Dragonlance D&D Game Blog

For obvious reasons, as I sit here to write a new blog post, the first in well over a year, I'm reminded of that classic rock song by the amazing band Boston It has been a long time, and a lot has been happening, some of it even worth writing about (at least I think so). The biggest event of the year was my regular visit to GenCon. As usual, the "Best Four Days in Gaming" did not fail to disappoint. As had happened before, this time I was on my own for the convention. Typically, when I go with friends, we usually try to play some games together, meet up for meals, and congregate for late night gaming. With none of that on hand this time, I took advantage of all the freedom to do a few new things. For past GenCon reports, check out these previous posts One of things I do to make GenCon fun and unique for me each year is to mix up what I do, and this year was no different. I did this in a couple of ways. One was to play a new game. This time I was able to g...

My GenCon experience this year was in some was very different from previous years, in other ways much the same, and overall a wonderful time. As I think I tweeted during the con, "if you're not smiling at GenCon, you're doing something wrong", and I firmly believe that. Wed (Day 0) - Day 0 was a bit different this year than in years past. Instead of driving out to the con, I actually flew out. Due to a airline issue a few months ago, I had a voucher for the cost of one flight, good for only one year. This was about the only time I would be able to use it, so it was an easy choice. While flying to GenCon means you get there relatively quick from the East Coast, it also meant that I wasn't driving out with my long time con-buddy. To make up for the lack of pre-con adventure in the car ride out, I finally started reading Playing at the World by Jon Peterson about the early days of wargames that preceded D&D as well as the history of D&D as well. I...

Another year, and another fiasco trying to get a GenCon hotel room. This year, they claimed to have a new solution (read, untested) that was supposed to alleviate the issues of last years mess. Sad to say, all it did was create a whole new set of issues for people. I'm sure you can read all the gory details elsewhere, but here's my story: I got my 4-day badge on Saturday, with no issues, not that I've ever heard of any issues getting badges. According to the website, I was to come back to the housing page around noon (I was on the page 15 minutes early) and at noon, I would be assigned a time to be able to get in to housing. I was assigned a 15 minute wait time, and figured I was pretty lucky. It would be the last time I would think that... The page had a nice countdown clock and as soon as the time passed, the Reservation button was active. As soon as I clicked on that button, I got an error message. STATUS : ERROR StatusID : 3 GUID : 14b0354fcdf:-70ee48 ERROR ...

You might think it's a bit early to start thinking of GenCon--unless you work for GenCon, who probably starts working on the next GenCon the day or so after the last one ends--but there are a couple of important dates just around the corner and some important notices. First off, this year GenCon is a bit earlier than before, running from (Thur) July 30 to (Sun) Aug 2. If it's your first trip to the con, consider getting on site that Wed. Each year more and more official and unofficial events keep popping up the day prior to the actual con. Along with the change in dates for the actual con, a couple of other dates have moved up. Badge registration starts on Friday January 23 and Hotel Booking starts Sun January 25 at noon. The Hotel Booking date is very important because if you want to get a room close to the Con (1-2) blocks, you need to get in the queue as fast as possible. Last year, the prime locations all booked up in less than 20 minutes. GenCon promises more informa...

Another GenCon is over, and so it's time for me to do a little recap of how this year was the best year yet (and it was). Day Zero (Wed) First off, I had planned to do daily updates of my experiences at the con, but that didn't happen. I ended up with either too many late night games, or too many early morning events to find the time. Maybe next year I'll at least be better about live tweeting during various events. Anyway... I got into Indy on the Wednesday before the con, around early afternoon. The drive in (shared by me and one of my oldest friends from Philly) was nice, but once again we missed a crucial turn off onto the downtown roads and had to take a slight shortcut. The problem seems to be with my GPS not being up to date with the current traffic pattern of the area. I mention this only because this is the third year in a row that we drove to Indy, and this was the third time in a row that we missed the same exit. Sadly, a large part of the reason for wan...

It's almost GenCon day, and if you are lucky enough to be going this year (and you are not already in transit), then you are probably like me and frantically trying to get all the last minute things locked down so you can start enjoying "The Best Four Days in Gaming". For me, this year is requiring a bit more prep than usual, mostly because I'm doing a bit more than usual this year. Like every other time I've been there, I certainly plan to be spending plenty of time in the Dealer's Room, and playing a bunch of games, but this time around, I'm planning to run a bunch of D&D as well as give a talk about using Lego like products in your D&D games. Both of these things are forcing me to do a bunch of prep work that I didn't need to do in past years. It's certainly fun, but the last few days have not been as relaxing as they have in past years. But no matter what, I'm sure I'll have a blast! If you aren't going, please think about c...

So, with GenCon Event Registration this Sun, I've been frantically pouring over the event catalog that was made available just last week , plotting out this event, and that seminar and while everything started out smoothly, I soon hit a snag. It seems none of the WotC events (D&D or MTG) were on the event list. The reason for this, I won't even begin to speculate, but WotC did soon post event names and a brief description on their site . Looking over this list, you'll see many of the events don't have listed times. But have no fear, Baldman Games, the company that actually runs the D&D events at GenCon (and a few other cons) posted info about when events will be running. Check out this forum post for more details. Not the best solution, but at least I was able to know when the events would be running to plot other events around those. Hopefully the events will go live before Sunday, so I can get my Wish List in order!

If you're not on the GenCon mailing list, you may have missed this recent press release . Item number two on the list states that the Event Listing will be available starting Friday at 9pm ET. The event registration is still Sun May 18th (starting at noon). Having access to the catalog now just helps everyone plan out what they want to do, and when they want to do it. I know it can take me hours to pour over everything, build a master list of events and then try to distill it down into something manageable over the four days. <self promo plug here> And if you have some time in your schedule, you may want to check out SEM1459558, a seminar I'm running about using Lego-like products into your game. If you've checked out any of my lego-themed posts , you'll have some idea what to expect.

A couple of news bits recently in the world of Dungeons and Dragons. First off, the TV show Community is doing another D&D themed episode. Considering how well received their first episode was, this is probably required viewing, even if you're not tuning in to the show regularly. Check your local listings for air times. The folks at Dwarven Forge, who's miniatures terrain is often considered the gold standard for 3D pre-painted terrain is doing another Kickstarter. Last year they ran one offering dungeon terrain in a new durable plastic they call Dwarvenite. This time around they are offering Caverns in the new material. They met their initial funding in under 30 minutes and are now on their way to exceed $2 mil, all of which is unlocking plenty of stretch goals and add-on packs. If you are interested at all in using 3D terrain at your game, you definitely want to check out their Caverns KS . Lastly, looking forward to GenCon, Baldman Games has posted some info on ...

I've decided for my final Gen Con post to touch on a subject that just recently came to light for me. With 2013, I've now gone to Gen Con four years in a row. On top of that I also went four times when the convention was in Milwaukee (long live the Safe House). In all that time I can honestly say that I've never had the "Full Gen Con Experience". And honestly, it's a myth (hence the title for this post). While the convention technically goes on for four days, five if you count all the Day Zero things--more of which seem to crop up every year--there is really just too much going on at any given time to take it all in. In all the years I've attended, I've only seen the costume parade once, stumbled in to the anime room once, and never played a game of MTG. I rarely attend the "Paint and Take" any more, though I love to look at all the contest entries, and I probably spend way too much time in the Vendor's Hall. But this is just my...

For my penultimate Gen Con post of 2013, I want to touch on a few other things I did or saw, or in some cases didn't see at the con. While a large appeal of the con is the chance to play all sorts of games, shopping in the vendor's room is just as big a drawl. With the chance to see up close and demo games you might not have known about, get a copy of an early release of a game (I'm looking at you Pathfinder card game fans), or get that sought after mini, or TCG card, not to mention all manner of costume accessories or home furnishings, it's easy to see why the room is always crowded. This year I didn't have a real shopping list going in to the vendor's room, but I still found myself in there nearly every day. Thursday's visit was to pick up the few must have items (gifts for friends and family). I tried to get in to the Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) booth to see what they had on site, but the wait line was too long (as in stretching around their booth an...

I had originally planned to write each day of Gen Con as it happened, at the end of the day. Unfortunately my schedule left me with little time at the end of each day to do a proper recap. Here now is the first in a series of posts about my Gen Con experiences. Check back for more posts about my con experience. Note: I just read a posting that seemed to indicate that Gen Con attendance was 49 thousand unique visitors, up over 20% from last year. Kudos to the Gen Con staff and planners, while there were more people this year, it didn't feel as congested in the hallways or the vendor's room as it had in the past. As I've mentioned before , one of my goals at Gen Con is to try new games, to step outside my comfort zone. This year, I actually did that a couple of times. One such game was Letters from Whitechapel, a game where one person takes on the role of Jack the Ripper, and the other players (up to 5) are the detectives trying to track him down.  Once the crime i...

Yesterday was the first official day of the convention, and what a whirlwind day it was. Things started out with me having to get up early so I could un-register for some events I didn't want. I was planning to take care of the events on Wed, especially with GenCon touting it's "24 hr a day service" at the Badges and Events booths. Unfortunately the 24 hr/day doesn't start until 7am on the morning of the first official day of the con, otherwise, they close at 9pm. If I had known that, I would have taken care of the event issues right away. And I can't fault GC for this, it was noted that Wed had limited hours, I just didn't see it. Anyway, everything got taken care of and I headed off to my first event, this year's version of the D&D Dungeon Delve. This time around, there wasn't really a dungeon, and little delving going on. Instead -- oh wait, I don't want to ruin it. Suffice to say, I had an ok time. I found myself knowing some of ...

So I'm now in Indy getting ready for the 2013 GenCon convention. Today is basically day 0, the convention hasn't really started, but on the other hand, it kind of has. Like last year, I drove out to the con, and had a great time with my car buddy Brad. It was a great chance to catch up on what we've been up to, what our respective families have been doing, and of course, talking about all things geek. Once we arrived and dropped off our gear, we headed over to the convention to get our badges. The line was super long, but moved much faster than we could have expected. In less that 15 minutes we both had passes and event tickets in hand. Next up, time to get the swag bag. Oh, wait there's no swag bag this year? Bummer, but the coupon book looked better than it had been in previous years, so maybe that will make up for it, especially since most of the swag I would ditch before leaving the state at the end of the week. One other little thing I noticed. In the past ...

As I get ready for GenCon 2013, I find that this year, unlike most others, I'm not heading off to Indianapolis with a list of must-get items. Now part of this is certainly due to the fact that this year Dungeons and Dragons is between editions, so there's no hot off the presses source book or box set for my favorite RPG, but it's not just the lack of D&D product that's reduced my shopping list to near nothing. I'm starting to wonder, is Kickstarter is to blame. Is it killing off, or at least diminishing, the excitement of the GenCon vendor's room? In the past I would circle around the Reaper Miniatures booth, or gaze longingly at the various Dwarven Forge setups. But thanks to Kickstarter, if I took part in the Reaper Bones KS from a while ago, or the Dwarven Forge Game Tiles KS from earlier this year, I'd have little reason to visit either location. Same for Larry Elmore, an artist I've admired since I read my first Dragonlance book, and who...

Just a little reminder. If you are thinking about GenCon, the pre-reg deadline is fast approaching, this Saturday the 29th to be exact. One of the benefits of pre-reg is getting to save a few bucks on the cost of admission. This year, the cost savings is $10. And of course you need to register for a badge before you can book a hotel room, or sign up for any events. And this year there are plenty of events to check out, from a bunch of new D&D Next games, to the usual slate of board, card, and other rpg games. GenCon is one of the best places to try new games, or reconnect with classics that you might not have played in a while. Anyway, if you're interested, now is definitely the time to head over to the GenCon site and see what interests you. I'm sure you'll find plenty of somethings. See you at the con...

There seems to be a lot of Murder going on in Baldur's Gate, and it's a little confusing to this partial resident of the Realms. I mean, there's a GenCon event called Murder in Baldur's Gate , then there's the next D&D Encounters season to be called Murder in Baldur's Gate , and on top of that there's a listing on Amazon.com call, what else, Murder in Baldur's Gate . Are these all the same thing? If I play the GenCon game, is that going to be the same as the Encounters season, which is the same as what I can buy on Amazon? Or worse, is the GenCon game a teaser for Encounters? After the four hour GenCon event, I hope it doesn't end with a big... And is the Amazon product just a "for sale" version of the Encounters season? So unless you have a Delorean, with a working Flux Capacitor and Mr Fusion, I guess we'll just have to wait and see. In other news   GenCon 2013 is shaping up to look a lot different this year than ...

As I start getting ready for GenCon 2013 , I find myself thinking about last year's event, and since I didn't write a blog post about it at the time, here's... My Woefully Past Due Gen Con 2012 Report GenCon 2012 was probably my tenth GenCon overall, and my third in a row. While there's no point touching on any of the announcements or products available at the show, I do want to highlight a few things that really helped make this one of the most memorable visits ever. Trying New Things Every convention I typically sign up for a few D&D games, and 2012 was no different, playing in a few 4e events as well some D&D Next. In addition to this staple of the RPG field, I always try to sign up for something outside my comfort zone. In the past, it was trying new card games like 7th Sea or Death Angel, RPGs like Brave New World or Star Wars (back in the West End days), or board games like City of Thieves. In 2012, I was hoping to try out the new Marvel RPG game, bu...

While I was working the company booth at an industry convention, I noticed folks walking this way and that (rarely stopping at our booth), all with the various goodie bags they picked up from the other vendors at the show. Between failed attempts at using the force to compel folks to visit our station ("This is the booth you're looking for"), I started thinking about GenCon (and how it couldn't get here soon enough!). Thinking about the con made me realize two important thinks: Pre-reg starts this weekend! That's right. If you're planning to go, you can pre-reg starting this Sun at noon. Pre-reg saves you a couple of bucks and is of course the first step to booking a room as well as events. I need to start training! That's also right. If you've been to GC before you know the layout is massive, and the reports are that it will be even more spread out this year, with more nearby hotels serving as the site for various games and seminars. In orde...

This year, for the second year in a row, I got to attend the Mac Daddy of gaming conventions, Gen Con . If you're not familiar with this legendary convention, you certainly owe it to yourself to do some research, and then, hopefully, plan to attend next year's gathering. This year, due to some real life issues, I wasn't able to head out early for the con. It's typical for folks to start arriving Wed afternoon (or earlier in some cases) even though the convention doesn't start till Thursday. In my case, I didn't arrive until Thur night, having missed most of the first day. I was lucky enough to get over to the convention with plenty of time to get my badge and walk around the con. The Dealer's Room was closed at that time, but everything else was in full gear. That first night I even ended up playing one of the Dungeon Delve scenarios in the Dungeons and Dragons area of the con. Personally, I think the Dungeon Delve is a great way to sample 4e at a ...