This year's Gencon

So, in case you haven't heard, I went to Gencon this year, and I wanted to just do a quick rundown post. I mean, there's not much to say -- I didn't exactly do anything too terribly profound. Maybe if I had even the first clue about how to try and network at conventions, I'd get more done but it's possible there's a part of me that's not ready to make the leap from 'gaming vacation' to 'work opportunity.' (It's more likely that I don't know what I'm doing, am aware of that fact, and am afraid to just ask for help.)

While I'm not going to do blow-by-blow write-ups of every little thing that happened while I was there, I'll at least give the quick gist of what games I played and what happened in those games underneath the cut.





Thursday
Okay, so I don't normally do Thursday games. Normally, for me, Thursday at Gencon is a day for settling in and getting a bunch of shopping out of the way, but this year I decided 'what the heck.' So I got to play in a session of the new[0] Legend of the Five Rings RPG from Fantasy Flight Games. It was an interesting scenario, because it was outside the usual samurai adventures that are the game's default. We were all playing a group of outcasts and outsiders hired to track down a missing shipment of sake intended for a wedding. I played a wandering artisan from Crab lands (who was secretly hinin passing for a proper peasant). Also in the group we had an ex-Lion Clan ronin, a monster hunter from the Ivory Kingdoms[1], a former geisha trying to improve their station (and implied to be possessing the gift to speak to the kami), and a wandering monk.

So we went to the village where the guy (whose name I forget) was supposed to pick up the sake, and found that he did arrive on time and left with the booze. But asking around some more, we find out from his brother that the boss has been leaning on him about tardiness lately so he decided to take a shortcut through a local haunted forest (where there is apparently a local bandit problem). So the brother takes us out there, where we find the remains of his wrecked wagon and some of (but not all of) the missing sake. We proceed to follow some tracks through the forest to a clearing where a beautiful woman with a fancy estate invites us in to join her for dinner. She also informs us that the guy we're looking for is there as well, recuperating from being beaten and robbed by bandits.

She refuses to let us see him, though, and she and two other people (an older woman and a samurai) keep insisting that we join them for this feast of roast pig they've prepared. But we're not stupid so we resist and try to get them to give us some hint as to what's actually going on, though eventually the ronin gets worn down enough that she gives in and eats. Eventually, the monster hunter gets frustrated, draws a sword, and just initiates combat.

The woman drops the illusion, revealing herself to be a horrifying oni. We manage to slay her and all of the illusions drop -- the manor house is just piles of bones, and the roast pig is the guy we're looking for. (The ronin is now 'afflicted,' by the way, and is going to need some serious purification before it settles into the full-blown Shadowlands Taint) But then we find the older woman at an evil shrine out back, praying, and as we drag her back to civilization to face judgement for her crimes we encounter the 'samurai.' I say 'samurai' in quotes because he's a wolf-headed oni. He challenges one of us to a wrestling match, and the monster hunter accepts the challenge but it quickly starts to go badly so we're like "screw it" and just gang up on him.

But in the end, we manage to find rest of the sake, bring the old woman back to the village, retrieve the remains for the delivery guy for a proper cremation, and the day was saved. Also, we made 6 koku each! (That's a lot of money if you're not a samurai)


Friday
Friday, I got to play in a game of Bluebeard's Bride, run by Kevin Petker (creator of The Ward). Kevin's a very... theatrical GM[2], but in a good way. (like, the sort of enthusiastic GM where players are neighboring tables keep glancing over to see what's going on) We all get to the table (the other four players at the table all came in together) and he's just sitting there, silently, with a black shroud over his face. We settle in, and start getting to know each other, and then he starts in on telling the Bluebeard story and gets into the game. I'm not going to get into a lot of detail of the game, because even by horror game standards Bluebeard's Bride gets really intense. But Kevin did voices, used a lot of dramatic flourishes, and kept us on our toes the whole time. I played the Animus, and wound up Shattered (along with the Witch) after an encounter with a clockwork dressmaker.

In the end, though, we wound up as a Faithful Bride who only peeked through the keyhole and in the end took over Bluebeard's solarium and basically became a part of the evils in the house.

Before that, I had a funny moment where, after helping my roommate Sean find the location for a Monsterhearts game he was running, I happened to run into a couple of friends of mine one right after another. (Though I wish I'd had more time to talk to them, but ain't that always the case?)


Saturday
On Saturday I ran my Trinity Continuum: Æon game, which you can find at the provided link. The only other thing that really stands out about the day is that after the "What's Up with Onyx Path" panel in the morning I got a chance to have a very pleasant chat with John Snead, the Æon developer.


Sunday
Sunday was mostly just wandering around the dealer's room (they call it an Exhibit Hall, but I can't help but call it a 'dealer's room,' so sue me), getting a few things while Sean played in a game before we had to pick up the car from the hotel and go. I'd initially planned to play a game on Sunday morning, myself, but this was before we'd decided to leave on Sunday rather than Monday. As a result, I cashed in my ticket for it and instead used the extra time to make sure we were ready to check out of the hotel on time.


But yeah, that's another Gencon down. I haven't yet fully committed to going next year -- getting an in-block hotel room is getting harder and harder, and the out-of-block hotels downtown are getting more and more expensive because they know people will pay it. (I shelled out for an out-of-block hotel, and decided this year is the last year I do that, partially because of the expense, partially because of the principle.) I'm reluctant to park at one of the further-out hotels and drive back and forth, but we'll see. I'll look into my options. (I'm told there are ways of getting weekend passes with reserved spaces, and that might make it worthwhile.)

Anyhow, I hope everyone who went had a great time, and I hope if any of you are there next year I get to see you!




[0]-- 'New' as in it came out last year.
[1]-- The setting's counterpart to India.
[2]-- Technically, in Bluebeard's Bride, the term is 'Groundskeeper,' but I'm keeping it simple for folks.