Gen Con 2014 in Review. Part 2: The Games We Play

I have already mentioned that I spent a LOT of time playing D&D 5.  That was really our plan from the very start.   Plus we also went down a day early to enjoy ourselves a bit more.

Tuesday

Started with what has become a tradition for us.  Loading up the car and heading out to breakfast.  We got to Indy in record time from Chicago; not many people on the road when we left. 

Hit the pool for a bit and then played some D&D 5 Keep on the Borderlands.

The boys had hit the left hand side first so all that was left was the Kobold and Orc caves.  I was getting tired so I decided that without the influence of the Cult of Chaos the humanoids went back to their normal mode and killed each other off.  The best part?  My youngest got it and was all "whoa that evil cult was keeping them from fighting? How powerful are they?"

Wednesday

Got up, hit the breakfast and headed over to the Zoo.  It was walking distance from the hotel and really nice. We were there all day.  I thought it would be nice to take a more relaxed vacation and get in some things my wife enjoyed too.  Plus Indy is always so good to the gamers that throwing some more money into their coffers seemed like the right thing to do.

We got our swag bags.  The bags were nicer but the stuff they used to put in them was missed. 

Opted for dinner at our hotel restaurant.  Not bad, but (and I hate to say this) we are used to better food in Chicago.

We went to the J.W. Marriott open gaming room and caught a table just as a group was leaving and set up for L1 The Secret of Bone Hill.  My wife joined us for this round.  We had to look crazy with my 1st ed module, D&D 5 book and boxed set and a bunch of 3e/4e tiles.  The characters managed to completely avoid going to Restenford at all.  They went to see the gambling monks and pieced together enough information to hear about Bone Hill. Or as my wife put it, it was the name of the adventure so we had all better get there eventually.  

The adventure went well and the group stopped for the night.  The Exhibitor's hall opens in 10 hours and I needed to sleep.

Thursday

Got up, did breakfast and headed to the hall for opening day.  The boys were quite excited.

Our general rule is that we have to scope out the hall first before committing to any purchases.  My oldest ran into a friend and they were off.  My youngest, my wife and I headed over to Steve Jackson Games to pick up Munchkin Adventure Time and spin the wheel.  End of con tally on that: several card boxes, dice, munchkin cards and a cup.

Went to some other retailers. Stopped by DriveThru and Eden.  Stopped by the one retailer where they were selling "Buy 1 get 3 Free" but all I picked up was GURPS Goblins.

Went to the WotC area and played some D&D 5 with the same characters as last night. Our DM was great and she really took the time to help out my kids.  Sure they didn't really need it...but it is the effort I appreciate. 

We headed out to the food trucks for dinner (loved them!) and finally came back to the hotel.

Went back to the Open Gaming tables and got a table just as someone was leaving again! We were starting to play a guy stopped by and asked if we were playing D&D 5 and if he could set in.  Nice guy by the name of Jon.  He looked every bit the grandfather he was and had mentioned he came to Gen Con specifically to try out D&D 5.  He didn't care for it when he played it with another group that day and was actually going to give up on it.  He took one of our characters and we started.

Well he loved 5e and really enjoyed how well it worked with the 1st ed adventure.

Friday

Busy day!

Hit the hall again. We played a game of Flapjacks and Sasquatches; which was a blast.  Picked it up after playing.  It is a dice and card game where everyone is a lumberjack and you have to cut down the most trees.  Of course other lumberjacks are trying to stop you and there is the ever present danger of a Sasquatch rampage.  Honestly I was expecting very little with this and I had a great time!

Played a 1950s inspired game of Ubiquity.  It was a lot of fun but I think my youngest and I enjoyed it the most.  Plus I wanted to get a good feel for Ubiquity.  I have had Hollow Earth forever and Leagues of Adventure is just sitting there begging me to play it more.

Did a ton of walking around the hall.  Finally headed back to the hotel room to get ready for the ENnies!

(ok I had more pictures but they were blurry as hell)

It was really cool to see +Jen Page and The Dungeon Bastard in person and hanging out with the glitterati of the RPG scene reminded me just how small this business is.  

Best Blog came up and I didn't win.  

But I can't feel bad about that. All the winners were multi-author projects that even had editors.  I have me. Plus it was so cool to see my Other Side banner up on the screen.  Maybe next year right!

Oh and by now I am sure you have heard. Monte Cook, Paizo and Evil Hat took everything.  

Missed my Mage game but I just had to show off Union Station to my wife.  That is my absolute favorite place to run a game.  If I am running Ghosts of Albion then I want to do it there.

Got back to the hotel. Headed to the Open Gaming Room for more D&D 5.  We only played a couple of hours though.  Which was good because everyone was making great time. Jon found us again and had to let us know how much he enjoyed the game.  We got very, very close to finishing the game but we all started to turn into pumpkins by midnight.  

Saturday

Who the hell let all these people in???

Seriously, I have not heard the numbers yet, but it had to be 60,000 people.
We ran into some other friends on our way to a game.  We played some Dungeon Command.  The 4e-ish tactical dungeon battle game.  My youngest loved it and won.  For his efforts he got a free Sting of Lolth set!  I am not sure if you have seen these but they are full of pre-painted minis.  Worth it for that alone.

The cosplays were great! We make an effort every year to see the parade.  Some people were saying there seemed to more this year, but I thought it was less.

 

Again, my wife has the bulk of the pictures.

We played a couple of demo games in the hall, but everyone was selling out of everything!

Went for our last session of D&D 5. I ran the last of Bone Hill for about 2 hours and Jon then DMed all of us through a Birthright adventure he had.  Lots of fun.
Headed back to the room to pack.

Sunday
Ugh. Last day.  We had to get my son's bunny from his cousin so we opted to skip the last day of the hall.  Plus everyone was coming down with something so we wanted to get home.

All in all it was a great Gen Con.  We barely scratched the surface of all there was to do.  My oldest got to play Duke and we wanted to try that.  Plus there was that game "I am not a Werewolf" or something that looked fun.

Next year I hope to get in more board games and demos.