Fun times, had by all. That’s how I would describe GenCon. September on the other hand…

• No gaming is always better then bad gaming.
• When I suggest you think of creative ways to use a “low power” character and quit trying to be mother-effing Gandalf the White at 1st level, then yeah, I can definitely understand why you have reading comprehension problems.

Seriously, I love how every time I or anyone else suggests that characters start off slow, think outside the box, and look back in n sessions from atop the peak they’ve climbed there’s this chorus of BAAAAAAAWWWWWWW GYGAX KICKED ME IN THE NUTS AND TOOK MY LUNCH MONEY BAAAAAAWWWWWWWWW. Listen, I will openly admit to not being the sharpest pineapple in the basket sometimes, but I got it when I played it the first few times, and I got it again when I picked it back up in ’99. I’ve introduced AD&D to people whose sole experience with RPGs prior to was video games, and they got it. My seven year old gets it. Why can’t you? Oh, wait, I’m sorry, the old way is broken, right.

• Not that I want to be nitpicky nit-pickerson, but IIRC the “lead” in lead paint is actually lead oxide (lead rust), so depending on your definition of what constitutes “lead sheeting”, lead oxide paint might too impure a substance. Although I don’t see why “alchemical lead paint” or lead paint made specifically to ward a location from detection couldn’t be a possibility. Just be sure, the kings heir, little Prince Knumbnutts doesn’t lick the wall that tastes like pennies too much
• Jesus would be down with the peeps, chillin’ on the street corner between sermonin’, and helpin’ folks who are down on their luck personally.
• Roll in the open. Offer no quarter. Take no prisoners.
• A LOT of people need to hangup their junior psychology degrees. It’s getting deep, and it’s getting offensive.
• That’s because all wine tastes like vinegar, the whole wine snob thing is is so funny because it’s all about New York Times reading alcoholics trying to give some sort of importance to their addiction.
• until someone raises the Goddamned Jolly Roger

This is partly true but in fact Monopoly is not primarily sold as a game at all. It is a gift. You need to buy something for a kid at Christmas you know they like the Simpsons so you buy them the Simpson’s Monopoly game becuase it costs $19:99 and hits one of their sweet spots. They play it once and never open the box again.
Monopoly fills an interesting niche in western socieity. It’s a well known fun game but the key is the price point. In a world replete with Gift Reciprocity and Social Mores Monopoly is very similar to a nice soapstone sulpture or a Singing Carp.
I never realised this myself until I was watching Dragon’s Den on the telly (if you are not familiar its a program where budding entrepeneurs try to get funding for their products /ideas from sucessful business folks who put up their own cash). This guys came on and he had a new sort of golf bag. It was a simple plastic frame and the clubs snapped on slots… Anyway it wasn’t great but one of the guys backed it and afterwards the others asked why. He pointed out that the thing could be sold at a profit for £19:99 and that there were loads of people who play golf and their families at birthdays and xmas want to get them something golfie but even a cheap club is £80 and a bag of golf balls is a pretty crap gift. This thing was perfectly placed as a gift you buy for a golfer that costs 20 quid and the market for that was huge. it didn’t actually matter that it would be used once then stuck in the back of a cupboard as it would have been sold for a profit.
Monopoly is like that. If you have kids you know they get invited to loads of parties at a party you have to give a gift. So there are loads of crappy kids games at £9:99, 14:99 and 19:99 depending on if its a class mate, close friend or relative. They are not meant to be actually played but to fulfil a social obligation. (I mean I have 5 scrabble sets…. )
Oh and I agree that a standard core mechanic is definitely game design progress and it gets out of the way of role playing. If you know that whatever you decide to do its target value on a d20 (or %d, or pool of d10s). I really like the WW dice pool as the mechanic “stat+skill = dice in the pool” is so easy to adapt to any game.

Have a good night, see you in October!