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I’m back and recovered from GenCon. GenCon is awesome for gaming but not just for the games specifically that you want to go. I scheduled one event and was never bored or found wanting for one second. Gencon is truly great because it is a gaming ecosystem. Sit outside a Starbucks and ask the person next you about gaming. You’ve just started a great, hour-long conversation. Run through the exhibit hall, and see every cool gaming related item that you could hope to see. Play “Are you a werewolf?”until the 3:30 in the morning. You’re talking about games at breakfast, at lunch. You’re soaking in game demos and and talking with industry folks to learn more about their games. Gencon fills you with a vital energy and drive for gaming like no event I’ve ever been to.
You’re probably wondering what I did that was related to that game…what game was that? Oh, 4e? To be honest, I didn’t attend all the 4e events. I did participate in a panel on 4e blogging, but reasoned that there are people much better suited and leveraged to give you great information as it happens. I needed to charge my batteries –It’s been an awesome but long year. I attended some game design panels and met tons great people from all walks of gaming.
Ultimate Dungeon Delve
This is the one official event I did. It was me, Milambus and Mike shea of Sly Flourish against the new WotC torture device. We weren’t able to beat it, almost made it out of the fourth encounter (two hits!). We were pretty excited about that (no one else that day made it past encounter three), but it’s still better to win!
Our party composition was:
- Half -Elf Paladin
- Human Cleric
- Drow Rogue
- Elf ranger
- Dwarf barbarian
So, three strikers plus one leader and defender. In a normal game I would have like to drop one striker and double up on defender or leader, but in this time-driven environment, this makeup made the most sense.
My take-away:
- There are a lot of ways to challenge players without making tougher monsters. Make the environment tougher and you’ll challenge that players just as much if not more than with tougher monsters.
- Divine sanction rocks.
- Falling….Hurts. The ultimate dungeon delve reinforced that falling sucks, not only because you take damage, but because it puts you out of the fight for at least a few rounds.
As my only official gaming event (Chgowiz also ran a rollicking Swords & Wizardry game for us too!), this really satisfied my urge to roll dice. Good Times!
Swords and Lasers?
People will reference Dark Sun as the big news of the con, but here’s the 4e tidbit I found most interesting…Amethyst, the new setting for 4e from Goodman Games and Dias Ex Machina. Have you seen this yet? It’s very ambitious and potentially very cool. Look at the laundry list of stuff it touts:
- Six new races inspired by classic legends and literature
- 4 new technology-based classes
- 19 new paragon paths for both science- and magic-based characters
- All new equipment from revolvers to railcannons
- Listings for powered armor and futuristic vehicles
- New monsters for every challenge rating
- All new GSL-compliant rules to add technology to any 4th Edition game
Fantasy + technology? I’m very interested to see how they integrate high tech with high fantasy. If they find the right balance, this setting could really rock. It’s coming out in September, so don’t be surprised if you find a review of it on the site when it’s out.
Commentary
I’ve got lots of great comments on various posts, and I promise I’ll be getting to them in the next several days. Thanks for your patience!
A Jack of All Trades ,or if you prefer, an extreme example of multi-classing, Gamefiend, a.k.a Quinn Murphy has been discussing, playing and designing games straight out of the womb. He is the owner and Editor-in-Chief of this site in addition to being an aspiring game designer. As you would assume, he is a huge fan of 4e.
By day he is a technologist. 