There are many kinds gaming conventions and game fairs around the United States, but for D&D Gamers and Magic the Gathering deckmasters, GenCon is the “Super-Bowl” of them all.  Located at the Indiana Convention Center in downtown Indianapolis, this event is self-described as “The Best Four Days of Gaming”!  But even for those who are not fans of hallmark Wizards of the Coast games, GenCon offers a massive gaming venue for thousands of gamers from all over the United States, and even from around the world, to meet and play their favorite role-playing games, collectible card games, board games, and miniatures events.  With over 8000 gaming events, plus seminars, costume parties, live bands, celebrity guests, and a gigantic exhibition hall, GenCon offers something for just about anyone.

After an uneventful, if a little dull, drive down from Michigan on Thursday morning, I arrived in Indianapolis a little before noon, and after a quick check-in at the hotel, set off for my first GenCon – at the Indiana Convention Center anyways.  I have actually attended GenCon quite a few times in the past, back when it was held in Milwaukee at MECCA Arena – and when D&D was owned and operated by a company called Tactical Studies Rules or TSR for short!  But I was looking forward to seeing how this new venue compared with old MECCA for housing this “convention of conventions”.

Leaving my gamer buddy to wait in a line to get his badge for the weekend – which even at noon on Thursday was surprisingly long – I set off to check-in myself at the GenCon Press room.  Having made arrangements months ago to cover the convention for the Neuroglyph Games Journal, I was registered and “badged” in moments, unlike my poor friend who was stuck in a line for over thirty minutes to get his 4-day pass.

While I was waiting on him, I took the opportunity to chat briefly with Stacia Kirby, the Press Coordinator for GenCon.  Stacia had been working hard all day to make sure that the press had a comfortable retreat, and had already assisted four major television stations as well as over a hundred print and internet reporters in getting the scoop on “the best four days of gaming” that morning.  When asked how things were shaping up this year, the Press Coordinator claimed that this year’s pre-convention pass sales was considerably higher than last year, and while she did not have any official numbers, really felt that Thursday’s crowd already felt like crowds she had experienced on Fridays or Saturdays, and that was a good sign for the rest of the weekend.  Word was definitely out about GenCon 2010, which I had to agree with, as even the front desk clerk at my hotel, who had been enthralled by a news broadcast that morning, showcasing the Microsoft Surface demo of Settlers of Catan.

My first stop after locating my buddy was the Sagamore Ballroom, where all D&D events, whether RPGA LFR,  the D&D Championship, Dark Sun Demos, or just a pick-up game with friends, would be held.  And by early afternoon, the massive hall was filled with D&D games at nearly every table, with Players of every skill level enjoying all manner of adventures, including a pre-release demo of the new Ravenloft Board Game.

WotC had gone all out with setting up the hall to make it ready to host all manners of D&D events, with tons of seating around large tables, huge D&D artwork on banners, and a Character Builder Station for creating not only Living Forgotten Realms characters, but D&D Essential and Dark Sun Characters as well!  The RPGA had an elevated “command and control” center to help oversee all the activities, and dozens of volunteer marshalls and dungeon masters circulated the room to make sure all the events went off smoothly.

The RPGA Network is sponsoring several different styles of play this weekend, with the notable Return to Ravens Bluff, a 3-part mini campaign, as the showcase.  There was also a Convention Delve called Lair of the Dread Witch, a D&D Classics adventure Curse of the Gray Hag, Glory and Blood in Dark Sun Arenas, and of course many Learn to Play D&D sesssions.

One of the big events at every GenCon is the D&D Championship, and this year was no exception.  The competition tests a Players’ game knowledge, as well as problem solving, teamwork, and combat strategy.  This year, the Players would take on the role of D&D 4E Epic Level Characters in an adventure, A Hole in the World, written by Logan Bonner, a former Wizards of the Coast designer.

This year’s D&D Championship was being marshalled by John Stanford, whom I had met at Origins Game Fair back in June.  John has been involved with the tournament since 2004 as a Dungeon Master, but has been working the past few years as Appeals Judge and Marshall for this landmark D&D event.  I got a few minutes to chat with John regarding the Championship, and some of the background on how the tournament is run.

When I met with him, John was still getting the results back from the Dungeon Masters for this round of the tournament.  He explained that there would be eight preliminary rounds, with an average of a dozen 5-man parties playing each session to qualify for the final round.  However, I was surprised to learn just how stiff the D&D Championship really was, when I found out how many of the one-hundred or so adventuring parties would advance to Sunday’s final prize round.

“About half of the table washed out in encounter one,” John claimed, as he organized the current session’s results which consisted of thirteen teams.  He went on to explain that Players have only 45 minutes to complete each of the five encounters in this year’s tournament, and failing to defeat their monstrous foes in the allotted time results in an automatic loss.

“We expect that only about ten-percent of the teams will advance to the final round on Sunday morning,” he revealed, with the adventure being specifically designed to push Players’ skills to the edge as they struggle to keep up with the grueling encounter timer.  However, even if a team fails to complete an encounter within the 45 minute window, they can still play on and try to complete as much of the adventure as they can in the four-hour time slot.  But, of course, they will not advance to the final round.

John admitted that this style of tournament is not for everyone, and is very different from participating in a Living Forgotten Realms RPGA event.  Unlike an LFR event where Players experience challenging play but are expected to succeed and advance their Characters, the D&D Championship play is considerably more harsh, and can often result in Character deaths, or even a TPK!  But, of course, the rewards for the winning team are well worth the challenge!

In previous years, each member of the winning team in the D&D Championship have received all manner of WotC products, such as complete sets of the upcoming year’s D&D sourcebooks as they are realeased, a year’s subscription to DDI, entire miniatures sets, and gift certificates to the Wizards of the Coast Online Store.  Although John did not know the specifics on the prizes for GenCon 2010’s D&D Championship, he assured me that each of the winners are likely to receive several hundred dollars in WotC products, based upon what he has seen in years past!

As I continued my meandering around the Sagamore Ballroom, I chanced to find Chris Sims running his new Dark Sun adventure “Welcome to Dark Sun, B!#&@$!” for several of the Critical-Hits.com crew, including Dave “The Game”, The Main Event, Bartoneus, Vanir, and ChattyDM, as well as E of Geek’s Dream Girl!  When I approached their table, Chris was describing what sounded like a bar-room brawl, Athas style, with the group taking a brutal pounding from their foes.

Leaving my fellow D&D gamers to their high fantasy adventures, I wandered down to the gigantic Exhibition Hall to start the Herculean task of navigating through the maze of booths and stalls, containing every imaginable game and gaming accessory – as well as the occasional unimaginable knickknack – from literally hundreds of companies.

While adventuring through the amazing maze of gaming merchandise, I chanced to run into freelance writer Aeryn “Blackdirge” Rudel of Blackdirge Publishing. 

I learned that Aeryn was now working at the Privateer Press, the makers of miniatures games like War Machine, Hordes, and Monsterpocalypse, and he was busily working the booth with other staff, selling books and miniature sets to dozens of interested gamers.  It was awesome to finally meet the man behind numerous D&D 4E GSL products I have had the honor of reviewing on the Neuroglyph Games site, including Blackdirge’s Bargain Bestiary and Bargain Template series.  I learned that he has been so busy with his work for Privateer Press he has not had much opportunity to publish under his own Blackdirge Publishing line.  But he has high hopes to start getting new Blackdirge products out in the coming months.

I also got the chance to meet with the famous Kobold-In-Chief Wolfgang Baur, who was manning the Kobold Quarterly and Open Design booth with Stephen Wark.  Wolfgang was pleased to tell me that he has been extremely busy on the first day of GenCon, in fact busier than Thursdays on previous years.  He explained that the newly released Kobold Quarterly #14 is selling very well, and given the crowds today, wonders if there will be any left by Saturday.  While Kobold #1 and wife Shelly was unable to attend, and was at home watching the hatchling, I learned that Logan Bonner was in attendance and working the booth as well, and I would get a chance to chat with him regarding the new Lost City 4E project by the Open Design team, which he leads.

So it was a very memorable first day at GenCon 2010, and I had a great time so far meeting and networking with my fellow internet bloggers and publishers.  If today was any indication, Friday and Saturday should bring some record crowds of gaming enthusiasts, and I am really looking forward to seeing how events unfold as the weekend progresses.

So until next blog… and still at GenCon 2010… I wish you Happy Gaming!

Photography by Robert E. Kusiak

Tags: blackdirge publishing, D&D 4e, GenCon, Kobold Quarterly, news, RPGA

This entry was posted by Editor-in-Chief on Friday, August 6th, 2010 at 8:33 am and is filed under RPG News & Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.