Highlights for Gophers: Gencon 2011: The Con Begins!

 Highlights for gophers  No Responses »
Sep 292011
 

This week we get to the convention itself!

As you all know, Eric J Carter is Awesome. In addition to creating the fantastic Undergopher logo and the logo for Sand and Steam, he also created the logo for the Sid Sackson Fan Fest. Here he is with the banner that was hanging proudly while gamers of all generations played some of Sid Sackson’s greatest games.

Eric and Grey

Now, on to the convention. Our first stop was the VIG hall, a magical place where you can relax, kick up your feet, and enjoy a free beverage while you peruse your latest piece of GenCon swag.

Mahon dares to step foot in the VIG hall VIG swag bags vig bags
more swagWaiting for early entry

Why, would that be Andrew Mahon of Pulp Fiction Comics and Games sporting an authentic Undergopher t-shirt? Why yes it is. This year he was neither a VIG nor a companion, so we made him stand while we sat in comfort. He tried to complain, but I explained that, as a VIG, I had three “frownie faces” that I could use to vote people out of the convention, and I wasn’t afraid to use ‘em up early.

The VIG Hall glare The VIG early entry line

Moving on from the VIG hall we were escorted to the Dealer hall to enter an entire hour earlier than the rest of the convention goers. I know that doesn’t seem fair to the rest, but I can assure you that it’s awesome for those of us who get to do it, so we hardly mind your jealous glares as we saunter past.

The first few pictures were taken in a mad rush, and this is the only one that came out half decent.

one of the first in

The first stop for the group was the Cookie Fu booth! It’s a fantastic game and I all recommend that you pick up a Battle Royale set and give it a try. I got a shot of the dice for the up coming Death by Dim Sum expansion and the Cthulhu Fu game that they’re also coming out with.
cookie fu Death by Dim Sum Cuthulu Fu

Here are what you’ve been waiting for: shots of the Dealer Hall without the massive crowds. I’m going to split these up over a few weeks.

The first picture is MERCS, a minis game that I’m sure that WDR will be reviewing at some point.
MERCS russians art alley
hatsMERCS the dealer hall
MERCS Minis event hall
Dalek Dr. Who Booth Cryptozoic
Leather Lair Crimson Chain Ascension
Gaming Paper I love early entry

Game Night Blog Carnival: Seven Dragons

 General Roleplaying, Highlights for gophers, Reviews  No Responses »
Sep 272011
 

Welcome to the new Game Night Blog Carnival! This is a feature we’re doing once a month with a few other RPG blogs. If you have an RPG blog, and would like to participate, check out the FAQ at the main Game Night page.
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Seven Dragons by Looney LabsWhen I started playing Dungeons and Dragons as a kid, the art in the books and modules deeply influenced the way I imagine how a game “looks”. The artist that captured my imagination more than the others was Larry Elmore. So when Looney Labs, one of my favorite game companies, released a card game with art by Larry Elmore, I couldn’t resist. The game is called Seven Dragons and the art is beautiful. The game plays like dominoes but with a few twists that really add to the fun. The object of the game is to be the first to connect seven dragons of the same color. The catch is that at the beginning of the game each player is dealt a goal card that is kept secret. The goal card tells the player which color of dragon that he must connect to win the game.

Seven Dragons plays up to five players and there are five corresponding main colors of dragons. The colors of the main dragons are red, blue, green, black, and gold. This means that there are still two more dragons out there. They are the rainbow dragon and the silver dragon. The rainbow dragon is a wild card as it is all colors at once. The silver dragon is the start card and takes on the color of the top action card on the discard pile. The action cards keep the game frombeing just a card version of dominoes. There are five action cards and each has a different color dragon on it which shows what color the silver dragon changes to when the action card is played. The five actions are trade hands, move a card, trade goals, rotate goals, and zap a card. The ability to move goals around makes the game more fun and encourages players to play it closer to the vest. That is really all there is to Seven Dragons.

I tend to write these reviews with role players in mind and this game is great to set the tone for Dungeons and Dragons, Pathfinder, or any other fantasy game while waiting for everyone to arrive. We have played this one several times and have consitantly enjoyed ourselves. I can recommed this game for the art alone but I enjoy that it plays fairly quickly and is easy to play and learn. The rule sheet has plenty of examples of play and is very thorough. Seven Dragons also doesn’t break the bank at only fifteen bucks or so. It is a solid game at a good price.
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The next stop on the Game Night Blog Carnival is Glimm’s Workshop. The previous stop is The ID DM. Be sure to check out the main page of the Game Night Blog Carnival!

Highlights for Gophers: Gencon 2011 Part 3

 Highlights for gophers  2 Responses »
Sep 222011
 

Sorry for missing a week, I thought I had scheduled these better. Anyway, to jump right in, how many trolls do you see in the following pictures?

brady and the troll kevin and the troll

The correct answer is three (yes, I admit, that was the obvious joke, but I’m not above going for the low hanging fruit.) Now speaking of Trolls, Troll Lord Games published an awesome and fully playable adventure for Castles and Crusades that they released as a placemat for Scotty’s Brewhouse.

Scotty's GenCon playmat

Unfortunately all the copies brought back by the Undergophers were waterlogged and destroyed, but it was awesome to see the GenCon spirit in full force at Scotty’s. Speaking of which, I bet you’d like to see a few pics:
Enjoying a drink at Scottys WDR 8one6

Yes, I did in fact eat the entire Big Ass Burger. It was a shameful act and I intend to repeat it next year. :-p Earlier that night at the Embassy Suites happy hour, the Undergophers enjoyed a few rounds of Zombie Dice and achieved a milestone: The first Zombie Dice win for Hooligan!

Zombie dice Enjoying free booze
Hooligan Rollin' WDR and zombie dice
Zombie dice And Holigan wins

To finish off the post here’s a shot of the lobby of the Indianapolis Embassy Suites. It’s a fantastic hotel and it’s the only one I ever stay at when I’m in town.
Embassy Suites Lobby

Next week we get to the convention itself!

Highlights for Gophers: GenCon 2011 Day Zero

 Highlights for gophers  No Responses »
Sep 152011
 

This week we take a look at GenCon Wednesday, the fifth day in the Best Four Days of Gaming (not to diminish it’s bestness).

Here we have Eric J Carter attending his first GenCon and standing in the fantastic room at the Indy Embassy Suites (seriously, this is the only hotel you should be staying at in Indy.)

Eric in the room

Here we have the Will Call line for the the convention. This line didn’t get any better as the convention went on. They say that if you listen closely you can still hear the sounds of people standing in the GenCon Will-call line.

The Will Call line the will call line

Now for some amazing photos: The Convention Center almost empty! Seriously, this is almost impossible for me to believe and I was taking these photos. I’m used to this place being stuffed to the gills with all manner of geek and nerd, so seeing it sans nerd was sort of weird. It’s like this place exists outside of the context of GenCon or something else crazy like that.

The hall is almost empty last year's dealer hall the old dealer hall empty hall cardhalla 2011

We make a quick trip at the con merch booth…

the new gen con shirt this year's gen con bag buying con stuff

The bag is fantastic and became my new Pathfinder bag. Now, quick question: Who likes banners?

paizo poster Wotc Banner catan!

Here’s a sneak peak of the Auction hall and the Dealer Hall.

the auction hall the dealer hall the dealer hall

That should do it for this week. Next time we’ll get to part two of day zero (would that be part .5?)

Highlights for Gophers: The Road to GenCon 2011

 Highlights for gophers  No Responses »
Sep 082011
 

It’s been a while since I’ve done a photo post (and the last one was a collection of minecraft screenshots, so it doesn’t really count) and I’ve recently taken a butt-load of pictures so I figured it was time to put a few more of these together. This week will be the first part of GenCon 2011!

Here are a few pictures of the “pre-flight boarding”. Trying to efficiently pack the bags of four people at six in the morning with only a few hours sleep is not the easiest thing to try and accomplish.

My bags for GenCon Emergency car kit Eric and Hooligan
WDR packs up bags are packed!

These next three are from the early morning fuel-up, both for the car and for ourselves. You can hear this part of the trip on episode 50 of UnderDiscussion.

WDR pumps gas Hooligan chicken minis

To wrap it up this week I’l post one of the rare images me. (I’m usually the one behind the camera, which is why I didn’t make it into the GenCon event catalog this year like Hooligan and WDR.)

I drive

Come back next week for part two, wherein we actually make it to Indy!

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