I went back to Gen Con this year. It was better than I expected. For one thing, I didn't see any sign that attendance was down. I don't know what the real numbers were like, but the crowds didn't look any smaller than
the last time I was there.
I listened to Children of Hurin on the way over. Poor Hurin, cursed by Morgoth to watch while his wife and children blunder their way across Beleriand, getting all sorts of people killed for no particular reason.
Melian: Y'all know this magic sword is cursed, right?
Beleg: It's magic? Sweet! I'll take it!
Thingol: I don't think you heard--
Turin: RAMPAGE!
I showed up in Indy on Friday evening but didn't do any actual convention stuff until Saturday. Tom gave me my Peryton Gamers badge and I went to get my vaccination bracelet so the door wardens could see that I'm not a moron. That went a lot more smoothly than I expected, so I poked around a little in the exhibit hall, where insufficient air conditioning made my plague mask really unpleasant.
Tom was running
TerrorHog, so I went back to the JW to watch that. Upon arrival, I was immediately shanghaied to play one of the unused characters (I had actually promised to do this a long time ago). It was fun seeing someone else run my adventure and I always enjoy playing Crawlspace. The other players seemed to dig it. It's a pity they knew who I was when I joined the game. Would have been interesting to hear more candid thoughts.
After a bite and some drinks, Tom had another Crawlspace game, this one about a haunted radio station. I didn't play this time, just sat nearby. I worked for a while, then stopped to listen in. Had a late dinner and drinks at the fancier of the two JW restaurants afterwards.
Sunday was shopping day. I came back with
Swords of the Serpentine, a fold-up dice box/rolling tray, and some sparkly purple dice. I already had the tote bag.
Swords of the Serpentine looks really promising. In many ways, it seems to be what I've wanted from a fantasy game for a long time. Even though it's made with darker stuff in mind, it might be a decent Middle Earth rule set. Whether I can or can't find both the motivation and the players to actually run the game remains to be seen.
Tom picked up some stuff too, including a couple of setting books and a cool picture consisting of several layers embedded in a clear acrylic block. I think that's about it. We had some good Mexican food and enjoyed a quiet evening. I listened to Conan stories on the way back, but got tired of them somewhere in Missouri. I like Robert E. Howard, but the dosage was just too high.
