By now, several sites are already going over games that has been deemed the hot games of the convention, along with those that may not be so enticing. I feel that our latest podcast covers our take on that part of Gen Con 2013 fairly well, but not every game can be mentioned in a short time span. Some may be left out for one reason or another. Many, in fact.
Now, it’s practically impossible to catch everything at the con, so I apologize if I left anything or anyone out. This was all of the information I gathered personally in The Best Four Days of Gaming. So, without further ado, I give to you, our Big Damn Recap of Gen Con 2013.
Active Kickstarters
First off, I want to mention the few ongoing Kickstarters that I was aware of that were going on at the time of the convention and may still be going on that you can look at on your own. They’re time sensitive, hence why they’re at the forefront:
In the City: Expansions by Sherwood. An expansion effort for their base game.
King’s Forge by Clever Mojo via Game Salute. A light but still-strategic dice allocation game and recipient of our Seal of the Republic.
Magnum Opus by Clever Mojo via Game Salute. A unique alchemy-based deckbuilder and recipient of our Seal of the Republic.
Neptune, by Grey Gnome. It’s a light trick-taking card game set in space.
Board & Card Games
Academy Games
The makers of the Birth of America series of games had the most recent release, 1775 on sale, as well as demoing the third set in that line, Freedom: The Underground Railroad. Unlike the first two, Freedom is a card-drive co-op game where players are abolitionists trying to help ferry slaves to the North. See? History can be fun!
Albino Dragon
The creators of Dragon Whisperer, the trick-taking, dragon-centric Kickstarter game had some copies to show off. The artwork really came out great on that one.
Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG)
One of the larger presences here, AEG touts both its CCG line and its burgeoning array of board games. The makers of Thunderstone, Smash Up, and the wildly successful microgame Love Letter were showing off their latest wares. The one seemingly getting the most traffic was their deckbuilder Trains. In it, players are trying to build the most high-speed bullet train lines in Japan. We didn’t have a chance to try it out, but we regularly heard from others that it felt very similar to Dominion. Except with trains.
On their CCG side came their annual Legends of the Five Rings World Championships. For those unfamiliar with AEG’s card game stakes, the clans and factions that win the higher tier events have a direct impact on how the stories of future sets go. In the case of L5R, this years winners were the Crab clan and the Unaligned (lesser) clans. I can’t tell you what that means for the game itself, however, but I can say that it was really fascinating to watch a CCG tournament with so many engaged people and having it have nothing to do with Magic or Yu-Gi-Oh.
APE Games
We were hoping to check out the finished copies of their Kickstarter Island Siege, but alas, the copies didn’t make it in time. Instead, people could dig into their array of Order of the Stick books / board game, as well as a host of randomly themed rubber duckies. Apparently they go with APE’s “duck! duck!” games, but people were buying them just because. To be fair, some of them, like the wizard and the ones dressed like superheroes, were kind of cute.
Arcane Wonders
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to stop at the booth of the folks who make Mage Wars, but there always seemed to be people inspecting it. I did manage to hear though that they were taking preorders for their upcoming expansion, Necromancer vs Druid, which should be due out in October.
Ares Games
The minds behind War of the Ring had several things to show off at their booth. They seemed most excited about their debut of an aerial wargame called Wings of Glory. Arguably, that wasn’t what drew me there though. Granted, I was glad to see people playing War of the Ring. (It’s ever so hard to get it to most tables even though it looks and plays great.) More importantly, though, they were rotating demos of their successful Kickstarter (and equally hefty) alien-hunting co-op game, Galaxy Defenders.
For something a bit lighter, I was just as intrigued to see that they had copies of the re-release of the classic game Inkognito. It’s been updated with new art and some slight rules changes, along with the ability to add a 5th player. In it, players, are agents looking to fulfill their mission with their partner – one of the other players. Except, at the start of the game, you don’t know which other player is your partner. It’s a shame it wasn’t being focused on by anyone as much as their bigger games.
Asmadi Games
Did you bring your banana? Then you probably lost the moment you walked into Asmadi’s area. The We Didn’t Playtest This troupe had their newest lighthearted anime naming game Channel A available.
Asmodee Games
Back to back in a list, Asmadi and Asmodee can get confusing, but there was no mistaking Asmodee’s presence at Gen Con. The US distributor of games like 7 Wonders, Formula D, and Dixit had a booth that always seemed to have a steady stream of people in it, and their demo tables were usually packed when I passed through a few times. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to spend as much time with Asmodee as I wanted. (I particularly wanted to see the limited edition giant Takenoko sets). I did have a chance to inspect a few games, however.
Spyrium is a new industrial steampunk game set in an alternate England. A new commodity called…wait for it…Spyrium, is on the market. Players have to build their industry around it to generate the points needed to win. It should be out by September.
In the classic video game Rampage, you played a monster looking to do the most damage to a city that you can. In this new board game, also called Rampage, you play…a monster looking to do the most damage to a city that you can. Players have a handful of abilities as monsters, and they take a feverish romp through a meeple city, looking to do as much carnage and eat as many meeples as possible. Hmmm, tasty meeples. It’s fairly short, and the premise is simple, but it has a certain appeal to the monsters in all of us.
The other game I got to look into a bit more was Archipelago. It’s been out for a bit, but it was my first real experience at the game beyond some praise I’ve seen around the web. It’s a Semi-Co-Op where players embody explorers and settlers of an island archipelago. The game uses a host of mechanics, from resource management to careful negotiation with other players. Of course, this is the type of game where no alliance or accord is safe, and if a player can benefit by backing out of a deal, they may. Fair warning. Still, it has a ton of replayability, and it’s certainly one I want to get in some full games with. I have a feeling the super condensed versions don’t do it justice.
Atlas Games
I have some terrible news everyone. It appears that the kill-your-own-family game, Gloom, will be getting a fourth expansion, though the timetable hasn’t been announced. Isn’t that awful?
Additionally, they have released a 3rd edition of their storytelling game, Once Upon a Time. They’ve cleaned up a few of the cards and added all new artwork.
Baksha Games
The creators of the mad scientist Kickstarter, What’s He Building In There? had limited advance copies to sell, even though the bulk of the games were still hung up with a minor production issue that hopefully should be resolved very soon. This Cardboard Republic Seal of the Republic recipient should be out soon officially, and we’re looking forward to trying out the finished result.
Bezier Games
Bezier, long known for their Ultimate Werewolf social game, made their real mark on the gaming scene with the city-planning game, Suburbia. The good news is that this Mensa-Select winner is releasing an expansion, Suburbia Inc., which should be out in late October.
Break From Reality Games
BFR is one of those Kickstarter feel-good stories. Their premiere game, Disaster Looms!, did respectably well. That game had players resettling humanity on new worlds, since Earth was pretty much unsalvagable at that point. They followed that up with another Kickstarter, the simultaneous action game Collision Report, where players must work together against the game (and against time) to fix their broken space ship or they’re all doomed. (Think of it as a board game version of FTL).
Coincidentally, it came about in a mini-wave of simultaneous action games at the time, and interest in them has remained. Interest in Collision Report has eclipsed Disaster Looms, though each was present at Gen Con. I got a chance to scope both of them out, and walked away with an urge to fix a spaceship engine.
Calliope Games
The makers of Tsuro of the Seas are putting out a mini expansion called Veterans of the Seas. It provides players with some cannon defense against the sea monsters, but it also brings in a tidal wave mechanic that is just as deadly as any sea serpent. Additionally, they were also showing off Roll For It!, a quick, light dice rolling game. There are a handful of cards you are trying to collect, each with depicted dice results, and you’re trying to match your dice with those in the picture. But so are your opponents. Collect enough of those cards, and you win.
Cards Against Humanity
Unsurprisingly, these gentlemen did well. Very well. They came with their stock of the base game (version 1.4) and all three expansions. First the expansion stock disappeared, then the base game, and then they did.
I did find out at least two useful tidbits from them, however. First, they continue to downplay their version updates (they see these as similar to software patches), so you can continue to not expect official changelogs. Second, they were fairly indifferent to the fan-made compatible expansion, Crabs Adjust Humidity, so you won’t have to feel guilty getting it.
Cheapass Games
Howdy Partner! The revamped and Kickstarted version of Deadwood Studios showed up at Gen Con in time. This quirky game about acting (badly) was a surprise hit with our group the first time around, and it seemed to do equally decent here. Its campy humor, simple concept, and ease with up to 8 players is a good choice for larger groups without having to resort to a party game. They do have a number of things they’re considering in the pipeline, but for a company that gives us oddly enjoyable games like Unexploded Cow (a hit at our TableTop Day event), and Fish Cook, we’ll just let them do…whatever it is they do up there in Seattle.
Cool Mini Or Not
Arguably I don’t follow minis games much, and as much as many say to the contrary, I feel that most “miniatures board games” tend to focus more on minis than board game. So, I can’t tell you much in that sense about Zombicide Season 2 besides that it was present at Gen Con, and they had some good deals going for it. That said, their new game line, Rivet Wars had an eye-catching display. It’s more minis, but instead of zombies, Rivet Wars has a distinct dieselpunk flavor to it that may help attract a different audience.
Cryptozoic Entertainment
These folks had a number of games to show off this year, though the one that got them the most attention going into Gen Con was the news about them agreeing to publish the failed Kickstarter, The Doom That Came to Atlantic City. It was on full demo. Expect to see this in early 2014.
The other notable game on display was Gravwell, a card-drafting game with a unique movement mechanic. Players pilot ships attempting to escape a black hole, but movement can go in either direction as the ships are drawn in the direction of the largest mass. There’s a decent elegance to this game with some light strategy, and you can expect to see it by October. It’s also likely to be one of the more talked about games of the convention because of these factors.
Lastly, I did get confirmation that Epic Spell Wars is getting expansions! Uncle Andy would be so proud, though there is currently no timetable for release on them.
Days of Wonder
No new Ticket to Ride iteration here. Instead, these guys are releasing a new jungle exploration game called Relic Runners. We didn’t have a chance to play it unfortunately, but we assume it’ll do decently given who is spearheading it. That said, we’re more interested in seeing how it will stack up with upcoming independent Kickstarter release Relic Expedition by Foxtrot Games.
Fantasty Flight Games
What can be said about FFG that won’t be said a ton already? They’re a sponsor of Gen Con, everyone knows them, and they were one of the most popular vendors there – they had a managed line to get in to their store area almost the entire convention. Just about all of their products saw some purchasing love at some point, but the two games that got the most attention were the Star Wars miniatures game and their new board game, Eldritch Horror. The Star Wars game continues to sell incredibly well, and with the news announced at the convention of more massive ships on the way, its battle with fan’s wallets is soon to become an all-out war. They sure were cool-looking though.
On the board games side, are you looking for Arkham Horror lite? That’s what you get with Eldritch Horror, a new board game set in the same universe as the iconic Arkham Horror line of games. The game was being heavily demoed, but a release date is not definite yet. Don’t let the name fool you, however: Eldritch Horror is a standalone game. It’s a shorter, more simplified game in the style of AH, but instead of focusing on those poor Massachusetts towns, the vantage point of this game is worldwide. If you’re an Arkham fan already, it’s sad to say that this game may not have a lasting appeal to you since it truly feels like a truncated version of the game you already enjoy. If you need your cultist fix, you’ll likely just go straight for Arkham or Mansions of Madness.
On the other hand, if you’re someone who enjoys the Cthulhu-flavored world of Arkham Horror but doesn’t have the time or patience for those 3-5 hour games, Eldritch Horror may just be the game to scratch that itch.
Speaking of itch…that looks a little scaly. Maybe you should get that looked at…
Fireside Games
The creators of the popular co-op game Castle Panic were showing off their next defense game with Dead Panic. It’s like Castle Panic meets Cabin in the Woods. I’m pretty zombied-out of late, but it’s still a pity I didn’t get to try this one out personally. Every now and then you just have the urge to pull out your boomstick and mow down some undead; Dead Panic seems to offer that.
Floodgate Games
Floodgate is the company behind the Kickstarted game Legacy: Gears of Time. It’s a game about time travel, inventions, and strategy. In other words, a game for me. It had to have done decently enough, as they were unveiling the expansion for it at Gen Con – Legacy: Forbidden Machines.
Flying Frog Productions
Arguably, I walked by this booth several times, but I never had a chance to inspect the games more in depth. These are the folks who are known for Last Night on Earth, though I saw more than a few people walking away with copies of their 1930’s era adventure game, Fortune and Glory. Something about an expansion that came out I believe. It was on my list of places to visit, but I never quite made it back there. Alas.
Gale Force 9
They’re the ones doing Firefly, The Game, aka “let’s make some gorram money.” They had demos going of it all weekend. They even had some copies for Gen Con ready to go, but they sold out very quickly. Expect a full release in the next month or two. The game is pretty straightforward in its premise and mechanics, but it was visually appealing and seemed to be solid enough design-wise. It also was easily one of the most sought-after games there.
Game Salute
If you follow Kickstarter, eventually you will come across one of the many games Game Salute has launched, and many of them were available at their booth. The biggest two hits of the weekend there seemed to be Heroes of Metro City, a superhero deckbuilder (and our August Spotlight game) from 3Some Games, and Tom Vasel’s backstabber mafia-based Nothing Personal. Both of them sold out.
It should also be mentioned that games for adults aren’t the only big sellers at Gen Con. Two of their other games that are more younger-audience friendly, Little Prince: Make Me a Planet, and Goblins Drool, Faeries Rule!, also appeared to be hits among attendees, even if they weren’t the ones that drew them in initially.
Gamer Nation Studios
Do you ever wish you could have control over the universe? I’d settle for the power over the laundry and dishes, but in their latest game, Eons, players are “universal architects” (a.k.a. gods), controlling the entropy of the universe. It’s your task create new stars and planets, expend the resources of those systems to create new ones, and so on, in a race for victory points. Eons is a game that spans from the Big Bang to the end of the universe. Luckily, we hear there’s a nice restaurant there.
I got to demo it; not only was the designer excited about showing it off (as they should be), but it looks to be a fun resource-management game.
Golden Egg Games
We were hoping to check out the demo of City Council, their follow-up worker placement game to their (unfortunately disappointing) last one, Fallen City of Karez. Sadly, I ran out of time. I would be very interested to hear from anyone who did try it out what they thought.
Greater Than Games
Attention stalwart champions! In addition to continuing their expanding line of the very successful co-op game Sentinels of the Multiverse, Greater Than rolled out Sentinel Tactics, a sequel of sorts. In this one, instead of a co-op approach, however, Sentinel Tactics uses a team-based style – which seems to be a mechanical trend a bit of late.
Grey Gnome Games
The creator behind the nostalgia-inspired dungeon game Zogar’s Gaze had copies available, though he was also showing off his newest game, the trick-taking space game, Neptune. I would have liked to see the hard copy of the tile game Tasnia, but it didn’t make it in time for the convention.
Greenbrier Games
While they had the full array of Zpocalypse: Aftermath products on display, it appears that there’s soon to be more to Greenbrier Games apparently than zombies. They’ll also have ninjas! Ninja Dice, a unique press your luck style dice game, was on display, and it will be gearing up for launch on Kickstarter in the weeks ahead.
IELLO
You may not recognize the name of this French company, but you’ve probably heard of King of Tokyo. Well, that’s them.
In addition to everyone trying to get their KoT promo cards (they were perpetually unavailable), I had a nice chat with the folks at their booth, and they walked me through a number of their games. Their latest game that’s attracting attention is Titanium Wars, a game about a space race to corner the market on a new energy source. My first thought when I heard that was, “Titanium as an energy source?” I found out it was regrettably confusing for them as well: it has something to do with a translation mistake. Mon dieu! Either way, it doesn’t make the game less fun. Players are trying to capture various planets for the valuable resource, and they have pitched space ship battles to do so. The victor claims the planet, and then the process starts all over.
They also had another game that’s just about to release, The Phantom Society. I was looking forward to this based on the concept: Victorian-esque ghost hunters in a haunted mansion?!? I was quite disappointed to discover, though, that Phantom Society is actually a family-style kids game. Players get to be either the ghosts or the hunters, and it’s aimed for that age range when children can start making strategic in-game decisions on where to place the ghosts or how to discover them in a logical manner. It looks to be a fun game for what it is, but it turns out I’m about 20 years to old to be its target audience. Ah well.
I also got to talk to them about Steam Park, a speedy dice-rolling action-taking game that is on IELLO’s upcoming games for release. Expect to hear more about this game in the near future.
Indie Boards & Cards
The guys behind The Resistance and Flash Point were there demoing copies of the Flash Point expansions at Gen Con, but they didn’t have available copies for purchase. I’m told it should be pretty close to release though. Check back in a month or so.
Japanime Games
Ahh yes, Japanime Games. I scouted out their booth because I’m a huge fan of Kanzume Goddess…
I’m kidding by the way.
Really.
I had to make sure you knew.
My sense of humor doesn’t always translate well into written form.
No, these folks were here showing off their adaptation of the online game Krosmaster Arena into a miniatures board game form. It seems to resonate well with people. I’ve actually heard decent reports, and I saw it demoed at PAX East. Still, it didn’t look any more interesting to me personally at Gen Con than it did back then. However, if chibi anime-styled combat is your thing, feel free to check them out.
Level 99 Games
The makers of the BattleCon fighting card game were there in all their battle-ready glory. They were, coincidentally, also showing off the latest edition of their Pixel Tactics series, which feels like Final Fantasty Tactics battles in card form. That certainly caught my attention, and I’ll be looking forward to trying more of them out going forward.
Ahh Gen Con, how easily you displace gamers from their income…
Looney Labs
Fluxx: The Boardgame. Are you ready? It’s just as irreverent with quickly altering rules and ever-changing logic as the card game, with a few new twists thrown in for good measure. It’s an adaptation of just the base game for now, though I imagine it’ll be adaptable in time for others.
Mayday Games
Avast mateys! Walk the Plank be in!
And just barely at that. The now-official prequel to Get Bit! (they’ve rethemed Get Bit from dumb robots to dumb pirates) arrived halfway through Gen Con, and people were able to put their pirates out on the ledge all the more. Much like it’s predecessor, it looks to be have some silly moments in it (in a good way).
We also found out that they are working on a sequel to Get Bit (which I’m hereby now dubbing the trio of games The Dumb Pirate Trilogy), where they will need to dive for things. Except, not all of them are very good at holding their breath…
Mayfair Games
Mayfair, like Fantasy Flight, had a pretty sizable footprint at Gen Con. But besides their charity game sessions, their Guinness World Record-setting Catan event (922 people!), and their mascots Bob & Angus wandering around, they also had games to show off. On the Catan front, the new game there is the massive Explorers and Pirates edition. A 5-6 player expansion for that is coming out fairly soon as well. Alternatively, they will be releasing in the near future a mini expansion for the base Catan game that contains cards that mimic the behavior of those found in Star Trek Catan.
Speaking of Star Trek Catan, not only was that one being heavily shown off, an expansion for that too is on the way that will provide a new map set.
Also, surprising as it may be to some, Mayfair makes non-Catan games as well! It’s true! And on that front, they were showing off a couple different games.
First was the re-released and updated edition of Pompeii, The Downfall of Pompeii, where players move into the area around Pompeii at the beginning of the game, and then over time, have to get out again before it blows up and they’re stuck there for…ever.
Second is the upcoming Global Mogul game, a worker placement game based around slowly taking over the world’s economies. (When I get to play that, I’m going to demand to be called Luthor.)
Lastly, they had a copy of Asgard’s Chosen being played. I didn’t get a chance to try it, but it’s set in a post Bronze Age era, and you’re looking to curry favor with the gods by doing various tasks. It’s not a deck builder in the normal sense, although using cards to achieve your objectives is in there. Make Baldr proud.
Minion Games
The latest from the makers of the popular Manhattan Project showed off their upcoming release, Hegemonic. It was a successful Kickstarter, and it should be due out in a month or so. We got to try this one out, and for those who are fans of space empire games, you’ll probably like it. It’s billed by some as the “thinking man’s 4X game”, and there may be some merit to that. I personally feel it’s less than a “true” 4X – I’ve been putting it closer to a large-scale area control or area influence game instead – because much of the game is focused on the Expand / Exploit aspects. Unlike Twilight Imperium or Eclipse, there is not a lot of giant space battles in the traditional sense. Still, it fits the technical definition of a 4X mold well, and I may just be parsing words. No matter. Once players get over the learning curve, people should find a lot to like about it. It certainly was one of the heftier new games that showed up at Gen Con.
Passport Game Studios
Passport are the folks who are distributing Tokaido, probably the most enjoyable game about walking ever made, and it was nice to see it getting a decent reception. It’s certainly on our list of games to give a proper review to.
Plaid Hat Games
In addition to giving away actual hats at their booth, Plaid Hat had a regular stream of attendees to their area. The two games that moved like the wind were the new storyline expansion for Mice & Mystics: The Heart of Glorm, and of course, the new release about riding the rails of Columbia, Bioshock Infinite. Really though, all of their game lines did well there, and I wish I could have spent more time playing some of them.
Privateer Press
The company known traditionally for its Warmachine and Hordes line of minis has started branching out into other gaming types in the last year or two. Last year they started with the release of Level 7: Escape, a game based around poor schmucks trying to escape a secret base run collaboratively by alien experimenters and the military. It has since been followed up with an expansion (Lockdown), and the just-debuted sequel to the game called Omega Protocol. In this, instead of civilians trying to break out, you are part of an elite team of soldiers sent in to clean up the mess. It also happens to dial it a little closer to a miniatures board game than its predecessor, but hey, they are a minis company after all.
While Level 7 was a new line, they also last year released a tabletop RPG for their Warmachine universe, showing that they could use existing product lines to branch out. To that end, their other non-minis release at Gen Con was Warmachine: High Command. Set in the same world, High Command is essentially a deckbuilder, and the objective is still to conquer the kingdoms. Naturally. Fear not Hordes players: Hordes: High Command is expected to be out sometime in October. All’s fair in war and war.
Queen Games
I knew going in to Gen Con that this European-based company has a tendency to use Kickstarter to pre-order games, and I among many had some consternation as to why they would do that as an established company. It’s true, they are a decent-sized gaming company – in Europe. In the US, they have exactly two employees. Two. Essentially, they don’t have the resources to do any sort of market research here at this point to figure out what may sell well. They are hoping to grow a larger footprint here in the years ahead, but for now Kickstarter is the best way they can do that for the time being. So, fair point to Queen Games on that. For now.
From a gaming perspective, they had several of ones people were supposedly excited to see. No game probably more than the mystery behind the road-building game, Via Appia! Honestly, I’m still cautious about it, but the resource acquisition method is certainly unique (it’s like a sifter). I didn’t get a chance to demo it properly, but I did watch a few people play for a bit. We’ll see if it lives up to the hype it had going in.
Other than that, it had its usual fare of popular games, as well as a few other new releases like the frantic dice-rolling game Escape from the Temple Curse, the city-building Urbanization, and the exciting card-drafting game Lost Legends where you are fighting dangerous monsters.
Rio Grande Games
Oddly, they did not have a booth this year, though they did have a demo room running practically non-stop during the day. The signature game you could check out there was the latest (and supposedly last) Dominion expansion, Guilds.
Sherwood Games
These folks are the ones behind In the City: Origins. It’s a card game around gaining influence by recruiting units from a series of card columns, dubbed “the city square”. There are a number of columns, and the objective is to clear out two of the columns to end the game with the most influence. The demo played decently enough, and while mechanically workable, it probably could use a little polish. Given that the base game was self-financed though, they did a decent job. They are currently Kickstarting an attempt at expansions.
SlugFest Games
The makers of Red Dragon Inns 1, 2, and 3 wrapped up a Kickstarter in June for, wait for it…Red Dragon Inn 4. However, you could demo RDI4 at their booth. It adds a few different cards, but it has the same irreverent feeling as the rest of the games in the series. They’re aiming to have it out by October.
Steve Jackson Games
Munchkin fans unite! STG will be releasing a Munchkin Pathfinder fairly soon, which I suppose is the closest we’ve seen yet to a Pathfinder / D&D accord. In addition to that, the big thing (literally), was a chance to see massive relaunch project that has been OGRE as a final product. Supposedly due in November, this tank battle game has been beset with a number of delays, so it was nice to see a visual sign that there is light at the end of the barrel.
Stoneblade Entertainment
I take certain umbrage with the idea of the vendor themselves charging people money for promo cards on non trading card games, and it should be no surprise in this case given that several of the creators were high echelon Magic tournament players. Still, as much as I personally try to avoid the booth because of that, Ascension is a good game, and I wanted to take a look at the next expansion, Darkness Unleashed. It’s a continuation of the Ascension: Rise of Vigil line with its signature Energy Shard cards that let you supercharge cards for added effects. Darkness Unleashed seems to take that even further, though it remains to be seen if it adds a bit more min/maxing to a deckbuilder than is necessary.
Stratelibri
This Italian company’s showcase game was The Mystery of the Templar, and it was one of the largest board games in terms of size at Gen Con. It explores the 200 year history of the Knights Templar, taking players from its days as a pilgrim escort group, to adventuring for holy relics, to fleeing the persecution from the papal decree in 1307 that they be rounded up. It’s a long game, but it seemingly tries to blend historical representation with a Big Box game. I can appreciate that. They were gracious enough to give me a very rough runthrough, but I did not even go through a full demo on this. I intend to look into it more.
Stronghold Games
What’s better – apparently – than the real-time action game Space Cadets? Space Cadets the dice game! The transition of the game to dice form appeared to go over pretty well with players.
Tasty Minstrel Games
TMG seemed to really love Dungeon Roll, as that was hands-down the game they were pushing at Gen Con. It was recently just shipped to Kickstarter backers, and aside from a pack of extra heroes you could get, they also attempted a solo-play contest one night. It seemed to go over well, aside from the fact that they did it from midnight to 3 A.M.
Besides Dungeon Roll, they had several of their other sought-after games like Village Inn and Rialto sell out before the end of the convention, and they alluded to several other projects currently in the works to keep an eye out for in the weeks ahead.
WeaselPants Productions
For a variety of reasons, I was quite glad to see Redshirts Deluxe finally be delivered at Gen Con. Redshirts, a card-based Star Trek parody game, had an initial printing awhile back that did decently enough. When running their 2nd edition of the game, however, the Kickstarter was beset with delays that the designer could not talk about. (Read: lawsuit from CBS). Once the red tape was cleared away, production resumed, and Redshirts can now be enjoyed by all. Unfortunately, I was told that this ordeal has set their game lineup timetable back by almost a year. I’m choosing to focus on the positive though and go get me some Redshirts killed.
Wizards of the Coast
For a perennial sponsor of Gen Con, and it being the 20th anniversary of Magic: the Gathering, I was surprised that they did not have an expo floor space. Instead, they relegated themselves to one of the play halls. As I’ve stated several times before, I mostly avoid tourney Magic discussion on the site. I have no interest in the competitive tournament side of MtG, and plenty of other sites already talk about it. So, as strange it is, I have little to say about their presence besides that I heard they did a draft where they used a pack from every set since Beta.
Alright, so I admit that would have been a little cool to see beforehand.
By contrast, I did have a short but enjoyable conversation with Jeff Menges, one of the early Magic artists that got me invested in the game all those years ago. He had some of the final pages of his limited edition book of early game art, with contributions from like 85% of the original game artists. We previewed the book awhile back. Jeff did inform me that there are some still left for purchase, but that he would not wait until the book is released to try to claim one. I second that notion.
WizKids Games
While inspecting the new Quarriors expansion, Quartifacts, and its quest to find magical items, we couldn’t help but notice the posters everywhere announcing WizKids’s other new game, Star Trek: Attack Wing. Arguably, it was one of the bigger draws. If you prefer Romulan Warbirds over TIE Fighters in your minis movement game, you’re in luck. Many of the same designers of the Star Wars X-Wing game were involved with Attack Wing, and much of the mechanics are very similar as a result. Except, it’s Star Trek instead. The massive DS9 model alone was enough to give people pause. If you were waiting on the right IP to divest yourself of all the moneys, engage.
Z-Man Games
Z-Man rounds out the board game segment by having us mention that they had several of their new games on full display, including the buzz-worthy co-op Robinson Crusoe, where players have to work together on an unforgiving island, the hard to acquire strategic game Terra Mystica, and Pandemic’s 2nd expansion, In the Lab. In the Lab actually sold out before I got a chance to look at it proper, but the official release is only a few weeks away. As a reminder though, if you have the original printing, you will need a conversion kit to use In the Lab. They were sold out of those as well at the time I inquired.
Tabletops
Agate Editions
The makers of Shadows of Esteren were showing off the artwork and some materials for their upcoming 2nd supplemental, Travels. The game’s English translation is done (it’s French), and I got to chat with him for a bit. They are intending on an October release. This certainly looked like one that could pick up a following stateside it it keeps going.
Catalyst Game Labs
The 5th Edition of Shadowrun is out, though getting to that point to talk about it proved difficult. On the other hand, CGL had one of the more interactive booths at the entire con. So that’s something. Still, we’re hoping to be able to look over some of the differences in the near future if we can get our hands on a copy.
Chaosium
The 7th Edition of Call of Cthulhu made its debut at Gen Con. Sandy Petersen, the original CoC author, was also on hand, splitting his time between here and his other project, the massively popular minis/board game Kickstarer, Cthulhu Wars. With regards to Cthulhu Wars, all I can say is that the components look even better in person than the photos.
Crafty Games
RPGs aren’t just for teens and adults anymore. The last couple years have seen a rise in tabletop games for kids as well. The one at this Gen Con that seemed to be talked about most was The Little Wizards, an into-level RPG that allows children to explore the imaginative world of storytelling.
Eschaton Media
Need some more apocalypse in your day? Get your fill with Dystopia Rising, a LARP system fleshed out into a full tabletop experience. Explore an ever-growing post-apocalyptic world with the base game, several supplements, and more on the way.
Exile Game Studio
Have you ever said, “I need more pulp adventure in my life”? Ok, probably not. But it’s fun to pretend you do, right? You can do so in the Jules Verne-like world of Hollow Earth Expedition. We didn’t get to inspect the game as much as we wanted, but it’s on our “Follow Up With” list. In the meantime, feel free to on your own.
Machine Age Productions
When we say there are ghosts in the machine, we don’t mean the anime. We’re talking instead about Maschine Zeit, a futuristic sci-fi horror where the dead can haunt machinery and cause havoc. It’s ghosts haunting space stations. What could possibly go wrong?
Margaret Weis Productions
If a Firefly board game at Gen Con wasn’t enough, there’s also Firefly, the RPG. Because Browncoats forever. They only had preview copies available as it’s still not entirely finished yet, and so it was being nitpicked a bit leading up to the release. We, like lot of people, are reserving judgment for the final product. This is the same company who makes the Leverage RPG that gets decent marks. So by all means feel free to check out what they’ve got so far.
Modiphus Entertainment
Known more for their Achtung! Cthulhu Kickstarter and relaunch of Mutant Chronicles, this tabletop publisher also put out a light steampunk roleplaying game called Cogs, Cakes, & Swordsticks, and it’s that one of theirs that caught our attention. We’ll see how it fares.
Paizo Publishing
As far as tabletop behemoths go, Paizo seems to be the one in charge, and that’s in no small part due to the wild success in recent years of Pathfinder. As a sponsor of Gen Con, they certainly had a lot going on, including several special events and giveaways throughout the course of the event. They also announced that they’ll be doing some Pathfinder audio books in the future, so you can listen to the world when you’re not playing.
From a gaming side, they also had a number of things to talk about. The first one that people got wind about was the official launch of the Pathfinder co-op card game.
Yeah, let that one sink in for a second.
Billed as another way to adventure with your party, the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game basically works around having your characters grow and change through a deck of cards instead of traditional character sheet. It’s not something we’ll probably dig into, but we certainly see the appeal.
And in the more classic mode, they also released Mythic Adventures, the supplemental book for making your epic level heroes even more epic.
Posthuman Studios
Are you looking to explore what it means to be human in a bleak, transhuman future? It may sound dark – because it is – but the world of Eclipse Phase is one worth digging into if you want to run a game around a world of conspiracy and risk.
Random Non-Gaming Info
Dead Gentlemen
The comedic gaming film series continues as Gamers 3: Hands of Fate had its theatrical debut here. It’s free to watch until the end of August, though digital downloads are available, and the DVD is expected later this year. The same quirky, sarcastic gaming group of Gamer 2 returns. The main plot of the movie revolves around the fictional card game Romance of the Nine Empires, a thinly-veiled L5R allegory, and largely takes place at Gen Con.
The ENie Awards
The ENies, an annual award for tabletop-related games, coverage and materials, announced their 2013 winners. Check them out in case you missed it (like I did).
Goko
Goko.com made a splash last year as a go-to place for playing Dominion online. The thing is, their system had issues, and they were trying to expand into too many game ports too quickly. I chatted with CEO Kate Connally, and she explained that they realized they needed to refocus their efforts. As a result, they have pulled back on the bulk of their games library and have decided to revamp their entire infrastructure. In short, they’re relaunching Goko.com. The site even says it’s in beta again. Their primary focus for the time being intends on being Dominion and Catan licenses, with the Knizia family directly involved with the latter. Other games will come online eventually (I’m watching for the Race for the Galaxy one myself), but those two are their main focus.
If you’ve been to the site since their retooling, you’ll probably notice the game is a lot nicer and less glitchy than before, and that’s the result of their efforts. Kate did mention that they are also planning on doing mobile apps of their products instead of just a web GUI, with an iOS version of Dominion first, followed shortly thereafter by one for Android. Goko focuses on porting existing games to a digital platform, and while we don’t technically follow digital games, we feel worthwhile ports are occasionally worth mentioning [when they’re going to be on Android].
Hostile Work Environment
Peter Adkinson, the founder of Wizards of the Coast and current owner of Gen Con, launched a new media company called Hostile Work Environment earlier this summer. The intent is to fund films that tell and capture the creative and fascinating stories that tabletop players the world over have been creating for decades now. Their first attempt is The Devil Walks In Salem, a story inspired by a session of Fiasco. Honestly, this sounds like a great concept idea; I’ve found many RPG retellings more compelling than most of what comes out of Hollywood these days. They could learn a lesson or two here from gamers, and so here’s hoping that HWE lands an audience.
And there you have it. Four days of expo material wrapped up into one main list. Hopefully you find this list useful when looking at your next gaming purchases, or just seeing what the industry as a whole was up to.
I look forward to give you another such rundown when we return to Gen Con in 2014.
In the meantime, keep those dice rolling!