GenCon, Day 0

Trade Day. Something of a shambles for me, but it turned out okay. Got a regular GenCon badge, but not a Trade Day one. Turned up at the appropriate hotel and needed help called in to get me a badge. Went to the room, and found they didn't have a project set up. It eventually got to me ten minutes after I started. Lovely. Forget to record it in the confusion, unfortunately.

Audience seemed fairly happy - several people came up to me afterwards to talk about various aspects of the talk, so I'd consider that a success.

Got to talk to Milton who's in charge of Trade Day, about how conditions are on the ground in Christchurch with respect to gaming as a hobby and an industry. Also, a free glass of wine and various finger food - first food since last night. Hurrah. Presentations were generally interesting. Ended up hanging out with a couple of guys who ran a local gaming store here in Indianapolis, and sampling a bunch of the games on offer and lots of talking with vendors. Will be heading past the Catalyst Games booth early tomorrow and seeing what I can pick up in terms of new Shadowrun, and possibly CthulhuTech since it sounds interesting.

GenCon, Day 1

Gah, someone in the room next door has squalling infants. I'll be heading back out soon.

Got up early to get into the Exhibition Hall early. As a result, had a nice time talking to some of the publishers/retailers without huge numbers of people flocking about the place. I kept myself to a budget, but still have many nice shinies, including:

* Shadowrun: Unwired, Runner's Companion, T-shirt
* The Book of Unremitting Horror (Gumshoe edition) (nicely done, cavalorn)
* Ninja Burger RPG, "No Honor" Edition, T-shirt, small ninjas
* Hellas badge, CD and paraphernalia

I went to investigate the Trade Day lounge, and stumbled across complimentary coffee (pretty bad), water, some soft drinks, and a focus group with matrix gaming pioneer Chris Engle. Considering where I've been for the last two weeks, I was also amused to find that most of the people around the table were either Kentuckians or very nearly (Chris is from Indiana, but just outside Louisville KY).

Okay, time to go and find some lunch, then on to a game demo at 2p.m., all going well.

GenCon, Day 1.1

I played the Engle Matrix game The Defense of Duffer's Drift. It's a little advanced on earlier matrix gaming, with coins, counters and map boards to support the core matrix mechanic. Quite fun for those with an interest in military tactics and history.

I then foolishly wandered back through the Exhibition Hall. Dagon Industries caught me, and now I have Darkest of the Hillside Thickets and H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society CDs of my very own.

There's quite a few computer game companies about the place. They had Warhammer Online, Eve and other big properties like that, but also some indy gamer types as well. Yay contacts and indy game demo CDs. Ended up talking to a local DJ and found there's a club night around a 15 minute walk away tonight, so I may visit that if I'm feeling awake enough when the time comes.

Had a brief chat with artist Klaus Scherwinski, whose art features notably in Degenesis, and the cover for Shadowrun's Unwired book. Nice guy :-) I'm going to have to remember[1] to send him a photo I took while he was sketching a commission.

The local bank will exchange my traveller's cheques for cash moneys. Hurrah.

[1] - Remember, a word here which means "read this later when my brain is less full."