3:33pm:  A lot of the first day is taken up with scouting and meeting old friends.

Just played in a 15-minute Pathfinder demo.  Great fun!

The Kenzer booth doesn't have demos in booth this year, which is a bummer. Talked to Mark Plemmons, until a man in a kilt interrupted like I wasn't standing there.  

The Dragon Age game and Green Ronin booths are right next to one another.  Interesting bit of cross-marketing.  I took plenty of photos, which I will post up in a bit.  Honestly, maybe it's just when I hit them, but the GR booth seemed a bit slow.  

Stopped by Mongoose!  Earthdawn and FantasyCraft are both up!  They had a nice flow of traffic when I was around.





The Forge and IPR booths are split this year, so both are much smaller.  Ron Edwards challenged Pundit to an iron-cage rhetoric match (not really).

Went back to the FFG booth, but no one was running the 3e demo.  Was told the same bit on the Warhammer 3e, so nothing else to report.  Honestly, the amount of attention Fantasy Flight gives to RPGs here is underwhelming.  All you really see are board games, board games, board games.

Hirst Model Arts does a great job of presenting their molds:



I have a panel starting shortly--I'll be doing a big update tonight, though, so stay tuned!

Those pathfinder books, speaking purely from an aesthetic point of view, look awesome.

RPGPundit

Quote from: Zachary The First;320412Ron Edwards challenged Pundit to an iron-cage rhetoric match (not really).

Challenge accepted.

Thanks for keeping this blog!

This thread is really making me pine for GenCon.

Zach, you need to post pics of the FFG guys getting gang-raped with broomhandles and then chain-dragged with golf-carts for the atrocity that is WFRP 3e.

RPGPundit

Zach, stop around the West End Games booth tomorrow afternoon.   Bill Coffin will be there signing copies of Septimus.  I will be there again too, so stop by and say hi.

Quote from: RPGPundit;320425Those pathfinder books, speaking purely from an aesthetic point of view, look awesome.

RPGPundit

I picked it up, its 500 plus pages of pure joy.  I am finally getting around to reading it

Quote from: The Game Guy;320478Zach, stop around the West End Games booth tomorrow afternoon.   Bill Coffin will be there signing copies of Septimus.  I will be there again too, so stop by and say hi.

Happily.  It's on the list.  I just don't know when I'm going to get to what at Gen Con--it's sort of unpredictable.

As for the FFG guys, I'm not a big Warhammer FRP fan, but what little I've heard on it has been split about down the middle between interest and horror.  Honestly, at the convention, there's not been a lot of scuttlebutt readily available on it.

Evening

There were a lot of booths that were just briefly scouted today, with all intentions of hitting them tomorrow.  I'll also be playing in one of the "Return to the Tower of Gygax", something my circle and I have really been looking forward to.

Col. Lou Zocchi no longer runs Gamescience, but he is still here.  He's a Gen Con Guest of Honor, and I can't think of anyone I'd rather have in that spot.  Phil Vecchione from Gnome Stew said his entire group has converted to Gamescience dice. Soooo many Gamescience dice, glowing from a flashing LED display!

Lou is still doing his bit, and the Gamescience both has easily quadrupled in size from last year.  I make sure to tell the Colonel every year how much seeing him at Gen Con means.





Recap:  

OK, so clearly, today belonged to Pathfinder.  There were a few copies left in the Paizo booth when I left.  I'm sure they'll restock, but I'm not sure how long they'll last.  Obviously, one day does not make a product a success, but the enthusiasm is definitely there.  

I think there's definitely a bit of grumbling over the Forge/Indie Press Revolution booth split.  Ron Edwards was at one, the IPR guys at the other, and it seemed kinda standoffish.  I know there was the whole earlier in the year with Professor Edwards and his disagreement with  IPR's business model or what have you, but it made both booths seem tiny compared to previous years.

Luke Crane's Burning Wheel booth did not get the latest Burning Wheel product.  I heard that he will have 50 copies at most, but they were still enroute.  This is not uncommon for publishers in the first day or so of Gen Con.

Crystal Caste had an inflatable d20.  Something useless, most likely, but I still desired it.  They're always a fun booth to visit:



Good panel with the RPG Bloggers Network.  Got to meet folks like Purple Pawn and Newbie DM.  Jeff from the Bone Scroll also hung out with us for part of the day.

You don't realize what a wide selection Goodman Games has until you see their booth.  I saw Rob Conley's Points of Light II.  I think they could do with a layout that has things not just laid out, but more vertical and featured.
Just my 2 cents:






Gareth Skarka at the C7/Adamant Booth said that in just a few short hours, he had sold 56 pdf copies of his Pathfinder accessory, Tome of Secrets,through RPGNow.  Here's a shot of that and Savage Mars:



C7 and Adamant have print deal now, which means you'll see both their logos on Adamant print titles.  John Wick is also supposed to be at the booth, but I haven't seen him yet.

The Cubicle 7 folks also told me the Qin Game Master's screen is somewhere over the Pacific, but they had a copy there.  Looks to be of a sturdy construction:



Why yes, the Battletech Pods are awesome:




Here's a shot of Green Ronin's Dragon Age promo and a shot of their proximity to the Dragon Age booth itself, if that tells you anything about their priorities going forward re: Dragon Age:





OK, for buzz, I have to be honest.  I try to talk to folks about what they're buying this year.  Aside from Pathfinder, most people were at best undecided.  The Battletech Pods were pretty busy, but my main focus at the convention is gaming stuff.  There were some minor waves for Savage Worlds products, and Gaming Paper, and dice are always popular, but I think this is a crowd this year that's very undecided about where to put their money.  We'll see what tomorrow brings.

I'll tell you one thing:  I am already tired of eating nothing but frickin' Slim Jims.

P.S. to the post right before this one:

Belly dancers, singing (rival?) pirates, and a Ghostbuster.  I love Gen Con:

Zach, a photo of Septimus, if you could. This is now a d6 game after all, right?

Any serious grognard activity? I understand somebody was going to run Sturmgeschuetz & Sorcery... somewhere.

Odd that WOTC has no special GenCon release.

Quote from: Pierce Inverarity;320504Zach, a photo of Septimus, if you could. This is now a d6 game after all, right?

Any serious grognard activity? I understand somebody was going to run Sturmgeschuetz & Sorcery... somewhere.

Odd that WOTC has no special GenCon release.

Ah yes.  I will be checking out Septimus tomorrow, you can be rest assured.

I have seen a fair number of old, well-loved boxed sets out and about. But it's still only glimpses of the whole. I'm running Microlite74 Saturday, and Chgowiz is doing a Swords & Wizardry game, I believe.

There were a couple of Traveller grognards ranting outside the Mongoose booth earlier.

I'm surprised too, for WotC.  Bear in mind they will be announcing their 2010 setting for D&D tomorrow around noon, so perhaps they thought that was enough specialness for one Gen Con.

To everyone else:  I am going through this thread, noting requests, etc., so don't think I've forgotten!  I promise I will do my utmost to get as many answers as I can.

You rock, Zach.
Any news on the new WoD game?

Quote from: Highmoon;320508You rock, Zach.
Any news on the new WoD game?

From what I'm told (I can't vouch personally), the ad in the back says something about "All Things Are Born Of Darkness", with the lettering fading towards a darker shade. So it isn't a direct plug or reveal for anything yet.  Some opinions seemed to be centered on Demon, but I don't think anyone is sure at this point.