I’ve been going to Gen Con every year since I was a wee little gamer, since way back when it was actually still held in Lake Geneva. No problem when they moved it to Milwaukee; heck, that’s an easy drive from Chicago. But this year, the Gathering of the Great Unwashed was held in Indianapolis instead, and I finally said forget it, for a couple of reasons:
a) 4 1/2 hours is a heckuva long drive; and,
2) There didn’t seem to be any interesting new products to pick up. The only new stuff I’d heard about was D&D 3.5, which I’m not picking up for various reasons.
So did anyone make it to Gen Con this year? Any good stories?
Yup, I made it. The Indy convention center is much nicer than the one in Milwaukee (and bigger, though it means a lot more walking).
The big news announcements were that White Wolf is ending the World of Darkness (something about Gehenna and Apocalypse–I don’t play WW games so I’m not sure what the significance is) and Mage Knight 2.0 is being released.
Yep, I made it, for all four days for the first time. I really only went to play Legend of the Five Rings and look at the new stuff, but I have to say, I really am impressed with the new facilities. And I’m in the reverse situation you’re in, Zanshin; Milwaukee was a 4.5 to 5 hour drive for me, so the move to Indy was great. Made it home in just under 3 hours. Indianapolis is, from what I saw, a really nice city, and I really enjoyed myself there. I’m looking forward to it again next year, so long as it falls on the same date (as work concerns usually keep me from going anywhere in August).
No good stories from me, really. Some new stuff looks cool, but mostly what I saw that impressed me was computer based demos of new things. The game system stuff was mostly old hat, and the dealer’s floor was mostly eaten up with WOTC and UpperDeck displays. So you didn’t miss much on the product front.
