Back From GenCon
Let me first say how truly delightful it is to have wordwill back in Chicago. Not least because he drove me down to Indy and back, such that the trip passed in a blur. The system works!
The lede of this post? The Day After Ragnarok won the Indie RPG Award for Best Supplement, and the Gold ENnie for Best Setting. I expected neither of those to happen, and I am hugely gratified by the two very different signals, both alike in dignity, sent by those awards. Many thanks to righteousfist for his hard work in co-creating the book; many many thanks to those of you who have played, read, or voted for it. And speaking of righteousfist's hard work, Cthulhu 101 also won a Gold ENnie, for Best RPG Related Product née Regalia. Again, thanks to him and to all of you good people. Congratulations also to all the other winners of both awards; especially to robin_d_laws for winning the Silver ENnie for Best Adventure for The Armitage Files. If you haven't checked out Robin's revolutionary presentation and design of the collaborative, improvisational campaign, I urge you to do so. Before I leave this paragraph, I'd like to apologize to the Indie RPG Award folks for missing the ceremony -- after last year's un-ceremonious award, I'd dropped the event off my radar, and I further never imagined that my very, very trad game book -- published by someone else, for two rulesets (so far) I didn't design -- was even eligible, to say nothing of imagining it could win. So I'm baffled, surprised, and very pleased and grateful.
Other Highlights:
Playing in Greg Stolze's Nemesis game with the rest of the Arc Dream crew, including Scott Glancy, Benjamin "Monsters and Other Childish Things" Baugh, Shane Ivey, James Knevitt, John Marron, and Kevin Pezzano. How'd it go? a) Greg is a killer DM, especially in the One Roll Engine system, which seems to have a special mad-on for people's arms. b) We were playing horribly under-equipped Spetsnaz troopers tasked to neutralize a forgotten bioweapons lab on the eve of the 2008 war with Georgia. c) Do the math. Punctured MOPP suits and slaughtered civilians notwithstanding, I won, and my guy (the supercilious ELINT guy) got a bonus $40,000 payout from the CIA, which actually wanted the right thing done intelligently. So it was a fantasy game.
Converting jtidball's bacon, avocado, tomato, and broken-egg sandwich victory from Tactical to Overwhelming by the simple means of substituting sourdough bread. This was especially choice, because it took place not in a penitential breakfast (which also took place; I had a Brie, tomato, red onion, and mushroom omelet) but as a sixth-morning coda to the Best Five Days In Gaming. Plus, it led directly to Bonus robin_d_laws Time, as wordwill and I gladly detoured on our way home to Chicago to drop him off at the airport.
Blowback, by Elizabeth Shoemaker, was literally the only game I came to the show already wanting to leave with. Why? First, I have a design crush (as the Romulans say, "I admire her mind") on Elizabeth going back to the first time I met her, when she demoed It's Complicated for me -- seeing an improv romantic storytelling game using the relationship map as essentially wargame space was genius. (And the It's Complicated core mechanic is essentially "Red Rover." Gosh, what a tightly braided, beautiful design.) Second, I love Burn Notice, and Blowback is essentially Burn Notice: The RPG. Third, I want to rip off all her mechanics for Night's Black Agents. Anyway, Elizabeth tracked me down at the unexpectedly-slammed Pelgrane booth and gave me a copy out of the sheer kindness of her heart. I chalk that up to post-nuptial bliss (she's now Elizabeth Shoemaker Sampat), but I'm happy to have gotten Blowback out of it.
The show was slammed. Busy slammed. Pelgrane (my home booth) made out like nebbishy British bandits; everyone else I talked to had at least an above-average show.
The "What's New With Pinnacle" seminar, which is always full of great, positive energy. I gave my little "What's New with Day After Ragnarok" speech, and answered the occasional question from the audience of alpha Savages. If you want to see how a modern game company should interact with its fans, study Pinnacle, Paizo, and Evil Hat. End of lesson.
Steak at St. Elmo's with my old LUG cronies (and CJ from GenCon). The special was an 18-oz. dry-aged KC Strip. 'Nuff said.
The Arc Dream Saturday night strategy dinner at India Garden, which came about because I asked Shane Ivey on Wednesday when our strategy dinner was this year.
My buddy Matt Grau still owes me dinner after our strategy meeting at Origins, but I still recommend you check out his INFRNO, a combination social-networking and virtual-game-table site. It debuted at GenCon, and from what I heard, was well received.
The Pelgrane Sunday night dinner at Oceanaire, which came about because simonjrogers is a wise and generous publisher, and because you good people keep buying Trail of Cthulhu and allied products. From the oysters to the Noble One, with glorious British class-nervousness and North American solidarity all around, not a discouraging word was heard, except when the waiter said the kitchen lied about having any sturgeon.
Lunches with roninevil and jachilli. Two core components of a successful GenCon, all the more starkly memorable for their contrast with the utter mediocrity of the food involved. I got a bonus dinner with roninevil (and with the redoubtable James Lowder) on Wednesday, so that was even better.
Quality hang-out time with dtwatts, to whom thanks as always for listing me as a DNPC on the Hero Games character sheet.
ptevis introduced me to my co-author Wil Wheaton, which I understand entitles me to a line of Nerd Cred.
On Friday afternoon, I got to do an episode of This Just In ... From GenCon! (The traditional Sunday night recap episode isn't up yet; link to come when it is.) And in further macklinr news, his giant cartoonish Saint-Bernard flask of bourbon may have saved my life on Sunday afternoon, so I owe him at least 50% less mockery of his giant cartoonish Saint-Bernard flask of bourbon.
Did some business, some of which may come to fruition, so business as usual.
Regrets? I missed the dead-dog party. I missed the White Wolf party. (In both cases, I missed them in order to talk more with robin_d_laws and robheinsoo, so don't cry for me, Argentina.) My feet still hurt. I ate at the remarkably inadequate "Buffalo Wings & Rings" on Maryland Street. I was not three people with forty hours in a day, so I couldn't talk to all my friends, sign books for all the fans who couldn't find me at the Pelgrane or Adventure Retail or Hero booths, or play all the games I wanted to. But such, such are the joys of GenCon.
The lede of this post? The Day After Ragnarok won the Indie RPG Award for Best Supplement, and the Gold ENnie for Best Setting. I expected neither of those to happen, and I am hugely gratified by the two very different signals, both alike in dignity, sent by those awards. Many thanks to righteousfist for his hard work in co-creating the book; many many thanks to those of you who have played, read, or voted for it. And speaking of righteousfist's hard work, Cthulhu 101 also won a Gold ENnie, for Best RPG Related Product née Regalia. Again, thanks to him and to all of you good people. Congratulations also to all the other winners of both awards; especially to robin_d_laws for winning the Silver ENnie for Best Adventure for The Armitage Files. If you haven't checked out Robin's revolutionary presentation and design of the collaborative, improvisational campaign, I urge you to do so. Before I leave this paragraph, I'd like to apologize to the Indie RPG Award folks for missing the ceremony -- after last year's un-ceremonious award, I'd dropped the event off my radar, and I further never imagined that my very, very trad game book -- published by someone else, for two rulesets (so far) I didn't design -- was even eligible, to say nothing of imagining it could win. So I'm baffled, surprised, and very pleased and grateful.
Other Highlights:
Playing in Greg Stolze's Nemesis game with the rest of the Arc Dream crew, including Scott Glancy, Benjamin "Monsters and Other Childish Things" Baugh, Shane Ivey, James Knevitt, John Marron, and Kevin Pezzano. How'd it go? a) Greg is a killer DM, especially in the One Roll Engine system, which seems to have a special mad-on for people's arms. b) We were playing horribly under-equipped Spetsnaz troopers tasked to neutralize a forgotten bioweapons lab on the eve of the 2008 war with Georgia. c) Do the math. Punctured MOPP suits and slaughtered civilians notwithstanding, I won, and my guy (the supercilious ELINT guy) got a bonus $40,000 payout from the CIA, which actually wanted the right thing done intelligently. So it was a fantasy game.
Converting jtidball's bacon, avocado, tomato, and broken-egg sandwich victory from Tactical to Overwhelming by the simple means of substituting sourdough bread. This was especially choice, because it took place not in a penitential breakfast (which also took place; I had a Brie, tomato, red onion, and mushroom omelet) but as a sixth-morning coda to the Best Five Days In Gaming. Plus, it led directly to Bonus robin_d_laws Time, as wordwill and I gladly detoured on our way home to Chicago to drop him off at the airport.
Blowback, by Elizabeth Shoemaker, was literally the only game I came to the show already wanting to leave with. Why? First, I have a design crush (as the Romulans say, "I admire her mind") on Elizabeth going back to the first time I met her, when she demoed It's Complicated for me -- seeing an improv romantic storytelling game using the relationship map as essentially wargame space was genius. (And the It's Complicated core mechanic is essentially "Red Rover." Gosh, what a tightly braided, beautiful design.) Second, I love Burn Notice, and Blowback is essentially Burn Notice: The RPG. Third, I want to rip off all her mechanics for Night's Black Agents. Anyway, Elizabeth tracked me down at the unexpectedly-slammed Pelgrane booth and gave me a copy out of the sheer kindness of her heart. I chalk that up to post-nuptial bliss (she's now Elizabeth Shoemaker Sampat), but I'm happy to have gotten Blowback out of it.
The show was slammed. Busy slammed. Pelgrane (my home booth) made out like nebbishy British bandits; everyone else I talked to had at least an above-average show.
The "What's New With Pinnacle" seminar, which is always full of great, positive energy. I gave my little "What's New with Day After Ragnarok" speech, and answered the occasional question from the audience of alpha Savages. If you want to see how a modern game company should interact with its fans, study Pinnacle, Paizo, and Evil Hat. End of lesson.
Steak at St. Elmo's with my old LUG cronies (and CJ from GenCon). The special was an 18-oz. dry-aged KC Strip. 'Nuff said.
The Arc Dream Saturday night strategy dinner at India Garden, which came about because I asked Shane Ivey on Wednesday when our strategy dinner was this year.
My buddy Matt Grau still owes me dinner after our strategy meeting at Origins, but I still recommend you check out his INFRNO, a combination social-networking and virtual-game-table site. It debuted at GenCon, and from what I heard, was well received.
The Pelgrane Sunday night dinner at Oceanaire, which came about because simonjrogers is a wise and generous publisher, and because you good people keep buying Trail of Cthulhu and allied products. From the oysters to the Noble One, with glorious British class-nervousness and North American solidarity all around, not a discouraging word was heard, except when the waiter said the kitchen lied about having any sturgeon.
Lunches with roninevil and jachilli. Two core components of a successful GenCon, all the more starkly memorable for their contrast with the utter mediocrity of the food involved. I got a bonus dinner with roninevil (and with the redoubtable James Lowder) on Wednesday, so that was even better.
Quality hang-out time with dtwatts, to whom thanks as always for listing me as a DNPC on the Hero Games character sheet.
ptevis introduced me to my co-author Wil Wheaton, which I understand entitles me to a line of Nerd Cred.
On Friday afternoon, I got to do an episode of This Just In ... From GenCon! (The traditional Sunday night recap episode isn't up yet; link to come when it is.) And in further macklinr news, his giant cartoonish Saint-Bernard flask of bourbon may have saved my life on Sunday afternoon, so I owe him at least 50% less mockery of his giant cartoonish Saint-Bernard flask of bourbon.
Did some business, some of which may come to fruition, so business as usual.
Regrets? I missed the dead-dog party. I missed the White Wolf party. (In both cases, I missed them in order to talk more with robin_d_laws and robheinsoo, so don't cry for me, Argentina.) My feet still hurt. I ate at the remarkably inadequate "Buffalo Wings & Rings" on Maryland Street. I was not three people with forty hours in a day, so I couldn't talk to all my friends, sign books for all the fans who couldn't find me at the Pelgrane or Adventure Retail or Hero booths, or play all the games I wanted to. But such, such are the joys of GenCon.