrible accuracy of the servos and limited range of the radio I used in an environment full of cell phones. More details on that are on my tech blog. I'm not sure yet if I'll try to redesign and rebuild it for next year, or come up with something completely new.

The dealer's room seemed a bit less well attended this year, probably due to everyone's recent economic problems. I did pick up some bone and horn dice for my collection of dice of unusual materials. We also bought two copies of the 6th edition Hero system rules, and a copy of "FoxBat for President" signed by the author. I was able to try the demo for Champions Online at the Cryptic booth. It was fun enough for me to pre-order a month of gameplay. From what I've played since then I don't think I'll be getting a longer-term membership.

The one regret I have over GenCon is the large amount of my limited vacation days it takes up. I'd almost consider flying out next year, but driving still has enough pluses to make it worst spending the two additional days traveling. There are half a dozen other conventions I'd like to go to as well, but so far I only have the money and time for one non-local con.
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