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Fellis posted:Red Markets is very good and at least a pdf copy is worth it for the extremely good lore about an alternate history zombie half-apocalypse. The logistical focus of the game is also pretty unique and I’m very interested in Caleb writing other settings for the system and using the system in a Roadside Picnic/STALKER game Yeah, Red Markets is great and has been getting some continuing support in the form of supplements. I was stoked at the IDGN booth to discover you got a poster when picking up Red Markets stuff. It makes a great con game since - as noted above - the combat is difficult and lethal, and the mechanics are relatively simple. Numinous posted:The wife and I had an awesome time. First time Gen Con kind of blew me away. I was talking about this with some friends after the con. I feel like there really is something special about GenCon - it's very enthusiastic and very friendly. I've seen this in the games I've played, the games I've run, and yeah, just the elevators up and down at the hotel. It's pretty unique among any con I've been to and it's great. Sionak fucked around with this message at 17:41 on Aug 6, 2019 |
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Aug 6, 2019 17:04
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Sionak posted:Yeah, Red Markets is great and has been getting some continuing support in the form of supplements. I was stoked at the IDGN booth to discover you got a poster when picking up Red Markets stuff.
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Aug 6, 2019 17:50
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That's amazing - and incredibly appropriate for Red Markets.
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Aug 6, 2019 18:00
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Sionak posted:Yeah, Red Markets is great and has been getting some continuing support in the form of supplements. I was stoked at the IDGN booth to discover you got a poster when picking up Red Markets stuff. I couldn’t agree more. Everyone I interact with feels very genuine and something like 90% of the experiences I have with other players at tables are great.
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Aug 6, 2019 19:48
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Anyone have a game of the Con? I was worried Black Angel was getting overhyped but I enjoyed it a lot. Certainly was a lot of roll/draw and write games this year. Letter Jam also stood out for our group.
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Aug 6, 2019 19:57
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Nine Tiles Panic was the best new game I played. Plays in 60 seconds/round and pretty addictive. Another hit from Oink. Teotihuacan expansion is really good too, takes a solid game to a great one if you enjoy that kind of thing.
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Aug 6, 2019 20:03
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I don't know if it counts, but I was pretty hype that they had reprints of Night City for Cyberpunk 2020.
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Aug 6, 2019 20:29
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Haystack posted:I mean, you also charged people like four bucks a seat to see James D'amato in a doublet, I feel like you may need to stop writing down your business plans in a Madlibs book. Nah, it continues to work for me. I got offered some writing work after that show. Next year we'll get him in pasties and I'll get a house or something.
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Aug 6, 2019 20:39
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Texibus posted:Anyone have a game of the Con? I was worried Black Angel was getting overhyped but I enjoyed it a lot. Certainly was a lot of roll/draw and write games this year. We're Doomed is my game of the Con. It's a bit silly, but there's diplomacy, unexpected turns, arguing, and a short duration that make it an absolute blast of a party game. We might be tired of it after playing the hell out of it, but I'll still be playing it with various gaming groups for a long time. Other stuff I tried and really liked were 5211 and The Menace Among Us. (I'm a sucker for traitor games.) I played Narcos, but my CMON GM wasn't prepared for the game and got a bunch of rules wrong. I'd play it again, though. I also watched a game of Planet. (I was super intrigued by the big magnetic planets.) It's basically a tile drafting and laying game with the gimmick that the tiles are laid on a dodecahedron, but if you like drafting and don't have other games in the vein, it's beautiful and interesting. Unsurprisingly from the company who make Kingdomino. I got a brief demo of Planetoid which is an action selection resource gathering game that seemed ok, but kind of simple. (And they mentioned they were going for something more accessible; I'd play it if I saw someone with a copy, but I don't think I'd buy it.) Another one I got pulled in by the box/setup and didn't really love was... some sort of spy game with a long name that I've forgotten. Conspiracy: The something-or-other Project, maybe. The base is a bunch of spies moving around the board, with each player trying to use them to get a briefcase to their base, but you can block people's moves by bribing the agents. It's interesting, and only playing 2 turns instead of the normal 15-20 for the demo may have dulled the real strategy of the game, but I just thought there was too much sort of honor system involved with the bribery. (You're not allowed to bluff about bribes (other than the fact that you can understate them), but at no point does anyone actually get to see where your money is.) I played Junkyard Derby, and it was... fine? There are two phases, a build phase, where you draw and play cards to make a racer out of junk, and then a race phase, where you go along the track. All the real "gameplay" happens in the build phase, though, and if everyone steals your crap, you can end up either stuck unable to race for another round or with a lovely racer that doesn't go anywhere. Then the race itself is just "move however far your car goes" and "roll to try to pass the obstacles." Thematically it's great, and all of the rules go really well together with the flavor, but it just doesn't feel good. (It's designed by someone who wrote some steampunk stuff for Pathfinder, and I think that's why the rules and mechanics are so well integrated, and also why it feels kinda "meh" as a board game; it probably goes better with some role-playing.) Comedy answer: The Game of the Con was Beastfucker.
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Aug 6, 2019 20:47
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CellBlock posted:Comedy answer: The Game of the Con was Beastfucker. Oh are we counting LARPs now?
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Aug 6, 2019 20:58
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Texibus posted:Letter Jam also stood out for our group. My favorite moment of the con was at the end of a game of this finding out I was wrong about what 3 of my letters were but still somehow managing to spell an actual word. (Thought I was spelling "raise" ended up spelling "while".) I'm curious to see how often that sort of thing happens. Only got a couple plays in so far but Shobu really impressed me. Feels like it manages to do a lot with a very simple rule set.
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Aug 6, 2019 21:03
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CellBlock posted:Comedy answer: The Game of the Con was Beastfucker. Reading about it certainly was the most entertaining at least.
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Aug 6, 2019 22:46
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Double Agent posted:Reading about it certainly was the most entertaining at least. It's probably the most talked about game (at least in the GroupMe).
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Aug 6, 2019 22:58
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I really liked Warcry, Microbrewers, and Burger Battle. Gonna buy into Warcry later I think. Favorite moment of the con by far was getting into a demo game of Warcry with some dude who already knew the war bands and the rules, and wouldn't stop interrupting the host to interject bullshit about his 20+ years of wargaming experience. He immediately jumped ahead of being taught the basic mechanics and started trying to hit me with special abilities and interrupted explanations the GW guy was making to talk poo poo. My Iron Golems, with an Ogor Breacher at the front, beat the goddamn gently caress out of his boys over the course of the next two rounds, just landing one critical hit after another, and he seemed rather deflated. I seem to attract this type of opponent, people that want to act over the top, trash talk, and yell embarrassingly dumb things while rolling dice in a meaningless demo game. Fuckin nerds, man.
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Aug 6, 2019 23:18
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djfooboo posted:So salty I had to protect America during GenCon weekend *Hugs DD214*
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Aug 6, 2019 23:32
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As with every year, I ran too many games and failed to leave time to play games with other people. Unlike last year, I had six tables worth of genuinely awesome people who all seemed to have a really good time. I learned of the medicinal properties of Jim Beam and Diet Coke, and I also have $100 to spend on Modiphius' website throughout the year. Game of the con? Probably We're Doomed, but I drunkenly enjoyed Disposable Heroes as well. Highlight of the Con? Killing three characters at the Battle of Wolf 359. If I had a do over? Try to play the Root and Stargate RPGs.
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Aug 6, 2019 23:32
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djfooboo posted:So salty I had to protect America during GenCon weekend Why isn't there a Pop Up Gen Con for the troops?
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Aug 6, 2019 23:35
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oh yeah on saturday night i definitely chased 2 dayquil with a 5 hour energy and could see the fabric of the universe so that was cool
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Aug 6, 2019 23:42
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Highlight was probably actually finishing a game of Twilight Imperium. Dinner at Tavern on South was nice. 15% discount for congoers, and it was just far enough off the beaten path it wasn't packed.
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Aug 6, 2019 23:52
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Mental Blocks from Pandasaurus Games was a lot of fun and we ended up grabbing a copy. Probably the best game I had any major interaction with at the convention. Biggest regret this year is I was super late getting my badge, and I was unable to get into a lot of events. I played the Battletech pods and that was about it, outside of demos and hotel room games.
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Aug 7, 2019 00:07
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Dr. Doji Suave posted:Mental Blocks from Pandasaurus Games was a lot of fun and we ended up grabbing a copy. Probably the best game I had any major interaction with at the convention. Mental blocks is great! I worry the difficulty could be higher than I’d like.
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Aug 7, 2019 02:28
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Erainor posted:Mental blocks is great! I worry the difficulty could be higher than I’d like. It made our local group feel incredibly stupid when we first started it! We’ve managed to get through the first set of challenges. I can’t imagine using the traitor rules.
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Aug 7, 2019 03:54
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Eastmabl posted:Why isn't there a Pop Up Gen Con for the troops? Anyway, I am still astounded that Ilor and I both happened to finally attend Shots Wednesday and that I accidentally thus stumbled onto the other basically-teetotalling table as a result. Wooo just food!!! Game of the convention: Never inhaling too deeply I did buy the Fallout RPG! And despite my best efforts only spent $10 more than I made at the Auction. My miniatureless 1989 copy of Dungeon somehow going for $25 helped. Selling the Wii and those Garbage Pail Kids were also moral victories. And seriously, my 1980s McDonald's Garfield mug went for almost $30, definitely gotta see if I have any more of those kicking around
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Aug 7, 2019 04:57
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I realized I hadn't written my wrap up for this year, so, incoming long post! This Gen Con was a lot of fun, but a little bit weird in a few ways. My friends and I were all on vacation when the event tickets went on sale and we were all too drunk to remember to buy our wishlist. So we ended up just picking up a mish-mash of games to play. It wasn't ideal, but it ended up with us finding some games we really enjoyed. Fuji Koro was a game that seemed interesting, but the guy giving the demo seemed to have no idea how to teach a game. He came off as someone who was VERY familiar with the game, but had no idea how to translate that knowledge into a meaningful teaching experience. They also oversold the time slot and had 3 games setup for just the one person to manage. My friends and I bounced about 5 minutes into the timeslot instead of having a terrible experience. We went to the Games Library instead and played until about 2am, which was a very fun experience and something we've never done before. We played Inis which was neat but not for me, and the Super Mario Level Up game which was stupid and simple but provided a lot of goofy late night fun. We also demo'd Dragoon which was a big hit with all but one in my group. We made the mistake of demoing the deluxe version, though, and then were turned off by the price of it (and didn't want to "downgrade" to the normal version). As always, we played a LOT of Pathfinder: Adventure Card Game. We did the first two morning slots every day, which was a fun way to start off the day. We have enough that we can field a table ourselves, and it's the only time each year that my friends and I are able to play together so we make the most of it. We have a GM/Facilitator that we like and have sought him out to run our time slot the last 3 years, which is a lot of fun since he knows us well now. It didn't hurt that with the prize rolls you can do, my group collectively won the new Core Set (x2), the Curse of the Crimson Throne expansion (x2), and all of the Ultimate Add-On packs. We demo'd Legends of Draxia, which was a lightweight but fun hand-drafting game. It didn't blow my socks off, but it was priced right and will be the perfect game for my friends and I to play at the local brewery. It was a light year for purchases for me, because my group is still 1.5 years into Gloomhaven and the end is just now in sight. I ended up getting Dice Throne S1 (with the promo cards), Aeon's End Legacy (to play as a nice break after Gloomhaven), and The Expanse RPG Quickstart. I spent a lot of time in the dealer hall, but walked away without having demo'd a lot of stuff I wish I had. Keyforge seems like it will be a big hit with my group, though.
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Aug 7, 2019 14:17
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Agrias120 posted:
I'm trying to get back into Pathfinder Card Game after a bad experience with a player nearly ended my interest. I got a base set for 10 dollars at the consignment store =D I didn't even know there was a new Crimson Throne expansion!
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Aug 7, 2019 14:49
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Erainor posted:I'm trying to get back into Pathfinder Card Game after a bad experience with a player nearly ended my interest. I got a base set for 10 dollars at the consignment store =D I hope you can get back into it and have a better experience! In my experience, it's a really fun game that can be a little too RNG heavy at times, but it's worth it for the theme and sense of progression. If you're going to be at Gencon next year, let me know and my group can save a spot at our table for you if you want an extremely lowkey group of people to play with.
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Aug 7, 2019 15:42
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Eastmabl posted:If I had a do over? Try to play the Root and Stargate RPGs. There’s a prototype of the Root RPG? I’m not sure who to ask about this since you didn’t get to play it.
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Aug 7, 2019 16:04
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DalaranJ posted:There’s a prototype of the Root RPG? I’m not sure who to ask about this since you didn’t get to play it. Root itself didn't look like it'd appeal to me (I'm not a huge fan of Risk/Inis type of node-based soldier combat), but I would very much gently caress with an RPG in that setting.
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Aug 7, 2019 16:11
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DalaranJ posted:There’s a prototype of the Root RPG? I’m not sure who to ask about this since you didn’t get to play it. It's an Appocolypse World style game. We were all given different flavors of vagabond (which makes sense, really). It was a lot of fun!
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Aug 7, 2019 16:23
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Agrias120 posted:I hope you can get back into it and have a better experience! In my experience, it's a really fun game that can be a little too RNG heavy at times, but it's worth it for the theme and sense of progression. If you're going to be at Gencon next year, let me know and my group can save a spot at our table for you if you want an extremely lowkey group of people to play with. I will keep that in mind! Already thinking about next year!
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Aug 7, 2019 16:32
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Ilor posted:Also, after years of hemming and hawing and making lame excuses, I finally got out to SHOTS WEDNESDAY this year. It was great to finally meet Backno (who hipped us to Loughmillar's lo those many years ago), hang with Dr. Quarex again, and talk games with Lloyd (sorry, man, I didn't catch your goon name). I see now why it is rapidly becoming tradition. SHOTS WEDNESDAY is truly the highlight of GenCon for me whenever I go - it's the best way to kick off the weekend bar none. Rathskellar is a bit of a walk, but they have the space and plastic shot glasses to accommodate the mass of goons that materialize for SHOTS WEDNESDAY. The wife and I are saving our Hilton points and vacation time for a grand trip to Japan next year, but I am seriously tempted to come to Gen Con next year if only to 
LuiCypher fucked around with this message at 17:44 on Aug 7, 2019 |
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Aug 7, 2019 17:28
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LuiCypher posted:The wife and I are saving our Hilton points and vacation time for a grand trip to Japan next year, but I am seriously tempted to come to Gen Con next year if only to This is violence.
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Aug 7, 2019 18:20
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LuiCypher posted:I am seriously tempted to come to Gen Con next year if only to oh man im not gonna miss malort shots. it's the best way to cut straight through the introductions and make an enemy for life! that being said I think its pretty tolerable  DalaranJ posted:There’s a prototype of the Root RPG? I’m not sure who to ask about this since you didn’t get to play it. yeah its called mouse guard and came out in 2008
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Aug 7, 2019 18:25
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Malort! Product of a gypsy curse.
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Aug 7, 2019 18:57
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Gen Con Recap: This was my 2nd year as an exhibitor, but my first to actually have anything beyond pins to sell. I was a bit nervous as to how it was going to all go but ultimately things went great. We hit the sales goal I was expecting, and sales have been picking up through our website since Gen Con as well which is great. Main thing that sucks being an exhibitor is that Gen Con is now just an entirely different con for me. I need to work out a booth schedule for everyone next year instead of just kind of doing what we want like this year. We would finish up in the hall and then just be exhausted without having been able to see too much of the convention, and then having enough energy to eat dinner and then pretty much just crash in the hotel room. As a result I had very little goon time which makes me sad. It's still a blast, though, and my favorite con for a variety of reasons. Thanks to all of you goons who stopped by to say hi, and thank you for all of your support getting Bee Lives going. It has meant a lot to me over the year, even if I have been constantly harassed about the current location of any given bee. Tuesday my crew from Wisconsin drove down and started unloading while I was stuck on a tarmac in Philadelphia for about 90 minutes due to some mystery storm. I arrived and got to the hall with 30 minutes to spare and helped get the last of things into the booth. We then went to the RAM, drank a bunch of beer and ate a hamburger with peanut butter on it before retiring. Wednesday we got up early and went to set up the booth. Had everything together within a couple of hours which was great. I then went out and found some Gen Con staff held captive at the Event Help Desk and traded for all of this year's rare pins. We then went to lunch, and then hit The Stink very briefly. Afterwards I was hoping to hit up shots wednesday but it just wasn't meant to be. I ended up having to run through the art of giving a 3-5min demo with my staff and fixing a bunch of problems with our credit card readers which was annoying but necessary. Having missed shots wednesday, I went out with my fiancee for a midnight snack and a bunch of beer at the RAM before heading back and trying to fall asleep, which I didn't achieve until like 2am. Woke up at like 5am on Thursday because I was all nervous at how things were going to go. Laid in bed trying and failing to sleep. Got up at like 7, got ready and then woke everyone else up to head to the hall at 8am. We went over everything there, and then most of us dispersed to do some quick pre-con shopping for things we really wanted and were worried about them either selling out or just to get them out of the way. 10am hit and I was off to the BGG booth to do a 5 minute video interview on Bee Lives. Went back to the booth after that and spent the rest of the day demoing and selling, which was great but exhausting. When the hall closed, my fiancee and I went to stand in line for about an hour to get into the consignment store. We're getting married in March and are just doing a board game thing for the reception, so we wanted to pick up a bunch of games cheap. The wait was long but worth it. We picked up like 20 games super cheap. Most were good, some were not so good but favorites for non-serious gamers and we needed that for the wedding. On Friday I abandoned my booth for a couple hours to go take a painting class on different blending techniques which was awesome. Heavy Cardboard was doing a playthrough, teach, and discussion on Bee Lives that night and I was super nervous about it. I watched about 45 minutes of it before we headed to a Gen Con improv show by the Indianapolis chapter of Comedy Sports which was good. Got back and I couldn't sleep despite being exhausted, which was par for the course this year. Watched the end game and discussion part of the Heavy Cardboard video and was pleased they looked like they were having fun, enjoyed the game, and mostly had good things to say about it, so yay! Saturday I had another painting class, this time on doing a quick sketch and color style for minis known as grisaille in the art world which seems pretty awesome to use. Otherwise it was mostly demoing, selling, and getting even more tired. Sunday was similar to Saturday. Once 4pm hit everyone cheered that the con was over they were so tired. We packed up and then had to sit there in the booth for about 2.5 hours waiting for our van to get cleared from the marshaling yard to come load it up. Had dinner at the spaghetti factory and went back to pack. Monday just about all of my crew left early. Fiancee and I went to the post Gen Con party Nelly throws each year for people working the con and then flew back to Philly. Gen Con 2019 over, rebooked for next year, and looking forward to doing it all again!  Booth at start of Thursday morning  Me talking to someone about the game  Our bee hungry praying mantis greeting people at the booth  Booth at start of Sunday morning  (most) of our Gen Con haul
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Aug 7, 2019 19:03
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Spent way more than I expected, but that's every year at GenCon, I guess. I picked up: Parks Terror Below Sabotage Watergate Cryptid Legendary: James Bond Shipwreck Arcana Space Park both Villainous Expansions Obscurio Horrified Detective Club DC Rebirth I've never been much of a tabletop gamer but I went to GenCon in 2016 with a bunch of my childhood friends and had a really good time and have slowly been getting into it. This year I was probably more excited for it than I've ever been and I kicked myself out of my "only these games interest me" bubble and kind of gave myself up to the experience to play all kinds of stuff. Really loved playing King's Dilemma as well but my friend bought it so there didn't seem to be a need for me to grab it as well. Most of my stuff is on the medium side right now until I can convince more of my friends to get into the more heavy stuff.
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Aug 7, 2019 21:04
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LuiCypher posted:SHOTS WEDNESDAY is truly the highlight of GenCon for me whenever I go - it's the best way to kick off the weekend bar none. Rathskellar is a bit of a walk, but they have the space and plastic shot glasses to accommodate the mass of goons that materialize for SHOTS WEDNESDAY. Look, I repented for my sins by doing the last shot out of the bottle.
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Aug 7, 2019 21:30
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Also if you missed T.O.V.A. this year, you missed me apparently inspiring* Jim who always does the Charity Auction to ask me to be his partner next year, meaning I could easily be auctioneering for like five-six hours on Saturday next year, ensuring my untimely demise. *This was not even a particularly good T.O.V.A. overall, considering the relative mundanity of so much of the stuff we sold, but certainly it was pretty enjoyable
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Aug 7, 2019 21:59
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Dr. Quarex posted:Also if you missed T.O.V.A. this year, you missed me apparently inspiring* Jim who always does the Charity Auction to ask me to be his partner next year, meaning I could easily be auctioneering for like five-six hours on Saturday next year, ensuring my untimely demise. PLEASE MAKE TOVA WEIRD AGAIN
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Aug 7, 2019 22:01
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Double Agent posted:Look, I repented for my sins by doing the last shot out of the bottle. That. Is. No. Penance.
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Aug 7, 2019 22:18
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