Punching Dogs at the Best Four Days in Gaming
Gen Con 23 Report
I fucking love going to Gen Con. I go to other cons — they’re good, but they aint Gen Con.
I love the crowds, the games, the trade hall, the sideshows. I love hanging out with people. I love walking around Indy late at night, drinking at O’Reilly’s, with cool motors cruising the strip, blasting out music at a million decibels.
I love the Gen Con buzz.
Here’s a quick run down of my trip.
Tuesday: fumbling the journey sub-system
Flew Heathrow to Indy, via JFK. Seemed like everyone was missing connections this year, including me. At least I got to my destination on the same day — I feel for those that got stuck overnight.
Wednesday: setting up
Lent a hand putting up the Chaosium booth — big changes this year, with an open layout and the massive illuminated cube suspended high above.
That evening, had the pleasure of dining with Bob Geis and the You Too Can Cthulhu crew. If you get the opportunity to play a game with these people, grab it!
Thursday — or where did all these people come from!
Oh right — Gen Con is now open! Spent the day chatting around the booth — Chaosium have a great audience.
That evening, ran my Call of Cthulhu whaling ship scenario, Full Fathom Five, with the You Too Can Cthulhu team. Had seven players, myself as Keeper, and four extras from the YTCC team (including Bob himself) playing key NPCs. A couple of players were pretty much new to roleplaying games, which I always enjoy. I hope everyone enjoyed the session — I sure did.
Friday
On a panel at lunchtime, Horror on the Tabletop, chaired by Brian Holland (Chaosium’s marketing guy). There was lively discussion of ‘why horror’, ‘what mechanics serve to build horror’, & safety tools. Brian did a great job of pacing and keeping things lively.
A member of the audience spoke about his experience with large LARPS and how they use safety tools. He said with several hundred players, a lines a veils discussion is impractical, and they are on the move, so an X-card doesn’t fit either. Instead, they use a ‘check-in’ system. A GM (or maybe other player?) can ask how a person is doing, and they respond using hand signals to indicate their mood — thumbs up, thumbs down, wavey hand. Each signal had a specific meaning, ranging from I’m great, to I’m upset and want some time alone or time to talk. I don’t remember the specifics, but it sounded like a great way of dealing with situations that occur on the fly.
That afternoon, I met up with Daniel from Bandit’s Keep. I’ve been enjoying his podcast and YouTube for a while now. Daniel focuses on *old* school DnD — like, white box and Chainmail old. I like his delivery and his positivity. I figured he’d be a cool guy to hang out with, and I wasn’t wrong. We had a coffee and a great chat.
Friday evening was the Ennie Awards ceremony. Me and Matt Ryan rolled in a touch late, just as the Best Podcast award was just being announced (How We Roll got silver, and Seth Skorkowsky got gold). Bookshops of Arkham received a nomination, but to be fair, there was stiff competition and Bookshops only started this year.
I got to admit, as the evening went by, I found myself growing increasingly nervous: Rivers of London RPG was up for Best Rules. I already knew what we were up against, but when Ken and Robin read out the other nominees, I thought, ‘shit, this is gonna be tough’.
Then, there it was: we won silver. It was a long walk up to the stage, and I bumbled though a speech that I’d only semi-prepared as I didn’t want to jinx it. Ridiculous, but what you gonna do? Thanks to Ben Aaronovitch and Lynne Hardy, along with everyone else who worked on the book.
Here’s a full list of the nominees and winners for this year’s Ennies. Be sure to check out Host and Hostility (3 scenarios for Regency Cthulhu), which won silver for Best Electronic Book. Bridgett (Chaosium’s Community Content Manager) collected the award on behalf of SR Sellens (and gave a great speech).
The weekend
Crawled around the vast trade hall like a lone PC exploring an old school D&D module: random encounters with friendly NPCs and plenty of treasure. Tempted by a ma-hoosive box of Everdell that was probably bigger than my suitcase. So many games and game adjacent wonders — just mind boggling.
Sunday morning, I ran a Cthulhu game for friends Doc Cowie and his son Fraser, and Allan Carey of Type 40 on the Sunday morning. I like running impromptu games at Gen Con, off the books, with a group of friends in the hotel room.
Monday, homeward bound
4 am (urgh) taxi for airport and a return flight — which went without a hitch!
What Next?
I’ll tell ya what next: jet lag, that’s what. But no complaints, it was all worth it.
Like I said, I love going to Gen Con and in part that’s because I love the enthusiasm it gives me to create. I’m left tired but also fired up about a whole bunch of projects.
I’m packing in tutoring next month and focusing on writing. For me, that means:
More short fiction for Eldritch Stories - check that out if you don’t know about it
More on this blog
Things with the Good Friends of Jackson Elias podcast
More Call of Cthulhu and Rivers of London
Further releases on the Miskatonic Repository
Post Title
In case you’re wondering, ‘Punch a dog’* is Australian slang for eating a hotdog. Thanks to Brian for the education.
And thanks to Matt Ryan (Chaosium cartographer) for being a super roommate. And for keeping his shirt on — some of the time at least.
*No dogs were harmed! — but here is a super cute one that I met while queuing for a drink.
Finally, thanks to friends on social media from whom I stole some of the pics on this post. See y’all later, I’m off to crack open my new Pendragon Starter Box…
Nice! Congrats on your Ennie win! I could have been one of those NPCs you ran into, but it was not in the cards it seems.
Get some rest, and good luck on your upcoming projects!
Congratulations on the ENnie! Well done.
Gen Con is on my list, perhaps for 2024.