Gen Con 2007 In A Nutshell

Another year, another Gen Con? Hardly. This year was the 40th anniversary of Gen Con, marked the announcement of the newest edition of Dungeons and Dragons, and was the first year videogame companies were actively sought out as exhibitors. Put together this resulted in what felt like record crowds, a healthy dealer's hall, and an instant conversation-starter with every other person at the event. Read on for notes on the new tabletop releases, thoughts on the new edition of D&D, impressions of the videogames that were in attendance, and a shameful admission of weakness.

Gen Con remains a bastion of tabletop gaming, but I'll admit it: I didn't get as strong a sense of the new tabletop game releases as I have in previous years. Instead, I spent time I would have normally put towards demoing games with dice and pieces towards getting a handle on the handful of videogames at the event. It seemed like almost every one was a Massively Multiplayer Online Game, but there were several representatives of other genres as well.

What I did glean from this year's event is summed up very well by well-known designer Robin Laws: "This year was a holding pattern." Many of the companies making products for the Open Gaming License/d20 system seem to have died back. With the announcement of Fourth Edition, there will be a resurgence the year after next, but for this year things seemed to be fairly quiet.

This Year's Releases

So what was released this year? Biggest hits at the con, by far, were the Battlestar Galactica RPG, Changeling: The Lost, and the new version of Talisman. The Battlestar tabletop game is a sister product to the Serenity (as in Firefly) RPG, both of which use the same rules-set ("Cortex"), and are published by Margaret Weis Productions. The Serenity game has a fairly impressive following, with the core book already being on its fourth printing just a year after it was released. Battlestar seemed to be offering up a similar buzz. The Weis booth was also playing host to voice actor Jason Marsden, who plays the part of Tasslehoff Burrfoot in the upcoming animated Dragonlance movie. They showed off a trailer for the film, currently slated for release later this year.

White Wolf gamers may not have been waiting with baited breath for a new version of Changeling; it was never as popular as their 'big three' of Vampire, Werewolf, and Mage. Just the same, I saw a number of copies of the updated title walking away from the White Wolf/CCP booth this year. The attraction of EVE Online in the same booth didn't stop White Wolf players from picking up the latest in the 're-imagined' World of Darkness.

Talisman is probably a name familiar to long-time boardgame players. Under the Black Industries imprint, Games Workshop is re-releasing their classic adventure game with a slightly updated look and a few tweaks to the rules. From what I heard, though, it's almost entirely the same game that you knew back in the day. It just won't cost hundreds of dollars on eBay anymore. Lines for the title were going down the rows and out the door of the exhibit hall, and my impression is that they sold out pretty much every day they had new product to sell.

It didn't have as much buzz as other announcements at the con, but well worth noting was the formation of a company called Catalyst Game Labs. Catalyst is a new outfit formed from the ashes of "Fantasy Productions", or FanPro as it was more commonly called. FanPro has been publishing the Shadowrun RPG since FASA gave up the ghost a few years back, and while the quality of the books has been fairly high it would be kind to say that they've been released on any kind of regular schedule. The new company marks a turn for one of the most well-known intellectual properties in pen and paper gaming, with two new books (Emergence and Augmentation) available just at this convention. Working together with the folks behind the Classic Battletech line, they now having backing and a business plan. If you're a Shadowrun fan, there's going to be a lot to look forward to in the coming years.

Dungeons and Dragons Fourth Edition

The biggest news was, of course, the announcement that Wizards of the Coast is going to be releasing the fourth edition of Dungeons and Dragons next year. At a press event the day before their public announcement to Gen Con attendees, they tried to lay out the groundwork for their ambitious new plan. Essentially, these new books have been eight years in the making. The R&D team at WotC is looking to adapt Dungeons and Dragons to the way that it's played, and stop forcing gamers to play the game the way the game is set up. While the switchover from 2nd edition rules to 3.0 was an amazing step, it was in some ways still black magic. They now have a large base of knowledge to work from, that's going to let them change the game in fundamental ways. They hope it will be for the better.

The biggest changes will be mechanical. My review of the Saga Edition of the Star Wars RPG discussed the significant rules changes that title underwent; the R&D folks as much as admitted that book was sort of a 'test run' for concepts they'll be incorporating into fourth edition. The focus is going to be on ease of play for everyone, both in front of and behind the DM screen. Party roles will be more clearly defined. Encounters will be reformatted, and monsters retuned to more understandable roles and difficulty levels. It may just be hyperbole, but the designers are aiming to 'make D&D feel heroic again.' On the far end of the scale, this means that epic-level play will now be a core part of the game. That is, the Player Handbook will support level progression from 1-30. Levels 1-10 will be known as 'heroic' levels, where characters are better than the average human but still 'normal'. Levels 10-20 are 'paragon' levels, where characters accomplish feats only possible in a fictional environment. Levels 20-30 are 'epic' levels, where heroes will be able to step out into the world and change the course of history. Desiigner Chris Perkins put it this way: "We want first level to be more than 'run away, it's a kobold.' Gone are the days of the four hit point Wizard."

On top of that, WotC feels as though a new edition is necessary to support the other three columns of their ambitious new plan. Physical books are the most important part, but there are three other pieces that feed into the game. The first is community, exemplified by the terribly-named Gleemax.com website. Gleemax is going to offer up a single place where D&D gamers can come together to discuss the game, as well as CCGs, boardgames, and the lot; a MySpace for tabletop nerds, essentially.

Unfortunately, it's not clear how separate that piece will be from the ambitious D&DInsider.com. That site, essentially an outgrowth of the official Wizards of the Coast website content, is going to be a central hub for Dungeons and Dragons players. The late, lamented Dungeon and Dragon magazines will be available online there, and the site will also play host to the most novel concept in the fourth edition bag of tricks: The D&D Game Table. The Game Table is an online playspace, where groups can get together around a virtual table to actually play Dungeons and Dragons online. DMs will be able to lay out dungeon maps, place monsters, and run games. Players will have access to online versions of their purchased physical rulebooks, can make characters using a character creation tool, and can even create their own virtual miniatures for their characters. Voice chat will bring the whole group together. The WotC folks were very clear: this is not meant to take the place of your regular game. It's a place to go if your gaming group is spread across the country (or world) as so often happens in our busy modern world. They also envision a future where players who don't have regular games can hop online and connect with other folks to play in a regular campaign.

This last will likely be aided by the fourth leg of this concept: organized play. The RPGA has always been associated with but not a part of Dungeons and Dragons, if that makes any sense. With fourth edition the organized play campaigns will become a central component to the game experience. From your home, to the gaming store, online with the D&D Game Table, and all the way to conventions, the goal is for gamers to have a fun and slightly more formal handrail for gaming together. With a renewed interest in adventure publishing, designer goals seem to be to bring back the days when every D&D gamer could talk of playing through modules like Keep on the Borderlands or Tomb of Horrors.

All of this combines to an extremely ambitious goal: a brand new D&D. Just from anecdotal experience, from talking with players and retailers at the convention, my own gaming store, and from reading comments here on the site, the general reaction seems to be anger. The reason is understandable; 3.5 books aren't cheap, and many gamers have invested heavily in the current edition. In the latest D&D Podcast even the designers themselves admitted that 3.5 isn't 'that broken.' Thankfully, there's still quite some time before even the Player's Handbook comes out. The folks at Wizards have a good long while to explain to us what exactly they're planning to do. A long time to convince us, to reassure people that they really aren't ditching the OGL (full support), that their favorite campaigns will be supported (new Realms book next year, Eberron in 09), that it's worth shelling out another $90 for the upgrade. They've already begun, in fact; their ongoing design and development series has already put up posts on party roles, the new vision for Fighters, and what it's like to face a dragon in the new edition. If they even come close to delivering on what these articles imply, next year is going to be an interesting time to be a gamer.

Warhammer Online

Last year, I wrote this about WAR: "I wasn't very impressed, either with Mythic's showing or with the game itself. The buzz around the convention seemed to be that it is 'too much' of a World of Warcraft (WoW) ripoff." What a difference a year makes. Since then Mythic was purchased by EA, development has gone into high gear, and the company has done a tremendous job of getting out the word on what exactly Warhammer is all about. The result? A booth that was swarming with people from the moment the doors open until the exhibit hall closed. Their enthusiasm reflects my own; it's far and away the game I'm most looking forward to next year. I had the chance to take a Goblin Shaman for a spin in the Greenskins starting area, and the development team's cry of "War is everywhere" seems to have made for some inspired gaming.

Yes, it's primarily the same old level 1 experience you have in every other game. Kill grunts, gain xp, learn2play. But right away you start to see the difference. The Tome of Knowledge, for example, not only tracks what quests you're on, but tells you how many stunties you've killed (damn dwarves). Nearby a public quest is ongoing, as players struggle to kill the swarming squigs harrying a friendly giant. UI-wise, it looks like World of Warcraft redux, until you start to see all the extra doo-dads. My Goblin Shaman built up Waugh as he fought, which would have allowed me to heal more effectively had I been in a group. Morale rose as I fought too, allowing me to fire off special abilities just because I'd been fighting for a while. It's violent, it's fast, it's easy to pick up and play. And it's freaking hilarious. That dark British sense of humor seen in the tabletop game comes through loud and clear in-world, with everything from ability names (Brain Bursta, Geddup!) to quest themes. One of your very first encounters has you being tossed across a valley to the top of a dam, where you stuff unconscious dwarves into barrels and toss them over the side. I didn't even get a chance to check out Realm vs. Realm combat, the game's most exciting offering, and already I'm convinced of the title's potential. It's still in development, still getting the kinks worked out, but even in its half-finished state I think Warhammer is in a great position to turn heads next year.

Gods and Heroes

Perpetual's in-development Roman title, on the other hand, appears to be a bit adrift. At first blush it looks ready to succeed, with an inspiring and somewhat unconventional concept. The game focuses on combat in a mythical Roman setting where gods walk the land and monsters fill the wilderness. Combat with minion NPCs is the main mechanical draw. The minion system is a great addition to the genre, taking concepts seen in standard pet classes and the more advanced heroes of Guild Wars: Nightfall, and punching them up to the next level. On top of an interesting game setting and some new tweaks to gameplay, an ambitious animation system makes the game look as cinematic as it's described. Instead of blindly hacking at each other, fights involve stabbings, tosses, stamps, and throws. It's incredibly impressive when the animation system synchs up and pulls things off.

Unfortunately, there's a problem with that. Combat previously was 'locked', meaning that when two characters were fighting they were held fast so that animations could go off at set times. This looked really good, but playtesters found it too constraining. Perpetual listened, and has removed the locks. They're not working to tweak animation timing so that things will still look as cinematic as ever even without the lock system in place. It's still Beta, and there's time to get this stuff squared away ... but I have to be honest; the game felt like it was more than the two or three months away from launch than the company is claiming. When animations hit they look great, but right now combat is a mess to look at, moving through the world feels slow and cumbersome, and even the much-vaunted minion AI still needs to be tweaked. This game is doing a lot of things right, make no mistake, and I trust that when it launches it's going to garner some interest from players looking for something new. I just hope that the company gives Gods and Heroes the time it needs to succeed; right now it seems like it still needs a lot of work.

Fallen Earth

Big-name Massive games get a lot of press, but with the technologies behind MMOGs becoming ever better-understood smaller companies are starting to aim for a piece of that online pie. Fallen Earth is just such a game, backed by Icarus Studios. There's no word on a release date yet, but the little slice of the world I saw was fairly compelling. Assuming it goes live in the next six months or so, fans of the Fallout series will be able to sate their hunger on this post-apocalyptic treat. Fallen Earth imagines a southwest US ravaged by nuclear war and disease. In this bleak landscape you take on the role of an adventurer, working for the factions that control the vital resources of the area. Combat is a unique blend of FPS and RPG, with player skill determining if a shot hits and mechanics determining how much damage is done. The game feels like a fitting tribute to the complex CRPGs of yore. While it doesn't seem like it will reach widespread appeal, the players in this niche are going to have a lot to enjoy in this bleak, violent, and surprisingly funny Massive game.

Legends of Norrath

A collectible card game wrapped inside a Massively Multiplayer game sounds like crazy talk, but the folks at SOE are betting this will be a big hit. Certainly the concept is simple enough: give players of EverQuest and EverQuest 2 something to do while they're waiting for a group, or just as a way to mix things up a bit from the standard grind/kill/grind gameplay of a fantasy MMOG. While it's a simple idea, the execution is surprisingly robust. Players will be able to purchase virtual cards for a fairly low fee, or find them in booster packs dropped by in-world monsters. Decks can be constructed with the aid of a deck-building wizard (the software, not magical kind), and put to use combating players of both titles or NPC opponents. Gameplay seems to be of the 'easy to learn, hard to master' type that is quite prevalent in CCGs, with a few EverQuest-specific twists. The game will also offer up in-game loot from certain cards, just like a certain other CCG based on a MMOG ...

Pirates of the Burning Sea

I'll come clean: if the epic battle ever comes, I'll be siding with the buccaneers vs. the ninjas. It was a great pleasure, then, to get to have some more hands-on time with this most atypical online game. Although, again, I fear that broad market appeal may not be within reach, Pirates is shaping up to be darn fine game. The ship-to-ship combat is rock solid, immensely fun to play, and feels completely different from any other MMO experience you've ever had. There's a stateliness to the combat that makes the smoothly gliding schooners and soaring cannonballs somehow epic in scope. Swordplay is still a little rough, with the team still polishing in anticipation of a launch later this year. Even with the rough edges, this isn't your standard fantasy hack and slash. Players kick sand into the faces of their foes before a well-placed boot to the stomach takes them down. It's not fantasy, it's not sci-fi, it's piratical, and if you like Massively Multiplayer games you owe it to yourself to give Pirates of the Burning Sea a try.

Eye of Judgement

One of the few non-MMOGs at the event, this strange videogame/collectible card game/strategy game hybrid was drawing crowds simply because of its awesome visuals. The in-game art is definitely the first thing you notice, and is stunningly well-done. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this game, which has players angling for control of a three-by-three grid. Cards are played onto each square of the grid, where they're analyzed by the new PlayStation Eye camera and animated on the television screen. While it initially comes off as just eye candy, a few minute's play reveals the numerous layers of depth to the game. Cards have facings, for example, and must be angled to ensure their blind spots are protected. Grid squares are aligned with different elements, as are creatures, requiring players to not only control the board but consider where their thralls are placed. It deserves commentary at length, but suffice it to say that it's not going to get the kind of success it deserves. Given the strange hoops required to jump through to play, this inspired title is just not going to find the audience it should. If you have a PS3, though, I highly recommend at least giving this a unique experience a try when it comes out later this year; they're even including the eye for no extra cost.

Conclusions

Last year I was lamenting the decision to include videogames in Gen Con's mission statement, worrying that this would be the end of the convention I've grown to love over the years. That was, of course, before seeing the lackluster showing of the E3 Media event and the closure of Gen Con So Cal. "Gen Con Indy" is now the only Gen Con, and is one of the furthest east offerings for gamers when it comes to videogames. In short: videogames coming to Gen Con may be the best thing to happen to it since the move to Indianapolis. Between the MMOGs, the D&D announcement, and a huge number of attendees, the convention felt revitalized. There was a hum and a murmer to the hallways that's been lower key in previous years. It was, as always, a chance to see game designers in their natural element, and all of the folks at WotC seemed to have an extra spring in their step this year.

The tabletop gamer is a dying breed; it's well acknowledge that Massively Multiplayer games are killing them off. Playing with your friends is so much easier in your home from a PC, and is something that can be done regardless of what time zone everyone is in. This year, though, I had hope that maybe we might not be dying off so quickly as I thought. Fourth edition is an obvious strike back, an attempt by Wizards of the Coast to fight 'the enemy' on its own terms while applying eight years of careful observation back into the game mechanics.

It's incredibly risky, and the future of the most popular and well-known tabletop game hangs in the balance as a result. On the one hand, this could blow the tabletop hobby firmly into the mainstream. Dice rollers could take their place at the side of the World of Warcraft players, proudly explaining their misunderstood hobby to their relatives in terms they can understand. Or, this could completely alienate the D&D playerbase and collapse the house that the d20 built. I personally am excited. I'm excited about the possibility of a Dungeons and Dragons game without the kruft. I'm excited about the chance to play online with friends across the country. I'm excited about organized play tied directly into the core game. And I'm excited about the future of a Gen Con with no imitators on the west coast, new attendees drawn by electronic gaming, and ever-more-professional game design companies working on the hobby I love.

I'm also, sadly, excited about the future of the World of Warcraft CCG. Perhaps because of my exposure to Legends of Norrath and Eye of Judgement, my demo of the now-year-old game left me vulnerable to the dealers in the exhibit hall. I've spent the last few days happily tweaking my Blue Shaman deck, and look foward to running it against all comers at PAX. Anyone have a Parvink or two they'd be willing to trade?

WoW & DnD

It would be nice to make a DnD universe and make it a MMORPG like WoW.

Re:WoW & DnD

*cough* http://www.ddo.com/ [ddo.com]

Re:WoW & DnD

Go play a persistent NWN module?

30th, not 40th

The author (zonk) says 40th anniversary, that would put the start of DnD in the 60s, not the 70s where it belongs. It is a glaring, terrible error to start the article off with.

Re:30th, not 40th

It was the 40th anniversary of Gen Con, is what Zonk meant to say. That needs to be fixed.

Re:30th, not 40th

No, it was the 40th.

GenCon started before DnD was invented.

It started in Gary Gygax's house in Lake Geneva, WI.

Wanted to go, but...

My family and friends are of the type to talk a good game...but to actually get off our asses and drive to Indy to go is another matter. I used to go all the time when it was up in Wisconsin, but no one wants to drive the 5 hours now to go.

Thinking of dumping my family and friends...It's time I venture forth into the world and leave them behind!

Oh wait...they're buying me pizza. Ok, I'll stay a little longer....then I'm outta here! Ooooo...they brought beer too!

Quoth WotC: "FUCK THE RPGA."

They took their biggest Living campaign, and killed it.

And why? So they can try to force us into the same arena where pimply Drizzt-wannabes run around.

They just killed the RPGA and D&D. Good for them.

Melodramatic much?

Greyhawk is boring. So is FR. Completely bland, boring, generic fantasy settings.

I kind of wish they weren't starting a living FR. I just hope they keep doing things like Xen'drik Expeditions, which has been tons of fun and a unique experience, especially if you play in the Cabal of Shadows. Besides allowing evil characters, it has 4 "subsects" which you can choose to join... Each sect has their own secret missions, and it's not uncommon for one player's secret mission to directly conflict with another's. Adds a lot to the game.

Of, and of course, it's Eberron, which actually tries to tread new ground instead of following the same old Swords & Sorcery formula as 90% of the settings out there.

Re:Quoth WotC: "FUCK THE RPGA."

They killed the RPGA. They killed Dungeon Magazine. They killed Dragon Magazine. They have set an end-of-life on half my bookshelf, the cost of which I don't want to think about.

The day they ended their license to Paizo for the magazines, was the day I canceled over $100 of pre-orders with Amazon for Wizards' products. I have spent thousands of dollars with them over the last decade on card games, tabletop books, etc. I will never buy from them again.

Burn me once, shame on you. Don't expect pre-orders for "Burn Me Again 4.0."

Re:Quoth WotC: "FUCK THE RPGA."

Indeed, I am really astounded at the ammount of bile and anger that some people have responded with to the 4th edition announcement.

Don't get me wrong, I was angry too at first, but then I considered:

1- By the time it gets published next year, it will have been 8-9 years since 3.0, 4-5 since 3.5...

2- My 3.0/3.5 supplements will be outdated, yes... But hey! I still use a lot of stuff from my 2nd edition supplements, so my investment is still sound (and no, I am not going to sell/burn my previous edition products)

3- Every edition has been much better than the one before. This alone is good reason not to quit D&D before at least taking a good look at the new core rulebooks.

4- And finally, if everything that can go wrong goes wrong (for instance: D&D now requires official, nonstandard plastic miniatures (false), you cannot play offline and you must pay $30.00USD a month to unlock your Quantum DRM'd content (false), you cannot etc. etc. etc.), people will go ahead and "fork" the D20 Rules and come up with some nice alternatives for tabletop, pen & paper fantasy roleplaying (some people already have, check TrueD20 and other derivative games)

Seriously guys, take it easy!

Video Games...

Do not belong at GenCon for the same reason WOTC, WizKids, GW, and all the other vendors who do belong at GenCon don't belong at E3 or CES to peddle their non-electronic products.

The last of my 8 trips to GenCon was 2003, and even then the video games ate up 20% of the vendor hall. I can't imagine there was much space left for the small tabletop publishers this year.

Ain't that old

It was GenCon's 40th anniversary, not Dungeons and Dragons.

Zonk must have failed his Spot and Listen checks all weekend.

As usual CBT gets no respect...

So, lets see... Battletech releases a new box set (with minis), the techmanual and starter guide, and an update to Total Warfare and all we get 'is its a good day for shadow run players'. Typical.

Battlestar Galactica and others

Honestly, I have to question the statements about the new Battlestar Galactica RPG that Zonk made. I played in each of the two modules/rounds offered at GenCon and in both cases registration was sold out, but we had to resort to finding willing players using generic tickets to sit a playable table. I just don't think it was as wildly successful as Zonk is making it out to be. I wandered over to the Margret Weis booth several times and it looked to me that the 'big sellers' were the Serenity corebook and literary books being sold. Maybe sales will pick up with the new season or when the book goes to Amazon, I can't speak to that, but while a good setting, it's not the big hit they were hoping it to be.

If you want to talk about an EXCELLENT game that was, in my experience, full-up all the time - check out Witch Hunter by Paradigm Concepts [paradigmconcepts.com] [Paradigm Concepts, Inc.]. It's a fairly imaginative setting that exploded at Origins this year. The game was popular enough that for almost every slot it was offered, the team in charge of the campaign - 'Witch Hunter: Dark Providence' - had to find judges so they could offer more tables per slot. Paradigm, by the way, is the superb team behind the Living Arcanis campaign.

Aw, to hell with all of this crap

Who cares about what games are being re-re-re-re-rewritten? Where are the pics of the girls in the skimpy anime outfits?

No, THIS is Gen Con 2007 in a nutshell...

Help! We're all trapped in this bloody great big nutshell!

Miniatures

Just an FYI - the 6th picture down (http://images.slashdot.org/articles/07/08/gencon6 .jpg [slashdot.org]) is of a few of the miniatures from the Privateer Press [privateerpress.com] game Hordes. Hordes is releasing their first expansion, Evolution, and it's part of the larger tabletop/miniature combat world that is Iron Kingdoms/Warmachine/Hordes. For those who are tired of Warhammer, or who want to try something new, I can't recommend these games enough. Last year Hordes won the Origins Award for Miniature Game of the Year. The models are beautifully sculpted, the game is solid and it's loads of fun.

Just brining it up since there was no mention of what the picture was in the article. That's all.

The Real Story

Blah, blah, blah. The real story? Everyone's pissed about D&D 4e, because they just bought 3e, then 3.5e. I heard more than one person looking to dump their D&D gear entirely and get out of the system.

GenCon organization was also something of a disaster. Preorders set for will call were shipped instead. Badges were missing. People weren't in the system. There was a huge long line for the single will-call booth (the only place to pick up preorders), and a whole row of on-site stations (for those who just showed up). Not the greatest way to serve those who signed up over 8 months in advance. Tables were moved---which happens---and GMs were lost between buildings---which shouldn't.

That said, it was still fun; the exhibition hall isn't where people spent most of their time, either. I had the opportunity to play True Dungeon this year with a great group. We survived. It was far too expensive (at $35 a ticket for a 2-hour event), especially when you can essentially get kicked out of the game in the first 12 minute segment. Fortunately none of our team had that problem. The story was a bit disjointed and illogical, but the puzzles and other gameplay (battles and magic) were fun.

I was somewhat suprised to see the videogame section this year. I got an opportunity to play Eye of Judgement (which was cool), but the little time I spent in the exhibition hall was mostly a quick glance of the tabletop vendors, so I can't elaborate too much here. All in all, enough to do that even with minimal sleep you'll still see only a fraction of what's there.

D&D - Designed for 12 levels

It's been our groups experience over the years, that D&D is pretty clearly designed up to level 12, and not much further. It'll be interesting to see is 4.0 "fixes" that.

Oh Dear God! 30 years since my . . .

. . . first game convention -- ORIGINS '77 out on Staten Island -- and I didn't remember until I read this.

Man, have things changed.

Back then, RPGs were a minority presence. Historical miniatures games and boardgames were the thing. Roleplayers were considered immature and dweeby newcomers.

There were enough companies around to create a pretty packed and boisterous dealer's room. Avalon Hill was still its own company, and SPI, the juggernaut of well-produced brainy wargames, was still alive and vigorous.

TSR had a medium sized booth. D&D back then was three small, brown-covered books packaged in a small white box. (REAL old timers had three brown-covered books in a small brown box.) I recall buying STAR EMPIRES, Chainmail, and The Dragon #13. Metamorphosis: Alpha was on sale, if I remember right.

Game Designer's Workshop introduced TRAVELLER, if I'm not mistaken. I didn't buy it, but I did pick up a copy of Triplanetary, their vector-movement spaceship wargame. Still have it!

I stopped by the FGU (Fantasy Games Unlimited) booth, a miniatures rules company just starting to do RPGs. They would become my first publisher a few years later.

I only remember two bits of programming. A very funny British guy described some roleplaying adventures in one. In another, the late Ernie Gygax, subbing for his dad, talked about stuff.

* * *

It's a lost world, really. The medium is the message, and these days the medium is the computer screen and keyboard / mouse interface. On one level gaming is more inclusive and social (there's GIRLS out there!); on the other, it's kind of antisocial and weird. Back in the day people physically gathered together and shared food. They may have smelled bad and been cranky and wonkish, but they actually left the house. Memorizing big thick rules manuals was an intellectual feat in itself. Some spent weeks painting hundreds of little figures all by themselves . . . none of this buying special surprise collector packs of pre-colored minis.

Nurse? NURSE! Where's my dentures?

D&D 4th edition

That had to be the quietest announcement of the con.
I didnt find out about it until I was told by a friend, who read about it on slashdot...

Compressed Version

For those who didn't RTFA:

Gencon2007: "Help! I'm trapped in a nutshell!"

"Gone are the days of the four hit point Wizard."

I'm wondering about the changes WotC made to character levels for D&D 4e, specifically with respect to the balancing of the various classes.

The old D&D "balanced" mages vs. fighters by having the mages be pathetic at very low levels, and awesome at high levels, and that was just broken. (That's "balanced" in the same way that putting your head in the oven and your feet in the freezer is "comfortable".) There was a quote saying "Gone are the days of the four hit point Wizard" but no details. Does anyone know more about this?

I'm sure they won't do it this way, but the groups I used to play with had a system that I thought worked very well to balance mages vs. everyone else: a "spell points" system, where a mage had to power spells (and didn't forget them when casting them).

The mage needed to memorize the spells, and we used the standard table from the Player's Handbook for how many and what level spells the mage could memorize. The power cost of a spell was the square of the level of the spell, and "mana points" came at about 8 per level of the mage. (We had a formula to calculate it but the answer was always 8.) We also had a rule that a mage could cast a spell "out of his books" without memorizing it, but it was really, really slow. And in dire emergencies, a mage could use points from Constitution as mana points (only the very low level mages ever did).

Thus your first-level mage would know one spell he or she could snap off quickly (probably Magic Missile) but could very slowly cast Detect Magic or whatever out of the books, and could cast 8 spells per day; and your 20th-level mage would have two 9th level spells memorized, but would seldom cast them (as they would burn 81 out of a daily pool of only 160 mana points!). Medium-to-high level mages tended to use the Fireball spell (level 3 and therefore costing 9 mana points) as a pretty good spell that wasn't too expensive.

I felt this was a much, much better way to balance out the classes.

While in high school, I wrote up an article describing the above and submitted it to Dragon magazine. Editor Kim Mohan sent me a rejection letter, saying this proposed change was "too radical" to publish.

steveha

Dragonlance preview

Anyone know where the teaser clip can be found on the internet for the upcoming dragonlance movie? I hope its good, and not an embarrassment like the Dungeons & Dragons movie was.

False assertion table top gaming loosing out

I do not see any evidence anecdotally (which is all this reviewer has) that table top gaming is somehow in decline vs Massive Multiplayer Online Games. While the market for MMOG is very large (9 million WoW players and counting) a lot of that is that the audience of WoW and similar games is just much larger than for tabletop games in general since the barrier for consumers to entry is just much lower. Just because MMOG are popular does not mean that table top gaming is becoming less so. My own experience is that tabletop gaming is probably as popular as ever. Of course MMOG are more popular than ever. It is not a zero sum game however as most of the people I play Privateer Press Warmachine with also play MMOG, and SCA, and etc... Certainly around here the miniatures gaming is very strong. Our Privateer Press Warmachine/Hordes tournaments are completely filled and getting more popular all the time. A great game combined with a great community is a killer combination, not to mention Privateer Press is one of the coolest companies out there. If anything over the long term an increase of MMOG will likely increase tabletop gaming, not decrease it as more people are exposed to the whole pantheon of gaming out there.

FFS

Have you seen the state of the UK GenCon(http://www.consupport.com/index.asp?Con=61) this year?
I live in Reading and doubt I'll bother.

MMOGs : Social Engineering?

But where's the socialization?

Most people are UTTERLY ineffective at conveying emotion via typing. In fact, most of the "chats" I've seen online are supremely disjointed collections of random thoughts, strung together by the most outrageous grammar, and executed with more spelling errors than stars in the heavens. *LOL*

Seriously, as nice as it is to try to game online, the experience is still too slow to permit enough real-time reaction to situations. No laughter at a dropped pair of dice, no pauses to pay the pizza guy. No human interaction aside from that which is The Game. There's no time to decompress from potentially gritty and gory combat sequences.

On one hand, it serves to desensitize the players. On the other hand, it serves to desensitize the players.

This might be construed as a Good Thing, simply because we're essentially breeding a line of workers (Betas/Gammas) who will have Fun at their Jobs. And these online versions of the games provide excellent training for an eventual life of sequestered performance in a career, punctuated by achievement of milestone life goals in a frenetic salmon-spawning manner.

There's still something good about hanging out with a couple of friends on a rainy day, around a table, and just laughing and playing.

Thoughts?
-v

"Say, Hobbit. Halfling is racist." -v

True Dungeon

I didn't see any mention of True Dungeon. http://www.truedungeon.com/true/dungeon.html [truedungeon.com] It usually sells out the first day tickets are available.

Unimpressed, jaded, cynical

... their ongoing design and development series has already put up posts on party roles, the new vision for Fighters, and what it's like to face a dragon in the new edition.

Rules and source material are good and useful. I buy them. I have even published them. But why would any self-respecting DM wait for Dungeons & Dragons R&D to approve a new vision for "what it's like to face a dragon" or anything else?

If they even come close to delivering on what these articles imply, next year is going to be an interesting time to be a gamer.

It's been an interesting time for 30+ years... If you choose to make it that way.

alternate Gen Con coverage

We covered Gen Con this week on our show, The Spiel http://www.thespiel.net/ [thespiel.net]

I don't think video games are a threat to board games or tabletop games. In fact, with games like Carcassonne making the leap onto the Xbox 360, there's evidence that people are playing and enjoying both kinds of games. Games and gaming in general are on the rise, including board games and cards games of all sorts. Our show tends to focus on these types of games. This week, we include a variety of interviews from the show room floor, including game designers, publishers, artists, and inventors. Next week, we conclude with our own impressions of the con.

Spiel on!

Stephen

Angry At Wizards?

Piratebay.
Bittorrent.
Printer.

Some assembly required.

Seriously, it'll be interesting to see how the new edition does in an age where people can, uh, "check" the contents of new books before they invest 3 to 4 digits in yet another series of quickly outdated rulebooks.

There are many reasons why books, including D&D books, have been largely immune to piracy thus far: practical factors (convenience, eye health) and psychological ones (aesthetic value, social status, sense of palpability). But file sharing was nascent in 2000, and - let's face it- right no one cares to steal DND books except already-invested 3E players, most of whom would prefer to buy the books anyway.

That will be different this time around and I forsee that, if the new edition isn't at all better than 3E, people will be able to decline before investing (and investing themselves) in 60 bucks of starter material. That won't kill the game, because Wizards is hellbent on pushing it and there will always be enough people who simply must have the newest RPG rules in the best-looking books, but it will shrink the hobby yet again.

Re:Watch out

There's always LARPers and Furries