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GenCon Buzz

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04 Aug 2019 19:07 - 04 Aug 2019 19:10 #300468 by Josh Look
Replied by Josh Look on topic GenCon Buzz
I got to play a quick round of Obscurio today and really enjoyed it. I also love Mysterium, but I feel like this might be the stronger of the two.

I’d have to wager that Machi Koro Legacy was NOT a hit. They always seemed to have plenty of stock and they were always trying to get me to try it when I walked by. The original was a hit when it first came out but the honeymoon is over and I think most people don’t want to commit to a Machi Koro campaign.
Last edit: 04 Aug 2019 19:10 by Josh Look.
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04 Aug 2019 19:18 #300469 by Gary Sax
Replied by Gary Sax on topic GenCon Buzz
I feel like legacy is running its course, overall.
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04 Aug 2019 21:14 #300470 by Frohike
Replied by Frohike on topic GenCon Buzz
I think Machi Koro has run it's course, for the most part.

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04 Aug 2019 21:21 #300471 by Gary Sax
Replied by Gary Sax on topic GenCon Buzz
People expect so much of very light games. Wingspan is like this too.
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04 Aug 2019 22:45 #300472 by Sagrilarus
Replied by Sagrilarus on topic GenCon Buzz
Your wife making book Josh?
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05 Aug 2019 07:29 #300473 by Josh Look
Replied by Josh Look on topic GenCon Buzz
You never know how well you do because just being there generates interest, makes connections, etc.

Even without that, she did really well.
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05 Aug 2019 10:11 #300480 by Michael Barnes
Replied by Michael Barnes on topic GenCon Buzz
What’s the deal with the Gundam game CMON was showing? Are they doing the Japanese game that came out this year in English? That would be kind of weird since a) I’m interested in it and b) it’s all standees and not $200 worth of miniatures.

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05 Aug 2019 10:44 #300484 by san il defanso
Replied by san il defanso on topic GenCon Buzz
I might have to rebuy Dune. I would love a more user friendly version of that amazing game.
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05 Aug 2019 11:26 #300485 by Sagrilarus
Replied by Sagrilarus on topic GenCon Buzz

san il defanso wrote: I might have to rebuy Dune. I would love a more user friendly version of that amazing game.


Hush you.
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05 Aug 2019 11:33 #300486 by Josh Look
Replied by Josh Look on topic GenCon Buzz

Michael Barnes wrote: What’s the deal with the Gundam game CMON was showing? Are they doing the Japanese game that came out this year in English? That would be kind of weird since a) I’m interested in it and b) it’s all standees and not $200 worth of miniatures.


It’s the Japanese game. I’m pretty pumped on it getting translated, doesn’t sound like they’re going to be doing the usual CMON box of plastic with it.
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06 Aug 2019 09:00 - 06 Aug 2019 14:36 #300507 by drewcula
Replied by drewcula on topic GenCon Buzz
I have repaired my voice after an exhausting Gencon.
I have also repaired my faith in humanity, and feel I can dip my toes back into social media.

I have a different perspective.

Ravensburger is certainly killing it with Jaws and Villainous. Good on them. Horrified? Mmmmm... I'm torn. I'm the biggest nut for Universal Monsters, but this game is just 'meh' for me. I left my demo thinking it was too light of a co-op for my tastes. Mind you, I don't like co-ops. On the positive, its lightweight approach and availability at Target may get it into kids' gaming rotation. And if the younger generation gets any exposure to some good looking Universal Monsters? I'm all for it.

My Horrified rub is ultimately a production rub. It seems Ravensburger wants it both ways, and the end result looks dumb as fuck. I've grown my hobby into a painting past time, so I was initially excited to see my favorites in plastic form. The minis look good. I think I'd like to paint them. Except there's 'only' seven of them. The big bads get the sculpts. Townsfolk and Players? They get standees. God damn do I hate that. Pick one, and commit. It looks like a kit bash, prototype product when bits are mingled. I honestly would have preferred the streamlined and sleek meeples treatment that Jaws received. All of the illustrations are handsome.

Regardless, I'll keep an eye out at Target. Once Horrified goes on sale, I may pull the trigger just to have a fun little painting project. Dracula is my spirit animal.

Abomination caught my eye two months ago at Origins. No surprise, it's gothic horror. But it looked wickedly fussy then, and it looks wickedly fussy now. That's my gut impression, and I'll be happy to be proven wrong after I play. Until then, this remains a 'wait and see' title.

###

Restoration games... Man... Fuck these guys. Rob Daviau is a nice, and seemingly overtaxed, fella. No grudges against him. No, the problem I had was with the booth. I was an exhibitor. Exhibitors have an unwritten code of conduct, and it's based on the golden rule. At the end of the day, everyone there is trying to make a buck, and work some deals. Before the hall opens to the general public, exhibitors walk about and talk / trade / purchase / and help one another. Some of my colleagues work angles with other companies for product trade. Some of my colleagues pay cash to get something before getting stuck at the booth all day. Some of my colleagues help a dealer in need of bubble wrap. And I gave a few cough drops to associates with damaged pipes.

I also went to Restoration games to buy some stuff. With cash. Their response? "Sorry, we're not trading and we're not selling anything until 10am (when the doors open). You'll have to form a line, and we'll take care of you once the hall opens." WTF.

A policy for no product trade is perfectly acceptable. No hard feelings there. A policy for limited purchases is also perfectly acceptable. But asking another exhibitor to stand in a line for fifteen minutes before the hall opens is 100% horse shit.

It may read as though I'm being hyper critical of these guys. I am. Restoration may be relatively new on the scene, but Gencon was not their first convention. I expressed my opinions, and several other vendors did too. No matter. For four days, a line of ten to fifteen exhibitors pissed away their minutes before the hall opened to queue up in front of Fireball Islands.

If Restoration Games ever wants a favor at the next convention, they'll be a bit more hard pressed to find understanding colleagues.

###

Legendary Games seemed to have a hot miss on their hands with James Bond. Their booth was attractive as always, but I didn't see a lot of sales. I didn't see a lot of Bond activity at all until Saturday.

FFG is killing it with the displays. Their dioramas for the new Marvel stuff was out of this world.

Dune will do great. Too god damn bad they couldn't have copies to sell at Gencon. Shipping in 'mid August.' BUT. If you pre-order now, you'll get free shipping AND four exclusive minis. Well, my FOMO kicked in and I took a closer look. The minis are rubbish. The wall, worm, storm, and atomic cloud. Super small, and super ugly in cast brown plastic. I'll be happy with the retail release thank you. And as I reported in June, the next Dune iteration from GF9 will most likely be a re-skin of Spartacus. Sales dependent...

The folks at Kingdom Death keep selling product like mad. Good on them. It's not for me, but I appreciate the hustle.

Gwar was there. That blew my mind. They have a deck building game. Of course they do.

And Larry Elmore was in the house. He was signing prints. One legendary illustrator right there.

Rant over. Feel free to poke and prod my assessment.

FYI - I had fun at Gencon 2019.
Last edit: 06 Aug 2019 14:36 by drewcula.

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07 Aug 2019 13:34 #300523 by cdennett
Replied by cdennett on topic GenCon Buzz
I will say that every time I walked by, Mrs. Look had people in front of her booth buying stuff or getting things signed, so I certainly hope they did well.

While most of my GenCon surrounds RPG events, I did spend a few hours in the hall and played a few board games. Here are a few hot takes:

Actually my worst event from GenCon was a board game called Attack on Kaiju which was taught be a gentleman who didn't know the fucking rules. I was vocally challenging him that something was wrong, that the game didn't work as explained, and someone else took the rulebook and found one important rule that changed everything. And on further inspection, we discovered he was wrong in almost every aspect. Still a mediocre game, even with the correct rules. Cool art, though.

Also demoed Obscurio, a Mysterium-like game with a traitor. Basically you have these circular cards, where the "ghost" draws one to be the card everyone is trying to guess, and draws two other cards to put in a frame that everyone can see. They then use little arrows to point out things in the pictures that should clue people into the correct card. The traitor then gets a phase to select other cards from a list that they think people may pick instead. 6 cards are then laid out, some random, and everyone collectively decides which card(s) to pick, as everyone picks a card. So long as someone picks the right card, the group advances, but each wrong guess takes a "bad" token and too many of those can make them lose the the game. They also add in some traps, which due interesting stuff like putting a clear red filter over the pictures, making color irrelevant, or a clear piece with swirls that makes details obscured. Not sure this is a Mysterium killer, as I'm not sure how many groups want a traitor in that kind of game. But, it certainly has gotten on my watch list.

In my "surprised I actually liked it" category, played a demo of Quirky Circuits, from Plaid Hat and Nikki Valens. It plays out like a cooperative RoboRally crossed with the Mind. Everyone has some number of movement cards, and they all control the same piece (in our case, a cat on a Roomba) with some goal and a limited number of movements. The card backs have some limited amount of information (either transitional movement or turns, in our case) but you play without any communication, a la The Mind. Everyone must play one card, but can play their whole hand. You then reveal cards in order and resolve. Far more enjoyable then I was expecting, and the art is super cute (which will help with the wife). I'm liking going to have to pick it up. There are also 3 other robots to control, including a sushi robot, a bee, and a dog, which all have different cards and movements.

In the "new to me" category I demoed a two-player trick taking game called Claim and was completely enamored with it (and had to buy). It plays out in two phases, where the first phase is playing tricks to win a card on offer, and the second phase is played with those cards for points. Each suit of cards have unique powers and the numbers are not uniform, depending. Looks like Claim 2 is coming out later this year, and I'm totally going to look for it, as you can mix n match the suits to some extent.

Talked to Sandy Petersen for a few minutes while I fiddled with the Startropolis pieces (which are really neat, BTW). Sounds like their shipment that they airlifted from China were packed incorrectly and they got basically the expansion in the base game boxes, so had nothing to sell (nor demo). Another shipping SNAFU on their end, not sure if they're just unlucky or need to work with better people.

Saw Rob Daviau looking at the Black Tower prototype on Sunday, though I personally missed it in action. I eavesdropped a bit, and it sounded like it was the first time he saw it in action himself. I don't have a lot of nostalgia for that game (played it once or twice), but it may force a Will save when it comes out unlike Restorations other games lately.

And to completely bury the lead, I got to playtest Cosmic Frogs by Jim Felli. I'll probably go put more complete thoughts in the dedicated thread at some point, but it was both awesome and pure Felli. Some key points: it will have frog minis, it's a mixture of optimization and aggression, and we played a full 6 player game in a little over 2 hours (post rules explanation). Really looking forward to this one.
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07 Aug 2019 18:03 #300534 by Msample
Replied by Msample on topic GenCon Buzz
Read on a GenCon forum that Corey Konieczka is leaving FFG and forming his own design gig, but still under Asmodee.
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07 Aug 2019 18:15 - 07 Aug 2019 18:16 #300535 by ioticus
Replied by ioticus on topic GenCon Buzz
Interesting, I thought he left a long time ago.
Last edit: 07 Aug 2019 18:16 by ioticus.

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07 Aug 2019 18:59 #300537 by Gary Sax
Replied by Gary Sax on topic GenCon Buzz

Msample wrote: Read on a GenCon forum that Corey Konieczka is leaving FFG and forming his own design gig, but still under Asmodee.


I'll pay attention. His best stuff is extremely good. And not having his talent work inside whatever license they've found every time is kind of intriguing to me.

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