Well, well, well. Where have I been? Mostly rolling from one deadline to another, so while it was nice to have paid writing work, it did bump the blog to the back burner. I wrote an adventure for GameholeCon, and then as soon as that was done, rolled right into a sequence of deadlines for various Kobold Press projects. I had a short break and went to Lakes of Fire (Michigan’s regional Burn) where I hosted mini painting, a D&D session, and Japanese Punk and Beer Hour at our camp. It was time for rewrites on the GameholeCon adventure when I returned, and I left for GenCon the morning after handing those in. Now I have another KP deadline in a week, but as I’m fairly useless after getting in at 2am last night, blogging it is!

Other personal complications included a Covid close contact, one of our dogs biting my wife, driving my daughter to ballet rehearsals (during which I often write at the library, as I am now), and going dirt biking with my son. Next week is our family vacation, and then I’m working PAX West over Labor Day weekend. It’s been quite a summer! All we can do is keep pressing on, right?

GenCon, the Six Biggest Days in Gaming: I get a chuckle out of the signs at the convention that read, “the four biggest days in gaming” because I arrive on Tuesday to start setting up, two days ahead of the start. I’m responsible for our convention management, and that means taking on the stress load of multiple potential failure points. We need to have product ready, the rental truck could be absent, the hotel booking could fall through, and on and on. But everything went pretty well, and I get a tactile feeling of relief as each thing is ticked off the list.

It was a sweaty set up day, as the Indiana Convention Center doesn’t turn the AC properly on in the vendor hall until the convention starts. We rolled in with a lot of product to deliver to collaboration partners and some new products of our own. After unloading the truck and hauling everything in, we got our booth structures up and broke to check in at the hotel. We had a confusing exchange there, as we unexpectedly received a pile of drink tickets for their nightly reception. I’m used to sleeping on couches in strange AirBNBs, so this was quite a change. We only had hotel rooms because I checked the email on a whim after seeing someone mention that vendors got first crack before attendees and by show tenure. We’ve been going to GenCon for quite a few years, so we had a good draw for locations, and we ended up saving quite a bit of money over the AirBNBs we had used previously. The ICC sits in a dead zone for AirBNBs anyway, as it’s surrounded by hotels and government buildings. I didn’t miss the half-hour long hike after work in the grimy Indiana heat and humidity, even if half the hotel’s elevators were inoperative. I’m perfectly happy to take the stairs.

I tend to listen to one or two albums repeatedly during convention setup, and this show, it was New Model Army’s “The Ghost of Cain.” It might just be a flawless album. Every song delivers and there’s a fair range of variety presented. Danceable, tribal drums, amphetamine-jitter rhythms, busy bass, fairly clean guitar, and tuneful vocals with exceptional lyrics. The only weakness might be that it opens with the Hunt, which is one of the hardest songs ever, and never really hits that particular mark again. I also think I had to reach a certain age (and spend four nights dancing at a Burn) to appreciate it. The bonus tracks on the double CD are pretty much as good as the album. Highly recommended.

I caught up with some friends Tuesday night, and then Wednesday was dedicated to product setup. We considered going to see Deadpool and Wolverine while we waited for the rest of the crew but ended up sticking around, working rather slowly in the heat. Once everyone had arrived, I got them to their rooms, and we reconvened in the evening for a get-together at a local bar. You could find me huddled in the corner with some of the Dwarven Forge folks for most of it. Our schedules didn’t quite align for the rest of the show, so it was nice to see them then.

Thursday! The show started and was off like a rocket. The time flies when we’re busy, and between the sold-out crowd and generally high enthusiasm, we had a great day. I had my only game of the show that evening. I played in the new DCC funnel on the floor of the football stadium with the Goodman Games wizard van parked nearby, which is always amusing, The game was so-so. The GM had run out of pre-gens, so we spent the first twenty minutes copying them out by hand, and then the adventure was fight, fight, some personality rolls to scoot through a social situation, and another fight. When I’m playing an RPG, especially in a funnel, I want stuff to mess with. Give me levers to pull that either dump gold or acid on my character’s head! But no. No magic, no weird dice, just fight, fight, fight. Bit of a disappointment, unfortunately.

Friday: On Friday we did almost exactly the same volume of business as the previous year. It’s curious how that happens sometimes. Cons can be quite predictable, unless they’re not (great insight there, I know). Our new Dungeon Journal led the race neck and neck with our older scroll and codex rolling tray and dice tower set. We had our company dinner, during which one of our crew complained of not feeling well. I suggested they take a Covid test, and after one bad test, the second returned a clear positive. Well, great. I stopped by the GenCon consignment store and spent the rest of the evening sitting under a streetlight, drinking from my flask and talking to my family back home, before turning in. Still, somehow, no one else in our crew got sick. At these events, there are so many people, and you can only assume you’re exposed, so you should always base your actions on your risk tolerance. These are the times we live in.

Saturday: After that down note, everyone woke up feeling alright, and our coworker had a relatively mild case. They isolated and the rest of us had a wild, possibly record breaking day. Busy, busy. Another quirk of Indianapolis is that in addition to have an AirBNB dead zone around the convention center, it’s also a vegan food desert. I always plan ahead of time and bring most of my meals with me. This time, it turned out I had one more than I had time to eat, so I was able to give it to a busy friend who was racing from the vendor floor at 6pm to a game at 7 every evening. I went to the new ice cream place that flash freezes your choice of milk (oat), flavor (peanut butter), and toppings (Oreo chunks), and it was honestly really good. There actually is a vegan place in the mall near the con, but it’s a quirky take-out counter with no dine-in option, and I never managed to make it over there during their operating hours. I saw some more friends Saturday night, went to half of a performance event, and then turned in early to prepare for the late night drive that was sure to follow.

Sunday: I got to the con early so that I could walk around the vendor hall. People often remark on how crowded it is, but it’s pretty nice at 9am, an hour before they let the teeming hordes in. The vendors all understand the deal, and you can usually make your purchases if you’re polite. It’s a nice privilege as an exhibitor. And then it was the usual Sunday. Our pace slowed down, as we had sold out of some things, and you get a lot of tourists who are just checking things out. Some more friends dropped by, and that’s always nice. It really helps move the day along and keeps my energy up. And then at 4pm, the AC powered down and it was time to get the truck and wait for three hours in the marshalling yard. I was prepared this year and brought a book, my dinner, and a big bottle of water. Then we loaded up and headed home. I loaded up on caffeine and chatted the entire way with my coworker, so I mercifully avoided the usual sleepiness that gets me on night drives. We unloaded the truck at 1am and returned it, and I finally got to bed at 2.

The Haul: I think it’s a little weird when people post pictures of what they bought. Bravo, well done! But I imagine they’re just sharing their joy and excitement, so forgive me for doing the same. I didn’t go wild, after all, I work these events so that I can help pay for ballet lessons and track time. But I did pick up a few choice items.

I got N1: the Forest Oracle and B6: the Veiled Society at the consignment store. I had N1 as a kid but have never had B6. N1 has a reputation as a punishing railroad, but look at that cover art! Outstanding.

The Yellow Book of Brechewold comes well-reviewed, and is an Arthurian magic school hybrid, or something of the sort? And it has an odd home at Lamentations of the Flame Princess as it doesn’t seek to test the sensibilities of its readers. There was a line at the Shadowdark booth during the day after they cleaned up with four Ennies. I went in on the Kickstarter so the only new thing for me was the Solodark pamphlet. It’s really more of a reference to some blogs and videos with a couple of pages of its own rules. I’ll have to watch the YouTube video to see how it really goes, because while this provides some jumping off points for figuring it out yourself, it’s really loose and I’m not sure I could play solo from it without doing my own additional reasearch. But I guess that’s the point? I’d prefer a complete system, but oh well. Maple Witch of the Beaver Wars is a Neoclassical Geek Revival module, and how can you pass up that title? Quite Canadian.

I got a few of the exclusive WizKids minis, but not the ones you needed a ticket for. Speaking of, I didn’t get the 2024 D&D Players Handbook either. I usually woke up after the tickets became available, so it wasn’t meant to be, and the promised gold foil stamp to mark the event turned out to just be a loose sticker anyway. This is a lovely dragon, though. And I got two of the new D&D meeples for my kids. Odd products, but good little gifts.

Outcast Silver Raiders just saw its proper post-Kickstarter print run, but there were none for sale at GenCon. Someone was kind enough to sell me a copy of the Kickstarter edition, and my word, just look at that box. It’s around three inches thick and a thing of beauty to behold. I can’t wait to dig into it.

So that’s that! Another GenCon in the books. On to PAX West.