By Friday, we were all in full Con mode. Given that I had to buy some stuff for my girls, I needed to hit the Exhibitor’s Hall. While I didn’t get what I wanted, I did get a few interviews done. Those are going to be released as a Gen Con special on the Accidental Survivors podcast. I also found the wifi hotspot at the small food court on the ground floor. That allowed me to check my email, which was helpful as I was trying to iron out some arrangements with a few people. I also picked up my Gen Con goodies.
Only one of the items I bought for myself was actually a Gen Con purchase. The other three were items I had supported during crowd-funding campaigns and Gen Con was my opportunity to pick them up and get them signed. I received both Hillfolk and Blood on the Snow from Pelegrane Press, which had been Kickstarted, and I received my copy of Reform School Ninja Girls, a comic funded through Indiegogo. The purchase for myself was Vol 4 of Skull Kickers, signed by Jim Zub. I was very happy with my purchases, but they were quite heavy, so I dropped them off in my room before lunch.
After lunch it was time for Nefertiti Overdrive. Nefertiti Overdrive started as a story idea that morphed into a plan for a relatively light, cinematic action system. I had such a good time running “Crossing the Millers” back in 2011, I wanted to get as many of the band back together as I could to run something else. The unanimous consensus was Nefertiti Overdrive. It went really well – I had fun, and while there were at least two issues with the mechanics, I really think the rules did what I wanted.
I was uncertain about my next RPG Kickstarter (my next Kickstarter will almost certainly be a short story collection), but now I’m fairly sure it will be Nefertiti Overdrive. It’ll need more playtesting and development, but I like the idea, I like the story, and I like the characters.
The one thing I didn’t do that Rob did a lot of, was Games on Demand. Back in 2011, I ran a couple of shifts there, but between running scheduled games and other commitments, I didn’t feel I had the time to run anything this year. Rob really enjoyed his time at GoD, and I think this will be my target if I get back to Gen Con in 2015. I did check it out, but it was late at night (more on that later) and there wasn’t anything that I wanted to test-drive for a couple of hours.
You see, Friday night I attended the Ennie Awards. My buddy Todd “the Warden,” received a special Judge’s Spotlight award for his game Killshot. It was certainly interesting watching the awards, but I think it probably means more if you a professional part of the industry (I try to be professional, but given I only make beer money off my ventures, I don’t count myself as an RPG professional) or if you are nominated for an award. Given the exceptionally short speeches common through the ceremony, I really felt like the page-long speech I was reading went on forever. On reviewing the video, it wasn’t that long. I just felt really bad talking for as long as I did while there was a long line behind me to receive their awards, and in comparison to the brevity of the other speeches.
I left the awards early, but too late to get in on Rob Wakefield’s Star Wars: Edge of the Empire game. MF Bullock and I went to see if there was anything rocking at the convention centre, and that’s when I went to check out GoD. There was still a crowd there, but it was after 10 PM, and I wasn’t in to gaming until 2, so we went back to the hotel. I was able to rotate into the Star Wars game just for the tail end of the adventure, which was pretty cool. I really like FFG’s Star Wars system, which is very much like Warhammer 3E. Rob and I had quickly run an encounter with the always awesome Jay Little on Thursday morning, and I liked the mechanics of that. Granted, it’s kind of a pain having to have special dice for the game, but I think the mechanics do a pretty good job of replicating the pulpy space opera adventure of Star Wars.
Early enough to bed meant a pretty good nights sleep. Friday ended my commitments. Saturday was supposed to be all about fun.
You can find more information on the Accidental Survivors here.
You can find more information on Hillfolk and Blood on the Snow here.
You can find more information on Reform School Ninja Girls here.
You can find more information on Skull Kickers here.
You can find more information on Nefertiti Overdrive here and here.
You can find more information on Games on Demand here.
You can find more information on the Ennie Awards here.
You can find more information on Killshot here.
You can watch the 2013 Ennie Awards ceremony here.
You can find more information on Star Wars: Edge of the Empire here.
You can find more information on Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay here.