GENCON 2012

well, i'm back on long island. GENCON was a blast - just as i expected. this is only the 2nd time i've been there (last year being the 1st) and so i figured maybe there would be a letdown or something...i'm glad i was wrong.  i went with 6 of my friends (who also happen to be business partners) and we had a booth for our stuff - we're LEGENDARY REALMS TERRAIN and we were right across from POST HUMAN STUDIOS (the people who make ECLIPSE PHASE) and next to ERFWORLD on one side and NIGEL SADE the pirate artist on the other side.  don't laugh - his stuff is sick.

everyone is always so amped up on "news from gencon" and this year i felt  like nothing HUGE was announced.  last year i believe the 5E cat was let out of the bag at GENCON...and my friends and i correctly surmised that WoTC would re-release some of the older editions of D&D.  this year - well...here's what i noticed (it isn't much):

-FANTASY FLIGHT GAMES had a beta-test rulebook for their new STAR WARS rpg. it was $30.  that struck me as weird - paizo AND WoTC released their betas for free...yet you have to pay for a STAR WARS beta? nah, bro. i'll stick to the WEG d6 STAR WARS, thanks.

- PAIZO announced PATHFINDER MUNCHKIN.  hmmmm. i guess the original munchkin wasn't doing a good enough job of mocking 3rd edition powergamers...?

-i think i'm feeling monte cook's new NUMENERA rpg.  rules-lite science fantasy? yes, please.  i just hope it STAYS rules-lite. 

that's about it in terms of "news" as far as i heard.  i'm not really big into board games and i really, really don't like card games so if there was news on that front i'm not your man. plus, i was pretty busy all con and i never had the chance to get my ear to the ground.  i was either wandering the vendor room buying stuff, manning our booth selling stuff, or running sessions of LABYRINTH LORD in the super-ginormo gaming "room". no joke - the area set aside for gaming was bigger than the javits center in NYC.  and that was JUST for games.

ok, onto the swag.  GENCON is crazy - most other cons have booths that i can just ignore - but here i feel like every booth potentially has something that i want...which has proven fatal to my wallet both years i've gone...

this year i picked up:
-TIMBER PEAK: that's the new board game/expansion for the LAST NIGHT ON EARTH franchise from FLYING FROG GAMES.  i debated picking up FORTUNE AND GLORY but i held off.

-TRAVELLER: i grabbed up some of the CLASSIC TRAVELLER books...some of the alien modules, a library supplement and the one LBB that i didn't already have. i also snapped up a reprint of books 1-3.

-INTO THE COSMOS: this is a source book for the COSMIC PATROL rpg which we've been playing a lot lately.

-MONGOOSE TRAVELLER pocket rulebook: while this is waaaaaaaay too fiddly for my tastes, there are some cool charts, gear and the whatnot that can be used with the original CLASSIC TRAVELLER.  plus, it was on sale.

-MONSTERS AND OTHER CHILDISH THINGS rpg: this is a game where you play a kid who has a pet monster. the monster has to be constantly reminded that it's bad to eat people...seems cool so far.

-IN FLAMES rpg: a sci fi game that uses the old WEST END GAMES d6 system.  basically, you were once a god-like posthuman entity...but you've been banished into a normal body and are seeking to return to your godlike status.  i like what i've read so far.

-ATOMIC HIGHWAY rpg: this is a very simple post-apocalyptic game. i haven't really had a chance to dive in yet, but it could be the answer to post-apoc that i've been looking for. we'll see.

-JULIUS: this is a comic by ANTONY JOHNSTON (who also writes WASTELAND - a great post apocalypyic comic series). it's a crime story set in england's west end and the plot is based off shakespeare's JULIUS CAESAR.  haven't read it yet - but it looks promising.

-MINIS: many of the booths at GENCON have minis for super-cheap...and oh boy did i take advantage. i grabbed a ton of old STAR WARS minis, some old HERO CLIX and a few others. i don't actually play mini-games, though...we use generic looking minis for rpgs like TOP SECRET, X-PLORERS, TRAVELLER, MSH, etc...so i'm always on the lookout for cool looking generic sci-fi/modern minis.

MAPS: i grabbed a few full color battle-maps...a few sci-fi ones and some modern ones for a TOP SECRET idea that's been brewing in my head for a while now...

i may have grabbed one or two more things...i'll look and post a swag-pic tomorrow.