I spent last weekend at Gen Con, by far my most concentrated days of gaming all year. Even though I forgot my Gen Con hat and neglected to pack any socks at all, it was still another successful convention adventure.
Pathfinder 2nd Edition
This year’s focus was primarily on Pathfinder 2nd Edition, which was released the same weekend as Gen Con, and for which Paizo was running Pathfinder Society scenarios. Along with my friend Erika, with whom I’ve been going to Gen Con for the last three years, I made this my focus, attempting to get in as much time trying out this new system as I could.
We ended up getting to play through three scenarios: “Escaping the Grave” on Thursday afternoon; “The Mosquito Witch” on Saturday morning; and “Origins of the Open Road” on Sunday morning. The first two were scenarios for characters of level 1-4, and the latter was for level 5 characters, and for which everyone had to play with a pre-generated character (since no one could have gotten a character up to level 5 so quickly). I played, respectively, a fighter, a bard, and a wizard, so I feel like I got a decent sampling of the spread.
Session One: “Escaping the Grave”
The Thursday afternoon game definitely dragged a bit as we were all figuring out the rules, and there were almost definitely times that we got the rules “wrong,” particularly when there were changes to concepts that overlap with Pathfinder 1st Edition, like grappling. For the first half of the session, only one person at the table had the Core Rulebook. That person was a player, and I think the GM was using a separate booklet that was provided, I presume, to all of the volunteer GMs at the convention. I acquired a copy during a brief intermission mid-session at the “Grab and Go” table just outside the Sagamore Ballroom where all the Pathfinder games were happening.
Incidentally, I got the deluxe version, which basically just has a fancy-looking cover. One of the other players asked me honestly (not rhetorically or with admonition) why I got that version. And I answered honestly: Just to show off. (I also like the cleaner design of the cover instead of the illustration on the regular version. I don’t really care about the faux leather or the bookmarking ribbon.)
Session Two: “The Mosquito Witch”
The Saturday morning game was actually the roughest one. Firstly, I had been up late the night before playing D&D with Erika and Ben, the latter of whom was play-testing an adventure he’s developing for a Kickstarter reward as part of his job at Skybound Games. Then I got up early (after ~4.5 hours of sleep, which I grant you some con-goers would consider luxurious) to get in my weekly long run (building up to my third try at the 70.3 triathlon in October) of 9.5 miles. After a quick breakfast of a bagel and some yogurt, we sat down to play, and within an hour I was crashing hard. It’s not often that I buy a Coke at 9 AM.
This adventure, “The Mosquito Witch,” was a horror-themed mystery adventure. It is supposed to be an open-ended exploration and investigation, but I often felt like we didn’t have any clear directions for where to go. We had an objective—get rid of the plague of mosquitos and see if the Mosquito Witch is real or just folklore—and that may have actually been the problem. If the intent of the scenario had just been to explore with no particular objective in mind, then it would perhaps have been less frustrating feeling like we didn’t have a strong lead; wandering with seemingly no progress being made would have helped us to embrace the eeriness of the scenario.
Ultimately we completed the objective and got rid of the mosquitos, but we didn’t know we had done so until the GM quickly wrapped up the adventure, being low on time, and explained to us that the creatures we had just killed had been responsible. The most exciting moment had been when Erika caused the runaway carriage to flip when they cast some color spray on two of the six horses. I guess we were supposed to pull the passengers out of the carriage, but I liked their solution more.
Session Three: “Origins of the Open Road”
Sunday morning’s adventure provided a glimpse of higher-level play. Usually, first level play feels very limiting. Your character dies easily and you don’t have many spells or options. That wasn’t really the case with Pathfinder 2E. My 5th-level wizard definitely had more spells prepared, and there may have been some class features I didn’t use to their potential, but I felt like I had just as much fun with the level 1 fighter as I did with the wizard.
There was a fellow at the table with us who looked very familiar and who just would not stop talking, garnishing his comments with nervous laughter. He had no ill intentions, and certainly wasn’t mean, but it’s exhausting constantly acknowledging—with a response in kind, or with a polite smile or courteous laugh—another player’s commentary on everything that happens, especially when he’s turning and looking directly at me when he does it. I started to get the sense that he wasn’t the kind of guy who picked up easily on social cues, and realized that he wouldn’t press a point if I just didn’t respond. So I didn’t anymore, and mostly just acted like he wasn’t talking at all. The game experience improved for me accordingly.
I somewhat surreptitiously messaged Erika, asking them if they recognized this guy from somewhere. They told me that they think we played with him last year, and that he jabbered as consistently then too.
After-Hours TTRPGs
We had some after-hours gaming as well, including the previously mentioned session of D&D that Ben ran on Friday night. We also reconvened on Saturday night to play Shadow of the Demon Lord, picking up a couple other players, Dan and Alex, who also work at Skybound. I’ve known Dan for a few years now through Ben, but this was the first time I’d met Alex. GMing with strangers doesn’t make me nervous, nor does running a game I’m not familiar with too much, but the combination of the two left me worried. But of course, Ben and Dan are good people, and I can wager that anyone they freely associate with would be as well, which assuaged my anxiety.
We played both nights at the open gaming tables in the J. W. Marriott hotel where Skybound folk were staying. They have one enormous ballroom for open gaming, and smaller rooms designated for RPGs, but no one’s keeping track.
I was glad to get to run Demon Lord because it’s a system I’m still getting comfortable with, and so there’s a fun learning curve to it, and because Erika had been looking forward to playing it again since we played a game last year, GMed real standup by a guy who had plenty of experience with it. They like how much less there is they they need to keep track of as a player, which is important when you’re new to a system and even to the genre of tabletop RPGs. It’s also nice even if you’ve been playing them for decades, because it allows you to focus on the story, if that’s the thing you’re into, which I am.
The rules system is so simple that, although I had some pregen characters that I had thrown together, I figured it actually wouldn’t be too difficult to make characters together at the table and still have time to run the adventure I had planned. So that’s exactly what we did, rolling dice for all of the fun backstory stuff that the rulebook has tables for. Dan’s dwarf, I recall, was randomly determined to have a “magnificent belly” and to be very well groomed, with an excellent beard. Alex’s character had died once and been brought back to life, so he started with a couple points of insanity. Ben likewise had one point of insanity to start because his changeling had only recently learned of his true nature, having spent over six decades—a randomly determined age—thinking he was just a normal human. Erika had mostly made their character already. I was a little disappointed to see they didn’t go with a clockwork as they had previously expressed interest in, but what mattered more was that I enjoyed watching them read excitedly through the PDF of the rulebook on their phone and writing down bits for their character.
They completed the adventure without too much difficulty, maybe even not enough difficulty, as I’m not well versed yet in gauging these things for Demon Lord. I’d give myself three stars of five if zero isn’t an option. Everyone seemed to have sufficient fun, and I appreciated that Alex downloaded the rulebook to his phone as well, and read up on the pantheon of Old Gods in order to better inform his choices for his cleric character. Erika also expressed again later that they were glad we got to play. And if those metrics weren’t enough, it should mark the session as a success that I find myself looking for time in my schedule at home to run more Demon Lord.
Purchases and Wanderings
Between all of these things, I didn’t do too much wandering of the exhibitors hall, and purchased few things. I met up with my friend Alex John (not to be confused with Skybound Alex), and he introduced me to a game he had bought that I liked enough to get myself, but as a gift for my sister, who I thought would enjoy it. Walking around with Alex, I also bought a Player Notebook from Monte Cook Games’ booth, which is conveniently divided into sections for three different characters. (I passed on the GM Notebook this time, but maybe I’ll come back to it.)
I bought a camera shortly before leaving for Gen Con, and tried it out by taking pictures of cosplayers, our Pathfinder sessions, and Cardhalla, the area where attendees build structures from donated gaming cards, which are destroyed on Saturday night by coins that are then donated to charity. I’m a little shy about stopping people for their picture, since it’s not always clear to me when people might just want to be left alone to wander the convention, or if they’re in a hurry to get somewhere.
I picked up the Pooky character for Red Dragon Inn, as well as their Gen Con themed set of Genevieve (the Gen Con mascot dragon) cards. This latter was not a deck, just a thin set of cards that I’m not even entirely sure yet how to use.
I only demoed a couple of new games, including Trial By Trolley, which the Skybound folks are publishing with Cyanide and Happiness, and which had its own booth. I was already a backer for the Kickstarter, and Ben had been telling me about the game and the Kickstarter campaign, so I knew what to expect already. Skybound Alex and Jon, another Skybound fellow I know well enough, ran the demo round that I played in. Since it’s a social game, their contributions to the round really made it, and showed how much fun it will be at parties.
I don’t usually like using computers or technology of any kind at the gaming table, but Arkenforge’s GM tools software impressed me enough—and it was cheap enough—that I decided after a demo and some exhaustive questioning about it to buy it. But I haven’t tried it out yet in a live fire session, so verdict is still out on that.
Unrelated to any gaming activities, I bought a book called Vote for Dog, a collection of animal comics (mostly dogs) that I knew Danielle would enjoy, along with an enamel pin and shirt to go with it that both declare, “Vote for Dog.”
Final Thoughts
When I go to Gen Con, I have to actively stop myself from worrying about what I’ve missed. I missed the destruction of Cardhalla, for example, because we were playing Shadow of the Demon Lord at the time. I wish I could have seen Cardhalla go down, but I just have to be okay with my decision to prioritize one thing over another. There’s no right or wrong way to do Gen Con as long as you’re doing the things you wanted to do, and I think I’ve managed that.
I did skip the Iron GM Championship this year. On balance and after a year of reflection, I mostly enjoyed the experience, but the opportunity cost was too high, taking up most of Saturday afternoon running a game for strangers in a competitive environment that isn’t my favorite. I instead spent my Saturday afternoon walking the floor, prepping for Demon Lord, and taking a hard nap to make up for the lost sleep. No regrets at all, and I hope that Iron GM went well for everyone that did it this year.
The current plan is to skip Gen Con next year in favor of Dragon Con down in Atlanta at the beginning of September, for which Erika is also planning to join me. I haven’t been to Dragon Con since 2015, when I went with my cousin Edd and stayed with my aunt Mimi and her family for a week or so. Dragon Con has a much broader focus, with a lot more cosplayers and much more of a party vibe. Last time I didn’t get to really get into the party atmosphere after hours, but maybe next year we’ll dive in and see what it’s all about. It’s not “the best four days in gaming,” but I’m sure we’ll still get some gaming in while we’re there.
No Free Parking Money 