GenCon Buzz

Black Angel has been a big hit.
 
The new...

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I like how Black Angel looks but...

Designer of Troyes and other not so good
Heavy euros.

Iron Forest looks amazing. Dark Tower does
too. I keep hearing that Power Rangers is
great.

I saw Rob playing around with it this morning. First time showing off the working prototype of the tower. It’s super rad!

Unmatched has been a huge hit as well, selling out at both the Restoration and Mondo booths. I managed to grab a full set and cast my vote for Dracula vs Frankenstein’s Monster.

They are showing the tower on Twitter.
It looks CRAZY. The engineering is ridiculous, it has something to do with these tiles and LED lights. And you put Brigands (yes) on the board by dumping them into it and they randomly rush out onto the board. Looks really cool.

Hope they do Pop Up Pirate sometime.

Harry Potter vs The Golden Girls, I mean this is a must have for my wife already

Well, at least they came up with a use for the most worthless pop culture detritus ever created...I can’t say I’m interested in any way shape or form but I’m sure some dude with 500 of these things boxed up inn the basement is thrilled.

Moon Sphere looks awesome, 2 player Japanese abstract. Cartographers looks neat. Raf and Charlie were tooting about Sovereign Chain with Fantady Realms as a comparative.

So me being an assistant to Lindsey turned into me be a rotating assistant to everyone in her circle who didn’t have one, so yesterday was a full day for me.

Still have a few updates for you:

-Horrified is a massive hit. It hardly made it through the first hour each day and the response to the game itself seems to be very, very positive. Lots of copies of Jaws floating around, too. Ravensburger and Prospero Hall are doing Back to the Future next year.

-Abomination: Heir to Frankenstein has also been really popular. Despite the early verdict that it’s way too long, sounds like folks are enjoying it. Word is it’s “Most thematic worker placement game to date.” Might just be that they brought more copies of Black Angel in after Thursday’s mad rush on it, but Abomination sold out on Friday and Saturday while Black Angel was still in plentiful supply (both are being sold by Asmodee, that’s what I’m making that comparison).

-Now, the news everyone here really cares about...Anytime I had on the floor yesterday was spent watching games of Dune. I stopped by Friday and spent some time talking to Bill Eberle, who is such a sweet guy and just positively lit up while talking about the game. He’s just as excited about this thing as we are. They took the many years of feedback to heart while putting it together, taking care to clarify the ambiguities and putting the best possible version of the game forward. The rulebook was out to flip through yesterday and, based on that,the hours spent watching it played and talking to Bill, this is it folks. The rules read great, the do nothing cards are still in, and they tried to make something more out of the basic and advanced versions of the game. From what I could tell, and I may be wrong about this, but supporting troops with spice is the only advanced rule. The advanced and basic powers have all been streamlined into one thing, which I appreciate. And hey, turns out newcomers still really like this game. There were several repeat players at the demo table because folks saw that this is a game you’ll like on your first play but love on your second.

Bill is really hopeful about it being a financial success as well, something the game never had when it was first released. He also said that the team was very excited about the two more games they’re working on, I’m assuming also set in the Dune universe.

Some RPG Hotness, if you’re into that....

Lots of folks picking up Pathfinder 2e. I looked though it, it’s not quite chasing after that 3.5 D&D glory and is much more of its own thing. It’s also much crunchier than 5e, which I’m not into but if you are, might be worth a look.

Cyberpunk 2070 Jumpstart box is the real sleeper hit. I’ve seen TONS of these things walking around, 2 at a time even.

The Fallout RPG was launched, I don’t think anyone cares. Ample supply all day, haven’t seen a soul walking around with one.

Thanks, Josh!

Horrified is great, glad to hear it showed well. Ravensburger’s work with Prospero Hall is some of the most exciting stuff going on in games today. They are truly bringing hobby-style games to a very accessible, mainstream setting. Their designs are also far more creative and heartfelt than, say, any of the garbage CMON shoveled out there lately. Or fucking Marvel Splendor.