Wednesday Knights Blog

Ok, I’ve been back from Gen Con for a few days and I figure that it is long past time to do a Gen Con wrap up post.

As usual, I had a great time. We go with the same group of seven people every year. Four of us are from my current gaming group. Plus we meet three guys from back east. It’s great for us to get together every year and get in some gaming. The real treat, however, is the camaraderie that we have formed over the years that we have been getting together. It’s just great to get together and catch up with everyone.

I have heard several people (especially on podcasts) say that they don’t like to play games with strangers. Thus, they don’t play a lot of games at conventions like Gen Con, unless they play with a group of their friends. I have the opposite thought. Sure I like to play with people that I know, but some of the most funs games that I have played have been sitting down with a group of strangers at Gen Con.

When scheduling my events this year, I decided that I was going to try some game systems that I was interested in but had not yet had a chance to play. Thus, I signed up for two Savage Worlds events, two Aces & Eights, a Vegas After Midnight, and a Prime Time Adventures. I was also able to get my Earthdawn fix this year.

This is getting kind of long, so the details on my thoughts on these systems appears below the break.

I throughly enjoyed my Savage Worlds experiences. One was a pirate adventure, the other was a World War II adventure. Both were well designed and well ran. The guy who ran the World War II event had fantastic models for the buildings we were in. Also, when we went to the sewers, he had sewers he had created by cutting 1 1/2″ PVC in half. Although I died in the adventure. I had a great time.

Similarly, with the pirate Savage Worlds experience, I had a great time. There were two teens who were playing at our table. In the past, this has not always worked out well. In this instance, however, they were both great. In fact, because of the character that she chose, the one teen ended up becoming the de facto leader of our group.

These two events showed me the versitaility, power, and simplicity of the Savage Worlds system. I really enjoyed it and will definately be playing it again. In fact, I picked up the Savage Worlds Explorer’s Edition so I could create some adventures based on the system.

I also enjoyed the Aces & Eights system, although it certainly cannot be described as simple. Aces & Eights is about as crunchy of a game system as I have ever played. In fact, it is decidely more crunchy than what I typically like. However, the guys at Kenzer did a great job on this system. It took them quite a while to put it out. However, this allowed them to create a great level of detail for the game. i would not hesitate to play this game again.

At the opposite end of the spectrum from Aces & Eights was my Prime Time Adventures. That system is as much pass the torch as Aces & Eights is crunchy. This is a system I have been wanting to try for a while. Thus I was glad that someone was running it and that I could get into it. I had a good time playing the adventure that we had. However, I don’t know that this is a game that I will be signing up to play again. Although I don’t like to be entirely weighted down with rules, I do like to have a little more of a resolution system than what is offered by this game. It is a really cool concept, however. I encourage you to try it at least once, just to see if you like it.

It was also great to get a chance to play Earthdawn again. I really love that game and I appreciated the opportunity to play this again. I wish more people ran these events at Gen Con.

Finally, I had the opportunty to play Vegas After Midnight. This is a game that is still in its playtesting stage and is scheduled to come out (hopefully) next year for Gen Con. Not only was our event loads of fun, but we were also able to stump the creator with a couple of questions that will (hopefully) help him flesh out the rules. The website describes the game as:

a tabletop roleplaying game set in a warped and fantastical version of southern Nevada in the years following a massive world-shattering and reality-altering cataclysm that the inhabitants of the setting have dubbed “Midnight”.

The setting was fantastic and the rules use a varient of the FATE system. Like Savage Worlds, this is a very powerful and versitail system.

This is a game that I am definately going to keep my eyes on and will be playing again in the future.