GenCon

[HeroTina]

GenCon: The best four days in gaming. It's first year in Indiana.
July 24-27 Indiana Convention Center, Indianapolis, Indiana

www.gencon.com

[Simon]

I promised myself I'd get out to a con this year....so this would be the one.

If anyone wants to find me, I'll be at the bar ;)

[GradonSilverton]

Originally posted by dsimon
I promised myself I'd get out to a con this year....so this would be the one.

If anyone wants to find me, I'll be at the bar ;)

THE bar? You mean there is only one!?!?!? Thats absurd, this is a con damnit!

[Graviton]

Started with D&D in '78, picked up Champions in '82...and I've never been to a con. Now I have no excuse since I live 10 minutes from downtown Indy. I'm looking forward to meeting all you Herophiles!!

[Keneton]

Keneton and Quasar will be in attendance running the Star Hero Game!


:D

[Derek Hiemforth]

Assuming the GenCon SoCal happens in Anaheim this December, will Hero Games have a company presence there?

[Darren Watts]

Assuming so, yes. So far they haven't published any official information like booth costs, so we aren't committed yet. If it's run like the summer con, with similar price structure and expected attendance, we'll be there. dw

[Greg]

Originally posted by Graviton
Started with D&D in '78, picked up Champions in '82...and I've never been to a con. Now I have no excuse since I live 10 minutes from downtown Indy. I'm looking forward to meeting all you Herophiles!!

I'm closer to 12 minutes away, but I'm going to muster up the energy to drive down to the convention center. PS if anyone else in Indy plays Hero please email as I'd like a break from D&D. (though I'm good for that too)

[mudpyr8]

I'll be there, running 2 FH events.

[Spideyguy]

Steve,

My friends and I (die-hard Hero fans) are wanting to make the trip to GenCon, partially to support Hero, and partially because we've never been to a GenCon.

However, there are travel and lodging costs involved, as I'm sure there are for many Hero gamers. Could you and the DOJ team give us an official position on whether or not Hero will be participating ASAP, so that we can make decisions accordingly?

As always, thanks for everything you've done and continue to do for Herogames!

John

[HeroTina]

Originally posted by Spideyguy
Steve,

Could you and the DOJ team give us an official position on whether or not Hero will be participating ASAP, so that we can make decisions accordingly?

As always, thanks for everything you've done and continue to do for Herogames!

John



We will be there John. It will be Darren Watts, Steve Long and Andy Mathews.


T.

[Steve Long]

As Tina says, we'll be there!

It's safe to assume that as long as Darren and I are in charge of things, Hero (and the two of us) will both be at Origins and GenCon each year. The only thing I can think of that would keep us from attending would be some unexpected disaster (death of a loved one, utter financial collapse, plague of locusts, whatever).

If you do decide to join us in Indy, please stop by the booth and say howdy. ;)

[The Creator]

I apologise for the following ‘hard sell’ but I am concerned...
I am travelling from the England to attend Gencon and have committed to GM 5 Champions games over the course of the 4 days. So far no one has registered for either of the first 2 games, 1 person apiece has registered for the third and fourth games and 4 people have registered for the fifth game.
As each game is designed for 6 players you can see my point.
Anyway here comes the 'hard sell'.
I am asking for players to please come forward and participate, as running these games is the main reason for my attending Gencon.
The games ID's are
RPG00386,
RPG00387,
RPG00388,
RPG00389 and
RPG00390.
Sorry again for the blatant self-promotion but travelling several thousand miles just to find out that the games had insufficient players is a bit of a concern.

Steven.
;)

[Barton]

The Creator:
I wanted to sign up for some of your events but I had conflicts, I am judging Dawn Patrol events. Sorry I can not attend, they sound like fun.

[Darren Watts]

Originally posted by The Creator

Sorry again for the blatant self-promotion but travelling several thousand miles just to find out that the games had insufficient players is a bit of a concern.

Steven.
;)

Steven- FWIW, it's a little early to be worried about player turnout. A lot of "veteran" gamers wait til the last moment to sign up for individual games, since the schedule itself tends to be shaky until the last few weeks. Also, you can expect several people to try to get into your game at the last minute using the "stand-by" tickets. Hero will be advertising all of the scheduled games at our booth, to let curious passers-by and late registrees know where they can go to sample Hero in action, so that will hopefully generate a few walk-ins too. (We'll also be offering prizes to be given out by any GM running our games, and we'll try to send a genuine Hero staffer by each scheduled game to say hello and see what's up.)

There's never a guarantee, of course, but GenCon Hero GMs rarely find they have too *few* players. dw

[Crimson-Hawk]

That's an issue I've seen locally. So many people want to PLAY Champions and so few want to GM it! I can only imagine it works that way at GenCon, too.

Don't stress over the polls right now, Steve. As Darren says, we gamers are by definition procrastinators. Well, okay, that's not what Darren said, but that's what he was thinking deep down inside and was too polite to say, I'm sure! :D

If I make it to GenCon, I'll at least be an observer to a game, if not playing in one. Have to see if I can garner the resources to make it to GenCon, first.

[rjcurrie]

I wouldn't worry too much about whether your games fill up at this stage or not. Many people don't buy game tickets till they arrive at the con (or least not all of them). Also, it's not uncommon for people to show up with generic tickets, hoping for an open spot in your game, often because they didn't feel like waiting through long lines to buy an actual ticket and are willing to chance their luck. I've run an eight player Champions event at GenCon for the past several years and have had occasions where only 1 or 2 actual tickets were sold for a slot were sold pre-convention, but I've ended up with a full eight players, thanks to onsite ticket sales and folks with generics. Of course, I've also had occasions where the slot has sold out pre-convention and ended up with only 4 or 5 actual players.

Since yours is a six player event, if I were you, I would be prepared to run it with at least as few as 4 players.

[CpSpalding]

Let me just echo these thoughts. Don't worry about turnout. My experience is, if you run it they will come. The games will continue slowly filling up and Hero has promised us some great at booth promotion which should help attract generics. I'm sure it'll work out for you.

[Spideyguy]

Here's the other side of things. This is the first BIG con (other than Origins) that I've ever attended, and I didn't realize that event registration would be closed after a certain date (which was about five days ago).

How concerned should I be?

[Steve Long]

Well, there's some cause to be worried, Spideyguy, but in my experience not much. You can obtain "Generic" tickets that let you take part in any game that has an opening. Even if a game fills up on paper, that doesn't mean everyone who signed up will actually show up to play. If you're there when the game starts and there's an empty chair, you can use your Generic ticket to get involved.

[Spideyguy]

Steve,

Thanks for your (as always) timely input. I'm very much looking forward to attending the Con and meeting the team that rescued my favorite RPG from the jaws of oblivion.

What about anyone else in this position? Has anyone ever attended a major Con without registering for any events first?

My only concern is that myself and two of my best friends are going, and right now, before even setting foot inside the convention center, we've each got over $200 invested in registration costs and hotel accomodations. I don't want to spend that kind of money if we're just going to wander from table to table wishing that games were open.

Thanks for any advice you can give me!

[Talon]

I decided to go to my first GenCon (10 years ago or so) about three days before the con. Got there with no pre-registrations at all...and had no trouble getting into games whatsoever.

Don't forget to get a supply of generic tickets!

My personal (and biased :)) suggestion would be to find the III (Infinite Imaginations) area and let the people there know that you have generic tickets and are looking to play. They will be quite happy to help you find an opening. Heck, look for me, I'll be there running Psi Hero. :)

[CpSpalding]

Generics will save you. I've had a friend have credit card trouble and have her ticket purchases not go through and I've had another friend's ticket requests get lost by Gen Con staff. In the end, they both got in most of the games they wanted. I always sell 1 less ticket for my games than I can take just in case something like this happens to a friend again. I run a lot of Hero too.

Joe Linehan

[Spideyguy]

Thanks for the feedback, guys. I'll look forward to meeting all of the Hero gamers at GenCon!

[Nezeray]

I'm driving in from Lexington, KY. I'm signed up for one hero game so far. I did sign up for two others but I realized that one was too early for me (I'd have to leave home at 5ish am) and the other was pushed back to 9:00pm - 1:00am (my roomate will probably want to go to the hotel by then).

Since my Thursday's mostly free I may catch a game at the last minute.

One question that some of you might be able to answer, does the gaming hall shut down at night or is it open 24 hours? How about the food venders? >:)

Nezeray / James

[Nezeray]

I'm driving in from Lexington, KY. I'm signed up for one hero game so far. I did sign up for two others but I realized that one was too early for me (I'd have to leave home at 5ish am) and the other was pushed back to 9:00pm - 1:00am (my roomate will probably want to go to the hotel by then).

Since my Thursday's mostly free I may catch a game at the last minute.

One question that some of you might be able to answer, does the gaming hall shut down at night or is it open 24 hours? How about the food venders? >:)

Nezeray / James

[Steve Long]

The past couple years in Milwaukee, there were gaming halls open 24 hours a day. However, I think the food vendors kept more regular hours... but I don't know for sure, since I go to bed at a civilized hour. ;)

Not sure what things are like in Indy. However, I'd be surprised if there weren't at least some 24-hour gaming areas.

[Talon]

If you can game 24 hours at GenCon, more power to you.

I'll never forget my first GenCon, where me and my college friends kept regular (i.e., up until 3-4 AM) hours while still going to the 8 AM slots. By Sunday we were so tired we all fell asleep around the game table. :)

[CpSpalding]

I've been at Sunday games where people who have gamed for 4 days straight have just totally collapsed. Usually, I don't go much for the events organized by the con itself, but there is something they're running where they have gamers gaming the whole length of the con under tv cameras to make sure they don't fall asleep. It sounded really funny to me. I try to keep regular hours, but it's getting harder with the last slot ending at 1:30. 12:00 was a lot more conducive to sleep.

[HeroTina]

Here is a list of the games at Gen Con. It's sorted by date/time
If you need more info you can do a search at: https://registration.gencon.com/regsystem/listevents.cgi

title startdate
The Thieves' Crown 07-24 08:00:00
SuperSquad America 2003 07-24 08:00:00
Champions 101: Holding Class Qualifiers 07-24 08:00:00
The Wake: Pure Power (pt. 1) 07-24 08:00:00
Escape from the Late Late Late Show 4 07-24 08:00:00
Justice Society IV: Going Back to Kali 07-24 08:00:00
The Guard: Getting up to speed, part 1 07-24 08:00:00
Bureau 13: The Untouchables 07-24 08:00:00
A Call To Arms 07-24 10:00:00
Mech- Hero: A Lost World 07-24 10:00:00
A New World - Part I 07-24 10:00:00
Great Lakes Avengers 3 07-24 12:30:00
Storm Year 2: Hail to the King 07-24 12:30:00
Misfit Heroes 07-24 12:30:00
Star Hero: Search and Rescue Qualifiers 07-24 12:30:00
War of the Worlds 07-24 12:30:00
Champions 101: Holding Class Qualifiers 07-24 17:00:00
Star Hero: Search and Rescue Qualifiers 07-24 17:00:00
The Wake: Pure Power (pt. 1) 07-24 17:00:00
University of Hellenback: Welcome, Freshmen 07-24 17:00:00
Escape from the Late Late Late Show 4 07-24 17:00:00
Day of the Eagle 07-24 17:00:00
The Legacy 07-24 17:00:00
Storm Year 2: Hail to the King 07-24 17:00:00
Champions XX 07-24 17:00:00
Big Brawls: Game Wars 07-24 19:00:00
Magic Inc. 3: Demons Blood 07-24 19:00:00
Great Lakes Avengers 3 07-24 21:00:00
Champions 101: Holding Class Qualifiers 07-24 21:30:00
Horror Hero 07-24 21:30:00
Demon Hunter FBI: the Television Series 07-25 08:00:00
Bureau 13: The Untouchables 07-25 08:00:00
Psi Hero VII, From The Ashes 07-25 08:00:00
Safari Peril 07-25 08:00:00
Cereal Killers IV: Crunchberried 07-25 08:00:00
The Wake: Pure Power (pt. 2) 07-25 08:00:00
Star Hero: Search and Rescue Qualifiers 07-25 08:00:00
Third Time Lucky 07-25 10:00:00
Great Lakes Avengers 3 07-25 12:30:00
A New World - Part II 07-25 12:30:00
Knights of Evermoor V 07-25 12:30:00
A Wizard's Errand 07-25 12:30:00
Mech- Hero: A Lost World 07-25 12:30:00
Champions 101: Holding Class Qualifiers 07-25 12:30:00
Storm Year 2: Hail to the King 07-25 12:30:00
Psi Hero VII, From The Ashes 07-25 12:30:00
SuperSquad America 2003 07-25 12:30:00
Joconde's Revenge 07-25 12:30:00
University of Hellenback: A Time For Sven 07-25 17:00:00
Star Hero: Search and Rescue Qualifiers 07-25 17:00:00
Champions XX 07-25 17:00:00
Knights of Evermoor V 07-25 17:00:00
The Wake: Pure Power (pt. 1) 07-25 17:00:00
Escape from the Late Late Late Show 4 07-25 17:00:00
Storm Year 2: Hail to the King 07-25 17:00:00
A New World - Part III 07-25 19:00:00
Mech- Hero: A Lost World 07-25 19:00:00
Total War - JLA vs The Avengers 07-25 19:00:00
Magic Inc. 3: Demons Blood 07-25 19:00:00
Hidden Agenda 07-25 19:00:00
SuperSquad America 2003 07-25 21:30:00
The Guard: Getting up to speed, part 2 07-25 21:30:00
Horror Hero 07-25 21:30:00
Champions 101: Holding Class Finals 07-26 08:00:00
Big Brawls: Game Wars 07-26 08:00:00
Seeds 07-26 10:00:00
Temple of Modren 07-26 12:30:00
Bureau 13: The Untouchables 07-26 12:30:00
Star Hero: Search and Rescue Finals 07-26 12:30:00
The Night the Reindeer Died 07-26 12:30:00
A New World - Part IV 07-26 12:30:00
The Wake: Pure Power (pt. 2) 07-26 12:30:00
SuperSquad America 2003 07-26 12:30:00
Mech- Hero: A Lost World 07-26 12:30:00
Psi Hero VII, From The Ashes 07-26 17:00:00
Champions 101: Holding Class Finals 07-26 17:00:00
Champions XX 07-26 17:00:00
The Guard: Getting up to speed, part 1 07-26 17:00:00
Can of Whupass 2003: The Indy Insanity! 07-26 19:00:00
Star Hero: Search and Rescue Finals 07-26 21:30:00
Surprise! 07-26 21:30:00
Misfit Heroes 07-26 21:30:00
SuperSquad America 2003 07-26 21:30:00
Tomb of Nefer-hotep 07-27 08:00:00
Heavy Metal 07-27 10:00:00
Champions XX 07-27 12:30:00
Auditioners II: Bring on the Bad Guys 07-27 12:30:00
Behind Friendly Lines 07-27 12:30:00
The Guard: Getting up to speed, part 2 07-27 12:30:00

[Barton]

It was great!
I judged the first round of Champions 101, and I had a great bunch of gamers! It was very fun to GM them!
I played in some Champions events and even got to a final round!
Met the DOJ staff, I am so not worthy [this is an example of my lame humor]. Met Mr. Long, Mr. Watts and Tina the office goddess at the booth, all very nice folks.
It was a fun four days!

[Graviton]

My first con and it was a blast! I played Champions 101 and made the final, and my daughter and I squeaked into Champions XX on Saturday and advanced in that one too (speaking of which, I've got a 20% off certificate I won Sunday evening which I'm hoping isn't now completely useless. Especially since the UNTIL Superpowers Database sold out before I could get one. ) It was her first con too, and she's already bugging me about going all four days next year.

My wife and I now own signed copies of FREd courtesy the cordial Mr. Long, I got to talk some baseball with Mr. Watts, and I met Mr. Cook and watched him doing a pretty cool sketch. Hopefully next year the Indianapolis Indians will be in town that weekend and we can do a Hero outing to a game!

[Keneton]

I really enjoyed myself at Gen Con. I was only able to stay through Saturday morning. My comments. . .

1. Met a great new GM from VA. You are lurking so you know who you are! Thanks for your help on Friday!
2. Had some great playeers in both of my Thurs. sessions. You also know who you are!!
3. Had my first fight that went 5 1/2 turns with only one bad guy on the board!
4. Steve Darren Tina and the Hero gang were as always really cool.
5. Met Allen- he's gonna be great people. He is cool and knows his stuff. Great with mechanics and knows the genre.
6. The boys from Michagn- SUPER role players. Fear the whickerman!
7. My son loves Break-Key.
8. Geoff is a good gamer; scratch that a great gamer.
9. The Crew or Argos Exploration is more resiliant than I had originally thought. Great job all.

[Nezeray]

For the most part I had a Great! con experience. Looking back I wish that I had made the 8:00am champions game or stayed signed up for the 9:00pm game on Thursday.

I planned to play in the Saturday game at 8am (StarHero) but the gm didn't show. We had a full table of people too, which was most saddening. I have the event number somewhere if you really want to know it. The rest of my timeslots were full or I'd have found another Hero game. Maybe I'll get lucky next year.

I did however get to meet the wonderful team at the Hero Booth, even had the pleasure of getting Steve Long and Tina "office godess" Walters autographs! She said I was her first... autographee. :D

Nezeray

[Keneton]

Originally posted by Nezeray

I planned to play in the Saturday game at 8am (StarHero) but the gm didn't show. We had a full table of people too, which was most saddening. I have the event number somewhere if you really want to know it.
Nezeray

I am very sorry to hear that. I was the writer of the scenario you were to play. We had one session where the GM missed the times. He showed up at 12:30 and not 8:00.

I feel terrible and hope you got a refund. To make it up to you I can provide some of the NPC's and adventure text. I apologize for your inconvenince, I can tell you this is not Hero's fault, but rather some confusion amongst the organizers.

[Nezeray]

Originally posted by Keneton
I am very sorry to hear that. I was the writer of the scenario you were to play. We had one session where the GM missed the times. He showed up at 12:30 and not 8:00.

I feel terrible and hope you got a refund. To make it up to you I can provide some of the NPC's and adventure text. I apologize for your inconvenince, I can tell you this is not Hero's fault, but rather some confusion amongst the organizers.

Keneton, I understand that it wasn't Hero's fault. It was just sad to see a full table with no GM. We did get refunds. I was hoping to play the revised Star Hero before buying the book. If you could send me the info from the adventure maybe I can have my weekly group try it out.

Thanks for replying!

Nezeray

[CpSpalding]

Let me try and explain a bit of what happenned with Star Hero. Originally, we had intended to do a 2 round Star Hero tournament. Unfortunately, due to real life problems, we only got a 1 rounder completed. We were trying to decide what to do as late as Tuesday night, but decided that the best thing to do was run a really good 1 round event and tell the players up front, they wouldn't be advancing. The players did seem to enjoy the first round and didn't appear to mind too much. That should have been the end of the story.

Unfortunately, as one of many glitches Gen Con sold tickets to the two final slots on Saturday. They had no reason to do this as it was clearly enterred that this was a final and not something to sell tickets too. However, they sold tickets to all finals apparently. The result was that several players wound up purchasing tickets for a non-existant event. I guarantee you now that we've done it for a year, that things will run a lot smoother next year.

[rjcurrie]

Some more comments on Gencon:
Gencon selling tickets to finals is a long-standing problem. You have to keep an eye on the online registration site to see if they are selling tickets to the final and then bug them about it until they fix it.
My run of Champions 101 went well.
SuperSquad America went amazingly well and probably featured the most intense final round that I have ever run. Thanks to everyone who played in the event.
Inifinite Imaginations Inc had a great con overall. And I think I can safely say thanks on behalf of all our GMs to all of you who played in our Hero events.
Let's give a hand to Joe Linehan and Leah Watts for writing (and running most of) Champions 101.
Thanks to Hero Games for the support and prizes they gave to Hero events at the con.

[Barton]

The Super Squad final was very, very, intense! I was personally uncomfortable at several points. The subject matter was very heavy. I thought the role playing was good but the round ended on a very dark note. I thought it was an interesting role playing experience.

[Talon]

Yeah, III events had people showing up for all the final rounds and we had to turn them away. :(

Keneton's Star Hero game was great fun; playing in the Terran Empire universe was neat and the scenario was fun to roleplay (even if I didn't get to use the Firefly chain of command :)).

My Psi Hero game also went well and gave me lots of plot ideas for next year. Muahahaha.

[Talon]

Barton, who were you in the final?

I also thought it was heavy, but despite it hitting rather close to home wasn't uncomfortable.

[Barton]

In Super Squad Final I was playing Whiz Kid.

[rjcurrie]

Barton was Whiz Kid.

And Barton, I apologize for any miscomfort the final caused. In the future, I will try to better prepare players for the possible intensity. It is the goal of SuperSquad America and many other Infinite Imaginations Inc events to give players a role-playing experience that they don't get in their regular games at home.

As for the round ending on a dark note, I'll just say that how a final round goes and how it ends is heavily dependent on the actions and role-playing of the players.

[Barton]

Originally posted by rjcurrie
Barton was Whiz Kid.

And Barton, I apologize for any miscomfort the final caused. In the future, I will try to better prepare players for the possible intensity. It is the goal of SuperSquad America and many other Infinite Imaginations Inc events to give players a role-playing experience that they don't get in their regular games at home.

As for the round ending on a dark note, I'll just say that how a final round goes and how it ends is heavily dependent on the actions and role-playing of the players.

No apology is needed. I knew it was going to be heavy (mature themes).
It was a roleplaying experience that I had never had before and it was interesting. I would endorse Super Squad events to others, just with the proviso that the subject matter may get heavy.
I thought it was GM'ed very well (especially considering the late hour) and the players actions were logical given the backrounds of the characters.

[rjcurrie]

Thanks, Barton. I'm glad to hear that you would recommend the game to others and I'll add one final comment. It doesn't always get that heavy and the game sometimes actually has a happy ending :).

[CpSpalding]

My Observations:

Games I Ran
Cereal Killers - I give it an A. The players were great and I even left with a tie clip. The player who won the CK t-shirt was completely thrilled.

JSA:Going Back to Kali - I give it a B+. It was pretty solid action and the players seemed to really enjoy it. It was fun to see Hawkman's crit end the battle with the mighty avatar.

The Night the Reindeer Died - I give it a B. We had a really quiet group, but people seemed to really enjoy the silliness of the game. I will probably run this one again.

Champions 101 - I ran two rounds of this and was a little short both rounds. I give them an average of B-. Defender was the running joke in both games and the players really warmed up to the Champions characters.

Auditioners 2 - I give this one a C. Things went generally well, but I literally turned away 6 incredible roleplayers because of overcrowding and then had 2 sleepy players leave about 15 minutes in. I've run it before and I think it was my best event last year so I'm not too disapointed. It had a great ending when Hitler's dog Blondi wound up getting his brain and Dr. Phil's switched.

Games I Played

The Day of the Eagle - I give it a B. The best part of this game was that I had an Aquaman type character and I got to spend the entire final battle under water. That never happens.

Haymaker Jam - I give it a B. I was in too silly a mood for total seriousness, but it was a lot of fun. Darren and Steve stopped by and the suite we were in made for a great environment.

Big Brawl - I give it a B+. The game was OK until I got handed the giant ape with the 13" grasp. Doing a move through for 26 dice of damage to the bridge everybody was standing on was a lot of fun. This was while blind I might add.

Misfit Heroes - I give it an A. It was total silliness and had a great ending as one of the characters defeated the arch-villain's master plan by crashing his computer with a free AOL disk.

Other Stuff
Lodging - I give the Embassy Suites a B+. The room was great and the free breakfast was unbelievable, but I had to wait an hour to get into the room and the entrance was a royal pain with tons of stairs and me with a backpack on wheels.

Food - I give Indianapolis a B. I was expecting this to be really bad and waiting 30 minutes in a booth at Steak and Shake with Leah on Wednesday night without service really stunk. Steak and Shake was not prepared for Gen Con. The other places I went definitely were. I recommend Houlihans, the Hard Times Cafe, and Rock Bottoms as well. The best part is that of the 3 expensive meals I had, Darren and Steve picked up one bill and one of my players picked up the other.

Organization - I give Gen Con a D. They were better than ever before the Con, but then they lost it. They had a total foul up Saturday, had 4 hour + lines, and had a guide that didn't list either GM or system.

Hero - I give them an A-. They always got a prize to my table, but I hope that t he discount coupons are a temporary measure. I definitely wouldn't expect them to bring a $20 book to 89 different games at the Con, but hope they can either get a cheaper prize or maybe go to a Hero Buck system where multiple prize winners could use all their prizes. They ran out of Until which is the book that I needed to buy. That said, they were extremely supportive of my games and they seemed to be accessible and available despite very busy schedules. The Sunday night dinner was great.

Exhibit Hall - I give it a C. Despite having friends buy more than they ever have, I hardly bought a thing. The one neat thing I got was a very cool Arnold Palmer golfer which I can barely explain.

Indianapolis - I give it a B-. I was expecting to hate it, but it was pretty cool in a lot of ways. The skywalk was a bit of a disapointment. For example, it took 5-10 minutes to walk from our hotel to the exhibit hall. It took 15-20 by skywalk.

Special Thanks
I can't thank Bart, Gerry, Bob, Leah, and Rodney enough for their work on Hero 101 and Star Hero. You guys really were awesome and whenever I could check out your games, I saw a lot of happy players which is the most important thing.

[rjcurrie]

Originally posted by CpSpalding
Champions 101 - I ran two rounds of this and was a little short both rounds. I give them an average of B-. Defender was the running joke in both games and the players really warmed up to the Champions characters.

Interestingly enough, this sounds a lot like my run of Champions, which ran just over 3 hours. Defender was also the running joke in that run and I must admit that the Champions seemed to have been a lot more fun than I thought they might be (this was the first time I had ever used them in any way). For instance, I enjoyed Sapphire signing autographs and chatting with the press while the rest of the team tried to decide how to handle the hostage situation. :)

Special Thanks
I can't thank Bart, Gerry, Bob, Leah, and Rodney enough for their work on Hero 101 and Star Hero. You guys really were awesome and whenever I could check out your games, I saw a lot of happy players which is the most important thing.

You're welcome, Joe. Always happy to help out.

[CpSpalding]

Actually, by short I meant short on players. We had to go with 4 both slots. Times were all over the board. Barton's table seemed to time out at 4 even as did one of mine. Yours seemed to come in at a little over 3. Mine was just a bit over 3 as well in one slot, but I think since that slot started at 9:30 PM, people were thrilled to get that extra hour of sleep. I know I was. I think the time was a question of how much time they planned for the openning fight and how much they roleplayed. A lot of groups did press conferences which I wasn't expecting. In one of my games Kodiak did a press conference and then refused to tell the press anything. I found that very amusing.

[rjcurrie]

I had a full group of six for my run. If I were to run it again, I might try to stretch the meeting at the beginning out a little bit, but I was a bit reluctant to let it go too long because it kind of leaves Kodiak sitting on the sidelines. I didn't think there was a shortage of role-playing in the run, so I'm not quite sure what made my run so short, maybe I should have made them work harder for the clues, but they seemed pretty much on the ball and caught on to things pretty quickly.

[CpSpalding]

Oh 3 hours isn't really short in my mind. 2 hours is kind of a hurry, but 3 is just some extra meal or exhibit hall time. Some groups will have difficulties and others won't. You either have a 3 hour game for a really smoothe group and a 4 hour game for a normal group or make it longer and the normal group has their ending rushed. Optional encounters always help, but there weren't really too many places for them in that scenario.

[BNakagawa]

Originally posted by Graviton

My wife and I now own signed copies of FREd courtesy the cordial Mr. Long, I got to talk some baseball with Mr. Watts, and I met Mr. Cook and watched him doing a pretty cool sketch. Hopefully next year the Indianapolis Indians will be in town that weekend and we can do a Hero outing to a game!

Bah! I missed the opportunity to talk baseball! At a gaming con, no less. Rats.

[CpSpalding]

I divide baseball fans into two camps. Those who know who Harry Heilmann was and those who don't. I know obscure players the way that some people know obscure Champions villains. I'll say this though, I've never been able to stump Darren on anything baseball related.

Joe

[rjcurrie]

I hate to have to admit this, because I consider myself reasonably knowledgeable about baseball. But while I recognize Harry Heilmann as a baseball player, I cannot put my finger on exactly who he was, although for some reason, the Pittsburgh Pirates come to mind. Oh, well, I guess I have to fall into the other camp. Thanks, Joe, now I'll be depressed for a week. :(

Edit: Oh well, Heilmann played for the Tigers and the Reds, which may explain my lack of knowledge about him. For some reason, a lot of my historical baseball knowledge tends to be New York-based, particularly the Dodgers and Yankees.

[Koshka]

Originally posted by CpSpalding

Games I Played

The Day of the Eagle - I give it a B. The best part of this game was that I had an Aquaman type character and I got to spend the entire final battle under water. That never happens.


I hadn't expected it, but I have to admit the characters deciding to hit the invasion before it hit the beaches made sense. I'm trying to figure out a sequel for this one, I'll save Dreadnought for you :) .


Other Stuff
Lodging - I give the Embassy Suites a B+. The room was great and the free breakfast was unbelievable, but I had to wait an hour to get into the room and the entrance was a royal pain with tons of stairs and me with a backpack on wheels.


I think this is in the process of being fixed. That construction by the escalators to the main lobby looked suspiciously like a new elevator.

The thing that bothered me is that you couldn't take the skywalk from the Embassy Suites to the convention center without taking two escalators. I'm somewhat acrophobic (been spending a few XPs, but will probably never get it all bought off), and escalators (a.k.a "stairs that run away from you") really bother me. This year we lucked out and the rain waited till after the con, but next year I'm packing a plastic bag to put over my wheeled bookbag in case of rain.


Organization - I give Gen Con a D. They were better than ever before the Con, but then they lost it. They had a total foul up Saturday, had 4 hour + lines, and had a guide that didn't list either GM or system.


A friend on an industry e-mail list passed on a letter from Peter Adkison, and the delay was thanks to worms getting loose in the computer system (probably via the one e-mail computer with all the downloaded porn on it). I will wager a hot fudge sundae that if the e-mail stations are back next year there's gonna be a firewall :) .

As far as the guide not listing game systems, I've got an idea for a patch. How about we start encouraging GMs to list their games as, say, "Champions: Day of the Eagle" or "Justice Inc: Tomb of Nefer-Hotep" instead of just "Day of the Eagle" or "Tomb of Nefer-Hotep"?

[CpSpalding]

Originally posted by rjcurrie
I hate to have to admit this, because I consider myself reasonably knowledgeable about baseball. But while I recognize Harry Heilmann as a baseball player, I cannot put my finger on exactly who he was, although for some reason, the Pittsburgh Pirates come to mind. Oh, well, I guess I have to fall into the other camp. Thanks, Joe, now I'll be depressed for a week. :(

Well by virtue of having attended a game at Jarry Park and also having been treated rudely by Bob Gibson, you can be an honorary member of the Heilmann fanclub.

[Jade]

I had preregistered and enjoyed a non computer based will call pick up. Good old fashioned alphabetized boxes. However when trying to return a cancelled event ticket the computer monster struck! Waiting and waiting and then....more waiting. Funny thing, I did not see any Macs in their networks...Just an observation mind you.

We stayed at the Comfort Inn, a little walk(2 blocks) but I enjoyed it. Free Parking! Continental Breakfast! Obnoxius late night caller looking for a Tootsie! The front desk stopped sending her calls through when asked.

Events were fun and I played more champions than I thought I would. Heard some strange talk about switching to another game system to attract younger players. Still lots of 4th Ed. players with not to much knowledge of 5th Ed. Not being critical, changing a good story line over to 5th can be a huge task. Still had loads of fun!

The Show floor was great! Wider aisles to get around all the protruding backpacks! Though I miss the old layout. To many hightech wasted space booths from the big boys...Big hint, less wasted space, more handouts and examples! Schwag baby!

All for now!

[irishspy]

Originally posted by CpSpalding
Let me try and explain a bit of what happenned with Star Hero. Originally, we had intended to do a 2 round Star Hero tournament. Unfortunately, due to real life problems, we only got a 1 rounder completed.

This was the rescue mission on the abandoned Malvan world? If so, don't worry about not having a second round; we all had a great time playing. The scenario was basic, yet fun, and the GM was excellent*. This was my first time playing Hero System and the GM and the other players were very helpful. I had such a good time that I immediately went and bought the TE sourcebook. :D

Unfortunately, as one of many glitches Gen Con sold tickets to the two final slots on Saturday.

There is really no excuse for this on their part. It's a simple matter of adding a yes/no field called "SellTickets" to the database for each entry.

*(I wish I could remember his name. Something like "Pennington?" In any event, if you're reading this, I played the alcoholic, grumpy engineer who got his arm stuck in the Thor 'bot as it tried to slam us into the ceiling. Thanks for the great game. :) )

[Keneton]

You found me out. Yes behind this purple and Gold mask Keneton is really. . . .

Bob Pennington

Author, Chess Player, Mortgage Broker, and Most Importantly Father of Two.

I loved both games that I ran. Both groups were so good. Your groups battle with the Thor Bot was Titanic. Did you know that the player of Jason (the engineer) won all three events!

:D

[Talon]

Originally posted by irishspy
In any event, if you're reading this, I played the alcoholic, grumpy engineer who got his arm stuck in the Thor 'bot as it tried to slam us into the ceiling. Thanks for the great game. :) )

Dude, I was the captain in that game...it was a blast. :)

[Keneton]

Geoff

You were a great player and I felt that that group was extremly cooperative, mainly thanks to your playing the captain. The iconclastic characters written by Mr. Long suprised me with their depth and they were very fun to play and write for.

I encourage others to try Star Hero. At first when I accepted the task of writing the game for Gen-Con I was fearful about running my first Star Hero Game live. I've GM'd Hero for many years I know that I can GM, but this was NEW.

I am very pleased that you enjoyed the game and only wish I could have ran Unearthed Mechana at Gen Con as well.

:)

[CpSpalding]

Originally posted by Keneton
Geoff
I am very pleased that you enjoyed the game and only wish I could have ran Unearthed Mechana at Gen Con as well.
:)

Well Bob, there is always 2004. Hint, hint :D
Joe

[Barton]

Hero system had 81 games this Gen Con. How about next year we try to get to 100!
I am going to run a game or two and I encourage others to do so. The reason why is that the talent of players at Gen Con is very, very high and it is fun to GM very talented role players. Just my two cents.

[CpSpalding]

I had heard that the total was 89 from Steve, though this may have been counting second rounds. I was already thinking 100 was a nice round number to shoot for. I GMed 26 hours and I don't think I can do more than that, but I'm still up for doing another 26. I bet we can hit 100 games.

[Keneton]

Although I would love to run Unearthed Mechana again, its going to be published in DH and that will spoil it for my players.

But fear not loyal friend. I have a new game for Gen Con that is the Mother of All Games.

I will need numerous GM volunteers to run my newest creation involving The Phazor of Malva and Isvatha Vahn!

The game will require at least 6 GM's and will allow anyone to bring their PC into the game as long as they have an ER of no greater than 100 not counting veteran bonus. I will assit those in need to help in raiting.

The basics:

A galactic arena involving heroes and villains of all genres is set up by Isvatha Vahn to the great displeasure of the Phazor of Malva. Representing the Phazor is his old Champion Firewing. What can the dimensional Empress want with the show. Who will win the tournament? What does this have to do with Earth?

Characters from all genres will be allowed. The game will include a table to table advancement, video commentary, tons of combat action, and some LARP with a real live Isvatha Vahn and Phazor!:D

Who wanst to help?!

[rjcurrie]

Originally posted by CpSpalding
I had heard that the total was 89 from Steve, though this may have been counting second rounds. I was already thinking 100 was a nice round number to shoot for. I GMed 26 hours and I don't think I can do more than that, but I'm still up for doing another 26. I bet we can hit 100 games.

As usual, I think we should aim for quality as opposed to quantity. I GMed 24 hours at Gencon, but I am certainly willing to add a few more slots to my schedule. However, my extra Gencon GMing time for next year may already be spoken for if a project with some other Infinite Imaginations GMs goes ahead, so I may not be able to commit much GMing time to Hero Games-run events. But as usual, I am more than willing to kibitz on event ideas and comment on the finished adventures even if I don't have time to run.

Rod

[CpSpalding]

Originally posted by rjcurrie
As usual, I think we should aim for quality as opposed to quantity. I GMed 24 hours at Gencon, but I am certainly willing to add a few more slots to my schedule. However, my extra Gencon GMing time for next year may already be spoken for if a project with some other Infinite Imaginations GMs goes ahead, so I may not be able to commit much GMing time to Hero Games-run events. But as usual, I am more than willing to kibitz on event ideas and comment on the finished adventures even if I don't have time to run.

Rod

I agree about keeping the quality high and I definitely think we can do that that. I think we can improve the quality as well as the quantity. That said, I think your other project sounds great too.

Joe

[irishspy]

Originally posted by Keneton
Your groups battle with the Thor Bot was Titanic. Did you know that the player of Jason (the engineer) won all three events!

:D

Hey, everyone loves a grumpy, alcoholic engineering genius. :)

Actually, my favorite moment was probably when another player tried to ram our ATV into the dinosaur, then sat in the driver's seat as the critter destroyed the vehicle around him. Much hilarity ensued. :D

[Keneton]

That same character was sat on by that same monster in the second game!:D

[SilverMarble]

I think one of the funniest things in the two events was the slamming of the characters to the ceiling. Close second to the Giant Dinosaur dying ontop of Guy Westar. I hope Guy is luckier in my campaign..... ;) ;)