gen con rev iew
5 August 2024
Contents
Gen Con!
Gen Con!!
Gen Con
It's the big one! The big con! This was my first year going and I had no idea what to expect. My only other large con experience was a one day trip to Dragon Con when I lived in ATL. I met up with a group of 6 people who all dressed up as members of the Black Parade without telling me, so I mostly just wandered around wide-eyed looking like the goths were forced to bring their annoying younger brother.
I went with one guy I knew, a four-year Gen Con vet, and two of his friends I'd never met. They all encouraged me to ignore the panels and sign up for play sessions, so that's what I did. I attended five!! oneshot sessions across the con and left room in the schedule to wander the dealer hall. The four of us booked a hotel room with two twin beds and met up in Alabama for the 6-ish hour drive to Indy. It all felt very college boy road trip (complimentary).
The road trip aspect was, comically, a disaster. My friend contracted an insane musculoskeletal infection (???) that left him in so much pain he was out of commission for the entire first day of the con. He was so miserable that he actually caught an emergency flight home on day two.
Adding on, one of the other Dudes forgot to include the con as an unavailable period for work (????), so he also had to make an emergency flight home on day one before coming back on day three, leaving him out for half the con. This left me without my one connection, half our group gone, and sharing a room with one guy I hardly knew. Basically: a nightmare scenario.
Thankfully, both the remaining Guy + everyone I met at the con were super kind and easy to get along with. Even though my social battery drained pretty quickly, I never felt unwelcome with any play group or stopping at any booth. Any time I came across a familiar name I bombarded them with questions and it felt like people always had time to answer (thank you for bearing with me especially Graham, Warren, and Yochai). Basically I had a lovely experience despite the specter of my dying friend looming in the background waiting to become a part of my tragic backstory. Sorry, Paul!!
What I Played
I won't be going into much detail on the actual sessions because tbh I hate play reports and think they're about as interesting as someone telling you about that cool dream they had. This'll mostly cover vibes + what I thought did/didn't work about the game.
CBR+PNK
CBR+PNK by Emanoel Melo is a condensed Forged in the Dark game about runners in a classic cyberpunk future going on their big final mission. It's intended for high energy oneshots.
I actually almost refunded my ticket for this one because I was already feeling overstimulated / a little wigged out from the fraught trip to the con, and wanted a little more time to acclimate. I'm glad I didn't, because this was a blast! The condensed format is perfect for the con setting, and our GM had a big loud voice and great energy that drew us all in immediately. Unlike some later games I played, the mechanics here went a long way to keeping the narrative moving while still letting everyone inject their own personal flavor into the world.
I played BIG_D0G, a trash saint with pneumatic gun arms built to harvest and launch whatever junk he finds in the garbage; I felt the game supported this weird idea without issue. We ran the Dark City module by Ray Chou, where the gang finds themselves drafted into a city-wide violent bloodsport show. Frankly the only thing I want out of cyberpunk content is a bunch of good strong freaks to fuck around with, and this one's got freaks aplenty, so it gets two thumbs up from me!
Fun Fact!
Our GM, Metal Steve, clearly had experience and passion, but seemed a little unfamiliar with the module and occasionally had to take breaks to get familiar with certain bits. Not the end of the world, and he always came back firing on all cylinders, but still unexpected. I found out from talking with some of the Mythworks folks later that they had a very last minute dropout and had to source a new GM from their discord the week of the con. Metal Steve was who volunteered, so he was basically just as fresh on the module as the rest of us. And he still crushed it! You go, Metal Steve.
Pasion de las Pasiones
Pasion de las Pasiones, by Brandon Leon-Gambetta and produced by Magpie Games, is a powered by the apocalypse game inspired by soapy, overly dramatic telenovelas. It contains moves meant to showcase the over-the-top drama on those shows - flashbacks, shocking reveals, sudden violence, confessions of love, etc. Personally I'm a Gauntletpilled Brindlecel who doesn't feel like Magpie is doing anything interesting in the PbtA space (and am hoping they don't fuck up Fallen London!!). I hadn't read Pasion, but it still seemed fun and also like a hard sell to my regular group, so I was tentatively excited for how it would play.
Worth noting: everyone at the table, including the GM, was white. Nobody did an accent, thankfully. I don't have much to say about the experience of playing this with an all-white group, but I did find an interesting review that digs into some of the more stereotypical aspects of the game.
I played a doña (stern matriarch type) named Amaranta. The setup was that we were all adopted siblings under our dying abuela fighting over who would inherit the business after the will mysteriously burned in a house fire the day prior. The GM set the scene of us arriving one-by-one to the hospital and then largely stayed out of the action while our characters bickered. I'm not sure if this scenario is packaged with the book or made specifically for the con.
Looking back, I have no idea how this game is supposed to go. Every scene was largely us having some big dramatic argument or discussion, then asking the GM what happens next, only to get a shrug and a "what do you do?" Which would be fine, but my big takeaway is that the moves just don't work with the scripted TV premise. They're all related to big specific actions happening mid-scene, but there's barely anything that sets the stage for a new scene. I was really missing something like Trophy's hunt roll or Brindlewood's day/night moves - something generic that moves the action forward and sets you up for an interesting scene. We had silly fun getting loud and yelling at each other and then had nothing much to do when that energy fizzled out.
If I were gonna add anything to Pasion, it would be a Fade to Black / Cut to Commercial move - something that ends a scene on a cliffhanger and immediately cuts to a new one with a roll to decide the tone of that scene. This would ideally lead to a good A/B session plot while giving players the tools to keep things moving.
Fun Fact!
One of our players was wearing a mask. Power to him, but Magpie's gaming hall was packed to the point that they had to have a noise-resetting signal so everyone could actually hear each other. Our poor mask guy must have picked the most noise-cancelling material he could find because we could barely hear him even when the room was quiet. Every time he spoke we would see him getting really animated and wide-eyed and slam his fists on the table while being 100% inaudible. It was great.
Also, the GM kept calling my character Amaretto, which was annoying and I'll hold a grudge about it forever!!
Slugblaster: Kickflip Over A Quantum Centipede
Slugblaster by Mikey Hamm is a game about shitty hoverboard teens menacing an alternate universe quantum-tech 90s. It uses a stripped down Forged in the Dark system. The book is all bright colors, loud music, and bold design - probably the most attractive product I saw at the entire con. I'd seen this one on itch and planned on running a game for my friends until I signed up for this slot. I loved the art and premise, so I was super stoked going in!
I played a Grit named Fahey, an archetype meant to represent the determined, one-track-mind skater who beefs the same line over and over until they finally nail it. Our adventure was written by the GM specifically for the con - our characters wanted to hit the mall to grab the hottest new game release, but the only way to get there before the crowds was to take a portal shortcut through the nightmarish Blasteroid Lands.
Our GM for this was fun - really, really energetic, very physical, often standing up to add some oomph to the action - and I genuinely did have a great time, but similar to Pasion I also felt like this was missing a good strong stage-setting mechanic. The session opened basically like this.
- GM: The portal's on the other side of town. How do you get there?
- Us: we skate?
- GM: Do you do any tricks?
- Us: ...yeah?
- GM: Are they cool?
- Us: ...yeah?
- GM: Describe them and roll!
Maybe this is just a GM thing and we were supposed to jump into the action faster, idk, but I think there's only so many times I can aimlessly describe my wicked sick dickflips or whatever before I start to get bored, so it feels like the game has a short shelf life. The actual action in the Blasteroid Lands was fun with typical clocks, big descriptions, etc., although this game doesn't use mixed success which I thought was interesting.
Once we got out, we entered the mall and were given free reign to wander. Again, might be a GM thing, but it seemed like this was just optional roleplay. There weren't any real mechanics for shopping and no need to buy anything, so we sort of just talked with NPCs for shiggles until we got bored and went to buy our cool game. Is there anything wrong with that? Not really, but I was hoping for more stakes or goals or something outside of checking out what's available at Quantum Spencer's. I had fun fucking around, but I wouldn't be excited to play this game again any time soon.
Fun Fact!
Our GM said they had packed the session full of references and said we probably wouldn't get it, so it was mostly just for their own enjoyment. Then they immediately revealed we were trying to buy a game called Sburb and, once we got to the mall, they had fleshed out every store as manned by different Homestuck characters. I was the only one at the table who recognized this. Is Homestuck obscure now??? Comically they ended the session describing a meteor coming down towards us as we booted up the game - a critical plot thread in the comic but something that the other players had NO context for. It was super self-indulgent and the GM really went all in on it, so I was endeared, even if I'm waaaaaaay past my Homestuck phase. Thanks, Gabe!
Extra Ordinary (playtest)
Extra Ordinary by Kodi Gonzaga is an upcoming Belonging outside Belonging game about kids with strange powers on the run in a harsh world. This was a playtest - the actual game is being Kickstarted in 2025. Kodi themself facilitated the game and played with us.
My toxic trait is that the only games I love to run are highly lethal dungeon crawlers and the only games I love to play are tenderhearted GMless storygames. So, no surprise, this was my favorite session of the con. We spent two hours on chargen + collaborative worldbuilding, then two hours actually playing; this tracks similarly to my experience with Wanderhome. I played an Outsider named Andromeda (Ann for short), a character who "is not from here" (where is left up to interpretation), and I built her with divination/navigation based powers flavored after the stars in the night sky.
My big worry about playing this game at a con is that GMless games truly require everyone to be all in. If someone's not into it and killing the vibe then it drags the whole table down, but if everyone is on top of it the games feel ELECTRIC. Luckily, we had a fully engaged group from minute one, and worldbuilding was a blast.
We flavored ourselves as 1930's trainhoppers on the run from a proto-three-letter-agency called the Paranormal Investigation Service (fuck you, PISsers). Our powers came from a primordial elemental consciousness pushing back against encroaching industrialization, and we had recently lost a plant-powered friend to the PIS. Mechanically, this was straightforwardly BoB: make weak moves with negative story impact to gain tokens, then spend them on hard moves with positive impact. Interestingly, this was structured in such a way that every character gets a chance in the spotlight and is GMed by one other player as something called an Aspect (the Ordinary, the Danger, the Need, etc). Once you've played an aspect, your character gets the spotlight, and play moves on. Nothing much to say here other than I think it's a great structure!
Typically I'm not drawn to any games where you play kids, but I think this idea is just not as interesting with adults. Kids on the run and trying to make do is inherently a little more fraught and heavy than adults doing the same, and it also tugs on your heartstrings a little more too. Overall I had a blast with this one and I plan on backing the Kickstarter when it eventually launches. Not sponsored btw!!
Fun Fact!
A game that I adore but never get a chance to talk about is Where the Water Tastes Like Wine, a magical realist game about trainhopping across Depression-era America. As soon as we'd built our world it's all that was on my mind, and I suggested its title as the name of the place we were looking for. To my joy, for such a niche game, several other players were also familiar and were fully on board with the idea. That insane spark of Being On The Same Page as the other folks in a GMless game is exactly why I seek these kinds of things out.
Home
House by Marn S. is a GMless map making game using cards as a mechanic about exploring a haunted house. It's heavily inspired by House of Leaves.
Home by Wet Ink Games is a GMless map making game using cards as a mechanic about exploring a haunted house. It has nothing to do with House of Leaves.
Because I have comic relief character energy, I signed up for Home thinking it was House and spent most of the con talking up my super cool upcoming House of Leaves session. Oops! I had a tough time hiding my disappointment going in, but was surprised to find that this game was a ton of fun. You create your characters given certain archetypes, collaborate on the setting, then draw cards to discover what you find in the house. The prompts are generic ("your foot crunches on some object, what is it? what horrible feeling does it fill you with?"), and typically ask you to create a new room without any details on what's inside, so it's up to the players to set the scene and ratchet up the tension. There are different card decks corresponding to different horror genres - aliens, haunted orphanages, blah blah. We went with a witchy, ritual themed deck.
The setting we decided on was an antebellum mansion in rural Kentucky. I played Blind Joe Death, an ardent believer in the supernatural. Unlike Extra Ordinary, this group skewed a bit older and everyone else was clearly a lot less comfortable with narrating themselves. I got the impression they all typically played mechanics heavy games where they could rely heavily on the rules to do the talking. What saved this from being a disaster IMO is how much work the cards put in. They offer flavorful prompts, interesting choices to make, and clear guidance on what feelings you want to invoke in each act of the game.
Interestingly, despite being GMless, the facilitator of this game didn't actually play, instead sitting off to the side offering nudges and suggestions for our scenes. This helped the less comfortable players bounce their ideas off someone with experience and feel more comfortable making interesting choices. Would this sing more with a group of strong improvisers? Yeah, duh, but everyone's gotta start somewhere, and this felt like a very accessible entry point into GMless gaming. I would go as far as to say that mechanically this was my favorite game of the bunch because of how much I saw it succeed in action with the other players.
Overall, not a game I'd play often, but still one I greatly enjoyed! The combo of this and my Extra Ordinary game convinced me that, if I ever go back to this con again, I should sign up for way more GMless games - they fit my ideal con experience almost perfectly.
Fun Fact!
Prior to this session, every GM I played with asked us for our Lines and Veils as a safety tool. Every time, I wrote the same thing under Lines: no violence against children/pets. Extra Ordinary was a minor exception because it had more nuanced lines/veils built in for how the kids can be affected by violence. This isn't a trigger for me, just something I have no interest in seeing.
Home was the only game where we weren't asked for Lines/Veils, and, lo and behold, we get two hours into the session and another player introduces mutilated baby skeletons in a room she creates. Of fucking course. Thank goodness it's not a trigger for me or I would have been livid. At the time I was in such disbelief that I had to laugh, and I still think it's funny, but also, PLEASE use safety tools in your games, especially horror themed games! It's not hard!!
What I Bought
Just quick n dirty overviews here!
Tabletop Games
Beak, Feather, and Bone, bundled with Go Go Golf!
A map making game by Tyler Crumrine. I bought it bundled with an anime-y golfing system that I can't find online. Tyler's booth was great - he told me he tries to work with different artists for each product, and reader, the man's got taste. The different artstyles present such a bold image when seen together. My wallet was fighting for its life here. Wanted, but unbought: The Details of Our Escape, built with stunning art from someone who mostly works on graphic novels.
Candleberry Jam
A system neutral adventure by Glass//Cutter. I got this one from Plus One Exp's Zine Club booth, staffed by a tired but friendly Chris Air. I bought this one based on its cover alone - it seemed dreamy and maybe even sickening!
Into the Riverlands and Rise of the Blood Olms
A system neutral adventure setting from Ostrichmonkey Games, also bought at the Zine Club booth. Grabbed this one on Yochai Gal's recommendation after bumping into him there, but it wasn't a very hard sell. I just love a good twilit forest! He also threw a copy of the Cairn 2e adventure Rise of the Blood Olms at me, which was great, because I'd tried to sign up for his oneshot session with it but was too slow on the draw. Finally, I can learn what's up with those olms...
Old Roads Guidebook and Atlas
A system neutral adventure setting I picked up from the (Ennie-winning!) Cloud Curio booth. Brilliant art inspired by old public domain illustrations. I talked to the guy who made it for a good couple of minutes before realizing he was Kyle Latino of the excellent Map Crow channel. Fun fact: Kyle worked as college professor for a while teaching game design, but recently accepted a nerve-wracking new position as a writer for Larian Studios which is a nutty pivot!
Wishlist
I don't have infinite money, and as mentioned struggle to justify buying new systems, but if both of those weren't true I would definitely have picked up Gila RPGs' Hunt and World Champ Games Co.'s Necronautilus. I'm also a little cold on Troika, but I'm regretting not picking up the Cannon Fodder sphere by Enrico Gheller because the art alone is choice and I could adapt it to my fav systems pretty easily.
Board Games
Illimat is a trick-taking card game with gorgeous woodcut-styled art and design input from Colin Meloy of the Decemberists. Sync is a party game about guessing words with limited input (think taboo). It's basically the Mind Meld improv game with better art.
Not much to say about these - I wanted games that both looked beautiful and seemed lightweight enough that I could play with my wife and friends, since none of us skew towards complex games. Both of these fit the bill!
Outside the Con
I didn't do too much extracurricular stuff because games and shopping took a lot out of me. jay of Possum Creek games hosted a pizza party that I attended and was asking folks to describe their crunchy/soft game preferences in terms of food. I struggled to think of something at the time, but looking back now I'm imagining something like this: a bowl of Chex Mix that I've filtered such that my side has all the chex and pretzels and your side is stuck with breadsticks and rye chips.
I also went to a Modern Cthulhu oneshot performed by the Glass Cannon podcast network. I don't listen to the pod, but everyone I went with did, so we made plans to go as a group. Unfortunately, due to aforementioned Circumstances, it ended up just being me and one of the guys I didn't know well. I'm a bit of an actual play hater for two reasons:
- listening to other people have fun just makes me wish I were playing a game and having fun instead
- I spend the whole time thinking I'd do a better job than the performers bc I'm built different
Anyway, watching a live performance for a podcast you don't listen to is wild because a bog standard white dude in a hoodie can walk on stage and the crowd erupts like it's the fucking Second Coming. The show was fun, the drink I ordered was strong enough that I didn't care about not knowing the performers, and to my surprise they were joined by Ross Bryant who is one of my favorite improvisors! He killed it. In general I thought the show was super funny as an improv performance and was largely bogged down by them actually playing Modern Cthulhu. The character interactions were killer, and then the GM would call for a dice roll and it would completely kill the energy. I'd rather just see a normal improv show with these same performers, but that'd make a lot less money from people with Wizards of the Coast tattoos.
Fav part: the guy playing a nerdy kid character at one point looked at the crowd and said "I love to play a newly released game called Dungeons and Dragons!" to wild screams. Then later he said he had a copy of Keep on the Borderlands in his backpack and got crickets. Sorry, king, better luck next time.
Shard
Ok, I can't end without talking about Shard, "a roleplaying game of DARDUNAH, WORLD of the FALSE DAWN" by Aaron de Orive and Scott Jones. This is a heavy, heavy crunch game about exploring an Eastern-inspired world populated by anthropomorphic martial arts animals. The art is campy vintage schlock and the website is... amazing.
As far as I'm concerned this game has an audience of exactly one person and it was the dude at the booth. According to him he's been playing in a one-on-one game run by Aaron for TEN YEARS. He told me all about the racial options, the way your background hinges on the country your from, all the ways the game fixes exactly what he dislikes about D&D, and the recent release of the World Guide, a 450-page behemoth detailing the entire history of the world from the individual perspective of each country in the game. No new mechanics, just self-indulgence.
Let me be real with you: I have no interest in playing this game. It feels like it was designed by someone who felt D&D 5e didn't have enough bloat. But, wow, this kind of single-minded focus for a game that was released in 2008 just fills my heart with love. I could feel the passion both from the booth guy and indirectly from the game's designer and it was overwhelming. The only thing stopping me from walking out with $150 worth of useless books was the suggestion that I try out the free playtest on the website. I'm fully Shardpilled. I'll sing this game's praises til I'm gone. Aaron and Scott, if you see this, contact me and I will man your booth next year. I see the vision and I am all in.
