Lack of Buzz At GenCon Leaves Visitors Scratching Heads

There was no "game of the con" at GenCon, no single game that there was huge buzz about. If there was any game that really was sold like it was the last day on earth, it was Cards Against Humanity, although that's less of a 'game' and more of an 'activity'. Really, it's just like most guys' game nights or billiards nights, maybe with less profanity.

The line was TWO HOURS to just SEE what FFG had. It was ridiculous. Saw Star Trek Attack Wing, and I am THE perfect candidate for that game, and was thoroughly unimpressed. It was actually weaker in a lot of ways than X-Wing, and the ships were REALLY underwhelming. There was literally a few splashes of paint on them, and that's it. No wash. The X-Wing ships are an order of magnitude more detailed, easily.

One game nobody has ever heard of, from LEVEL 99, is "Disc Duellers". For me, that was the game of the con, although only a few ever knew it existed, apparently. Sold out in a day, maybe 100 copies. EPIC dexterity game. Totally rad in every way.

The new Cryptozoic Batman game looked pretty cool too, and everyone I spoke with was enjoying it. Lots of hoots and hollers. Seemed like a winner, but there was never more than maybe 5 pairs of people playing it.

More to follow - doing a podcast and magazine.

I agree, sitting here at home I kept waiting for THE BIG GAME, but it seems like it never came. However is this a sign that the market really can't keep up with a huge game every year? Or is it that niche games, split markets, and/or Kickstarter games pretty much has taken a lot of the buzz away?

Another note, I've been waiting for people to report on Eldritch Horror so far there is nothing. The new news is mostly from folks at home watching the video and scrying new information from it. So what's up? It does seem like folks went to GenCon and came back with little to report.

It undoubtedly has to do in part with Kickstarter. What's the point of getting excited by or buying a game at the Con when you've got a couple of hundred dollars invested in a game that may or may not ever come out? It is a fracturing that's going on, outside of tentpole publishers like FFG, Z-Man, WotC, GW, and Wizkids everything else down is now vaporware that you can "back".

I've been waiting to hear some buzz too...I actually already have all four of the games that I thought would be the most buzzy (Pathfinder, Trains, Bioshock Infinite, Robinson Crusoe) but I'm not hearing all that much about any of them from the show. It's still early, I guess, maybe we'll see more over the week. Of those games, Robinson Crusoe is obviously great...Pathfinder is pretty awesome. Bioshock Infinite is very, very promising although I hate the subject matter. Trains I still haven't played enough to really decide but it looks decent. So there's at least a little buzz from a non-attendee.

Cards Against Humanity is fucking stupid. I'm not sure what distinguishes that game from something you would have bought when you were 13 years old from the vaguely seedy "adult games" aisle at Spencer's back in the 80s.

Level 99 did BattleCon...I'm interested to see what they've got going on with Disc Duellers.

The Cryptozoic Batman is the Arkham City one, right? It didn't look that hot. I'll get it anyway because Batman...

Mike:
The buzzword of the show was "We have an upcoming Kickstarter". I counted 23 and then stopped. Everyone is using it now, even bigger companies. The good news is that bigger companies who actually have editors are going to be using it, and it may also soak up dollars from the smaller, unknown companies who would otherwise be producing Girls School Miskatonic Pariah or whatever it was called.

There were a TON of people buying Mice and Mystics and Bioshock. Some people were pretty warm to it, some pretty cool, so it may be a middling game. I can't say, but I asked 7-8 people about it while playing it and some were ecstatic while some were like "this isn't that good". Who's to say? The biggest complaint was the board layout.

As an aside, I remember VIVIDLY people panning City of Remnants and when I was sitting at a hotel room with Jerry, Isaac, and Chad we had a lengthy discussion about the importance of the board. I kind of disagreed that "people didn't buy it at retail based on the board look" because the image was so small, and really, the board has nothing to do with gameplay. Jerry had a great point, though: EVERYTHING in the game should make you want to buy it, and one missing link in that puzzle may be all it takes to stymie a sale.

I bring this up because I found the game to be BRILLIANT. As a DOAM guy, I can say without reservation that it's one of the best I've ever played. It's part RISK, part Blood Feud In New York, and part Nexus Ops. The theme is a little bit thin, but it's still very coherent and integral to the game itself. If I hadn't spent hundreds on Wreck-Age models I'd have picked it up. I actually tried to trade 3 people for it. Really ace game.

That Disc Duellers game is a TOTAL TOTAL TOTAL autobuy. It's everything you loved about Catacombs without the weenie stuff and wack boards. It may be the ultimate beer and pretzels dexterity/strategy game. I shit you not, I played it Friday night and was at the booth at noon on Saturday and it sold out. The minute it becomes available I'm buying it.

Yes, that Arkham City one. Looks really simple (aesthetics) with an ascension-style mat, although it's a cardstock mat that they call a board, but it really "feels" Batman. They did well integrating combinations of cards that make sense - "Harley Quinn helps Joker the most but otherwise is just a henchwoman" so to speak. Sort of like they wanted to atone for the sins they committed in DC Deckbuilding where nothing is really all that super thematic.

Speaking of DC, I played it at Carmen's house once and was OK with it, but really, if you own Ascension, just go buy some cheap 10c comics, some scissors, a sharpie, and some paste and you can make it yourself. Almost the exact same game, and the differences aren't substantial enough to command it actually being produced as a new game. Dave Roswell and I lamented that the Marvel game is the same - just a cookie cutter deckbuilder with Marvel faces.

Another thing that we lamented is that with Star Trek Attack Wing, they got Andrew Parks (Quixotic Games/Camelot Legends..who I love) to do it and he doesn't know anything about Star Trek. He's the guy you call when you have a license and need a game made...he has a lot of experience with that. So, you have this guy who is being handed one of the most cherished and adored sci-fi properties of all time, and a mechanic for fighter-based combat, and has to somehow integrate it and make it FEEL "Trek", but isn't really a Blue Shirt wearing fan who can tell you what episode Kirk banged a green chick. So, the game sort of succeeds but isn't really TREK due to poorly integrated theme (according to some), and the fact that the FLIGHT-PILFERED system only kind of works for this kind of game due to the great distances involved (according to some). The key is that the ships have much wider turn radii, to abstract big ships moving fast. The models are TERRIBLE looking compared to X-Wing. Can't say that enough. I'll buy it on clearance when Target sells them off, and not a moment before.

Bioball:
I was there Thurs-Sun, walking around the entire place the entire time doing interviews and getting reporting stuff. Played some demos.

NOT A SINGLE PERSON WAS PLAYING ELDRITCH HORROR as far as I could tell. Some supergames of Arkham, but not a single guy was playing, and I was looking specifically to find it. It's possible I didn't see it, but since FFG was right next to Heroscape, which is kind of my home base (I know people there so I leave bags and stuff there) and there were lots of people playing Star Wars Miniatures and other FFG stuff, but no EH.

I think the 2 hour line to just SEE THE BOOTH killed it for a lot of people.

Did they even have Eldritch Horror there? I figured they would just show the box and maybe a preproduction copy.

City of Remnants is _great_. I'm not sure why it didn't catch on. Some of it is probably the title, which doesn't really say much about the game.

I'm not surprised to hear about the Kickstarter booths...very depressing. That's practically like saying to the customer "Back this project so you can help us reimburse ourselves for the cost of this booth!"

I was fairly underwhelmed by the new games at GenCon that I wasn't already well versed in from reviews here and elsewhere. I didn't play Rampage because it was hard to get close enough to even see the game, much less sit down. The Collector's edition of Takenoko was neat looking, but not $300 neat (I'm sure it'll make the uber-collectors feel even more important, though). I got my ass handed to me in a 6-player game of Space Cadet Dice Duels, curious what my group will think of it (picked it up first thing on Thursday and got Geoff to sign it for me). Also at Stronghold I tried out Time n Space...I may eventually pick it up as it's a euro-ish game (appeals to the group) with a strict time limit (appeals to me and the woman). In the simple game, the best actions are very obvious, but the whole concept of upgrades were left out, so hoping that adds the needed depth. Did a short demo of Bioshock Infinite and can't say I was very impressed. It just seemed very basic and derivative, but there was some decent thematic elements thrown in (Booker and Elizabeth sort of wandering the board causing trouble, for one). It's also a team game with more than 2 players, and I'm not really sure how well that will end up working. Wanted to get a better look at Relic Runners primarily based on Days of Wonder putting out solid titles, but never wandered by when it was open, so whatever. Since I had a copy of RC waiting for me at home and had decided Terra Mystica was not for me, Z-Man had nothing to interest me.

There were lots of deck builders and skirmish games which don't really interest me. I didn't demo any of them, so can't really comment. And in regards to FFG booth, yeah fuck that, I'm not waiting in line to just get in the booth to look around. Saw that they had the new BSG expansion Daybreak, but I'll buy the Pegasus expansion before I buy anything else to get my plastic Basestars. One of my friends bought it, so maybe I'll get to play it in a few weeks.

My friends really dug Hex, though I could care less as it combines two things I avoid at all costs (MMOs, which I'm recovering addict, and CCGs, which I despise in any form). They said it pretty much fills the void left by Magic Online not even trying to expand and improve.

I'm sure there's more, but I've still got 200 e-mails to get through...

Oh, if it was just booths, that's one thing. But it was booths, and also people doing demos on the show floor, where I spent a disproportionate amount of time. I like to talk to people PLAYING the games rather than marketing people who, like myself, have mastered the art of "baffling with bullshit".

SO. MANY. KICKSTARTERS.

I didn't see the EH box in any of the displays on Saturday, and I was there Friday looking at EVERYTHING from a press perspective when the place wasn't packed to shit.

I also walked around the huge demo area they had and didn't see it, but I was really there looking at other stuff, so it's ~possible~ that I missed it although I looked at every table there, two days in a row.

Board gaming - the hobby that requires patience.

BI is somewhat derivative if only because its a pretty straight DoaM. What's cool to me is the card mechanics. They all have three values (combat, influence for voting, and money discard). Then they have a special function that you can't use until you "unlock" it by fulfilling an achievement-like goal. Each value on each different type of card can also be upgraded.

I love the way losses are handled. You lose one man and the rest to back to respawn at a stronghold.

Funny enough, it's actually not very specific in theming. It wouldn't be too hard to recast the entire game as a Groo the Wanderer game, with Groo replacing Booker and the factions replaced by fantasy kingdoms.

But is it worth hyping up? I dunno.

I think a problem with video game boardgames is who is the target? People that play video games but not a lot of boardgames? People who play boardgames but not video games? People who do both? I feels its the same way with Doom and Gears of War- whose the target? Especially since most video games have multi-player what's the advantage in the board game?

Re: Eldritch Horror
I think one problem, aside from a booth line, is that it looks like FFG was demoing the game, which seems to mean you played a few rounds of it but not a whole game to completion. That's kinda confusing to me. Why not just set up a few games next to Arkham Horror at let folk go at it.

I have high hopes about the game. I've enjoyed the reduced fiddlyness to the game and a strong integration of several mini-narratives. Also everyone is doing something, so there are few "dead" turns for people. To top it off, it look like effects are triggered at once, so not more "Oh wait, we forgot that it was raining and your leg is broken...roll back your turn". Its now cut down to: Action Phase: Spend action points, Encounter phase: Everyone has one, and Mythos phase: Bad things happen, tiggers are pulled. Repeat.

Re: GENCON in General
So do you all think its format needs to be revamped somehow? Somehow place a different emphassis on other aspects of boardgaming (i.e. some sort of boardgame Penny Arcade Expo?). Anyone see Wil Wheaton there?

GOTY for me so far is Pathfinder. Robinson's cool and all but Pathfinder is fucking great! I got it on Friday and have played it seven time...three four player and four two player games. The game scales perfectly. It was as much fun with two as it was with four and nothing was lost.

Paizo has ported its role playing system over to cards beautifully. You build your character's hand from game to game in a continuing campaign but you have to whittle it down because he can never have more than 15 cards which also serves as your life. (Well you can get card feats by leveling up so you CAN eventually get one or two more cards to start with. The character cards have these empty check boxes you physically check with a light pencil as you improve your abilities).

Each character has standard stats (Strength, Dexterity etc...and a bunch of secondaries (Fortitude, Arcane Knowledge etc...and each character plays COMPLETELY differently. The game is a joy to play, holds its theme better than any other card game out there. It's not so involving that you can't shoot the shit with your buds, but still complex enough to make you think. You never get the feeling that the game system is grinding you down either. It's not easy to beat, but it's definitely not a grind.

Characters stats make them act completely differently from each other. One may be able to pick up that item, another doesn't have a hope in hell. One may find a spell he can't understand and has to let go, some NPC's will go with some characters and not others and even when they will, you still have to roll and see if they're in the mood and the stat they look for in you is high enough.

It's Ameritrash done exactly right. You have to roll for everything but other players can try to improve your odds and help you out. They can even do it when you're at a different location by "praying" for you with the right card. When they do, you get an extra die on the check. Of course they're giving up the card that gives them a chance to explore deeper into the dungeon and since the adventure is on a timer whether it's a good idea to help you at this time is a significant decision.

My grown children all loved it. We stayed up until three in the morning playing it and played it again the following morning. I haven't had this much fun with a game in a long time.

You hit on something that I think is really significant about Pathfinder, something that really sets it apart from something like LOTRLCG, Ghost Stories, or many other co-ops...you don't get a sense that the game is out to destroy you. You don't get a sense that you're squeaking by just because you topdecked a card that was slightly less bad than another one. It's not brutally difficult, and it can even feel kind of easy. but then you botch a couple of crucial rolls or wind up floundering while trying to wrap up the scenario in time and it's suddenly not so easy anymore.

I think it'll definitely be on my shortlist for the reasons you listed and others.

The 15 card decks are BRILLIANT. It works so well.

I love that they tell you to write on the cards, that is ballsy.

So why not just play Pathfinder the RPG? I have the same issue with Mansions of Maddness, with all the set and time spent learning the game you could easily just run an RPG.

Isn't there a danger to all these RPG-like games making people forget what a RPG actually is? I think now most folks know RPGs at "a game where your character increases stats via experience points". The "role-play" is being lost once again. I get that mostly folks feel uncomfortable about a certain level of improve. They'd rather just say "My dude has +15 fight" and roll to kill monsters.

I can see why the game is fun and I don't mean this to be a challenge to that its a good game, but isn't it sowing the seeds for RPG destruction once again? Or am I making 2d10 mountains out of 1d4 mole hills?

Michael Barnes wrote:
The 15 card decks are BRILLIANT. It works so well.

This.

The big reason that the Pathfinder card game appeals to me over the RPG itself is my inability to consistently get a group together to play. If I were to start a Pathfinder RPG Campaign, it would literally take me years to complete, at least if I wanted the same group every time.