It’s been a week since GenCon concluded, so it’s probably time to release Wayne’s last journal concerning the big show. Wayne reflects on the costume contest, Felicia Day and The Guild, and the dealer room. Plus, his final thoughts!
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Funnybooks’ Wayne is our man-on-the-floor at this year’s GenCon currently rolling like exploding dice in Indianapolis. In the first of his GenCon Journals, he describes his experience as a first time GenCon attendee, he dives into True Dungeon, and even captures a special message from The Podge Cast’s Luke Meyer.
Woot!
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Hello Gamers,
I am off to GenCon tomorrow, and I am looking forward to a good time. I am packing Labyrinth Lord and Michael Curtis’s Stonehell if anyone is looking for some old school gaming goodness. Labyrinth Lord is a clone of Basic D&D, so if you enjoyed the Red Box (elf is a class!) you will enjoy this. Stonehell is a huge, sprawling dungeon, ripe for exploration. It is so big that it is not a module, it is a campaign setting. I have a long term, ongoing game that revolves around Stonehell dungeon. I have already decided that, should anyone want to play a Stonehell game, the results will effect my home campaign. My players will see the results of your actions.
I will also be packing The Dr. Who RPG, Hackmaster Basic, and everything I need to do a completely random tables based game. If you are going to GenCon you can find me as rmckee78 on Twitter.
Hello Gamers,
Sorry this is a little bit late, but I got my rat tail tangled on a Street Fighter II machine and it took forever for the paramedics to arrive after we called them on the car phone.
I have to say this is a great time to be a traditional gamer. I attended DexCon in NJ and had a blast. If you are in the NY/NJ area, and enjoy any kind of tabletop gaming, you need to make this con. It is a good size (that’s what she said), not so big that you get lost, but there is enough people to support all kinds of gaming. Read the rest of this entry »
Luke Meyer: Crafting Iron Tyranny
Sometimes you just want to play with giant robots blasting each other to smithereens. That is exactly what I got to do when I was given the rare opportunity to not only play test a new game before it was fully developed, but also to do so with one of its creators.
The game that I’m speaking of is Iron Tyrants and the creator is Luke Myer of the Podge Cast. Iron Tyrants is a game of tabletop miniatures battles that he has been developing with his partner Adam Pinilla for over a year.
This game has a number of remarkable traits. The first that it is exceptionally fast paced. We were able to resolve a four player, eight Tyrant game in just over an hour, a length of time that would be necessary to play just a round or two in a game like Battletech.
The rules are also exceptionally simple and intuitive. We only needed Luke to walk us through a round or two of combat before we had all of the core concepts down and were essentially able to run the game without his aid. As simple as they were, however, the rules were neither boring nor limiting. Like many RPGs and CCGs these days it is a game of exceptions. The core rules are simple but each Tyrant has certain abilities that allow them to break these simple rules. Read the rest of this entry »
Twitter's @ThistledownJohn and Fear The Boot's Chad at World Wide Wing Night
Chad's Cigars 101 at World Wide Wing Night
Click through for more pics from FtC3 Read the rest of this entry »
Ross Payton of Role Playing Public Radio
At Fear the Con last week, I had the good fortune to play in Ross Payton’s Age of Masks Wild Talents game. Age of Masks is a setting not unlike that of Watchmen. It is a grim and gritty modern era world where those wearing the cape of the superhero are anything but heroic. Remember Miller’s Dark Knight Returns? Then you can imagine the world Payton painted for us.
The game employs the Wild Talents system. It’s a nifty, streamlined system that were it not for it’s dice mechanic, I’d like rather a lot.
Here’s an excerpt from a great review of the game over on RPG.net:
The heart of Wild Talents is the One Role Engine. It does what it says on the tin: it tells you everything you need about an action based on a single roll. It’s a die pool game, wherein you take your statistics (Body, Coordination, Command, etc.), add them to your skills (Swordplay, Chemistry, Brawling, etc.), and roll the resultig number as a pool of ten-sided dice. Unlike similar die pool games, you’re not looking to beat a target number–you’re looking for dice that show the same result. The number of matching numerals is the “width,” and the actual numeral is the “height.” For instance, if you roll a five-die pool and get 3, 8, 3, 3, and 2, then you’ve got a 3×3 result: three instances (width) of the number three (hight). You can never roll more than 10 dice, because you’re guaranteed success if you do, and that’s just not cool. Read the rest of this entry »
The blogger studies.
Recently, I had the great fortune of attending Fear The Con for the third time in a row. I’ve been told that GenCon is like going to a class reunion where everyone is like you. Well, my graduating class was only 48 people, so I suspect Fear The Con is much more like my actual class reunion. You know everyone (by appearance if not name) and everyone knows you. Each year, I get to know a few more people a little bit better and I look forward to it as much to catch up with them as to sit down and game for 24 hours in a two day period.
This year I had the opportunity to play several excellent games, a couple good games and one decent game. Over the course of the weekend I was able to play four new systems that I was interested in, including the much anticipated Iron Tyrants, created by Luke Meyer and Adam Pinilla from The Podge Cast.
I also ran a game for the second year in a row. This game was a homebrew “system” I created based on the lives of the Klokateers, the numerous faceless individuals who work to support the greatest band in the history of ever, Dethklok. I put quotation marks around “system” because I hardly think that a four stat system using one die merits the term and because of the abysmal way in which it ended up failing me. Read the rest of this entry »
From left to right: Aron, Tim, Jonathan, and Wayne. Not featured is Paul who was too full of fail to be present.
Four out of five hosts agree, Fear the Con 3 in St. Louis rocked!
For the first time, the four of us met face-to-face. Tim, Wayne, and Jonathan are just as great guys as you’d think they are. Truly, excellent fellows to call friends.
Paul was sorely missed, but I think we’ll get him to the next one.
Something that surprised me at the con was how much Funnybook love was shared. Many people pulled me aside telling me how much they enjoyed the show. I talked comics with lots and lots of new friends. I cannot begin to tell you how amazing it was!
Two St Louis Treasures: Luke Meyer and Toasted Ravioli
Best. Wing. Night. Ever!
Seriously, a terrific turn out tonight at the pre-Fear The Con mixer. Tons of the best people you ever wanted to chat with all right under one roof with copious amounts of wings and booze in ready supply. I cannot begin to tell you how much fun this was.
My inability to describe it is largely due to the fact that I had a considerable amount to drink. The bar bill reads a bit like this: A glass of scotch, five glasses of bourbon, and two Irish Car Bombs.
I have to document the evening now as I may not recall it in the morning!
The best part of the drinking was Jonathan Landreth buying them. Hoo buddy, good stuff. Thank you, Jon-Boy!
Twitter's @ThistledownJohn
I enjoyed cigars with an awesome crew of dudes and had some righteous comic discussion with Noble Bear and others. By far, I was stunned at how much love Funnybooks got this evening. Many people came up to comment how much they enjoy the show. Truly, a very humbling experience.
The brilliance of Fear the Con is WWWN. This mixer allows folks who’ll be spending the next two days together playing games the opportunity to break the ice. It sets the tone for the rest of the weekend. In terms of gaming and company kept, FtC is the best con around. If tonight’s festivities were any indication, FTC3 will be the best yet of this convention.
NOTE: I took a ton of pics on my digital camera. I won’t be able to load them to the site until Sunday since I left my adapter at home. Me am smart. I’ll be capturing images on my iPhone in greater number tomorrow and Saturday as well as higher res images for later publication.
Lots more to come tomorrow morning when the con officially kicks off.